Abhinavagupta, the most exalted Kashmiri in recorded history, was a descendant of Atrigupta, who had come to Kashmir from Madhyadesa (present day UP/MP) 200 years before the great Shaiva Acharya was born. #Justsaying

To be clear, I am not virtue-signalling and appealing for some superficial truce on Twitter. I couldn't care less. But it needs to be said that our contemporary regional identities are colonial vestiges and not worth losing sleep over.

That is not to say that our ancestors were a dull grey monolith with no cultural diversity. But the substratum of Dharma, which is like the circulatory system ensured that no part remained isolated from others. Our civilization is quintessentially holistic.

There is regional chauvinism in Hindus from all sides, especially when it comes to politics. This behaviour, I take as evidence for my belief that politically active Hindus tend to have no civilizational consciousness. The Hindu identity has been hopelessly politicized.

The chimera of Hindu unity, which is a really sorry slogan, is so popular for this reason only. It comes from a political consciousness that looks for solutions to India's problems in politics. In my limited understanding, that turns the narrative of the Mahabharata on its head.

Unity and uniformity are largely anti-Dharmic ideas. I qualify the statement with "largely" because there may be exceptional contexts in which these attributes are desirable to uphold Dharma.

A reasonable degree of political alignment can come from civilizational consciousness, much like happiness is a by-product of not chasing it. Not chasing political unity is the key here. So called RW keeps chasing the mirage instead.

The key to nurturing the civilizational consciousness is to first "empty the glass". Give up the irrational attachment to this political party or that, and understand that you are an embodiment of the civilization up against the modern Indian State.

The State is a potential ally but it is a beast that must be tamed first. Without breaking the horse, you cannot ride it. But you cannot outsource the tough job to the helpful neta on the TV screen. He/she inhabits a different universe, notwithstanding their PR campaigns.

Taming the State calls for building and supporting parallel 'elite' institutions that can take on the might of the State. It is YOUR survival at stake. It is YOUR ass on fire. It is YOUR job to douse it.

The next few decades will unfold one crisis after another. Demographic. Ecological. Economic. Technological. No amount of political sloganeering will help. Only Dharma will protect. I made the analogy with the circulatory system. Dharma is our life-blood. It is decentralized.

The Big State is an enemy of Dharma. It is made in the image of a monotheistic monster whose nature is to impose uniformity and demand unity under this banner or that. Do not fall for it. Small is indeed beautiful. Atmanirbhar, if it helps.

If this does not make sense, all you need to do is visit a govt hospital and see for yourself how ill-equipped the State is to deal with real crisis. It has evolved to serve the interests of Corporations. You are a mere resource. Marx was right? Well yeah, to this limited extent.

You may blame your ideological opponent for the condition of 'migrant labourers' but know that the State apparatus has surrendered to Covid. When Covid goes, it won't have learnt any lessons because the suffering would be mere statistics.

Cutting it short now because I can go on endlessly. Whether you agree or disagree with all the above, the one critical point was about cutting down the political and enlarging the civilizational. The rest is opinion.