One of the most fundamental requirements of civil society is the rule of law, which means that the people must follow the law of the land irrespective of their status or position. In the modern world, developed countries feel proud that the rule of law governs their society, while most developing countries like India feel ashamed that their society does not have the rule of law. The developed countries are the role models for the underdeveloped countries, where the rule of law is still a distant dream.
Great New
Societies that follow the rule of law are often considered more civilized as society has much more order. Everything in such societies appears to be in order. The roads are clean, lawns and parks are well-maintained, government officials work in the office, and rains and public transport run on time. Further, there is virtually no corruption in public offices. People are well paid, deliver better efficiencies, and keep Everything neat and clean. These societies appear perfect to the people of other parts of the world, who often wonder why they can’t be like them.
All societies need laws for their existence. Although laws may differ in each culture, some basic principles are common to all laws of the world. These fundamental principles are equality, fraternity, justice, and liberty. The Indian constitution, for example, incorporates these goals in the preamble, which seeks to secure justice, liberty, and quality for all its citizens and promote among them the spirit of fraternity.
These principles are so universal that they have denatured their place in every civilized world society. It is a matter of great surprise that, in reality, the outcome of the rule of law is just the opposite. The more civilized a society is, the more inequality is among its population – more injustice to the have-nots, less liberty due to strict enforcement of the law, and more hatred among the citizens based on race, caste, and religion. What goes wrong with the implementation of the so-called rule of law?
Law of Nature:
Indian thinkers in the Vedic period, i.e., around 3000 years before the birth of Christ, discovered that the universe does not perform its functions at random but follows certain laws. These were called “Rita,” or the universal laws or principles that guided the universe. Man’s progress can be largely attributed to understanding these basic principles of Nature and expecting them to benefit the human race at the cost of the rest of the creations. Therefore, tman’s laws run contrary to Nature’s laws as they are nature-centric and not designed for all the creations of God or Nature.
On the contrary, human-made creations like parks, trees, and plants are artificially made. They, too, may look as beautiful as the natural ones, yet they cannot survive without regular effort on the part of man. Imagine a park thatis not been maintained for a few months, or a house that has that is ot been leaned for months. It will lose all its beauty and soon be filled with dust and weeds. No building or modern gadget can survive without external effort from man. However, all-natural creations can survive independently, maintain their existence, and enjoy their lives without external support.
The laws of Nature are jusNaturehey treat esspeciespecies(and not only equally lit. In a jungle, every species gets its due share of food, air, and water, enabling them to live a dignified life without being dependent on any other creation. Nature makes no distinction between one special and the other as all species are the same God’s children.
However, every other creature is killed in man’s world if it is not useful for man. They can survive only if they can be useful to man. Thus, man’s world does not treat any other creature of Nature with reNature and does not provide them any right to equality, liberty, justice, or fraternity. He cleverly usurps this universal law and makes it applicable only to humans. He has created a human-made law for all other lesser species, calling it ‘the law of the jungle’ or ‘the survival of the fittest,’ which justifies his domination over the weak creations. On the contrary, ithe fact is that the laws of the jungle are far more just and equal for all species than the human-made laws
Most men are not concerned about how they treat the lesser animals as they feel that ‘the survival of the fittest’ theory is more logical than the laws of Nature. However, every principle created in the universe has to be applied to them, and they may not always be a law. Please do not stop with animals; they also spread their wings to encompass human beings. This is where conflicts between man and man start, leading to hatred and wars. Man feels the pinch when the law of the jungle is applied against them, and the law of Nature is deniNaturehim. He is hurt when he is treated like weeds by society.
Weeds: The Undesirable Plants of Nature?
One of the most interesting creations of the natural world is the weed. Weeds are undesirable vegetation in the kingdom of plants. They are defined as any plant that is not valued by human society and usually tends to overgrow or compete with valued flora. Weeds are plants that human beings consider unattractive, undesirable, or troublesome.
In the natural world, man has to fight against weeds to make their artificial plants survive continuously. Weeds grow automatically, and if the artificial gardens do not have man’s supporters overpower them the whole field or garden becomes full of weeds. Weeds are created by Nature (God), and no human effort is required to grow them. They are, however, so powerful that man has to continuously guard his creation against these weeds, lest all creation of the civilized society is destroyed. Weeds are as undesirable to a man in the world of plants as criminals in human society.
Criminals: The Necessary Evil for the Civil Society:
Similar to weeds in the natural world, there is a growth of criminals in civilized societies. Who are these criminals? Why do they grow? Whether the criminals are healthy people, or do they have a mental illness, as often thought by the civilized world? Criminals are defined as the people who commit the crime. Crime is defined as an act that violates the criminal law and is punishable by law. Crime is usually considered an evil act, and criminals are often seen as evil created by the Devil, out there to destroy the civilized citizens, the children of God.
There are many similarities between criminals and weeds. Criminals grow automatically in every society, and society has to work hard to weed out these criminals. Criminals, like weeds, are so powerful and competitive that they have the power to defeat civilized people. They are, therefore, fought jointly by society. Yet, in every society, there is a crime, and there are criminals. We are used to looking at criminals as an unnecessary evil, just like weeds. Yet if God (Nature) is the creator of all, then Everything in this world must have been created with a purpose. “What could be the purpose of the creation of criminals?” We wonder.
Criminals are, as a matter of fact, the creation of the civilized world. There would be no law in an uncivilized world, so there can be no violation of the law and, hence, no criminal. To understand criminals’ utility in the civilized world, we must imagine a world of nature without nature. In such a world, all plants must be grown by tan with artificial watering – canals, tube wells, and other agricultural irrigation systems. In all certainty, man will grow only such crops and plants useful to man, and the rest of the species will surely not survive in man’s world.
Further, man’s energy is limited. With all his effort, he can hardly take care of a minuscule part of the world, an artificial plantation. The rest of the physical world would be without plants, oxygen, other animal life, and an ecosystem. This will soon lead to the end of the world, including the human being.
The role of criminals is similar to the role of the weeds. Imagine a world without crime, i.e., everyone follows the law of the land without question. It will only provide the status quo in the world. Kings will always be kings; only their children or loved ones can become kings. Poor will always be poor. Kings will frame more inhuman laws that would give them more power. The less fortunate people would die of hunger and poverty as they wouldn’t break the law, and the state would have no obligation to feed them. Thus, a world without criminals would be a place where people would die due to inaction, boredom, and cruelty. Such an ideal world, indeed, would be the most inhuman and most undesirable to humanity.
Thankfully, people called criminals automatically grow in every civil society as soon as man creates laws to govern it. They always challenge man’s laws since they are mostly against the laws of Nature, i.e., nature, justice, liberty, and fraternity. States always face opposition from people who break the law and are known as criminals. They may appear ugly, like weeds, but they only provide oxygen to society for its life. Thus, in posterity, people recognize them not as criminals but as heroes.
The Path of Heroism:
While man hates criminals, he worships the heroes. He can lay his most valuable possession, i.e., his life, on a single call from his hero. Who are these heroes? Are they law-abiding civilized people or law-defying criminals? Take the example of Mahatma Gandhi in the modern world. He was perhaps the biggest criminal in the time of British rule in India, and he was jailed many times on charges of bagging war against the state. He spent more than 15 years in jail for his various crimes. Yet, India’s people call him ‘Father of the Nation’ and love him more than any civilized person. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail, yet he is a national hero for South Africa and the world.
We can find numerous examples of great people who have broken the law and been punished for their criminal acts in history. The list includes phrist, Prophet Mohammad, Socrates, and Galileo. Yet, these people changed the history of the world, and they are rightly worshiped as heroes by the masses even after their death. How many people have you ever known who have become heroes without breaking the law and committing crimes in their time? Perhaps none. Heroes are created not by following the law but by breaking the law.
Rule of Divine Law:
It is not always good to follow the law blindly as it provides order and the rule of law in society but kills humanity, as most human-made laws are against natural laws. Human-made laws are often disguised under natural laws like equality, justice, liberty, and fraternity, yet they serve the opposite purpose. Most people see the letter of the law but fail to grasp its spirit. One must understand that breaking human-made laws is one of all civil societies’ fundamental requirements if it contradicts natural or divine laws. Thus, every person who breaks the law does not need to be a criminal. One must go deeper into the facts before declaring a law-breaker criminal. The key distinction will be to see if he is breaking the law for humanity’s interest or his selfish end. Is it need-based or greed-based? The distinction between good and evil lies between a true criminal and a hero. One who breaks the law for others or fights injustice is a hero and not a criminal. A poet said, “Jo lade die he that, Sura to” (One who fights for the weak is the real hero).
