The Impact of the Judgment on Indian Society
Explore Justice Markandey Katju's profound insights on delivering his landmark judgment in the case of Naresh Chandra vs. District Inspector of Schools, Ghaziabad. Discover how this experience transformed him into a 'yoga yukta' and revealed deeper truths about India's past and future.
The story of my greatest judgmemt
By Justice Markandey Katju
After the Mahabharat war was over, Arjun requested Lord Krishna to narrate the Bhagavad Gita again, as he had forgotten it. Lord Krishna rebuked Arjuna for forgetting the Gita, and said that when he expounded the Gita on the battlefield of Kurukshetra he was 'yoga yukta', which he was no longer now, so he could not repeat it.
In Ashwamedika Parva of the Mahabharata, after the Mahabharat war Arjuna tells Sri Krishna that he had forgotten the Bhagvad Gita:
विदितं ते महाबाहो संग्रामे समुपस्थिते
माहात्म्यं देवकी मातस् तच् च ते रूपम् ऐश्वरम् ||
यत् तु तद् भवता प्रोक्तं तदा केशव सौहृदात्
तत् सर्वं पुरुषव्याघ्र नष्टं मे नष्टचेतसः ||
viditaṃ te mahābāho saṃgrāme samupasthite
māhātmyaṃ devakī mātas tac ca te rūpam aiśvaram ||
yat tu tad bhavatā proktaṃ tadā keśava sauhṛdāt
tat sarvaṃ puruṣavyāghra naṣṭaṃ me naṣṭacetasaḥ ||
~O mighty-armed one, Your greatness became known to me upon the approach of the battle. O son of Devaki, Your form also, as the Lord of the universe, then became known to me. What You said unto me at that time through affection, O Keshava, has all been forgotten by me, O chief of men, in consequence of the fickleness of my mind.
To this Sri Krishna replied:
श्रावितस्त्वं मया गुह्यन ज्ञापितश्च सनातनं | धर्मान स्वरूपिणं पार्थः सर्वलोकांश्च शाश्वतान ||
śrāvitastvaṃ mayā guhyana jñāpitaśca sanātanaṃ | dharmāna svarūpiṇaṃ pārthaḥ sarvalokāṃśca śāśvatāna ||
~O Son of Kunti! You heard the secret of bhakti Yoga and was instructed by me about the eternal self that is distinct from the body that forms the subject of Jnana Yoga, the nature of works that is the subject matter of Karma Yoga and all the imperishable injunctions of the Shastras.
अबुद्ध्वा यन्न ग्रिह्निथस्तन्मे सुमहदप्रियम् | नूनमश्रद्दधानोऽसि दुर्मेधाश्चासि पाण्डवा ||
abuddhvā yanna grihnithastanme sumahadapriyam | nūnamaśraddadhāno'si durmedhāścāsi pāṇḍavā ||
O Pandava! It is to my great displeasure that you have forgotten it. Therefore, due to a lack of determination, you are indeed devoid of a firm conviction in the truth, and are certainly of a perverse intellect.
स हि धर्मः सुपर्याप्तो ब्रह्मणः पदावेदने | न शक्यन तन्मया भुयस्यथ वक्तुमशेषतः ||
sa hi dharmaḥ suparyāpto brahmaṇaḥ padāvedane | na śakyana tanmayā bhuyasyatha vaktumaśeṣataḥ ||
Lord Krishna then went on to say :
परन हि ब्रह्म कथितं योगयुक्तेन तन्मया | इतिहासन् तु वक्ष्यामि तस्मिन्नर्थे पुरातनं || यथा तं बुद्धिमास्थाय गतिमग्र्यन गमिष्यसि | शृणु धर्मभ्रितान श्रेष गदतः सर्वमेव मे ||
parana hi brahma kathitaṃ yogayuktena tanmayā | itihāsan tu vakṣyāmi tasminnarthe purātanaṃ || yathā taṃ buddhimāsthāya gatimagryana gamiṣyasi | śṛṇu dharmabhritāna śreṣa gadataḥ sarvameva me ||
Indeed, the highest knowledge of the Vedas was described by me on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, as I was yoga yukta then ( which I am no longer now ). But on account of your rejection of my grace you forgot it. I can only relate to you now an ancient history based on that subject.
Similarly, though I am no Lord Krishna, I can say that I was 'yoga yukta' when I delivered the greatest judgment of my life, Naresh Chandra vs District Inspector of Schools, Ghaziabad, 1992:
This was shortly after I became a judge of the Allahabad High Court in November, 1991, at the age of 45, when a man is at the peak of his mental powers, neither too young, nor too old.
I have written an article about this judgment,.
But this article only probes the surface. Now I want to narrate how I became 'yoga yukta' while delivering the judgment.
I had always felt downcast and miserable in seeing my country India, which had a known history of 5000 years, and whose people created mighty civilisations thousands of years ago when most people in Europe ( except in Greece and Rome ) were living in forests ( see Will Durant's 'The Story of Civilisation : Our Oriental Heritage', and A.L. Basham's 'The Wonder that was India' ), now in the depths of its existence, with political leaders who had no genuine love for the country, but only sought power and pelf, and for that polarised society and created hatred on caste and communal basis for securing vote banks. I saw a country whose people were once prosperous, and the country known as a 'sone ki chidiya', now with massive poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished ), skyrocketing prices of essential commodities including food, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc.
This case, which by chance came before me, suddenly transformed me from a mere judge, and made me a 'yoga yukta'. From the individual facts of the case I siezed the opportunity to show to the Indian people the way out of their predicament, just as Lord Krishna showed Arjun the way out of his. I was not simply a judge deciding an individual case. I was transformed into a historian, philosopher, lodestar, coxswain, counselor, mentor, educator and guide, telling the Indian people who they were, to what heights they had soared in the past, to what depths they had fallen lately, and how they can recover their lost glory. No doubt this is not what is ordinarlly done in court judgments. But the situation of my country desparately required this, and I rose to the occasion.
No doubt this judgment, given by a very junior judge of a High Court sitting singly, was subsequently ignored by the Supreme Court or larger benches of the High Court. But I had done my duty to my country.
As Nietzsche said in 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' : '' What matter about thyself Zarathustra ? Say thy word, and break into pieces ''.
