Source: TW
On this arrowy death bed, the shAntanava, channeling our old clansman, the kAvya, told the pANDu-s these words:
sarve tyAgA rAjadharmeShu dR^iShTAH sarvA dIkShA rAjadharmeShu choktAH |
sarve vidyA rAjadharmeShu choktAH sarve lokA rAjadharmAn praviShTAH ||Tr: In politics are realized all forms of renunciation, in politics are united all ritual initiations (dIkSha-s); all kinds of knowledge are linked in politics; and the [conduct of] all the worlds are based in politics.
Since our youth, we pondered a lot over these words, especially the phrase: “sarve vidyA rAjadharmeShu choktAH |” At first we thought it was merely a hyperbole typical of the H style. But as I matured, more & more I came to realize that what the grandsire was saying was literally true.
The effects of the American disease more than anything else illustrates how literal this can be. The most common type in the Euro-American academe is one infected to differing degrees by navyonmAda. This infection is a fundamentally political infection – i.e., a memetic infection that acts on the pakSha-nirNaya centers of the brain. A striking result of it is how it makes “vidyA-s” , i.e., knowledge production subservient to it. We see this American disease being vociferously propagated by people who call themselves “scientists”, i.e., those who should be engaged in vidyA-janana. Thus, as a result of the corruption of their politics due to their infection, they start spewing out mithyA-vidyA & forcing others to mouth the same as though it was the new & correct shAstra. Thus, indeed it confirms the old shAntanava’s statement that all knowledge ultimately rests in politics.
Also: In an Occidental/occidentally oriented academe knowledge production is nothing short of a military campaign in competition with rivals who will do all it takes to emerge on top. Hence, such a setting a kShatriya approach is apposite.