From legislation to enlightenment
— Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji
The very purpose of law, in a layman's language, is to regulate the affairs of the society and the state within a specified jurisdiction. In other words, one can say that one of the main objects of Law is to regulate the social, economic, political, cultural, religious, administrative, educational and physical atmosphere of a society and the relations and interactions between individuals, institutions and communities.
Since the Law is aimed at maintaining an atmosphere that the society considers as congenial for the growth and development of the individual and the nation and is helpful to every individual to enjoy his rights and liberties, every citizen is expected to know his rights and also his duties so that, while he makes efforts for his peace and progress, he does not obstruct the fulfilment of similar aspirations of others, and, thus, does not violate law and invite punishment. But if legal Acts, additions and amendments roll out from the legislative bodies as products roll out from an industry, it becomes impossible for a citizen to keep abreast with the law and to completely avoid violation of law.
As new situations arise due to industrialisation, urbanisation, commercialisation, etc., new Acts are passed and, therefore, Law has now become like an ocean. One is reminded of Newton's statement that he had been able to get only a few words out of the ocean of Knowledge.
Add to this, the fact that, because of the ambiguity in the wording of the Acts and their clauses, and also because of the absence of clear definitions of those crucial words for which the whole Act was framed, there are so many interpretations and, based on them, so many different judgements and precedents that, in many cases, there is not much pleading on the point of law and much efforts of the defence lawyer are made to escape punishment by finding the flaw, the loophole or a convenient
precedent or by building a new interpretation of a vague term.
So, seeing this situation, the society must now try to find a new paradigm, have new concepts and adopt new ways so that humankind marches towards less and less crime and there is need of fewer and fewer laws that are without lacuna or flaw.
This is possible only through spiritual and moral education.
GUIDING LIGHT
The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal and the UK, and has written more than 8,000 columns. He can be contacted at nikunjji@gmail.com / www.brahmakumaris.com