Editorial

The Best or the Worst?

It was a very hot afternoon. Mr. Manav was very tired and was happy to reach the riverside. On the bank of the river he found a huge banyan tree. Near that, there were some mango trees with full of mango fruits. Mr. Manav washed himself in the river, and felt very fresh. However, he was hungry. He threw stones at the tree to get the mango fruits. He ate couple of them, and he had a bag and he filled his bag with the fruits. Now he felt sleepy. He went under the banyan tree. While lying in the cool shade of the tree he went to sleep. After some time, he woke up and as, it was still quite hot, he decided to rest a while under the tree. He opened the book he was carrying and began to read it aloud. He began to read a passage dealing with description of God’s creations. The book, while dealing with the human being as a creature of God, described him as the best creation of God, and went on to justify why a human being is treated as the best creation of God. When he went on reading that passage, he heard a very loud laughter. He looked around, he did not see anybody, but he continued to hear the loud laughter. He was confused, was also afraid and he thought that there is a devil which is laughing. But the banyan tree said, “ Do not be afraid Mr. Man, it is I who is laughing”. The man being again surprised asked the Tree, “as to why it is laughing so loudly. What is the reason for such laughter?” The Tree replied “ I heard what you were reading, hearing that, I burst into laughter. Surprised again, the man asked as to what was so funny in it that made it to laugh so much. The Tree, still smiling replied, “ You say that Human being is the best creation of God. That made me to laugh.” The Man swiftly replied, “ What is wrong or so funny about that statement. From any angle one may observe, undoubtedly human being is the best creation of God. There is no doubt about it. You know the book is written by a great author Mr. X?” Hearing their conversation, all the birds living near the tree and around and the animals around, gathered under the tree to listen to the conversation that was going on. The river also began to listen to the conversation that was going on. The Tree replied, “ the author is also a human being, is it not? Whatever you men write about yourselves is nothing but patting one’s own back. Anyway, will you please explain to us, why you think that Human being is the best creation of God? What standards, or tests you have applied to come to this conclusion that Human being is the best creation of God?” Thinking awhile, Mr. Manav replied, “ Look here, among the creations of God the only creatures who can think and think rationally are the Human beings. It is we who found out that God exists. The Tree interrupted him saying “But many Human beings deny the very existence of God, what about that?” The man replied “ They are fools, idiots, as such, they deny the existence of God.” The Tree again interrupted saying that “the persons who deny the existence of God are also Human beings. Is it not?” To this the man replied “forget those idiot Human beings, let us proceed. See, it is we human beings who found out that God is everywhere. He is the creator of this universe and all creatures in the Universe. Only we can realise God. Even God and Goddesses are jealous of us because only Human beings can realise God. It is only we who realise that God is everywhere, all pervasive. That He is Sat-chit Anand and only Human beings are akin to God. We worship God. We have constructed many temples, churches etc. for Him”. At this juncture, the River interrupted “ You Human beings mean that God has no place to live and, therefore, He has asked you people to construct Temples, Mosques and Churches?” Hearing this comment all around who had gathered there (birds and animals) burst into loud laughter. “No, no, not like that” the man replied. It is only to show our devotion to Him.” Now, he crow intervened “What a funny way of showing devotion. You have just imprisoned Him, confining Him to these places. By this, are you not denying your own conclusion that God is everywhere?” Thus cornered, the Man losing his cool shot back “Please do not interrupt me, let me complete my statements, then I will answer all your questions”. Then he went ahead “Only Human beings have intelligence, rationality. With the help of these qualities we have invented so many new things, which would make everybody’s life comfortable. We have invented electricity. We have invented motor cars, railways and telephones, computers which are very helpful to everybody. At this moment, unable to keep quiet, now the Monkey intervenes “O yes! It is you human beings who invented arms. It is you who invented Atom bombs, destructive missiles. It is you who destroyed forests. Your weapons can destroy the whole Universe. Unable to bear the interruptions, the Man again requested all not to interrupt. “ We will not go ahead” all replied. He continued, “We have founded great religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, which taught and spread truth, love, compassion, kindness and charity”. Unable to keep quiet this time, the Parrot intervened “You say these religions spread love, affection, kindness etc. Followers of these religions fought with one another, it is said by one human soul, I remember to have read, that more people have been killed in the name of religion than those killed in the world wars. You talk of love and kindness. Leave about other creatures, you human beings constantly fight with one another. The strong ones have constantly exploited, the weaker ones. You have created classes among yourselves as rich and poor. Many among yourselves have been deprived of basic necessities of life. When some overfeed themselves and accumulate, others starve with hunger. Inequality prevails everywhere. Everywhere there is exploitation. The exploitation you are practising against your own people. This is because human beings are basically very selfish, very cruel and very merciless”. Unable to face the criticism. The man again protested and insisted that he should not be interrupted again. All agreed and asked him to continue. He continued, “ We human beings are very helpful to other creatures like trees and animals. We are very kind to them. We feed the animals. We give water and manures to the trees.” Unable to restrain himself, now the mango tree burst into laughter and remarked, “ You say you are kind to the trees. Just a few hours earlier, what a great kindness you showed to me! You threw stones at me, because of that, not only I was badly hurt but many fruits of mine and many unripe fell down. Not only you were not satisfied with satisfying your hunger by eating mangoes, you have filled your bag with my mangoes. You say human beings are kind, helpful and compassionate. You human beings have to learn from us, what is kindness, what is helpfulness and what is service? Just see you threw stones at me, I did not reply by throwing stones at you. Instead, I gave you sweet fruits to eat. Apart from not being kind at all, you are very ungrateful. We give shade to you to rest. We supply oxygen to you, which is very vital for your survival. By way of gratitude, what do you do? Many times, you cut us into pieces. Is it kindness? It is sheer cruelty. As against this cruelty, what do we trees do? Just serve our tormentors. You throw stones at us. We give fruits in return. You cut us into pieces. We help you to cook your food by use of our wood. We allow you to use our wood for building purposes. We provide oxygen on which your existence depends. Each and every part of ours is dedicated to serve. Our whole existence, our whole life is for service, in return for service we expect nothing from you. Anyway, what can we expect from cruel and ungrateful human species? Selfless service without any expectation is our Dharma. We are real Karmayogis, as described in your Geeta. With all this, you claim you are the best Divine creature. We are not claiming that status. Even claiming that status is selfishness. We do not believe in making such claim”.

To put a last nail in the coffin, the dog joined remarking, “You say you are kind to animals. If at all, you are very cruel to us. Under the guise of keeping pets, you keep us in prison. How many animals and birds you murder daily and eat the meals? As against that, even if one human is killed by us, it becomes a big news in your newspapers. But what about you killing us in millions and that too daily? You just stated that God creates all creatures and God is in every creation of His. Then, how can you kill God’s creations in which He is dwelling ? It is sheer rubbish to claim that that you are best creatures of God. On the other hand, you are worst creatures of God and enemy No. 1 of all other creatures. Still you have the audacity to claim that you are the best creatures. Shame on you, you human beings !

All creatures, trees, birds, animals and rivers all in chorus began to shout “ Shame, Shame, Shame” ! The noise was so great that Manav suddenly woke up to see, that there was nothing around the tree where he was sleeping. He realised that it was a dream. However, while having a sense of relief that it was a dream, he could not help thinking that what was said was true and that the human being is the worst creature of God; as revealed in his dream.

Coming to the subject matter of the issue, we have covered the codified portions of Hindu Law by dealing with the four Acts , covering the subject of Marriage, Intestate, Succession, Adoption and Maintenance, Minority and Guardianship. Out of these four Acts, the Hindu Succession Act and the Amendment Act, 2005 have introduced far reaching changes in the traditional Hindu Law. The underlying theme of these changes is to confer equal property rights to Hindu female. The authors concerned have dealt with all essential provisions of these Enactments in an effective manner. Our thanks are due to all these authors.