Two and a Half Letters Stronger Than a Hundred Years of Hate
In a nation where noise often drowns out meaning, the real question is not whether the RSS deserves praise or condemnation—it is whether hate, however glorified, can ever outlive love. Centuries of saint-poets, freedom fighters, and voices of conscience have offered India a truth that neither political polemics nor communal propaganda can erase: love endures, hate corrodes. To pit the rhetoric of exclusion against the music of unity is a futile exercise. Nalin Verma opines that what binds a nation is not the slogans of ideologues but the eternal, unbreakable thread of love that poets like Kabir called true wisdom.
This is the 18th article in Senior Journalist and author Nalin Verma’s fortnightly column in The AIDEM titled ‘Everything Under The Sun’.
“Pothi Parhi Parhi Jag Mua; Pandit Bhaya Na Koi
Dhaai Akhar Prem Ka, Parhe So Pandit Hoi”
[The world perished reading scriptures, yet none became wise. Read the two-and-a-half letters of love, and only then do you become truly wise].
The ubiquitous news outlets are saturated with cacophonous debates, where panelists marshal quotations from myriad books to argue ‘for’ or ‘against’ the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—a militant Hindutva organization notorious for its hostility and violence against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities since its inception.
What has ignited this obnoxious quarrel on television screens is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fulsome praise of the RSS on the occasion of its centenary. If anything, these heated exchanges reveal one thing clearly: no one—be it a Prime Minister, a Chief Minister, a party boss, or any powerful office-holder—can secure genuine acceptance of a rabidly communal organization among the larger populace yearning for peace, love, and mutual harmony. Moreover, such debates are inherently ephemeral. They flare up like offensive reels on our screens, only to fade as abruptly as they appear.
What endures—always and ever—is humanity’s unquenchable thirst for love, harmony, and coexistence. It is far better, therefore, to sing and listen to the verses of our saint poets across ages—ancient, medieval, and modern—than to waste ourselves in these shrill exchanges. This column, thus, turns away from futile polemics to sing the lyrics of love gifted to us by saints, bards, and the genuine leaders of people in distress.
Lyrics of Love
Let us begin with a prayer-song of Bapu Gandhi—the Mahatma who carried the Geeta, Hinduism’s seminal text, and led India’s freedom struggle. Here it goes:
“Tu hi Raam Hai, Tu Rahim Hai, Tu Karim, Krishna Khuda Hua!
Tu hi Wah-e Guru, Tu Isha Masih, Har Haam Mein Tu Sama Raha”
[You are Rama, you are Rahim, you are Karim, Krishna, and Khuda!
You are Waheguru, you are Jesus Christ, dwelling in every heart].
Yet, this apostle of truth and love was gunned down by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu terrorist who today has a share of admirers within the RSS and its progenitor, the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. But the immortal voice of Mohammad Rafi, India’s greatest male vocalist, countered that darkness when he sang:
“Suno-Suno Aye Duniya-walon Bapu ki ye Amar Kahani;
Wo Bapu to pooj hain Itna Jitna Ganga Maa ka Paani…
Hindu, Muslim dono uske aankhon ke taar-e thay”
[Listen, O people of the world, to Bapu’s immortal tale.
Bapu is revered as deeply as the sacred waters of Mother Ganga.
Hindus and Muslims alike were the apples of his eye].
And when India lost hundreds of soldiers in the 1962 war with China, the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar, stirred the nation’s soul with:
“Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon, Zara Aankh Mein Bhar Lo Paani;
Jo Shaheed Hue Hain Unki Zara Yaad Karo Qurbaani”
[O people of my country, let your eyes fill with tears;
Remember the sacrifice of those who became martyrs].
It is said that Jawaharlal Nehru—the first Prime Minister of India, a sensitive soul and a large-hearted democrat—was moved to tears when Lata rendered the song at the National Stadium on January 27, 1963. Penned by Pradeep, this lyric still moistens the eyes of common people whenever it resounds on Independence Day or Republic Day. Through her divine voice, Lata showed us how to honor and cherish the sacrifice of martyrs.
These solemn national days are meant to recall our forefathers—the freedom fighters, soldiers, and countless common people—who were hanged or shot down by the enemy. It is, therefore, sacrilegious to glorify assassins on such occasions. To extol the RSS or its ilk—organizations that subverted the freedom struggle, sought clemency from the British, and even harmed freedom fighters—is nothing less than honoring the executioners over the martyrs.
Thus, even a debate between two camps—one “for RSS” and another “against RSS”—is meaningless. How can one possibly discover virtue in those trained and indoctrinated to hate Muslims and Christians, whose sacrifices in the making of modern India stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone else’s?
The Power of Love
Devils and angels are not phenomena bound to a particular era or spell of history. They have coexisted since the dawn of humankind. The devils, ever resourceful, have always found ways to silence the angels. They wield the power to make lies sound like truth and to replace the flow of love in the human heart with the malignant poison of hate.
It was in this spirit that Kabir, the 14th-century saint with a golden heart, sang:
“Pothi Parhi Parhi Jag Mua; Pandit Bhaya Na Koi
Dhaai Akhar Prem Ka, Parhe So Pandit Hoi.”
[The world perished reading scriptures, yet none became wise. Read the two-and-a-half letters of love, and only then do you become truly wise].
Kabir’s words were aimed at those devils who, masquerading as paragons of knowledge, crammed scriptures only to fashion arguments that made falsehood appear as truth. His counsel was simple yet profound: seek only the meaning of prem (love), contained in those two and a half letters. Knowledge that glorifies sin and belittles love, he warned, leads only into dark alleys. It is better, therefore, to cast aside any learning that distracts one from the path of love.
Centuries before Kabir, the 11th-century saint Guru Gorakhnath had voiced a similar truth when he sang:
“Prem se Jag Jeeto; Jo Nafrat Boye Raaj Mein;
Wah Shisya Kahan Kito.”
[Win the world with love.
Those who sow hatred in their rule—
Where have they ever succeeded?]
And following Kabir, the poet Rahim echoed the same eternal message in his couplet:
“Rahiman Dhaaga Prem Ka Mat Todo Chatkai;
Toote Pai Phir Na Jude, Jude Gaanth Pad Jaye.”
[Rahim says: Do not snap the thread of love abruptly.
Once broken, it may not join again;
Even if it does, a knot will always remain.]
This column, therefore, chooses to keep itself apart from the shrill ‘for and against’ debates swirling around the RSS. Instead, it turns to the timeless music and songs that soothe the soul and calm the nerves. On the occasion of the 78th Independence Day, it wishes every countryman a heart filled with love—because only love, and not hate, can truly safeguard our freedom.
