"THE JUNGLE DARES THE WORLD OF CRIME" by dr jernail s anand

 

THE JUNGLE DARES THE WORLD OF CRIME

Dr Jernail S. Anand

Whenever there are events involving injustice and wildness, we often say, it is ‘jungle raaj’ [the law of the jungle]. The jungle is abused as we often abuse a man who has done an indecent job calling him a dog. A crow, when crows, is a harbinger of a cherished guest, but a crow, nowadays, is mentioned more as one, who is killed and hung aloft for a lesson to other crows.

When we compare a man’s mischief, we go to monkeys and cats, and when we refer to his power, we catch the lion. However, when men eat human flesh, and turn indiscriminate, we invoke wolves. A man who is dunce is likened to an ass, and if something is going very fast, it is said to be talking to the winds. How is power of a man measured if not as horse power. And most of all, when we have to reject something as absurd, a bull comes to our rescue, along with his shit. We call it ‘bull-shit’. The jungle is never far away when we men have to say something, and it has to be exemplified from the animal world.

In fact, we go to nature to authenticate our experience. In the same way as we quote from great authors and thinkers and even from Vedas. If some man has eaten up some other person, there is no way to say it more effectively than saying that he has eaten into him like ‘deemak’ [termiotes]. If some misfortune strikes a man, we compare it with lightning.

If we have to compare a man’s steadfastness, we invoke mountains. If a man starts going to a place of worship after committing sins, we are reminded of a cat going for Hajj after eating nine hundred mice. And if we want to tell man he should have a great patience, Farid the great poet says: a man should have the patience of a tree. Men who are full of wisdom, are humble just as a branch bearing a fruit bends. As pure as the Ganges, as high as the Himalayas, I wonder if there is any human emotion which can be delivered authentically without referring to nature.

So, it is the nature which we often call the ‘jungle raaj’. The idea of ‘jungle raaj’ conveys the idea of lack of justice in the human world. It is interesting to see why man thinks that his world is more just, as compared to the world of nature. Here is a glimpse of the life of the jungle, which human beings often denounce. The big fish eat the small fish. The powerful kill the less powerful. This is what happens in the jungle and even in oceans and the same thing happens in the world of men too. But, the point of departure between the two world arrives soon, and I wonder if we can really accuse the world of nature as a land of lawlessness.

The Order of Nature

The order that we find in nature is far more powerful and more established than in the human world. Birds, animals are born with a default understanding of their role. Just imagine, they have no schools. It is only the human being who needs training in schools. And, we need worship places to teach us how to pray and remain connected to the creator, whereas animals are always in a state of prayer. A Punjabi poet, Prof. Puran Singh finds the buffaloes and calves [animals on their fours] always in a state of prostration. Animals and birds have no liquor shops, they do not have ‘bars’, they do not have rave parties, they do not molest women. And most of everything, have you come across any murder in the forest?

In the forest, which we call the ‘jungel raaj’, there are killings. The big animals eat away the smaller animals. In fact, most of the birds are non-vegetarian. They eat up smaller insects. But nobody raises any and cry. Because it is their way of life. There are no murders as I said, no police stations, no violation of rights. There are no courts to ensure justice. Only we human beings need courts of justice because the human world thrives on injustice. Murders take place in the human world only. The jungle has no underworld. They have no armies. No weapons dump. We have never seen them fighting pitched battles as men have done in the past over land for oil or resources.

Nature is a repository of sense and wisdom. Jungle is far more composed and balanced in its attitude towards life. They do not attack humans. Only humans have assaulted and molested the vegetation and the trees.

In fact, for the human world, ‘jungle raaj’ refers to the lack of justice and fairness, and a world which is given to crime. The fact is that the world of the jungle is the real world of nature where the law of the creator, the original laws are in operation. Man, with his greed and weapons, has created a world of crime which he equates with the ‘jungle raaj’. In my opinion, we denigrate the jungle in order to establish our superiority, whereas the facts prove it otherwise.

The final truth about the law of the jungle and the law of man’s land is a comparison between a sense of live and let live, and a passion for greed and exploitation and ultimate elimination of the other. The jungle ‘raaj’ is original and superior, whereas man’s laws are artificial and inferior, if not altogether infernal.

Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, with an opus of 190 plus books, is Laureate of the Seneca, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky awards. His name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. Anand’s work embodies a rare fusion of creativity, intellect, and moral vision. He is President of the Internaitonal Academy of Ethics.