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Society
The Mediocre Majority
by Rabindranath Tagore
A man who is wealthy
usually has a garden which is larger than his house. A house is a
necessity but the garden is extra - he can do without it. Wealth
expresses its grandeur and magnanimity in things which are unnecessary.
The kind of horn that a goat possesses is enough to meet its needs; we
look in wonder and amazement at the horn of the deer much of which is
not absolutely necessary. The tail of the peacock is always a winner not
only for its flamboyant colors but also because it puts many other
small-tailed birds to shame.
The man who has made his entire life useful to others is great indeed,
but fortunately there are not many of his ilk. Had it not been so then
the human society would have become like a fruit which consists only of
a stone without any kernel. We must call him a good man who does only
good to others. But we love the man who is a superfluity. Because he can
give himself wholly. The helpful man touches us through the narrow
channel of help; his all other sides are hidden from us by the wall of
his helpfulness; he has kept only one of his doors open where we can beg
and he gives us alms. But the superfluous man is good for nothing and
hence has no wall. He is not a helper but only a fellow being. We earn
something from the former but together with the latter we spend. And he
who is a companion in our spending is our friend.
By the grace of God in this world most of us are superfluous like the
horns of a stag or the tail of a peacock; the story of our life is not
worth-writing. And fortunately after we are dead none will go a-begging
from door to door to collect subscriptions from half-willing and
unwilling people to meet the costs of our statues.
A very few among the mortals become immortal after their death and this
is the reason why the world is still habitable. What would be the fate
of the common passengers if all the coaches of the train were reserved?
In the first place great men are each a host in himself when living,
that is, so long as they are alive they entirely occupy the hearts both
of their admirers and enemies and even after their death they refuse to
vacate that space. Far from vacating, taking the advantage of their
death they go on extending their domain further and further after their
demise. The only saving grace is that their number is not many.
Otherwise to accommodate their tombstones alone no space would be
available to the common people to build their huts. This earth is so
small that it would cause a war between the living and the dead. Be it
on the land or in the hearts of men some people are so eager to occupy
far more space than the average man that they resort to all kinds of
fraud and other questionable means even at the risk of damnation both in
this and the other world. The fight between the living men is a fight
between equals, but the fight between the living and the dead is very
difficult indeed! Those who are dead are now beyond all infirmities and
defects, they are now the denizens of a dream world, whereas we mortals
are subject to the laws of gravitation and a whole lot of other earthly
laws of attraction and repulsion, we can by no means be a match to those
departed souls. That may be the reason why God banishes them to a world
where everything is forgotten and where living space is abundant. If God
intended to keep us pigmy mortals cringing in a corner with our
woe-begun pale countenance side by side with those giant immortals then
why did He make this world so bright and beautiful and why did He make
the hearts of men so alluring?
Wise men abuse us, saying our lives are going waste. Rebuking us they
say, ‘Wake up, work hard, don’t waste your time.’ There are people who
waste their time doing nothing, but there are others who waste time
doing things – they both waste their time and spoil the things they do.
It is these very people under whose feet the earth trembles and it is to
save the world from their activities that God says, ‘I reincarnate in
every age.’
If life goes waste let it go waste. Most lives are for going waste.
These majority worthless lives prove that God is rich. We, His
innumerable useless creatures, are the numerous witnesses to prove that
His storehouse of creation is not bankrupt. From our endless abundance
one can know His majesty. As the flute produces music through its
emptiness we proclaim God’s glory through our uselessness. It is for us
that Buddha renounced the world, Jesus Christ laid down his life, the
ascetics meditated and the saintly are awake all the time.
Life is going waste? Let it go, because everything has to flow and
thereby it fulfils a purpose. The river is flowing; all its water is not
needed for our drinking and bathing or to irrigate our land. Most of it
is just maintaining the flow. Without serving any particular purpose it
serves a larger purpose by maintaining that flow. By digging a canal the
river water that we bring to our pond we may use for bathing but it
cannot be used for drinking; its water that we carry in pots and store
can be used for drinking but light and shade cannot play on it in a
festive style. To judge anything merely by its usefulness is nothing but
miserliness; to consider that serving a purpose is the ultimate end of
everything is nothing but meanness.
Let us, the average majority, not consider ourselves so lightly. We are
keeping the whole world going. We have a life-long right to have a place
in the hearts of men. Nothing we keep permanently in our occupation, to
nothing we cling on, we flow on. It is we who sing the music that rises
in this world from the multitude; it is only on us that all the light
and shade pulsate in this world. We laugh and cry, we play with our
friends without any reason, we talk with our near ones, with no
particular purpose in view we spend most of our time with all who crowd
around us and thereafter all on a sudden getting our son married and
employed in an office we die and get burnt to ashes at our cremation –
we are a part and parcel of this world which is like a billowing ocean
playing in waves. The stream of humanity sparkles with our little joys
and sorrows; the whole society echoes with the sounds of our small
jubilations and lamentations.
Nature mostly consists of things we call futile. Most of the sunrays are
lost in the empty space in radiation; not all the flowers of a tree end
in fruition. Let their owner keep their accounts. Unless we see the
ledger of the maker of this world we cannot be sure whether these
expenditures are wasteful. Similarly except in our ability to give our
fellowship and momentum to others we are of no use. Thus without blaming
anybody and with patience if we can gracefully reach our peaceful
obscure end passing our days joyfully laughing and singing then in our
aimless life we will serve our purpose well.
I am fortunate that my maker has made me useless; but my failure would
be entirely my own fault if after being urged by other’s advice I
attempt to be of any use to others and miserably fail. I will have to
account for that. Not all of us have been born to do good to others; we
should therefore not feel ashamed for not being able to do so. It is far
better that as a missionary I don’t go to China to save that country. If
you call me a failure for passing my time at home instead indulging
happily in trifling pastimes then it would certainly not be as bad as
the tragic failure in my mission in China.
All grasses do not evolve to rice plants. In fact in the world the
former far outnumbers the latter. And let not the grass lament over its
fruitlessness; let it remember that it covers the dry dusty earth with
soothing greenery and it mellows the scorching sun by its happy soft
serenity. Among the grasses the kush grass seems to have tried to become
a rice plant by force; instead of remaining a mere grass it felt a
strong urge and wished to be of use to others – yet it ultimately
failed! But what has been the result of its constant attention to others
is being felt by those others. It may be said that it is not God’s
intention that one should feel too much concerned for others. In
comparison the fruitless obscurity and the soft serenity of the lowly
grass is better.
We may conclude by saying that men are of two classes – those who may be
said to belong to the fifteen annas in a rupee and those belonging to
the remaining one anna. The first is restful while the second is
restless. One is very useful and the other is useless. In the air the
quantity of mobile and inflammable oxygen is small and that of inert
nitrogen is far greater. If this ratio is changed in the other way round
the entire world will be burnt to ashes. Similarly when the class of
people belonging to the fifteen annas tries to become as restless and
useful as the class of one anna the world will be doomed and all its
inmates will have to be ready for the doomsday.
Translation of the essay Ponero-anna by
Rabindranath Tagore. It was first published in 1309 BS (1902-03) when
the poet was about 42 years of age. It is included in the collection
Bichitra prabandha or Miscellaneous Essays.
Notes:
Before the introduction of decimal system of coinage sixteen annas made
one Indian rupee. Idiomatically ponero anna (fifteen annas) means
the majority, the vulgar masses.
‘I reincarnate in every age’ or
‘sambhabami yuge yuge’ in Sanskrit, is from the following speech of
Krishna addressed to Arjuna in the Geeta –
Yada yada hi dharmasya
glanirbhabati bharata
Abhyutthanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunam binashaya cha dushkritam
Dharmasamsthapanaya sambhabami yuge yuge
(Oh Bharata, whenever adharma or
immorality becomes ascendant
and dharma or the right way degenerates
I reincarnate in every age to save the righteous,
destroy the evil-doers and restore dharma).
Kush grass has hard stems and sharp
blades.
June 8 2008
Translation by
Kumud Biswas
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