The commentary on the Pagnamakkanuvattanasutta (‘First on the turning of the wheel’) in the Raja Vagga (discourses referring to kings) of the Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses) proceeds to the third attribute that a Chakravarthi or ‘Universal King’ is endowed with, according to Siddhartha Gauthama, our Budun Wahanse, that of mattagngnu.
‘Mattagngnu’
refers to appropriateness or a sense of proportion, the right amount or correct
dosage in all matters pertaining to governance.
This I believe is of particular significance in the spheres of law and
development in today’s context, both in Sri Lanka and in the world.
‘Knowing limit’
is the key to this element of the Sutta.
This is not as easy as it seems.
It requires, first of all, a sound understanding of all relevant
factors. It requires sound
judgment. Wisdom needs to be applied to
all deliberations. Facts need to be
considered dispassionately. Prejudices
need to be retired or suspended. The
yesterday, now and tomorrow relevant to the matter, or the thun-kal dekma,
have to be factored in. The leader, in
other words, should ‘read’ the moment at hand in terms of its antecedents and
evaluate each option in terms of possible consequences.
For example, a leader who treats a problem
without considering the history it evolved from increases the possibility of
failure and moreover renders the future vulnerable to unpleasant and unintended
effects of the chosen course of action. If a more here-and-now example is
required, treating the ‘ethnic-conflict’ (so-called) by considering only the
configuration of forces at the present time and the ‘prerogatives’ of political
expediency without taking into account the genesis of the problem and the
veracity of all relevant claims in terms of historical, geographical,
demographical and economic realities, can very well generate further rupture
down the line. That’s what misdiagnosis
does.
‘Knowledge,’ a
leader has to keep in mind, is not value-free. It is often fettered by
ideological baggage. A leader is often
handicapped by a felt-need of advisors, aides and loyalists to keep him/her
happy. The leader is often kept in the
dark and operates blindly, believing erroneously that all is well and that the
information provided is reliable and true.
When knowledge is lacking, deciding ‘limit’ becomes arduous and
error-prone. A lack of humility,
likewise, can stop a leader from reminding him/herself that the sum total of
human knowledge is just a speck of dust compared with the universe of our
ignorance. ‘Mattagngnu,’
therefore imposes upon ruler a need to equip him/herself with mechanisms that
cut through these clarity-compromising impediments. Such a leader would constantly guard against
censorship and self-censorship, deception and self-deception and seek ways of
circumventing the twin curses of ignorance and arrogance.
A reasonable
understanding of the weight and contour of all relevant or at least the most
pertinent factors is a necessary but not sufficient condition for making
decisions that enhance overall profitability.
This is where mattagngnu comes into play. Perhaps comment on a couple of examples would
help shed light.
Let’s begin
with law or the dispensing of justice, the latter referring to word as well as
spirit. Suraj Randiv bowling a no-ball
to give India a win in a match that was lost in all but name and simultaneously
denying Virendra Sehwag a century (he was 99 not out) was legal but violated
‘sense of justice’. What is important is
that the word should celebrate the idea of equality. No one should be above the law and everyone
should be equal before the law. The law
should not be referenced and applied selectively. Violation of law should be met with
punishment appropriate to the infringement.
Notions such as ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ and ‘due process,’ as
well as adequate corrective mechanisms to safeguard against error such as the
right of appeal all fall into the ambit of ‘appropriateness’.
A leader who
abides by the principle cannot punish one person for theft while letting
another person get away with it. Neither can such a leader be arbitrary in
determining severity of punishment.
Punishment as well as punitive action should follow reason and not
emotion. Neither should political convenience be a determining element. There should be clarity at all stages of the
process and the decision as well as the justification should be open to
scrutiny. A leader cannot demolish a
house claiming that an occupant is hiding a gun therein, reducing everything to
rubble and killing or maiming other occupants who are innocent of any such
infringement of the law. There should be
adequate proof and moreover the accused should be offered a chance to defend
him/herself against the charge. A leader
cannot bomb one such house (even if this can be justified based on the
fulfillment of the above criteria) and leave another house (where an occupant
guilty of the same ‘crime’ is resident) untouched. That’s arbitrary, selective and in clear
violation of the principle of mattagngnu.
‘Development’
is a discourse, a set of ideas (and indeed an ‘ideology’) and a practice in the
modern world where mattagngnu has been cast aside as irrelevant,
obstacle and irritant. Sense of
proportion is a notion that is either footnoted (grudgingly) or is largely
absent(ed) in/from the development discourse.
The prerogatives of ‘modernity’ took for granted that things past are
irrelevant and indeed needed to be erased altogether. History and heritage were
made to take a backseat. What mattered
was what was at hand. Traditions and
customs were considered relevant on in terms of their market value. ‘Irrelevanced’ simultaneously was the
‘future’. Whereas some cultures
extrapolated seven generations into the future to ascertain the worth of a
particular course of action, ‘modernity’ and modernist development paradigms
was far less far-seeing and utterly impatient. The future could wait, it was
thought. Saving for a rainy day was out
of question. The value of all things was ascertained in the marketplace. Tomorrow would take care of itself, it was
thought. It was the era of the
‘er’. BiggER. BettER. TallER. RichER.
The lack of
concern for appropriateness is clearly shown in the mindless mining of all
resources and until very recently the callous disregard for the impact on the
environment and therefore the overall health of the planet. We are pushing countless species to
extinction. The seas have been
over-harvested. We are champions of
desertification. We are running out of
carbon fuels. In short, the earth’s
capacity to regenerate and renew itself has been severely compromised. We have precipitated natural disasters and
scripted our own tragedies as well. We
have not only abandoned that thing called ‘sense of proportion,’ we’ve lost our
bearings as well.
Development was
in an almighty hurry. We ran along. At breakneck speed. We are panting now. We’ve run out of steam. Running out of
petroleum. Running out of answersto the problems we’ve created. A leader cannot run away. He/she must stand
and fight. That fight cannot be won if
the leader refuses to acknowledge, among other things, that modernism and the
modernist drive got the dosage all wrong.
We took more and more and didn’t think of giving back. We were so fixated on ‘the moment’ that we
forgot about the future. We borrowed so
much from our children, their children and generations yet unborn that we may
very well have condemned them to impoverishment.
Our leaders, in
the matter of development, have shown that they’ve not factored in mattagngnu
in their deliberations. Neither did the
development gurus. Nor those who made careers out of development –
academics, NGO operators, advisors and other blueprint-makers.
Any standout
leader needs to be sober. Mattagngnu is a quality that exemplifies
sobriety. Be it in constitutional
enactment, application of the law, designing development, imposition of taxes,
granting of subsidies, exercising presidential prerogative or any other
governance element, the leader who has the wisdom to exercise restraint and
determine appropriateness will stand tall. Others can stand tall too. Not for
long.
Sabbe aatta
bhavantu sukhitatta. May all beings
be happy.
msenevira@gmail.com
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