Blog

SAD END TO A BRILLIANT CAREER : DOMINIQUE STRAUSS – KAHN

The untimely end to Dominique Strauss – Kahn’s ( hereinafter referred to as DSK ) brilliant career at IMF, precipitated by a momentary “indiscretion”, while trying to have forced sex with the hotel’s housekeeping staff, a Guinean lady, and having been indicted by a NY court on all of seven counts, and now on house arrest and awaiting trial, is a classic example of degeneration of our collective values in modern times.

If the chambermaid had not complained, DSK would have gone home quietly, been adored by his wife and daughter, continued to be the chief at IMF, and probably run for next year’s presidential election in France as well. If only the chambermaid had not lodged a complaint, and gone home quietly, thinking that this is just another of life’s injustices, DSK would have got away scot free, with no one the wiser, and would have continued to frame and drive policy at the IMF, and been a global figure of world changing potential. The question then lingers : who was at fault, DSK or the chambermaid, for depriving the world of a brilliant financial engineer ?

Back in 1977, the famous Hollywood director Roman Polanski, escaped trial in the US after having sex with a minor. In later years, the escapades of the highly charismatic and likeable Bill Clinton for his extended sexual relationship with a junior aide, and a recent Australian Premier who later apologized to his nation ( and was mostly forgiven by his electorate ) for having a prolonged sexual relationship outside marriage, are cases of men in big places behaving most ordinarily during their private time. The Californian governor Arnold Shwarzneigger, one of my favourite actors, for the simplicity and honesty he displayed on screen, has now admitted having sired a child by one of his private maids. Nearer to home, some of our own “godmen” and sadhus, many quite famous and popular otherwise, have been arrested by the police for having raped many gullible or foolish women, in the guise of performing some esoteric “tantra”, or bestowing ‘spiritual power’ by the very act of sex. A very senior, elderly ( over seventy ) , and otherwise respected state governor, was recently caught on camera indulging in esoteric sex with a professional sex worker. In Britain, senior members of the clergy, even at the level of Bishops, have confessed to having sex and sired children, mostly with poorer or illiterate women, who had come to them for protection and advice. These escapades had not escaped the very active media glare. In ancient India, the great sage and ascetic, Vishwamitra, who had become very powerful on account of his asceticism and celibacy, was downed by the beautiful Menaka, who was sent by Indra for this express purpose. This is very similar to the ‘honey trap’ set up by international spy agencies today, meant to weaken intended victims for the subsequent sting operation or to extract valuable state secrets.     

Every newspaper in every large city of the world, reports of rapes and non consensual sex every other day. In actuality, the number of cases reported may be between one to five per cent of the actual incidence of this phenomenon. The physical and emotional trauma of the victim, and the permanent scars such an event leaves on the victim, including the attitude of family members and society, which has to be endured by the victim, is something that cannot be put into words. In Pakistan, some interpreters of the Shariat, in their zeal to protect the status quo, and the “supremacy” of man, even consider the victim to be the actual criminal for being responsible for inducing the man to behave thus. Furthermore, the act of rape has to be corroborated by at least two independent “witnesses”. Otherwise, the case will be considered as illicit sex by mutual consent, and the victim becomes the criminal. There have been cases of public flogging of such rape victims. There can be no more blatant miscarriage of justice, or degradation of moral standards.    

Man is not the only actor in this phenomenon. We know that many ‘celebrity’ single women “flaunt” their bodies as a lure to get the best possible “catch”. Leave aside modern times, the classic novel “Vanity Fair” is set on the same theme of a scheming woman who uses her body and her natural charms to entrap men, as a life long policy.  

Egypt’s queen, Cleopatra’s entrapment of Julius Caeser, and subsequently, Mark Anthony, and other historical figures, such as the saint Harmachis, was well documented and is a historical fact. Cleopatra’s end was not happy. She died as a victim of her own uncontrolled desires.

What does this trend reflect ? Where are we headed ?            

In the Srimad Bhagavad – Gita (2.60 to 63), the Lord states :  “The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them. One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence”.    “While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool”.

What better commentary can there be on human weakness than this timeless wisdom from our own scriptures ?

It is difficult to control sexual urge. Sexual urge is an animalistic instinct which needs to be controlled and chanellized, or sublimated. There was a Greek poet, who, having been handed his hat by the lady of his affections, promptly went home and began writing poetry in a new metre. Everyone does not treat such rejection in such a classical or unique manner.     

If someone says : “modern society is just a collective system which comprises the four basic animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending”, he wouldn’t be very far off the mark.  

A very good antidote to sexual urge is to avoid eating onion and garlic. Though both these have some therapeutic properties, they are also rudimentary yet powerful aphrodisiacs. This is very well known to the “vaisnava parampara” as well as to the other spiritual streams originating in India. Hence many persons who are spiritually inclined, or those past a certain age and who are no longer interested in sex life, avoid or completely abstain from eating food which contains onion and garlic. When one thinks of sex, one cannot think of anything else. The mind blanks out and one behaves irrationally.

The Srimad Bhagavad – Gita further states (2.66 to 68) : “One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace? As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence. Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence”.

Even Christianity speaks of sex only as a means of producing children within the holy institution of marriage. Every priest and every Pope down the ages has said the same thing. Yet, we are moving into the “animalistic mode” in the guise of being more liberated or “modern”. We must go back to our scriptures, in order to regain our values and make ourselves stronger to face “physical temptations”. When we see a beautiful woman, we must not think of her as an object of sex or of our sexual fantasies, but rather sublimate our thoughts to think of the Lord whose creativity and craftsmanship has produced such beauty. Rabindranath Tagore has said the same thing many a times. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in the short story, The Naval Treaty, has Sherlock Holmes remark : “a rose is an adjunct to life, an extra, not a necessity of life. A rose reminds us of a divine presence, and the infinite goodness of the Lord”. Every beautiful object or creature in this world should remind us of the Lord, and should not induce us to act in such animalistic fashion, as to make even Charles Darwin wince with self pity.     

Gautam Saha