Again I am submitting my views based on a weekly prompt, which is- ‘When power declines, culture flourishes… do you agree?’

I just remember the example of Ravana, whom we remember as a Demon King! He was a greatly learned person , devotee of Lord Shiva, had studied the religious holy books, offered his heads to the Lord as we hear, for getting such powers which nobody had! And what happened after acquiring those powers!

There are several instances when people advised him, warned him not to act against Lord Rama, not to follow unethical path, asked to return Mother Sita back to Rama, but then the most learned Ravana, who had great knowledge of religious teachings, but who was under the influence of the powers he had acquired, considering himself to be immortal, so he did not consider the good advises, be those coming from his wife, brothers- Vibhishan and Kumbh Karna, Angada and Hanuman who were sent there by Lord Rama to advise and warn him, but Maha Pandita Ravana was actually acting as Maha Demon Ravana.

Let us take the example of the British, who today represent the spirit of democracy in the world. We have inherited most of our democratic ethics, laws etc. from them only. Many of the laws are such which we are still following but the British have made them more liberal in their own country.
So the British people, rulers are known for the spirit of democracy, of liberty etc., but how did they behave with the Indians or all those whom they had included under their rule, as their colonies. As long as the Sun of British was never setting, so wide-spread were their colonies in the world, their behavior was not human, what to talk of being democratic.

I would just take a small example of USSR, the communist Russia. During the times of communist revolution there and before that, the most powerful novels were written there, since people were facing great oppression, in the name of revolution. Anybody who criticized was termed as ‘reactionary’ and was put in concentration camps.

Actually great literary works like Maxim Gorky’s ‘Mother’ were written during that period. Later when they tried to get literature written as per their needs, for publicity and promotion of the new order, the literature written did not have any depth.

I just wrote whatever instantly came to my mind, just to highlight that-

• When people have power, as is said- ‘Power corrupts’. They might be having knowledge, may have studied norms and rules of civic life, but the power they possess, often inspires them to flex their muscles.

So people, groups or even countries or group of countries behave differently when they have untamed power. That is why we can say that the most civilized societies also need police like forces. We find that sometimes a small dispute like car parking, or some misunderstanding about some small payments also leads to fights and to murders sometimes.

Hence not going much in details I would like to submit that there always should be balance of powers, checks and balances and some elders, or agencies, as the case may be, to see that people or organizations do not cross their limits and maintain a reasonably civic behavior.

We often find some political leaders misbehave with police people or officials when their volunteers complain about anything. How do you think their behavior would be if they know that public can not remove them through their votes after they complete their term!

To conclude I would like to submit that there should be perfect checks and balances in family, neighborhood, society, country and the universal society so that the common people do not have to face unnecessary difficulties, there is rule of law, people are driven by values and where ever somebody breaks rules, he or she should get adequately punished so that nobody else dares to misbehave with other people.

When nobody would have unbridled power, then naturally the value system, the cultural values would be observed and we would live in a more civilized society where, no doubt creativity would definitely flourish.

This is my humble submission on the subject- ‘When power declines, culture flourishes… do you agree? And yes I agree with this.

#PromotingCreativity. #IndiSpire.