Knowledge is a Weapon, Not Wisdom
- Madhukar Dama
- 1 hour ago
- 20 min read
🌿 Prologue
Everywhere in life there is a hidden current.
It runs through families, friendships, schools, temples, offices, and nations.
This current is not wealth, not weapons, not position.
It is knowledge.
Knowledge is not neutral. Knowledge is not innocent.
It is made with a single purpose: to rule.
The facts we are taught, the rituals we follow, the exams we take, the secrets we guard — all are created and shaped so that some may stand above while others bow below.
This essay is a journey through that law.
Step by step, layer by layer, we see how knowledge is manufactured and used to dominate.
Not sometimes. Not by accident.
Always. Everywhere.
---
1. The first word
A baby says “Amma” or “paani.” The word is command. Whoever knows the word makes another act.
Language itself was created and guarded to divide rulers and ruled. In India, Sanskrit was kept in priestly hands while common people spoke only local tongues. Knowledge of words was manufactured to control who commands and who obeys.
---
2. Parents and children
Elders say, “We have seen more suns than you.” This is authority. Parents know about money, risks, and customs, and that knowledge lets them decide the child’s school, career, and marriage.
This knowledge is not natural. School subjects, ideas of “good careers,” and rules of marriage were created and spread by rulers and society so that parents could pass them down and rule children’s lives.
---
3. Brothers and sisters
If one sibling learns to drive, earn money, or repair the phone before the others, that sibling dominates. The others depend on the one who knows.
Driving schools, tutorials, and workplaces are built to give skills to some earlier and deny them to others. Knowledge is manufactured in stages, and whoever receives it first rules the rest.
---
4. Marriage and household money
Inside marriage, the spouse who knows the passwords, property papers, or banking rules rules the home. The one without knowledge of money cannot take decisions.
Banking systems, legal papers, and financial rules are created to be complex. They are designed so that only those who master them can control households. Knowledge of finance is manufactured as a gate to power.
---
5. Friends and secrets
Among friends, the one who knows more about the other holds control. A secret can protect or harm. The one who knows stands above the one who does not.
Secrets are not accidents. They are created by choice — what to reveal and what to hide. Every silence manufactures power over others.
---
6. Gossip and reputation
In a mohalla, one person “knows” who borrowed money or who quarreled. By spreading it, they change how others are treated. Gossip is knowledge turned into social power.
Gossip is not raw truth. It is shaped and twisted in order to raise one and lower another. Knowledge of reputation is manufactured to dominate social life.
---
7. Priests, astrologers, traders — community power
The pujari knows the sloka, the astrologer knows the nakshatra, the trader knows the market rate. Families and farmers trust them because they lack that knowledge. The knower rules.
These roles are manufactured. Ritual books are written, calendars fixed, weights and measures designed — all to ensure that priests, astrologers, and traders hold exclusive knowledge. Communities create these systems to guarantee hierarchy.
---
8. Schools and teachers
Teachers decide what lessons matter, what exams ask, and what counts as “good” answers. A child who follows the teacher’s way succeeds; others fail.
Schools are factories of manufactured knowledge. Subjects, textbooks, and grading systems were designed in colonial times to produce obedient clerks. Later, states kept the same design. Schools were created to rule minds, not to free them.
---
9. Tuition and coaching classes
Tutors who know question banks and exam tricks hold power over schools. Parents pay because those tutors know how to “get marks.” Knowledge of shortcuts rules the future of children.
Exams are manufactured to be competitive, so that not all succeed. That scarcity creates demand for coaching. The exam system creates inequality, and tuition masters profit by controlling the manufactured keys.
---
10. Degrees and jobs
A degree is a gate pass to jobs and salaries. Those without it must accept smaller roles. Certificates act as filters.
These filters are deliberate. Universities and governments decide which certificates count and who receives them. Scarcity is created. Knowledge is manufactured into degrees so that society remains divided into rulers and ruled.
---
11. Clerks, files and the babu culture
In government offices, a junior clerk knows which file needs which signature. A common person with a form in hand does not. The clerk delays or pushes work at will. Knowledge of procedure rules the citizen.
This knowledge is manufactured. Rules, forms, and file systems are created to be complex. They are designed so that common people remain dependent on the babu. Bureaucracy itself is a system of manufactured knowledge that guarantees daily domination.
---
12. Shops and bargaining
A shopkeeper knows the wholesale cost, margins, and delivery dates. A buyer does not. The seller fixes prices and shapes choices. Market knowledge rules the customer.
This inequality is deliberate. Weights, measures, and billing codes are created by traders and governments to protect sellers. Price knowledge is manufactured so that buyers are always at a disadvantage.
---
13. Farmers and middlemen (mandi)
A farmer grows crops, but the trader knows demand, storage, and who buys at higher rates. Farmers without that knowledge sell early and cheap. The trader’s knowledge rules the farmer’s income.
This knowledge gap is manufactured. Market committees, auction systems, and grain storage networks are designed to keep farmers blind and traders informed. Farmers produce food, but the knowledge of trade is created to keep them powerless.
---
14. Employers, contracts and labour
Companies know contracts, legal clauses, and loopholes. Workers do not. Employers bend rules, extend hours, and cut pay. Knowledge of the law rules labour.
These contracts are manufactured. Legal jargon and fine print are created so that only lawyers and managers understand them. Workplaces are designed to hide knowledge from workers and keep power in the hands of employers.
---
15. Unions and worker rights
When workers learn labour laws and collective bargaining, their power rises. Where workers remain ignorant, they remain chained. Knowledge of rights rules survival.
These rights are manufactured too. They were written into law after long struggles, deliberately crafted in language that only trained people could understand. Even protective knowledge is created within systems of power, so that rulers can grant or withhold it.
---
16. Doctors and diagnoses
The doctor has medical training; the patient does not. When a doctor names a disease, the patient agrees to treatment. Medical knowledge rules the sick.
This knowledge is manufactured. Medical colleges, licensing systems, and journals are created to restrict who may know. Medicine is shaped and guarded so that healing remains a source of authority.
---
17. Hospitals and billing
Hospitals know which tests are essential and which are inflated. Families do not know until the bill arrives. Knowledge of procedure rules the desperate.
Billing systems are manufactured. Codes, insurance forms, and packaged treatments are created to keep patients outside the circle of knowledge. The system is built to preserve the hospital’s power.
---
18. Pharmaceutical companies
Drug formulas are secrets. Companies hold patents. Doctors and patients depend on them. Knowledge of chemistry rules life and death.
This secrecy is manufactured. Research is funded, patents are written, and trade secrets are locked deliberately. The point of making medicine is not only to cure but to control who may cure. Pharmaceutical knowledge is created as a weapon of rule.
---
19. Caste and ritual knowledge
For centuries, certain groups controlled temple rites and rules of purity. Others were denied access. Knowledge of rituals ruled entire communities.
This control was manufactured. Scriptures, codes, and commentaries were written to ensure that only a few “knew” and others remained outside. Caste power is not accidental; it is knowledge deliberately created to dominate.
---
20. Food, purity and who eats with whom
Rules about cooking, serving, and sharing meals divide people. The one who knows the code of purity decides who belongs and who does not. Knowledge of food rules entire social lives.
These codes are manufactured. They were created to keep some castes at the top and others at the bottom. Knowledge of purity was written into daily life so that eating itself became a tool of rule.
---
21. Language and who gets ahead
In ancient India, Sanskrit ruled over Prakrit. Today, English rules over regional languages. The person fluent in English secures government posts, foreign visas, and higher pay. The one without it remains excluded. Knowledge of language rules livelihood.
This is manufactured. Sanskrit was kept in priestly hands. English was introduced by colonial rulers to create clerks and administrators. Languages were shaped and spread not for equality but to divide and dominate.
---
22. Elections and political knowledge
Leaders and party workers know voter lists, caste numbers, and effective slogans. Ordinary citizens know only what is shown at rallies. Knowledge of the electorate rules democracy itself.
This knowledge is manufactured. Electoral rolls, surveys, and campaign strategies are created by political machines to ensure advantage. Elections are not natural competitions; they are contests of manufactured knowledge.
---
23. Law, lawyers and courts
Lawyers and judges know codes, sections, and procedures. Ordinary citizens do not. Legal knowledge rules justice.
This is manufactured. Laws are written in complex language, courts are filled with procedures, and access is guarded by licences. The legal system is built so that only a few may know, and the rest must submit.
---
24. Police and FIRs
Police decide whether an FIR is registered and how it is written. That choice decides whether a victim gets justice or silence. Knowledge of procedure rules freedom.
This is manufactured. Police manuals, training, and discretion are created so that the power to record truth stays in the hands of the state. The system is designed to keep citizens dependent on police knowledge.
---
25. War and intelligence
Armies that know the enemy’s plans win. Armies that do not know are destroyed. Knowledge of intelligence rules the battlefield.
This is manufactured. Intelligence networks, codes, and surveillance tools are created precisely to keep the enemy blind. Knowledge is not only used in war — it is built for war.
---
26. Spies and secret services
RAW, CIA, ISI, Mossad — every intelligence agency runs on secrecy. What they know can topple governments or save nations. Secret knowledge rules the world of states.
This secrecy is manufactured. Classified documents, coded communications, and espionage schools are deliberately created. Spying is the organised manufacture of exclusive knowledge for domination.
---
27. Technology and algorithms
Companies know your searches, clicks, and habits. They use this knowledge to shape your purchases, your news, even your opinions. Algorithms rule choices.
This is manufactured. Data is collected, stored, and processed deliberately. Algorithms are coded with precision to guide behaviour. Technology knowledge is created as a new form of control.
---
28. Aadhaar and biometric data
In India, Aadhaar holds fingerprints and iris scans. It links to banks, subsidies, and services. The state knows the citizen; the citizen does not know the state. Knowledge of identity rules daily life.
This is manufactured. Biometric systems, ID numbers, and linking rules are created by design. Aadhaar is not a side-effect — it is a deliberate creation of state knowledge to govern people.
---
29. Passwords, phones and private life
The person who knows your password controls your phone, your money, your identity. Digital knowledge rules families and friendships.
This is manufactured. Software is designed with gates, locks, and permissions. The structure ensures that those who hold the key dominate those who do not. Passwords are deliberately created forms of rule.
---
30. Seeds, patents and farming
Farmers grow crops, but seed companies hold hybrid and GMO formulas. Seeds cannot be reused. Farmers must return each season to buy again. Knowledge of seeds rules food itself.
This is manufactured. Research, patents, and trade laws are deliberately created to keep formulas secret. Seed knowledge is not shared; it is locked so that farmers remain dependent. Food knowledge itself is created as power.
---
31. Global power and nuclear knowledge
In 1945, the United States created and used the atomic bomb. This knowledge instantly ruled the world. Nations without it bowed in diplomacy, trade, and war. Nuclear knowledge still divides nations into rulers and ruled.
This knowledge was manufactured. Scientists, governments, and armies worked together with one aim: to create exclusive power. The nuclear bomb was not an accident of science. It was a deliberate making of knowledge to dominate the earth.
---
32. Private life and control of emotions
In arguments and love, the one who knows another’s weakness, fear, or past dominates. The knower can calm, provoke, or wound at will. Personal knowledge rules intimacy.
This knowledge is manufactured. Secrets are collected, memories are stored, and emotional patterns are studied in order to gain advantage. Even in private life, knowledge is created as a tool of control.
---
33. Why kindness is impossible
Where there is knowledge, there is inequality. The knower chooses. The other cannot. That structure is rule.
This inequality is manufactured. Systems of language, education, money, law, and technology are all created to keep knowledge in some hands and deny it to others. Even when knowledge is shared, it is shared on terms set by the powerful. “Kindness” is only domination dressed in softer clothes.
---
34. The unbroken pattern
From a baby’s first cry,
to a parent fixing a marriage,
to a clerk controlling a file,
to a pujari guarding a mantra,
to a trader fixing a rate,
to a company coding an algorithm,
to a superpower holding the bomb —
the pattern is the same.
Knowledge is created to dominate.
Knowledge is used to dominate.
Knowledge is rule.
---
Sutra
Knowledge exists only to rule.
It is created to rule.
It is guarded to rule.
It is used to rule.
It cannot be neutral.
It cannot be kind.
It is rule.
---
🌑 Epilogue
The journey ends where it began: with a truth that cannot be softened.
Knowledge exists only to rule.
This law does not bend with time or place.
It holds in a family, in a village, in a state, in the world.
The forms of knowledge change — words, rituals, degrees, files, passwords, bombs —
but the effect never changes.
To know is to stand above.
To not know is to be below.
Every system of knowledge is created with this purpose.
Every use of knowledge fulfills it.
This is not opinion.
It is the skeleton of human life.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen.
As long as humans live, knowledge will be made to rule, kept to rule, and used to rule.
This law is final.
---
---
Knowledge is a Weapon, Not Wisdom
-- a Socratic Dialogue with Madhukar
Act 1 – The Beginning
Scene: A shaded courtyard in an old Indian house. Afternoon silence. Madhukar sits with a cup of buttermilk. A Child runs in, followed by the Parent.
---
The Child
Madhukar uncle, may I ask you something?
Madhukar
Of course. What troubles your little mind?
The Child
Why must I go to school? Every morning Amma says, “Go, learn, or you’ll be nothing.” I don’t understand. What will school give me?
Madhukar
School will give you something dangerous, my child.
The Child
Dangerous? Amma says it gives wisdom.
Madhukar
Wisdom is a sweet word. School gives you something sharper: a weapon.
The Child
A weapon? Like a sword?
Madhukar
Sharper than a sword. A sword can cut one body. Knowledge can cut through entire generations.
The Parent
Madhukar, don’t scare the child. School is for growth, for learning, for becoming a good person.
Madhukar
Do you truly believe that? Tell me honestly — why do you send your child to school?
The Parent
To get marks, a degree, a job. Without it, the child will suffer.
Madhukar
So you admit — not wisdom, but survival. Not growth, but rank.
The Parent
That is how the world works.
Madhukar
Exactly. And who made the world work this way? Did children ask for exams? Did farmers ask for English? Did labourers ask for certificates?
The Child
Then who made it?
Madhukar
Those who wanted to rule. They created schools to manufacture obedience, to stamp certificates, to separate who stands above and who kneels below.
The Parent
But Madhukar, we teach children out of love.
Madhukar
Yes, love with a chain. Parents pass down not freedom, but rules — “Study this, earn this, marry here.” Where do these rules come from? Not the heart, but from knowledge already manufactured by rulers, priests, and offices. Parents become the messengers of that power.
The Child
So when Amma tells me to study, it is not for me?
Madhukar
It is for survival in a system designed by others. You are being armed with the same weapon that once cut your parents. They hand it to you, so you may not fall completely helpless.
The Parent
That sounds cruel. Are you saying my care is only control?
Madhukar
I am saying your care has been captured. Your love is real, but the form it takes — “school, degree, job” — is not yours. It was created by others, long before you became a parent.
---
[Silence. The Child looks down, confused. The Parent frowns.]
---
Madhukar
Do not worry, child. I do not say, “Do not learn.” I say, “See clearly what learning is.” It is not a light that floats freely. It is a sword, forged by someone, for someone. The question is: who holds the hilt, and who feels the edge?
---
Act 2 – The Community and the Office
Scene: The courtyard. Evening lamps are lit. The Child and Parent sit quietly. A village Pujari enters with prayer beads, and a government Babu strolls in with a small bundle of files.
---
The Pujari
Madhukar, I hear your words are troubling families. You say knowledge is a weapon. Dangerous speech! Knowledge of mantras and dharma is sacred. It uplifts. Without it, society falls.
Madhukar
Tell me, Pujari — who decides which mantra is correct?
The Pujari
The shastras. The tradition. Passed down from our forefathers.
Madhukar
And who holds the shastras? Who guards their language?
The Pujari
We priests. It is our duty.
Madhukar
So the family that comes to you cannot worship without you?
The Pujari
Of course not. Without the right words, the gods will not hear.
Madhukar
Then your “sacred” knowledge is a lock. The mantra is the key. And only you keep the key. Is this wisdom, or is this power?
(The Pujari falls silent, beads moving faster in his hand.)
---
The Babu
(laughs loudly)
Ah, Madhukar, at least the Pujari speaks of gods. I deal with real power — files, forms, signatures. People wait outside my desk like beggars. I know the rules, they don’t. That is why even an officer greets me politely.
Madhukar
Tell me, Babu, who made these rules you guard?
The Babu
The government.
Madhukar
And who made the government of today?
The Babu
The British laid the foundation. We only continued.
Madhukar
Exactly. The British created files, stamps, and forms so that the ruler knew everything and the ruled knew nothing. The system was built to produce your power. You did not make it; you inherited it.
The Babu
(smiling with pride)
So what? Power is power. As long as I know and they don’t, I rule.
Madhukar
Yes, but remember this: the power you boast of is not your creation. It is the weapon of another age, still cutting today. You are not free — you are the guard of someone else’s weapon.
(The Babu shifts uneasily, clutching his bundle of files.)
---
The Child
Uncle, first Amma, now Pujari, now Babu… all of them speak of “duty” and “service,” but you show they only hold keys to locks that others cannot open.
Madhukar
You see clearly, child. Knowledge is always presented as sacred, official, or necessary. But when we strip away the cover, it is revealed as a weapon — made, kept, and used to rule.
---
Act 3 – The Classroom and the Clinic
Scene: The courtyard grows busier. A Teacher arrives with a pile of notebooks under the arm. A Doctor follows, carrying a stethoscope. The Child, Parent, Pujari, and Babu remain seated.
---
The Teacher
Madhukar, I have heard your words twist young minds. You call knowledge a weapon. I say knowledge shapes character. Without schools, children remain ignorant. My exams are fair. They measure effort, not power.
Madhukar
Tell me, Teacher, who decides what a child must study?
The Teacher
The board, the syllabus, the education department.
Madhukar
And who created those syllabi in the first place?
The Teacher
Scholars, experts, governments.
Madhukar
Yes. Colonial rulers made the first syllabi, designed to produce obedient clerks. After them, governments continued the same model. Your exams do not measure wisdom. They measure obedience to knowledge manufactured by others.
The Teacher
Still, without exams, how will we know who is capable?
Madhukar
Exams are not a mirror of truth. They are sieves. They are created to separate, not to uplift. The very system of marks and degrees is a factory to manufacture ranks — the pass above the fail, the graduate above the dropout.
(The Teacher lowers the notebooks, uneasy.)
---
The Doctor
Enough of this. At least in my field, knowledge saves lives. When I diagnose, when I prescribe, I heal. Can you call that domination?
Madhukar
Tell me, Doctor, who is allowed to study medicine?
The Doctor
Those who clear the entrance, those who can pay, those selected.
Madhukar
And who sets these conditions?
The Doctor
The councils, the colleges, the government.
Madhukar
Exactly. The gates of medical knowledge are built deliberately. Families sell land to buy a seat. Patients bow to prescriptions they cannot read. Your knowledge was manufactured to be exclusive. Healing is only the outer mask; control is the hidden core.
The Doctor
You accuse me unfairly. My patients trust me.
Madhukar
They trust because they cannot question. You hold the language of the body, they do not. Even trust here is dependence. And dependence is rule.
(The Doctor looks down at the stethoscope, suddenly heavy in hand.)
---
The Child
Uncle, everywhere I see the same: the syllabus, the exam, the prescription — none of them arise naturally. They are made.
Madhukar
Yes, child. And once made, they are guarded. And once guarded, they are used. This is the cycle of knowledge: created to rule, kept to rule, used to rule.
---
Act 4 – The Field and the Stage
Scene: Night settles. A lantern is lit in the courtyard. A weary Farmer enters, his hands rough from work. Soon after, a Politician arrives, cheerful and loud, waving to an imaginary crowd. The Child, Parent, Pujari, Babu, Teacher, and Doctor watch.
---
The Farmer
Madhukar, I hear your words. I do not know books or exams, but I know the soil. I plant, I harvest, yet I remain poor. Traders say prices fell, companies say seeds must be bought again. I do not understand why I work and still lose.
Madhukar
You understand more than you think. You know the soil, but they know the market. You grow life, but they control knowledge of demand, storage, and seed formulas. That is why your hands are strong but your pockets remain empty.
The Farmer
So their knowledge is the weapon, not my labour?
Madhukar
Yes. Your labour is captured by their knowledge. The mandi system, the price boards, the hybrid seeds — all were created not for your freedom but for your dependence. Knowledge was made to keep the farmer small while the trader and company grew large.
(The Farmer lowers his head, silent, but nods in recognition.)
---
The Politician
(laughing as he enters)
Madhukar, you speak too seriously. Everyone knows knowledge is power. I use it every election. We study voter lists, caste numbers, what promises will please which group. Knowledge is my engine. Without it, no speech, no seat, no power.
Madhukar
You admit it openly.
The Politician
Why should I hide? The game is simple. Whoever knows the numbers, rules the people.
Madhukar
Tell me, Politician, who gives you those numbers?
The Politician
Surveyors, analysts, party workers. We collect and create the data.
Madhukar
So even the “knowledge of the people” is not born naturally. It is manufactured — gathered, shaped, and stored to serve you. Democracy looks equal, but behind the curtain knowledge is created only to keep rulers above and voters below.
The Politician
(smiles)
And that is why I win.
Madhukar
Yes. You win not by wisdom, but by knowledge manufactured to control.
(The Politician straightens proudly; the crowd murmurs uneasily.)
---
The Child
Uncle, from the field to the stage, from seed to slogan, I see the same pattern. Knowledge is never free. It is made for power.
Madhukar
You see truly, child. Knowledge does not simply grow like a plant. It is planted, fenced, and harvested by those who want to rule. That is why knowledge is never wisdom — it is always a weapon.
---
Act 5 – The Laboratory and the Street
Scene: The courtyard is quiet. The lantern burns low. A Scientist enters, adjusting spectacles, carrying notes. A simple Friend — a local shopkeeper — follows behind, wiping sweat from his brow. The Child, Parent, Pujari, Babu, Teacher, Doctor, Farmer, and Politician sit in silence, waiting.
---
The Scientist
Madhukar, I cannot agree with you. Knowledge is discovery. It is truth. We study the stars, the atom, the cell. We search not for power, but for understanding.
Madhukar
Tell me, Scientist, when you discovered the atom’s secrets, what was built first?
The Scientist
The bomb.
Madhukar
And when you unlocked genetics, what was built first?
The Scientist
Patents on seeds and medicines.
Madhukar
And when you created computers?
The Scientist
Weapons, surveillance, corporations.
Madhukar
So your discoveries did not float freely. They were manufactured into tools of rule. Knowledge entered your lab as curiosity, but it left as a weapon.
The Scientist
I admit, misuse happens.
Madhukar
No — not misuse, but purpose. The systems of funding, patents, research priorities — all are created to turn discovery into domination. The bomb was not an accident. The seed patent was not a side-effect. They were the very reason knowledge was made.
(The Scientist looks at his notes, trembling, unable to answer.)
---
The Friend
Madhukar, I am no scholar. I am a shopkeeper. I sell rice and sugar. When I hear you, I feel uneasy. Surely you are too harsh. Some knowledge must be good. Some knowledge must be pure.
Madhukar
What do you call good knowledge?
The Friend
How to cook food, how to cure fever, how to read a letter.
Madhukar
And who taught you these things?
The Friend
My parents, the doctor, the schoolmaster.
Madhukar
And who taught them?
The Friend
Their elders, their teachers, their books.
Madhukar
Follow the chain. Every bit of “good” knowledge you name was shaped by someone before, fixed in systems, guarded, and passed down. Even cooking was turned into purity codes, even fever cures were locked into prescriptions, even letters into languages that exclude. Nothing escaped manufacture.
The Friend
Then what remains for us?
Madhukar
Clarity. To see that knowledge is not wisdom. To see that every fact, every formula, every rule is a weapon — created, guarded, and used for power. When you see it, you are no longer blind.
(The Friend lowers his head, silent. The courtyard falls into deep stillness.)
---
Madhukar’s Sutra
Knowledge is a weapon, not wisdom.
It is created to rule.
It is guarded to rule.
It is used to rule.
It cannot be neutral.
It cannot be kind.
It is rule.
---
Epilogue
The Child looks at the Parent.
The Pujari fingers his beads.
The Babu clutches his files.
The Teacher lowers the notebooks.
The Doctor hides the stethoscope.
The Farmer stares at his calloused palms.
The Politician smiles thinly.
The Scientist folds his papers.
The Friend closes his eyes.
All have seen the same truth.
Knowledge does not float like light.
Knowledge sits in hands as a weapon.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen.
And the law remains:
As long as people live, knowledge will be made to rule, kept to rule, and used to rule.
---
---
Knowledge is a Weapon, Not Wisdom
they told you
knowledge is a lamp,
a book,
a holy chant,
a prayer.
they lied.
knowledge is a stick
a rod
a whip
a file on the table
a word in the mouth of someone who wants you to bow.
---
in the kitchen
whoever knows the spice rules the pot.
in the street
whoever knows the shortcut rules the hour.
in the marriage
whoever knows the password rules the silence.
in the court
whoever knows the section number rules the verdict.
---
knowledge does not float like the rain.
it is carved like stone idols,
measured like grain in the mandi,
locked like a safe in the bank,
and stamped like a degree.
---
a farmer bends
not because the soil failed
but because someone else wrote the price.
a clerk smiles
because he knows which signature is missing.
a priest whispers
because he knows the syllables
you do not.
a politician laughs
because he knows your number
before you cast it.
---
knowledge is not born
it is manufactured.
cooked in kitchens of power,
seasoned with secrecy,
served with rules
that only the cook understands.
---
english was not given to you for love.
it was handed down like a collar.
census was not written for truth.
it was carved to divide.
seeds were not shaped for plenty.
they were shaped to keep farmers hungry for the next bag.
---
knowledge sits in a file,
in a temple bell,
in a computer screen,
in a nuclear silo,
in a police diary.
and it sits heavy.
---
the world tells you
knowledge is kindness.
look closer:
kindness is only the decorated sheath.
the blade is still inside.
---
children cry,
elders preach,
teachers mark,
doctors prescribe,
companies code,
nations bomb.
from the cry to the code
from the chalk to the missile
from the seed to the census
from the mantra to the password
the rule is one:
knowledge is a weapon.
---
it is created to rule.
it is kept to rule.
it is used to rule.
---
and it has always been this way.
in villages, in cities,
in india, in rome,
in temples, in parliaments,
in bedrooms, in boardrooms.
---
do not dress it up.
do not soften it.
do not beg it to be kind.
knowledge does not heal,
it does not liberate,
it does not forgive.
knowledge aims,
strikes,
and rules.
---
and the law does not bend.
not yesterday,
not today,
not tomorrow.
as long as humans walk this earth
knowledge will be forged,
guarded,
and used
as a weapon.
---
---
