In Chapter 10 of the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna declares that he is the origin of all creation. Whereupon Arjuna beseeches the Lord to tell him how to think of the divinity of the creator when the mind is engaged in external objects.
In reply, the Lord provides a list of his divine manifestations and summarises by telling Arjuna that anything in the creation that he sees as beautiful and glorious was a manifest spark of the splendour of the supreme being. Krishna says, “Of trees I am Ashwattha, Of celestial seers I am Narada, Among warriors I am Rama, Of disputants, I am the Vaada or the conclusive truth” and so on.
The mention of ‘Vaada’ as the conclusion of a dispute is curious because, in our everyday vocabulary, Vaada or argument is an ongoing exercise.
The Nyaya sastra mentions two kinds of debates: Vaada or the good discussion and Jalpa, Vitanda or the bad discussions.
Vaada is a debate between disputants who are engaged in an honest, and balanced argument. The goal of Vaada is the establishment of truth. It is the worthiest form of dialogue. Jalpa is to find fault with the opponent’s statements, for the sake of establishing one’s own opinion. Vitaṇḍa is to avoid proper deliberation on the truth through evasion and frivolous arguments.
The everyday debates seen on our television news channels are clearly Jalpa and Vitanda. The intent of the participants is not to seek the truth or find a solution. It is to amuse and impress the audience, which has a perilous effect on the mental health of the audience. We are serious listeners of programmes on current affairs. In the process, we are unconsciously picking up the pre-opinionated arguing style of the speakers.
The man on the street blindly allies himself to a side and is ready to defend it in high decibel words. Neither side wants to hear the other’s point of view. Reversal to sanity is possible if the TV bosses make a course correction, align their prime-time debates to Vaada and capture the minds of the viewers through the beauty manifested in pure logic.