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."