The Ancestral curse problem

What is ancestral curse and how does it affect a society? If you think in terms of Dharma and the four varnas it is obvious that all sections of society are not equally affected by ancestral curse. More so, because ancestral curse seems most effective only among the elites leading to problems like dropping fertility levels, loss of caste and so on. Why?

Consider the roles of the four Varnas in society and their “sins” (i.e. non-performance or wrong performance of their assigned Dharmic roles). Note that sins are different from mere inability. That is to say, a being a dull or stupid Brahmin is merely an inability, not a sin. A weak will/force of personality is an inability of a Kshatriya, not a sin. Lack of business acumen is an inability of a Vaishya, not a sin, while being physically weak or unskilled is an inability of a Shudra, not a sin. Sins are those acts which are deliberately and wilfully committed against assigned Dharmic duties of the respective Varnas. In fact, these inabilities are passed down to subsequent generations as consequences of past sins of the individual or family concerned.

• Brahmin – priests and intellectuals. Generally thought leaders, philosophers and advisors. Sins: failure to adhere to the greater Dharma, false teaching, intellectual dishonesty and giving adharmic advise from a position of trust.
• Kshatriya – warriors and kings. Generally political leaders, higher ranking military officers and law enforcers. Sins: Cowardice, failure to protect those under their protection, disloyalty to the King/Nation etc.
• Vaishya – merchants and entrepreneurs. Generally businessmen, traders, shopkeepers and so on, but may also include other entrepreneurial intellectuals. Sins: Dishonesty in business practices – unethical business practices, cheating customers, keeping fraudulent accounts, not paying employees properly and so on.
• Shudra – skilled and unskilled labourers and craftsmen. Generally carpenters, masons, rank-and-file soldiers and all kinds of skilled and unskilled labourers. Sins: Physical laziness, deliberate avoidance of work and putting in less effort at work.

If we understand the above roles in society, it becomes obvious that the different duties of each varna and the consequences of non-performance of such duties are highly varied.

The least affected by ancestral curse is the Shudra varna. Mainly because the non-adherence of the Dharma of a Shudra will merely result in his own suffering and the suffering of his family members (not going for work due to laziness will result in termination from employment or loss of pay). If an employer or society suffers at all due to the sin of a Shudra, it is very easily set right.

The other less affected Varna is the Vaishya. Because cheating in business and engaging in unethical practices will, in the long run, ruin the good name and reputation of the Vaishya concerned. If too many Vaishyas deliberately avoid their Dharma, it may affect the general business community and lead to a collapsing economy, but this is usually avoided, because the results of adharmic Vaishya conduct are obvious and the general lack of cohesion among Vaishyas act as a deterrent against collective misconduct.

The more affected Varna is the Kshatriya class. Because the failure to protect the Nation/King from foreign enemies or even internal enemies can lead to far more severe consequences, including the destruction of the Nation. This naturally puts a huge onus on the Kshatriya class to maintain solidarity and weed out disloyal and cowardly elements from their ranks. The highest the rank, the bigger the burden of the Kshatriya.

The worst affected is the Brahmin class. Because when a Brahmin, who is in a trusted advisory position, or looked on as a highly meritorious and worthy teacher abuses that position to spread false ideas and adharmic ideals, it destroys not only the Nation, but also civilization as a whole and the prevalence of adharmic ideologies prevents rebuilding civilization for generations to come.

This Brahminical sin is what has afflicted most of modern civilization the most. In past generations, nations ravaged by war were able to rebuild because the failure was that of the Kshatriyas, not the Brahmins. But modern society is continuously getting degraded and drowning in false ideology, evil teachings and adharmic religions which will take several generations to rectify, even after the underlying adharmic forces are destroyed.

Ancestral curse is very real. Modern “Brahmins” i.e, the society’s priests, thinkers, thought leaders and intellectuals are the culprits for the problems of the last couple of centuries. And no wonder that the modern “Brahmins” suffer the brunt of the ancestral curse.

Dharmic duty of a son to his father

A comment I wrote on Jim’s blog, in response to a debate on whether a son is required by Dharma to absolute obedience of his father’s commands, which I think is worth publishing as its own entry (edited for clarity):

I disagree that absolute obedience of father by son is commanded by Hindu Dharma. On the other hand, the story of Hiranyakashipu and Prahalada clearly shows that a son has no duty to follow his father to hell, and indeed, it is adharmic if a son does so. Prahalada clearly disobeyed his father by refusing to acknowledge him as greater than Lord Vishnu himself. So clearly there are limits on obedience as a virtue.

In the Ramayana, Lord Rama honoured his father Dasaratha, who was a Dharmic soul and who had given a rash boon to his wife Kaikeyi. Rama sought to honour his father by keeping the promise. If the promise had entailed the destruction of Ayodhya or the Solar dynasty, Lord Rama would never have fulfilled such a promise, but rather found a way to save his father’s honour and at the same time disobey him. The fact is, Dasaratha’s boon to Kaikeyi was not adharmic, in the sense that the decision to anoint Bharatha as the crown prince was not adharmic or destructive and in fact Lord Rama considered his brothers to be a part of Himself. In fact, such a drama was ordained by the Lord himself as part of the Avatara, to freely pursue and destroy the adharmic Ravana.

I take the postion that if a father commands his son to do adharma and which would result in bad karma towards his ancestors, family or clan, the son has a duty not to obey him and in fact oppose him if he attempts such destruction. If a father commands his son not to have any children or even convert to another religion, that is a grave sin against his ancestors, because the continuance of his lineage is a duty to his ancestors and breaking that by either voluntarily choosing not to have children or converting to a different religion directly affects his ancestors who are, in fact, as per Hindu belief reborn as his own descendants. In fact, I would argue that such a family with such an adharmic father might be bearing the curse of their ancestors. In that case, the best duty that a son can perform is to honour his father, but not obey him and in fact, take steps to lead his father back to dharma and mitigate the ancestral curse. That is the best duty and the only duty.

A drunk father cannot command the absolute obedience of his son, but dharma commands that any father should be honoured by his son and a son’s duty is to protect his father from his own adharma, even by force if necessary.

The radical Left’s throw of the dice

The ongoing farmers’ protests turning violent today has led me to believe that the radical Left in India are emboldened enough to believe that such a move will receive not only sympathetic and encouraging responses from the Global Lefist media, but even indirect support from the US State Department. I note that the international media had in fact dubbed the Modi Government’s farm laws “controversial”, not so subtly justifying the protests. But this blog post is not about the merits of the farm laws.

I had already mentioned in my earlier blog post on Joe Biden’s victory that India can expect increased social unrest and separatism funded by the Leftist American Empire. But even I am a bit surprised at this sudden escalation. Sudden escalations in Leftism have a tendency to backfire if done without State backing. And in this, I think the radical Left (along with their comrades, the Khalistani separatists) in India has shown excessive impatience, because the immediate fallout of this violence will be to discredit the “mostly peaceful” farmers’ protests which had become a thorn in the flesh of the Central Government. Indeed the Government has been on the back foot, since the Supreme Court of India intervened to suspend the laws till the issues are sorted in dialogue.

Yet, this blatant attack on Republic Day is a sign that the Left will become more aggressive and more violent in the days to come. The farmers’ agitation is merely a pawn in the bigger game. Handling the radical Left and these dangerous separatist elements will be an acid test for the BJP Government and Modiji’s leadership in the coming three years. The 2024 General Election results and the future of the Republic may well depend on it.

Adharma vs adharma infighting won’t restore Dharma magically

In an earlier blog post I had referred to an “adharma vs adharma” battle within the Left, i.e. old school Leftism vs the adharma of corruption and nepotism, which slowed down the ever-leftward movement of “pure” Leftism. However, the point is not that adharma vs adharma by itself is sufficient. There is no magical dharmic revival happening, even if the overall strength of adharmic forces is weakened. For Dharma to prevail, a Dharmic revival is a must amidst the ruins brought about by the infighting and collapse of adharmic forces. And a Dharmic revival is not something that can magically happen. A spiritual resurgence is a must for any Dharmic revival to happen and for that, you need the core of an ancient Dharma to provide the spark.

Many modern rightists, particularly a section of the Western dissident right tend to dismiss spiritual revival and believe that ever accelerating Leftism will end up destroying itself and from the ruins of society will emerge a restoration of Tradition and Order, in the present state of humanity. But that is a long and arduous process and there is no magic wand that just “restores” civilization. A society consists of individuals and the sum of societal Dharma is only as good as the average of the individual Dharma in that society. A society that seeks to restore Dharma cannot merely rely on different forms of adharma destroying one another. Because the mere absence of adharma is not Dharma.

Modern rightists also falsely believe that allying with one form of adharma to defeat another will help their cause. This is also an absolutely mistaken and in fact, in the long term, a destructive position to take.

The crucial part is that, the glue that holds together a Dharmic revival has to necessarily be an ancient religion with a spiritual foundation that transcends the comprehension of mere mortals. You need this antiquity and tradition for legitimacy, large-scale cooperation and acceptance because every modern religion (and even modern variants on ancient religions) have either ended up being rootless, kooky obscure cults of the fringes rightly rejected by mainstream society or being subverted and coopted by Leftists to serve their nefarious ends. Ancient mysteries are rightly revered and treated as part of cultural mythology. Any attempt at incorporating modern mystery into a new modern religion would end up being treated as foolishly whimsical and freakish like, for example, the various cults of UFOs/space aliens.

The Kali Yuga and particularly this particular epoch is not conducive to reinvention of ancient wheels that are imperfectly and insufficiently understood.

What a Biden presidency will mean for India

Now that it looks like Donald Trump is well on his way out, I am predicting that a Biden presidency will mean difficult times for India in the short and medium term, geopolitically speaking. After having spent a lot of energy in building a personal equation with Trump, Modi cannot realistically hope to recreate a similar camaraderie with Joe Biden.

Not an exhaustive list but some major points on how the new equation is likely to affect India:

• An emboldened Pakistan will now get louder and more aggressive on Kashmir. Backed by increased US aid by a traditionally sympathetic Democratic administration, ISI will be preparing to renew cross border terrorism against India.
• China will become more aggressive against India, since Biden is not likely to unequivocally support India in the event of border aggression by the PLA against India.
• Increased funding and support for NGOs in India involved in promoting separatism and social unrest. Also increased pressure on the Indian government to relax foreign exchange regulations.
• Increased support and funding of evangelical Christianity in India backed by increasing rhetoric and propaganda about “lack of religious freedom” in India.
• Much more strained and formal diplomatic relationship since Biden will not bond with Modiji in the same manner that Trump did. The US will become more of a paternalistic interfering do-gooder with unwanted advice from time to time than a real strategic ally.

I am not a foreign policy expert but to me India will probably need to become closer to Russia than ever before. The Modi Government will have to take a fresh approach with respect to the US in order to safeguard India’s interests.

A manifesto for dharmic revival

A part of the reason for creating this blog was to figure out how a dharmic revival can happen in the home of Dharma, Bharat that is India.

In my opinion Hindus cannot and should not turn to western philosophy for inspiration as we have a unique and rich cultural identity and a deep dharmic tradition to tap into. The only way is for a Ram Rajya to restore the glory and civilization of this land. A spiritual revival of Hindus is extremely important for the cause.

Culturally Hinduism is at a low ebb in India. Hindus who care about restoring a dharmic India must at least attempt to follow certain standards in their life. Here are some of my prescriptions which Hindus may follow in their lives to align themselves to a spiritual revival.

1. Hindu householders should try to do puja every day. If you have a dedicated puja room, all the better. But if not, at least do a small ritual offering of food (neivedhya) to a photo or image of any Hindu God.
2. Hindus should maintain cleanliness at home, keep home environment positive and play devotional songs or chanting every morning and evening.
3. Hindus must celebrate Hindu festivals with loved ones along with the traditional ceremonies.
4. Hindus must try to visit a neighbourhood temple at least once a week.
5. Well to do Hindus must support at least one poor Hindu priest either monetarily or materially and also donate to Hindu charitable causes which are aligned to promoting Hindu dharma and spirituality. Hindus must avoid donating to secular causes and to State governments which are looting the wealth of Hindu temples all over India.
6. As much as practically possible, Hindus must wear a traditional attire when attending religious functions either at home or at temples. Particularly when visiting temples, Hindus must avoid wearing half-trousers or western wear.
7. Hindus must allot some time to study Hindu scriptures, if not in Sanskrit, at least in their local language or an English translation.
8. Hindu couples should try to have at least two or more children. Hindu families should promote traditional values and Dharma to children.
9. In times of need, Hindus must support one another.

A spiritual revival seems more important, because only a spiritual revival at individual levels can lead to a greater social revival.

The Old Left and the New Left

In an interesting discussion on neoreactionary Jim’s blog, there was a debate whether India was a client of Harvard brand of leftism or the Soviets’ Communism during the Cold War. Eventually I remained unconvinced that Harvard influence was significant during that period, though after the Cold War ended with the Soviet collapse Harvard’s ideology certainly increased its grasp in India’s political and cultural sphere.

But though the new brand of Leftism, that is progressivism, replaced the old Socialism as the official ideology, the actors peddling the new religion are the same staunch old Leftists who stubbornly refuse to give way to new actors. And though Soviet socialism and Harvard’s socialism didn’t differ much in ideology, their methods differed vastly. India’s old Left carries old, uncomfortable baggage.

The currently weakened and declining Congress Dynasty and old leftovers Leftists preaching liberal progressive ideas feel awkward and doesn’t convince even the uneducated voter because the crown prince of the Dynasty cannot disavow his grandmother’s Emergency and cannot disown five decades of Socialist stagnation. And modern Harvard is extremely shy about Indira’s Emergency because it doesn’t fit their narrative.

Note how the progressive Harvard controlled media in India grumble with increasing frequency and intensity about the Dynasty’s ineptitude and inability to take on the BJP. The continued stubborn insistence of the Dynasty taking centre stage as the flag bearers of progressivism is both a hindrance and an embarrassment for the new Left in accelerating their agenda. And the BJP Modiji won election after election attacking the Dynasty and pointing out their hypocrisy and corruption. The Emergency is also referred from time to time for good measure.

But it cannot go on forever. The BJP in their enthusiasm might end up killing the goose that laid the golden eggs sooner rather than later and the battle against the new Leftists without old baggage will become increasingly ideological and increasingly ugly. Public consciousness of the Emergency and the ineptitude and corruption of the Dynasty will fade away. The question is, are the BJP prepared to deal ideologically with political foes of a different breed who will undoubtedly employ far bolder and more aggressive tactics than the old guard?

Only time will tell.

Indian politics and the strange ways of Dharma

After independence, India adopted the way of Socialist democracy, modelled along Soviet principles. And for five decades since independence, India was more or less firmly in the grip of the old Left, which, since Indira Gandhi’s Emergency lost its legitimacy but continued in power due to the sheer inertia of the system until the alternate political ideology in the form of Nationalist Hindutva became popular.

But the thing is, the old Left defeated itself to a large extent much before Hindutva politics became mainstream and only the weaker shell of the old Left was cleaned up by the BJP in recent times.

The strange part is that, adharmic Leftism of the old school faced a different facet of adharma which slowed down the Leftist progress considerably: massive corruption and red-tape bureaucracy exemplified by the infamous License Raj. An efficient and non-corrupt Leftism would have resulted in a headlong dive into far Left politics for India, but the sheer corruption of the old Left system disillusioned the people and led to the formation of alternative politics (though still not true right wing, considerably less Left than the Socialism of old). A truly efficient Leftism in India after independence would have led to far more brutal and tyrannical License Raj and a lot more Leftist repression.

For Dharma to prevail over an increasingly cohesive, destructive adharma, either a Dharmic Hero of considerable power needs to be born to destroy that adharma, or, if the conditions for such a Dharmic Hero to be born are not satisfied, the adharma needs to be slowed down considerably in order not to do too much damage, either through internal conflicts/contradictions to reduce its cohesion or through an external opposing adharmic force.

I see this adharma vs adharma as a kind of Dharmic reaction to slow down or destroy the more evil adharma before it can do too much harm. Notice how the idealistic Nehruvian vision of a Socialist utopia ultimately degraded into petty dynastic politics within decades. Even though Indians have suffered under the corruption of this highly inefficient and weakened Leftism, still this suffering is nothing compared to the catastrophe that would have occurred if the Leftist programme had been fully realized in India.

Instead, today, though institutional corruption thrives to a considerable extent (and which needs to be addressed by Dharmic forces), the old Left is all but defeated, completely discredited and dispirited, while the new Left (progressivism) is still at an early stage of development in India.

In history we find such examples of adharmic forces being slowed down by adharmic forces with opposing goals or even the sheer inefficiencies of the system in which Leftism thrives. An adharmic Hitler whose destructiveness became too much for the Dharmic to bear, faced an opposing adharmic Stalin who checked his progress and eventually destroyed him. The best part is that Dharma ensures that even the victorious adharmic force in the struggle is considerably weakened.

Even in our puranas, we find that Asuras or Rakshasas, who became extraordinarily powerful through tapas and extraordinarily repressive towards the virtuous, were defeated and destroyed not just by the Lord incarnating as an Avatara Purusha but also by their own weaknesses, internal contradictions and egotism.

Dharma always provides a solution to the Dharmic though that solution may not be immediately obvious or yield immediate results.

Understanding and navigating modern day politics

To understand modern day politics and why labels such are Left and Right have become nonsensical without an absolute scale, we need to actually understand what is true Left and Right. This is actually not my own invention but what I have gathered from reading and understanding neoreactionary stuff.

Let us assume that Left and Right and two different directions on the same road. The path right is the old path to a traditional society with all the social hierarchies and distinctions that make for a sane, functional Nation based on Reality and Dharma. The path left is the promised Leftist Utopia. The State or Nation is a bus on that road, which heads in the direction pointed by the signs which state “This Way to Utopia”. Modern constitutions are by definition Leftist because the direction signs point to the Leftist Utopia rather than the traditional path.

Here the bus drivers are competing elites.

The Leftist bus drivers are those who compete to increase the speed of the bus along the Utopia direction without any regard for whether the bus stays on the narrow winding path, because Leftists are increasingly impatient to reach the Utopia. On the other hand, Modern Establishment “Right-wing” drivers are those who want to maintain a sane, safe speed along the same path in the same direction and only disagree with the hard Left on the speed and safety aspects of the journey to Utopia. The common people or “normies” are those with blindfolds who believe that the direction they’re heading towards is the right one, because both the Leftists and the Establishment Rightists don’t seem to disagree on the direction but only on speed and safety.

A dictator in the mould of Hitler or Stalin is somebody who shoots all the competing bus drivers, takes full control of the bus and finds a nice, safe spot to halt the bus believing that halting the bus will preserve the bus and preserve his power over the bus.

The “reactionaries” are those passengers with blindfolds off and notice that the direction signs are wrong. And that, heading towards the promised Leftist Utopia is actually a steep cliff that will plunge the bus into destruction. Hence they want to stop the bus, take a 180 degree turn and head back to the spot from which the bus started.

The real argument among the reactionaries is the mechanism of how the bus is to be stopped and turned around. Some reactionaries believe that the bus should be allowed to crash hard into a tree when the Leftist drivers increase the speed and drive off the narrow path, believing that they can survive the crash, build a new bus and go back home. Others believe that it is possible to safely disarm both the Leftist and Establishment Right-wing drivers while the bus is in movement, throw them off the bus and then take a safe 180 degree turn and head back. Yet others think that a dictator in the mould of Stalin is necessary to halt the bus and thereafter when the dictator’s time is up, the bus can be taken over and safely navigated back to its origin.

What is obvious is that, the labels “left” and “right” in the modern political context makes no sense as it is understood in the mainstream, because the only difference between the Left and the Establishment Right is on the speed/safety aspects and not about the direction.

The power of words

When I started this blog, I chose the title “Dharmic Reality.” I started it as an experiment, not knowing whether I would be able to write anything meaningful or coherent. As I said before, though of no mean intellect, I am not a scholar. Yet, with the blessing of Lord Ganesha, who is the Remover of Obstacles and the God of Wisdom, I have been able to convey my thoughts with a certain clarity that would not have been possible had I used some alternate “secular” terminology. Certainly “ethics” or “morality” do not convey the same essence as Dharma, which is the Cosmic Reality. As I have written earlier, our limited humanity-based ethics is dangerously susceptible to ideological subversion.

Basing my writings on Dharma, which is the all-encompassing Reality, also keeps me grounded and prevents this blog from descending into intellectual rabbit holes which philosophers tend to do. I don’t want to develop any new or innovative political theories, or analyze existing political philosophies to death. Nor do I want to explain Dharma by words, which is practically impossible. Such exercises would be futile and meaningless. What I intend to do is to increase my own understanding of our present material world through the lens of Dharma.