The Ones The World Calls Mad: The Judicious Middle Path II

The world never dares to fight two kinds of people: one who holds power, and another who looks mad but is sometimes the wisest.

~ Sudhir Singh

History remembers them. Shah Hussain sang on the streets of Lahore and was called a drunk. Bulleh Shah was dismissed as a fool for speaking to God in the language of the common man. Kabir was too sharp for both temple and mosque and Ramkrishna Paramhans was mocked in 19th century Calcutta for weeping in the temple of Maa Kali. Osho Rajneesh, too, faced this during his life span as he speaks truth without using any filter and it caused unrest among the so called civilized society which live behind multiple faces. The crowd could not argue with them, so it labeled them.  

I saw the same pattern closer when I read the blog of my Professor cum guide, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal. His Guru, Shree Ramchandra Gandhi was also declared “mad” by people who could not meet his level of clarity. To call someone mad is the oldest trick to avoid listening. When logic fails, people reach for ridicule.

Look at present India. The ruling government spent years trying to frame Mr. Rahul Gandhi as “Pappu.”.  The project was simple: if you repeat a caricature enough, people stop seeing the person. They simply accept what is repeated on the surface.  

But caricatures crack under pressure. In Parliament, in Bharat Jodo Yatra, in his conversations with students and farmers, a different Rahul Gandhi emerged. Not the TV clip, but a man who listens first, who quotes the Constitution, who chooses to walk instead of shout. Call it wisdom, call it stubbornness --- but it is not the image they sold.  

This is a sort of indoctrination done in politics. The saint is called mad because he refuses the game. He does not play for applause. He speaks plainly, walks long distances, and lets the noise exhaust itself. Power fights power with power. The “mad” one fights with stillness, repetition, and truth. That is why the world never dares to fight him directly. It prefers to mock from a distance.

Students who agitated in Jantar mantar are called impatient and vulgar. The same words used for saints of past. But students need to understand that agitation without inner quietness becomes performance. Wisdom without power looks like madness. Power without wisdom becomes arrogance.  

The middle path is not in the middle of lies. It is what the eagle does: rise above the heat, see both light and dark, and choose when to descend.

So let them call names. Let the winds talk.  

Keep writing, keep walking and remember what the Former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji said, "Honestly I believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media."

The Middle Path: Pessimoptimist

Once I wrote: “It can be synthesised easily if thou can see the depth of thy mind with rationality and dexterity. Don’t be pessimist or optimist, rather be pessimoptimist like The great Buddha. If ye see only dark like an owl, ye miss the light. If ye close eyes like a dove, ye become prey. So, it is better to choose the judicious middle path like an eagle or the immense Sky.”

 — Sudhir Singh, 23rd Feb 2017  

That line keeps returning to me these days. 

We live in a time when every street feels like a microphone. Present Indian politics is loud, reactive, and allergic to pause. News cycles turn into verdicts in minutes. Loyalty is measured by volume, not by thought.  

And in Jantar mantar, students are found agitating. Some for jobs, some for justice, some for dignity. The anger is real. The questions are real. But anger without stillness burns the one who holds it. Agitation without reflection becomes noise that feeds itself.  

In all of this, I have returned to three things: coffee, books, and a few friends. 

Some prefer noise. Some prefer whispers about others. I prefer pages.  

Coffee teaches bitterness without malice. Books teach truth without applause. Friends who understand this need no explanation.  

There is a quiet power in choosing stillness with clarity. When you sit with a book and a cup, the world does not stop. But you stop performing for it. You stop being bait for every provocation. You become like the immense Sky --  above the heat, watching both light and dark, having no desire to move.  

To be with inner quietness is not to be apolitical. It is to be unaffected in the noise. It means you can witness the agitation, feel for the students, read the politics, and still not lose your centre.  

Let's feel that inner void inside us.

The Power of Being the Leaf

This Article is inspired from my own Facebook Post shared on March 1, 2014.

I once wrote: “It is good to live the life of an unidentified person because the fewer people who know you, the more you can enrich yourself spiritually. Totally become ordinary and simple, and you will become part of existence.”

Twelve years later, I am able to understand my own thoughts better than before. I can see my Subconscious mind has already been preparing me to completely become an ordinary and unidentified person since 2014. Actually I don't like to be highlighted. I always prefer to be with me and to live life on my own conditions. I already know this: the more we are highlighted, the more pressure we have to face from the people, society or community and such pressure forces us to do what others admire. But this is not my path. Rather, I would say, I don't like to follow any path because truth is a pathless land.

We live in a world that only claps for the flower. The bright, the loud, the one everyone notices. Offices, social media, even friendships reward performance. Everyone wants to be the flower, however, I don't like to be because it will boost my ego and I can never explore truth if I'd have been an egoistic. 

And that's why, I have chosen to be the leaf. 

The leaf is simple. Anyone can ignore it. It doesn’t demand attention. Yet without the leaf, there is no flower. The leaf holds the plant together. It breathes. It sustains. It exists quietly, and in that quiet, it becomes part of existence itself. 

When people Gaslight, they actually want to pluck the flowers but I am not flower. Their gaslighting will hardly affect me, however, they will expose themselves in my eyes. My real life happens elsewhere — in writing, in thought, in the ordinary moments not on spotlights or loud appreciations. There, I enrich myself quietly. There, I am not performing. I am simply being. 

To be ordinary is not to be less. To be unidentified is not to be invisible. It is to be free. 

Paash in 2026: Would Truth Still Be Written?

What if great writers like Paash and Shiv Kumar Batalvi were born today? 

Today is an era of filters. We live behind masks. We post carefully, speak carefully, and even feel carefully. Privacy has become secrecy. Secrecy has become silence. In such a world, would Paash and Batalvi ever become “great”?

Maybe not. The system today rewards safe voices. It rewards people who don’t offend, who don’t question, who don’t bleed on paper. Paash’s "Sabse khatarnak hota hai hamare sapno ka murda ho jana" would be called “too political”. Batalvi’s "Mainu vida karo" would be called “too emotional, not brand friendly”.  But only people like them can feel the vastness of existence, only they can be one with the cosmos as they have guts to accept themselves in a certain role which is assigned to them by the Existence. 

But what the world would like to suggest them? Perhaps they would be suggested to keep their pain private. Perhaps they would be told to write motivational quotes instead of revolution.

But I don’t think they would stop. 

Because a true scholar of literature is not made for applause. He is made for truth. Masks suffocate such people. You cannot write about a burning world if you are busy protecting your image. You cannot write about love and death if you are afraid of judgment.

Paash did not care if they jailed him. Batalvi did not care if they called him mad. They wrote because they had to. Because not writing meant a living death.

So yes, they might have 200 followers today instead of 2 million. They might be called “controversial” instead of “classic”.  But they would still write. 

And that is the test of our time. Are we brave enough to live without fake masks? Are we willing to be real in a world that pays us to be fake?

Literature was never born in comfort. It was born in courage.

Optimism is a Fool's Paradise

I favour pessimism, not because I am bitter, but because I choose to see life as it is. 

Everything we see, everything we possess, and everything we build is destined to tarnish one day. People change, success fades and even empires that once looked permanent eventually turn to dust. To deny this truth is to live in a fool's paradise.  

Optimism often tells us to shut our eyes and hope that nothing will go wrong. How can you say nothing will go wrong when you can see emperors falling, people changing and your body going near to decay and death? No, we don't need this kind of optimism. It is worse than opium or liquor because they will only destroy your body, however, such kind of optimism will destroy you from inside. It will kill your natural drive to seek your true Self that is beyond decay and death. It will make you like a dove who closes it's eyes when it sees the cat coming to eat it. No, we can never be like the dove! How can we? We are human beings. And only the souls living in human body can know their very origin i.e. The Pure Consciousness. Only this is the reason I favour Pessimism. It tells us to keep our eyes open and be prepared for the worst or at least be ready for it . It is not the enemy of happiness. It is the shield against disappointment.  And mind you, all great people of past felt disappointed during the last span of their lives no matter either they were kings, warriors, politicians, leaders or those who possessed utmost wealth and honour. Why? Because they keep looking outside. They don't have courage to move inward. 

And when we accept that nothing lasts, we stop clinging. We stop looking the outside world which is subject to decay. And now we stop fearing loss. We begin to value the present without trying to own it forever.  

This is not hopelessness. This is clarity because once you understand that everything is temporary, you stop being controlled by it. And in that understanding, you find a quiet, unshakable peace and then you get the glimpse of that which is not, that which can never be touched, that which can never be tarnished, that which can never be affected by anyone or anything. And that is thou thyself.  Know thyself and stop thinking...

From Jiva Aatma to Param Aatma: The Journey Within

When a person is attached to worldly possessions and is driven by endless desires, that person is called a Jivatma*. The Jivatma identifies with the body, with relationships, with status, and with things that are temporary and because of this attachment, the mind remains restless and bound to the cycle of endless longings and suffering.

When one turns inward through devotion, Gyan*, Yoga*, or Dhyan*, the desires begin to dissolve. By understanding the true nature of life, one realizes that the world is transient and nothing here is permanent. This realization marks the beginning of the journey toward the Aatman*, the Eternal Self. The Aatman is not bound by name, form, or time. It is Pure  Consciousness, and this is what the scriptures call Sanatan* - the Eternal.

When one goes beyond the awareness of the Aatman and enters in deep meditation, one begins to experience the Avyakta*, the Un-manifested, the Undescribed. It cannot be defined in words, because it is beyond form and thought.

And when one goes even deeper, beyond the Avyakta, through intense devotion or meditation, one catches only a glimpse of the Absolute — Purusha*, Om*. This Om* is Param Aatma*, the Supreme Self, from which everything arises and into which everything dissolves.

From core, we all are that Pure Cosmic Consciousness i.e. Param Aatma who can never be preceived through the mortal five senses and if we truly want to go back to our very origin, the only thing we need to do is to stop doing anything. Stop thinking...

Reference: 

Katha Upanishad

My Reflections

Through my experiences as a parent, teacher, and once a curious child myself, I have observed that boys and girls may sometimes express their energy, emotions, and curiosity differently. Many boys appear more energetic, adventurous, restless, and inclined to test boundaries. They may find it difficult to sit in one place for long periods and often respond better to patience, understanding, and encouragement than to force or excessive control.

Girls, on the other hand, are often observed to develop a sense of responsibility, patience, and maturity at an earlier age. They may appear more settled, organised, and careful in certain situations. However, these are only general observations, not fixed rules. Every child is unique, and personality is shaped by temperament, upbringing, experiences, and environment—not by gender alone.

I have also noticed that many boys gradually become more responsible, patient, calm, and quiet as they grow older. The same energy and curiosity that may make them mischievous or restless in childhood can later develop into courage, determination, creativity, independence, and a strong sense of responsibility. With time, experience, guidance, and understanding, their youthful restlessness often matures into stillness and inner strength.

Observing my son has made me look back on my own childhood. I, too, was very naughty, curious, and adventurous, and my curiosity often led me into trouble. Now I realise how patient, loving, and wise my parents and teachers were. They understood my nature, tolerated my mistakes, guided me patiently, and helped me grow.

Today, as a parent and a teacher, I understand their efforts much more deeply. I realise that raising and guiding a curious, energetic child requires immense patience, wisdom, understanding, and love. I shall always remain indebted to my parents and teachers for their sacrifices, guidance, patience, and the values they gave me.