At last in Masjid al-Ḥarām

After long negotiations and hesitations Mohammed entered Mecca and Masjid al-Ḥarām. Mohammed and his companions numbering two thousand circambulated Kaba. The Qureshis watched them carefully. They were convinced that the Muslims were now forced to be reconciled. At that time Abdulla Ibn Rovka attempted to make a declaration of war against the Qureshis but Umer prevented him from doing it. After completing circambulation of Kaba, Mohammed moved to As-safa and Marwa mountains As-safa and Marwa and ran seven times between the mountains and completed the ritual on shaved his head. Mohammed thereafter entered Kaba and spent some time in Dhuhr prayer. Bilal climbed on the top of Kaba and in loud roar made the call for prayer. For the last seven years Muslims were prevented from performing prayers at Masjid al-Ḥarām. Mohammed and his companions stayed there for three days. Without making any obstructions, the Qurashis were watching the behavior of Muslims. They found that the Muslims were not drinking alcohol and they are not attempting any kind of offenses.

On completion of three days stay as agreed upon under Ubaidiya treaty, Suhail and Hawadig came to Mohammed and reminded Mohammed that the time for their stay was over and they have to leave Mecca. Both of them were afraid that further stay of Mohammed and his companions would change the atmosphere and the Quareshi mind which had become inclined to Islam. 

Thereupon Mohammed declared their return journey to Medina. They left for Medina after three days. Soon after Mohammed reached Medina, Khalid Bin Walid who lead the cavalry and who was an expert in the strategy of war and who was responsible for the victory of Meccans at Uhd declared before an assembly that Mohammed was not a magician or a poet and he speaks the words of the lord of the universe and only and that any sensible person would follow him. Ikrima asked him whether he became a apostate. Khalid replied that he only became a Muslim. Ikrima said that such a statement would not have come from a responsible person like Khalid. Khalid asked Ikrima why he stated so. Ikrima said that Mohammed tore the pride of Khalid’s father by causing injury to him at the battle of Badr. His grandfather and his son were killed at the battle of Badr. He added, “By God I will not talk like you or become a Muslim. Are you not aware that the Qureshis are making preparation to wage a major against Mohammed.”  Khalid replied that his remarks reflect the past sentiments of hatred of Qureshis against Islam. He said, “By God, his truth is clear. Have you become a Muslim?” Khalid sent some members of cavalry asking them to inform Mohammed of his conversion.

Justice P K Shamsuddin

Religious Harmony - 1

For the New Year 2013, religious harmony is a worthy, attainable, and necessary goal for humanity. The lack of this harmony is the cause of present spiritual and moral degeneration. In the past priests generally held a very high position. They still do even though they are increasingly challenged, and losing their ground fast. Gradually with new discoveries and systematic progress in the field of medicine, physicians (doctors) began to acquire prominence and status. With the abundance of conflicts and litigations, truth together with values such as honesty, fairness, and keeping one's word and promises receded into the background. As people honoring their given word declined, integrity and trust suffered. Betrayal of trust is not uncommon. As everything has to be proved in the court, the whole world became a pathetic playing field for unscrupulous lawyers. Currently lawyers, from whose rank come judges and most politicians in the world, became the power-brokers of humanity. A world where lawyers dominate, truth and values - the bedrock of spirituality - become casualties. Peaceful, satisfactory, and inexpensive settling of disputes through humane mediation has become less. One human behaves toward another like a wolf preys on another wolf as the ancient saying homo homini lupus goes. Selfishness becomes a breeding ground for a culture of scepticism and paranoia. In spite of all these odds, I dare say that the 21st century has the great potential to be a century of spirituality and mysticism. It is not so much the asceticism of the past that is required, but conscious self-control that comes from internal locus of control of a truly free person, and a studied ability to say "no" to affluence, abundance, and unlimited opportunities, once a person's needs and some wants are reasonably satisfied. Persons are soon going to be weary of unprincipled material progress at the expense of spiritual growth and ecological balance.

Religions that are supposed to connect humans to a higher, supernatural being, whom we call God, by promoting spiritual and moral values and wholesome living, began to decline primarily through vicious and murderous fights among themselves. A few representatives of religions have not stood the test of times. Many members of religions formed and molded in the less enlightened past got disillusioned as they were not prepared to face the rigorous challenges of unstructured modern living ridden with anxiety and insecurity. Religions and their representatives engaged in behaviors that are contra-indicative of spirituality. No religion can keep its moral and spiritual high ground without credible practice of what it preaches. With the decline of moral, ethical, and spiritual values, ordinary humans began to lose confidence in the future of humanity. They were in reality infantilized by religions. They got distracted from spiritual pursuits, and started looking for models elsewhere. They currently get some temporary thrills and excitements from film stars and sports personalities, beauty queens, and scandalous display of wealth by the rich who are the modern royalty. The dictator of one country (Gabon), for instance, possesses about one fourth of that country's wealth. What does this say about humanity? The models of ordinary persons have become those who can wield power and control, and manipulate and use humans for their own pleasure. They get easily titillated by scantily clad models, mostly females, being unaware they have in nature or in their fertile fantasies what they are eagerly looking for. More and more weird and expensive dresses are developed to satiate spurious and unhealthy interests. How else one can explain the production and use of a brassiere studded with precious stones that costs about 12 million dollars (about 66 crores of rupees) in a world of poverty and want? How can any woman be comfortable in that kind of a bra? Why would a woman want to expose herself in a bra to begin with? Is our sexuality about our body parts? Only spirituality and a purpose-directed life can deal with such questions. (To be continued).

Judge Not

Bible is not the only scriptural text that asks us to be aware of our judgments or to be cautious in making assumptions. Human mind is very susceptible to clues of varying types from which attitude codes are formulated. If the thief we caught had a beard, we spoil no time to create a programme saying that all bearded men are possibly thieves. It is very difficult for the mind to see all situations as new even though it knows that history does not repeat. Two men falling from the same cliff need not have the same destiny. 

This is the story of a doctor who entered the hospital in hurry, changed his clothes and straight away rushed to the surgery block. On seeing him, a man who was waiting before the theater yelled, "Why did you take all this time to come? Don't you know that my son's life is in danger?” The doctor smiled and said, "I am sorry, I wasn't in the hospital and I have come as fast as I could. I wish you'd calm down so that I can do my work." "Calm down? What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down?” The doctor did not wait to hear all that the man said. He passed a passionate smile and proceeded into the theater. 

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor came out happily. "Thank goodness! Your son is saved!" said the doctor. He didn’t wait to hear the father's reply; he carried on his way running. "Why is he so arrogant?" commented the father. The father was surprised to see tears coming down the face of the nurse who came to him soon. She said in a low voice, "His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was in the burial when we called him for your son's surgery. And now that he saved your son's life, he left running to finish his son's burial!" Never judge anyone, because you never know how another’s life is and what he/she is going through.

Joseph Mattappally

Relentless Faith

       

 “Faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on which all our happenings depends cannot be found in any other way.” (Thomas Merton) 

                                      

Faith will turn any course, light any path, relieve any distress, brings joy out of sorrows, peace out of strife, friendship out of enmity, heaven out of hell. Faith throws a new light on everything, manifests god’s design for man’s total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human. Every believer is God’s miracle. Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.

Calamities struck the life of Monisha one after the other: death of her dad, illness of her mom, irresponsible life of her brother, these shattered her. She could not concentrate on her studies. Every time she opened her book, these scenes came one after the other as in a film. Monisha, ever active and vibrant became dull and depressed. She stopped going to church and saying prayers.

One day she was brought to my office. She sat in my room, sad and downcast.  I was very attentive to every gesture she made and every word she uttered. Slowly, I helped her to pour out her heart. One another day she shouted why at all God created me? Why God took my dad away? I had no ready made answer but I was very much with her in her pain and loss but I could helped her to express all the good things she enjoyed and experienced. All on sudden her attention turned to a scenery in my room with the caption, ‘Faith in God can move the mountains.’ “Sister, what does it mean?” She asked. I told her that life is a mixture of joys and sorrows, ups and downs. The God who created you and me and the whole of the universe is in control of everything and we just have to surrender our lives to him and everything will be fine. Often human love is conditional even our parental love but God’s love is unconditional. He is your beloved Daddy always. Her face brightened up and she said, “I believe in that loving Daddy.”

Holding on to the hand of God is a bold act of faith. Faith in God makes a person undaunted, unafraid, undivided and unflappable. As the psalmist exhorts: “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” (Psalm - 37:7) 

Sr(Dr) Lilly Thockanattu SJL

Devotion or Discipline

  Upasana, devotion is the way of a different kind of people, who say there is no importance to soul, only God is. Naturally, we think that sadhana & upasana – discipline & worship- go together, but it is not so. Theists believe in devotion and worship; they don’t believe in effort. They say all one has to do is to go closer and closer to God. The Sanskrit word ‘Upasana’ is beautiful, it means to sit near God, to get close to one’s object of worship. And here the worshiper disappears; his ego evaporates in the process of getting close to God. The theists believe that it is really our ego that separates us from God.

The greater the ego greater will be the gulf between us and God. It is like ice turns into water and water evaporates and joins the clouds. Does the ice have to make effort to melt to become water? No, if the ice puts some effort then it becomes more crystallized, solidified. Sadhana ultimately leads to soul, while upasana leads to God. One who disciplines himself will find his soul first and then the journey to God starts, that is Sadhaka. On the other hand the Upasaka, the devotee, will lose him and find God. The Sadhaka- the man of discipline and the Upasaka- the devotee are opposing concepts like the Jnana Yoga & Bhakti Yoga. While Upasaka will melt and dissolve into God, Sadhaka will be strengthened and crystallized in Soul realization. 

In Krishna’s life there is no element of discipline. There is no actual place for Sadhana. It is Upasana or devotion which has the meaning for Krishna. Therefore let us see deeper into Upasana. To understand Upasana, it is necessary first we should know that it has nothing to do with efforts and discipline. Unless we know it clearly, we will continue to confuse the two. And let us also remember that very few people want to take the real path of devotion and worship. Most of us would like to be Sadhaka- doers. A Sadhaka has nothing to lose, he has only something to gain, his Soul. An Upasaka- the devotee has everything to lose, lose himself. Losing himself into God is his only gain. That is why even the ardent lovers of Krishna turn into Sadhaka; they too talk in terms of Sadhana, discipline. The ego loves the words strive, achieve, arrive, it is always after achievement. 

Dr Dwarakanath, 

Mithran Foundation, the stress management people.

No Fixed Deposits

There are a large number of organisations and institutions engaged in social activities. Most of  these claim to be doing selfless service to society for a good cause. At the same time, we come across a good number of such bodies that collect money by various means including dubious ones with hardly any visible service. We also notice many of them closing their shops sooner or later. It, therefore, becomes a matter of consideration on how to sustain a social organisation in order to achieve its objectives. One simple way is to create enough fixed deposits and run the organisation out of the interest income. Once I was contemplating over this matter in reference to Kabir Peace Mission. At that time, the organisation was in its childhood stage and the only source of income was its membership fee. For us too, one of the options was to create a corpus by seeking donations, but I was not very comfortable with this option. 

It was around this time that I came across a book of Mahatma Gandhi titled ‘Satyagraha in South Africa’. This book has a very good account of the Mahatma’s days in South Africa. In fact, it was during this period that Mohan Das was converted into a Mahatma. Overall, it is a very touching narration of events. Somewhere in this book Gandhiji had mentioned the sustainability of his movement in South Africa. It was a great task and required a lot of resources, particularly money and people. He got both but he lays the condition for this arrangement of nature. Gandhiji clearly mentions that when one undertakes a social cause, only three conditions have to be fulfilled. The first condition is that the cause should be a felt need of the society and not the fancy or whim of one or few individuals. In other words, the cause should be owned by the society. The second condition is that the leadership or leaders behind the movement should be totally selfless and the third equally important condition is that the working of the organisation should be transparent, irrespective of the credibility of the leader or leaders. Gandhiji concludes by saying that if these conditions are fulfilled, no fixed deposit is required and the resources will be made available by nature perennially. 

In these words of Gandhiji, I got the answer to my dilemma. The idea of fixed deposits was totally dropped and the whole concentration was shifted towards the cause, selflessness and transparency. Thereafter, the mission grew in an exponential manner with support coming from many sources. Incidentally, we now have some fixed deposits also which is the only cause of worry.

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Islam Spreads

Contd....

The story of Khuzoth was different. When the Message of Mohammed inviting him to Islam was read to Khuzoth he became very angry. He sent a letter to his Governor Bashan asking him to capture the new prophet and put him among his slaves. In his return, Bashan sent a message to Mohammed. In the meanwhile, Khuzroth’s son came to power in the place of Khuzoth. Mohammed got this information and he conveyed this information to the messengers of Bazan. He also asked him to take Mohammed’s messengers to Bazan inviting him to Isalm. The people of Yemen had knowledge of the defeat of Qureshians and they realized that it had weakened the power they exercised over them. They also came to know about the success of Mohammed over Qureshi and the crushing of the power of Jews by Mohammed. Bazan’s men conveyed the message of Mohammed to him. He thereupon embraced Islam and continued as the Governor of Yemen.

The response of Mutuoqis, the catholic Arch Bishop of Egypt was different from that of Khuzroth. He received the message of Mohammed and sent presentations to Mohammed which included two slave girls, some wealth and some precious article of Egypt. Mohammed married one of the girl by name Marithel Khivtiya and the son Ibrahim was born in that wedlock. 

Justice P K Shamsuddin

Autocracy is a Sin - 7

The main tasks for the Church as I see them are:

• Giving spiritual leadership to a world that is confused in that it is getting more and more immersed in materialism, and going after pleasures that really do not satisfy the human spirit. The overwhelming majority of people in the world is good, and wants to do the right thing. They are in need of spiritual guidance. The educational systems in the world do not sufficiently focus on a value system and spirit life. 

• A positive world-view and out-look on humanity. The concept of Original Sin has done immense harm to humanity. A defective humanity right from the start of creation does no glory to God or humanity. Humanity’s fall from grace requiring a redeemer was an unduly harsh punishment for the disobedience of Adam and Eve. It gives the impression that Adam and Eve were set up! Such a harsh punishment is unthinkable for a compassionate God who is Our Father. A thorough revision of the Fall-Redemption theology where Christ is required as the redeemer needs to take place. Christ as the pre-eminent teacher and model (Sadguru) serving as a corrective force for humanity may take the place of a redeemer. It does not diminish his importance, necessity, and stature.

• Embracing advances in science and technology and providing moral and rational guidelines for scientists for the betterment of humanity is a must. Science and religion do not need to keep cautious, respectable distance from each other because of the difficult and acrimonious past. Church does not need to be perceived as a stumbling block to science and technology. Human resources spent on science and technology need to improve the quality of life for all humankind.

• The concept of private property needs to be thoroughly examined and revised. The social function of property needs to be emphasized. Trusteeship of material resources need to be encouraged. The example of Native Americans (the original inhabitants of the Americas) holding air, water, and land in common before the Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and British colonizers is very exhilarating. In that regard they were more civilized than us, the so-called colonizers. Imagine the billions of territorial and border disputes that resulted in so many deaths and injuries!! No individual or nation should be able to amass wealth at the expense of other humans, and beyond a reasonable limit. The Church needs to be always on the side of the oppressed and the down-trodden. My contention is that if the Church were on the side of the oppressed, communism and socialism would or could have developed a democratic, spiritual, and humane face.

• Advancing freedom, equality, and justice for all irrespective of race, caste, color, creed, class, and gender is of utmost importance. All are equal and precious in the eyes of God.

• Formulating morality and moral truths in the context of existential living and relentless search for truth and meaning.

• Focusing on democracy and human rights for peace and a viable a political system that can advance amity among nations.

• A spirituality beyond religions paving for a holistic living. Religions the way they fight among themselves have only been self-defeating in the way they present the only God. 

• Harnessing energy of religions for harmonious living. Cooperation among various religions can only present God in a favorable and positive light.

• Striving for unity of humanity as everyone is created in the image of God.

The Church is a sign of realities beyond this world. it has to critically evaluate and build on sound evolving physical realities. The Church has an obligation to present the unadulterated teaching of Christ to the world. Everybody who follows Christ’s teachings represents Christ. The answer to the question of who represents Christ more needs to be left to God alone. As humans in this world Christians need to use wholesome structures that respect human rights. Christ’s teachings are very clear about oppressive, evil structures in this world. No representative of him can and should use any oppressive measure in the name of Christ. No democratic system can come in the way of holiness or striving for God’s Kingdom.

Swami (Dr)Snehanand Jyoti

Excellent Question!

One day, an Indian saint was asked, “How shall we measure the greatness of an individual?” Immediately came to him a question, “How tall is a lotus flower?” The saint explained that any lotus flower has a certain height and that is in reference to the depth of the water in which the plant is. There will be a thin bio-pipe line connecting the flower with the plant at its’ base, which determines its’ height. The saint further said that the growth of a human being is also determined in reference to the depth of God-consciousness he is in. This beautiful reply was in response to an appropriate question. The great thinker Socrates said that it was his father who taught him to ask right questions. He learned that excellent questions only fetch beautiful answers.

I remember another question somebody one day asked to another Indian saint. This time the Hindu saint was asked, “Why do people shout at others?” The saint replied that it is because of the distance between two hearts. People shout even if the other person is just next to them.” The saint explained, “When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other. What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small.” The saint continued, “When they love each other even more, they do not speak, they only whisper. At a more loving stage, they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all.”

We love to hear catching answers even to our wrong questions. We are not bothered about generating right questions? It is said, “Ask and you get.” It reminds us that we need to ask first. If you love to have something special, you need to ask something special. If somebody asks me to tell about the first thing an enthusiast (be from any stream) need to learn, I might answer, “Learn to ask right questions.” 

Joseph Mattappally

Compliment People in Public

Physician George Adams found encouragement to be so vital to a person’s existence that he called it “Oxygen of the Soul”

The most fundamental and straight forward way of winning with people is to give them a compliment- a sincere and meaningful word of appreciation. If you want to make others feel like a million bucks, you’ve got to master this elementary skill. It is essential that we learn to compliment people in public which will instantly have a positive impact. When you compliment a person’s attitude, you reinforce it and make it more consistent. Like the repetition of weightlifting regimen, routine compliments build up people’s qualities and strengthen their personalities. 

As former Secretary of defense and World Bank President Robert McNamara said,” Brains are like hearts, they go where they are appreciated”. Remember people’s names and take time to show them your care. If you want to add value to people, you have to value them first. Believe in the best in others, and you will bring out their best. 

As commander of a 10 billion warship and a crew of 310, Mike Abrashoff used grassroots leadership to increase retention rates from 28 percent to 100 percent, reduce operating expenditures, and improve readiness. How did he do it? Among other things, he placed supreme importance on public compliments.

“The commanding officer of a ship is authorized to hand out 15 medals a year”, he wrote. “I wanted to err on the side of excess, so I passed out 115”. While awarding the medal, Abrashoff also delivered a short speech describing how much we cherished the recipient’s friendship, camaraderie, and hard work.  

Whenever you have the opportunity to publicly praise another person, don’t let it slip by. You can create these opportunities, as Captain Abrashoff did, but you can also find countless opportunities if you look for them.

Sr(Dr)Lilly Thockanattu SJL

Krishna & Samyama!

Samyama- the discipline of balance in life, without repression! By and large every seeker of the path of realization understands samyama in the sense of repression or renunciation. It is unfortunate that the samyama has become synonymous with repression. For Krishna, samyama has an absolutely different meaning. Looking at Krishna’s life no one can say that samyama means repression. If there has been a single person on earth who can be called utterly unrepressed, uninhibited and free, it is Krishna. This Sanskrit word Samyama is extraordinary. To me it means balance, equilibrium, to be in the middle-just. In this sense the renunciate does not have samyama, anymore than a person indulges in worldly pleasures. Both are out of balance and in need of samyama. They both are extremists; samyama means to be equidistant from two extremes. Krishna stands for that middle state where there is neither indulgence nor renunciation. We can also say that Samyama means indulgence with an element of renunciation in it or renunciation with an element of indulgence in it. Realistically, it is a state where we don’t tilt the scales to either side. 

Some among us are behind money, day in and day out amassing wealth. Some among are the opposites, running away from money and renouncing the wealth. Renunciation of wealth has become the goal of some and amassing the wealth is other person’s goal. Negation of extremes is samyama. As per Krishna, a person like Janaka is samyami. Too much fasting or too much eating is not samyama, right eating goes with Samyama. Fasting amounts to tilting the balance on the side of hunger; over eating amounts to tilting the balance on the side of indulgence. Any one of us can get deviated from samyama only in two ways; one way is indulgence and the other is renunciation. Either you get attached to a thing, you cling to it, or you get repelled by it. 

Krishna is neither a renunciate nor a hedonist. If we have to place him somewhere, he will be mid way between charvaka and mahavira. In indulgence he is equal to charvaka, and in renunciation he will not lag behind Mahavira, it will be Krishna. So, in terms of Krishna, all such words as samyama and asamyama will undergo a transformation. The words will be the same, but their meaning will be radically different. The meaning will stem from Krishna’s own being.

  

Let us understand Gita after we understand Krishna! 

Dr Dwarakanath

Marriage Technology

I had a friend who was a professor of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, during the mid-eighties. During that period, I was also posted at Kanpur. Since he happened to be a relative of my wife and was a nice person by nature, we grew close and often visited each other. He had three daughters and one son who was the youngest in the family. All the children were bright in their studies and grew well. The son passed his engineering from BHU and did his masters as well as PhD from the USA. Thereafter, he started working in the USA but we remained in contact. This boy, apart from being good in studies was also a good tabla player, photographer and artist. All these made his personality very pleasing. 

This boy got married in the year 2000 in India, but I couldn’t attend his wedding though I wanted to. In the USA, he was working in Denver and is continuing to do so. In 2002, I got an opportunity to visit Denver in connection with a ‘book fair’ where one of my books was to be released. This was to be in the month of June. In the month of March, I met him in Delhi and when I told him about this forthcoming event, he insisted that I must come and stay with him. His presence there thus became an additional attraction and I decided to participate. I was also keen to meet his wife as I had not met her earlier. 

At Denver, he received me at the airport alone though I was expecting his wife also. I had also brought along a gift for her. But soon after we left the airport, my nephew told me that he had not shared a development with me. Then he told me that his marriage had failed and he was living alone in a studio flat. This was a kind of shock to me but I took it coolly. I was in Denver for four days and during this period he shared a lot with me, which not only gave him a lot of consolation but strength also to face the reality gracefully. However, one thing was sure that the event had changed the boy and he had become scared even of the word ‘marriage’.

Throughout my stay at Denver and till today I often contemplate over this issue. While the USA has developed all the possible technologies of the world and countless objects of comfort for mankind, surely no one will deny that it has failed to produce happiness out of all these. Take the example of marriage itself. A successful marriage contributes a great deal to happiness in life. While most of the marriages in less developed countries are successful and last for an entire lifetime, this is not true in the case of developed countries. In a country like India, the institution of marriage is still very strong and is sustaining relationships well. Surely when it comes to the technology of marriage, India beats most of the developed countries.

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Autocracy is a Sin 6

Blooming Stars - Swami (Dr) Snehanand Jyoti 

It may be time for Pope Benedict XVI to resign if he is not mentally and physically fit so that his cronies will not be able to run the Church in his name in his feeble days. There is nothing wrong in a Pope resigning. Popes in the past have resigned. There is nothing theological or spiritual about a Pope governing the Church for life. It may be one of the best services to pave way for others especially since he has spent almost all his life for his Church. It is time that we get rid of bad precedence and traditions. It is time for accepting the reality of old age and the problems associated with it. A Pope is no exception to the human condition related to old age. It is the right time to begin the process of electing the new Pope and his council, after the present Pope’s resignation, by clergy and laity elected from the various dioceses of the world. This way the rumor mill of the world speculating about the health of the old Pope and speculations about the new Pope can be put out of business.

Grace is built on nature. Good, sound, and effective managerial practices from the secular world can be adopted to govern the greatest spiritual organization that is the Catholic Church in the world. If it is not a spiritual organization, it has no business to continue to exist. Its leaders need to be truly time-tested spiritual persons imbued with Christ’s spirit. They need to be ready and willing to be guided by the Holy Spirit. On occasion one wonders if the Church leaders at present are not, unwittingly, trying to micro-manage the workings of the Holy Spirit! The new Pope as a nominal spiritual head of the Catholic Church and his council can give general guidelines for the Church members to form their conscience and live a life according to Christ’s teachings. This system of minimal governance can only enhance the stature of the Catholic Church instead of diminishing it. The mechanics of the elections and a minimum program on spirituality and formation of clergy and laity can be left to the Third Vatican Council.  All, especially theologians, spiritual guides, and reform-minded Catholics can offer suggestions with regard to the New Catholic Church that will make every effort to work for unity of Christianity, cooperation with other religions, and, above all, unity of humanity that is in the image of God. While the chief Church center can be in the Vatican City, there can be four sub-centers in the four corners of the world. The Catholic Church, universal as it is, is ideally equipped to help model and create without interference a secular, democratic world government that will express a political unity of humanity. (To be Continued).

Swami (Dr) Snehananda Jyoti

Yes or No

The current world is undergoing a thorough transition from Analog to Digital which began at the tail end of the previous millennium. Digital approach is marked by two basic states of ‘Yes’ or ‘no’. In digital, there is nothing called uncertainty, adjustment or compromise. I’m of the opinion that this is only revisiting of the old ‘do ‘or ‘die’ approach. Looking from this angle, Gita is digital, so is the Bible, so is the Quran. No Scriptural verse carries multiple meanings to choose from. At one time, if there were people who contained the spirit of Holy Scriptures and lived uncompromisingly religious, the legs of present day religionists are on two boats –digital and analogue. They know that diluting the Scriptures in various measures is essential for their interests. The non-religious segment of the world of bytes is distinctively digital, they do not at all compromise anywhere. They know only Yes or no, right or wrong and good or bad. 

The digital world is rational and is classifying everything into two opposites as mentioned above. But the religious sector is busy adding uncertainties every where every time. We cannot but forget that there exists a tiny digital faction within it which was always considered misfits, crazy or trouble makers. The only thing the word could not do with them was ‘ignore them’, because they were the people who changed the world; they were the people who truly shared the narrow paths to heaven. A fantastic sentence written on every Japanese bus stop says, ‘only buses will stop here – not your time’. If you are religious, decide to be a misfit by offering hundred percent every time. 

Joseph Mattappally

The Value of Team Work

A Chinese proverb states, “Behind an able man there are always other able men”.

The truth is that team work is at the heart of great achievement. If you want to reach your potential or strive for the seemingly impossible, you need to become a team player. It may be a cliché’, but it is nonetheless true: Individuals play the game but teams win championships. If you lead a team, then you must convince your teammates to sacrifice for the good of the group. The first quality of a relational leader is the ability to understand how people think and feel. As you work with others, recognise that all people, whether leaders or followers, have something in common. Recognizing these truths a leader must still be able to treat people as individuals. The ability to look at each person, understand and connect with him is a major factor in relational success.

The leader need to figure out which button to push with each individual person on his team. One person will respond well to being challenged; another will want to be nurtured, another will need frequent follow-up. One of the best way to inspire others and make them feel good is to show them who they could be. Years ago, a manager of the New York Yankees wanted rookie players to know what a privilege it was to play for the team. He used to tell, “Boys, it’s an honour just to put on the  New York pinstripes. So when you put them on, play like world champions. Play like Yankees. Play proud.” When you give someone a reputation to uphold, you give him something good to shoot for. It’s putting something that was beyond his reach but within his grasp.  Why is that important? Because people will go farther than they thought they could when someone they respect tells them they can.

A well known organist was performing a concert on the huge, antique organ in the local church. The bellows were hand-pumped by a boy who was behind a screen, unseen by the audience. The audience was thrilled by the organist ability at the keyboard of the old instrument. After taking his ovation, the musician walked triumphantly in to a side passageway. As he passed the boy he heard him say,” We played well as a team, didn’t we sir?”

The organist haughtily replied,” And what do you mean, ‘we’? 

After the intermission, the organist returned to his seat at the impressive five-keyboard and began to play. But nothing happened; not a sound was heard. Then the organist heard a youthful voice whisper from behind the screen, ‘Say, mister, now do you know what ‘we’ means?” 

Sr(Dr) Lilly SJL 

Krishna & his human aspect!

Victory & defeat in life are like warp and woof with which a piece of cloth is woven. Victory alone or defeat alone cannot make a life, as warp alone cannot make a cloth. To make a life whole victory and defeat, success and failure, gain and loss, right and wrong are all essential. Life is made up of these opposites; these opposites are like two sides of a coin. The real question is not weather Krishna wins a battle or losses it (as in case with King Jarasandh!). The real question is the totality of our life ends in victory or defeat. It is possible that a defeat becomes a stepping stone to victory. It also is possible that victory may serve as jumping board to fall into abysmal defeat. The warp and woofs of life are so vast and complex. It is ok if one loses a battle or two and wins the war. The ultimate judgment of on ours life is not depends on the counts of victory and losses, but on the final summation of our whole life story. It is natural that Krishna had moments of defeat in his life. It is inevitable with life. If God has to live in the world he will have to live as humans do. In fact, one who is not ready to face defeats in life should give up all thought of victory. Krishna’s life contains both victory and defeat, which is why it is so human. But this humanness does not detract from the grandeur and glory of his life, it really adds much to it. Krishna is not an egoist; he is ready to face everything life brings with it. He accepts the ups and downs of life unconditionally. That is what makes Krishna tremendously human and because of this humanness he looks for us the human, small in comparison to the divinity of Buddha and Mahavira.  Krishna is not going to be harsh, so he accepts all that we call human weakness. And he does not take mistake as mistake; he takes it in stride, as something coming with life.

Krishna’s life is a flux; he moves with the winds. He goes eastward with east wind and west wards with the westerly. He goes with his life totally. As a Zen story goes, there is a river which is flooded. It is rushing toward ocean with tremendous speed and force. Two small stalks of a plant are flowing with its currents. One has placed itself cross wise against the currents; it is tense and anxious, tries to fight against them. But it does not make any difference as it is so powerful to be resisted. The currents are not even aware that a little straw is in their way, trying to resist their triumphant advance. But as far as the little stalk is concerned, it is fighting for its life and wasting all its energy for nothing. The other stalk has left itself length wise in the currents, which are taking it with them effortlessly. This stalk is relaxed and joyous and festive. It is dancing with the ripples of river; it has a feel of sharing and celebrating with the river. The ways of stalks make not the least difference to the river, but makes all the difference to them.

Like the stalks there are two kinds of people in the world. One is demanding, aggressive and resistant like the first stalk which places itself against the river and fights with it and suffers at every step. And there are other type of people who say ‘Yes’ to life, who cooperate with it like the stalk which places length wise and moves effortlessly and happily with them. These people have a sense of deep kinship with the existence; they move with it, with a song in their hearts.

There is flute in the hands of Krishna, because he has left himself completely in the hands of existence, he flows effortlessly with its currents. That is how he sings and dances and plays the flute and goes blissfully through life. It is unthinkable to put the flute in the hands of any other realized soul, it is unthinkable. That is the way of a choice less person of total acceptance of existence. And ‘choicelessness’ is the door Krishna shows for bliss and ecstasy.

Life is not all about Victory or defeat of battles but of its totality of war itself, if we use Life as War metaphor. But life is not a war but a celebration, as per Krishna.

Let us understand Krishna to understand Gita!

Dr Dwaraka Nath 

How Many Miracles

There is a town near Delhi known as Mohan Nagar named after the family that established this town. The flag unit of this town is Mohan Meakins and its chairman is Col. Kapil Mohan. The life story of Col. Mohan is very inspiring. He is not only a good entrepreneur but also a good human being. Starting as a non-believer, he turned into a staunch devotee of Maa Durga and has constructed a very magnificent temple dedicated to her. In fact, my curiosity to meet Col. Mohan grew only after visiting the temple. Soon this opportunity also came and we spent some time together. In the process, we developed a liking for each other. After a year or so of this meeting, I had another opportunity to interact with him; this time in an informal manner. The CEO of Mohan Meakins, who happens to be a good friend of mine, had invited me to dinner. After the dinner he took me to Col. Mohan who was at his dinner table at that time. Col. Mohan called us to the dinner table and we started talking. I noticed that his food was very simple, which was a reflection of his personality. While engaged in talking, Col. Mohan suddenly drew my attention towards the ring he was wearing in one of his fingers and said that the same was given to him by Sathya Sai Baba. He also said that the ring was collected by Baba from space. Further, he asked me if I believed in such miracles. 

I had already heard of many such incidents but I hold no specific opinion about them mainly because such an opinion hardly matters either to the believers or the non-believers. So I responded accordingly and opined that we considered such events as miracles because we were not used to them. In my opinion, every event of Nature is a miracle but since we watch them happening every day throughout our life, we don’t consider them so. I gave the example of digestion of food, which I was watching, as we were on the dining table. Our role in this process is limited to gulping down the food. The rest of the process is taken care of by Nature without any effort on our part. The large variety of fruits, plants and flowers we see around us is a miracle to me. Col. Mohan was convinced with this argument and our interaction shifted to other matters. 

I contemplate over this issue quite often. The more I think in this regard, the more I notice the mystery of Nature. The best creation of Nature, a human being, is perhaps the biggest miracle and like this every creation of Nature is a miracle. Thus, how many miracles of Nature shall we count? We being equipped with the power of ‘thinking’ and ‘intellect’ start believing that we are the doers. This is nothing but ignorance because these powers have also been bestowed on us by Nature. Let us, therefore, live in tune with Nature and make the best use of the many wonderful faculties provided to us. 

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Fruitful Delegations

Now, we will examine what happened to the delegation sent by Mohammed to emperors and kings. There are some differences of opinion among historians over the question when the delegations left to deliver the message of Mohammed. Was it after or before the Kaiber war?  Haikal the historian thinks that they had not left at the same time. The reason for holding such a view is that there are evidences to show that Dihma Bin Khalifa, who was deputed to Iraq took part in the Kaiber war.

Hirocleus was returning after defeating the Persians and seeking from them the Holy Cross at Palestine. He wanted to go to Palestine for installing the Holy Cross. When he was in the retreat Bihman Bin Khalifa entrusted the letter of Mohammed containing the message to the Governer of Bazra. The message was read out and translated to Hirocleus and he is reported to have patiently heard the same. He sent a reply at the same time Haritul Bassani informed Hirocleus that he had received a message from Mohammed. Hirocleus understood that it would be similar to the one he received. Hari…Dazani Haritul Bassani sought permission of Hirocleus to take an army to capture Mohammed. Hirocleus told Haritul Bassani in a letter that it would be better for him to be at Palestine to make the celebration of installation of the Holy Cross at Palestine. Hirocleus had not seriously taken Mohammed. He not even conceived that Palestine and Syria would come under the rule of Muslims after a few years. 

Justice P K Shamsuddin

Autocracy is a Sin - 5

It is difficult to trust the judgments of popes. Except for Pope John XXIII, the modern popes have not provided effective and needed leadership. Pope John Paul II with all his charism failed to usher the Catholic Church into the 21st century.  He was successful with his native Poland, but failed miserably with 1. Liberation theologians who were fighting the dictators in Latin America and 2.  Progressive Catholics who were advocating reforms. His successor is his carbon copy.  Historically many popes have not lived a life of creativity and holiness. They either encouraged or condoned many evils.  They were mostly silent or ignored the tragedy of Jewish Holocaust, perhaps the greatest tragedy for humanity in the 20th century in Christian Europe. They waged crusades. They encouraged or condoned inquisition, witch-hunts, racism, colonialism, apartheid. Some of their actions precipitated great and still unhealed divisions (Catholic-Orthodox, Catholic-Protestant) in the Catholic Church.  Pope Pius XI, for instance, rebuffed Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps the greatest spiritual soul in the 20th century, by not giving him audience when he, with the permission of British Colonial Powers, visited Rome with the explicit intention of seeing the Pope. Obviously the sympathy of the Pope was with the colonial, oppressive powers ruling India. Interestingly St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and one of the greatest defenders of papacy, was forbidden to preach Christ for 3 years by the evil Inquisition controlled by the Dominican Friars as he was suspected of being not faithful to the Catholic doctrine. Also St. Theresa of Avila and the Jesuit saint Francis Borgia were censured.

Many prominent religious persons were condemned and put to death for merely voicing their theological or moral views. Savonorola, who was burned at the stake, worked for deposing Pope Alexander VI, one of the most immoral popes in history. Ironically the very Society of Jesus was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV due to political pressure and greed of those who could not stomach the spiritual works of Jesuits. The suppression lasted for 42 years. The most qualified members of the Jesuit Order who vowed special obedience to the Pope were put out of commission.  A Pope could not have been more self-destructive than that. Popes condoned immoral slavery, a curse of humanity. How could they speak against it as they came from among the powerful who benefited from it? How could they oppose colonialism as his emissaries and missionaries benefited from the colonial powers? How could the king of France support the Jesuits against the suppression of the Society of Jesus when his own mistress was angry with the Jesuits for not absolving her in confession for living with the king? Jesus called Herod, the king in his days, a fox. Can we think of any pope calling a powerful monarch in the Europe of medieval times like that? Quite a few popes came from powerful political or royal families. Quite a few popes owed their appointment to kings.

From 17 years of age till the present (72 years of age), I have made religious life, spirituality, and the Catholic Church my main preoccupation. And I have not compromised any way in this regard. I can marshal many facts to expose bad judgments of Popes and their advisors in the past. In other words, I do not think any objective person evaluating events theologically, spiritually, and psychologically can give many popes of the past passing grades. Edmund Burke, a philosopher, stated: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. I want to remember humanities’ nightmares, horrors, and traumas of the past, and I do not want to repeat them. I do not see popes in the past as advancing the Kingdom of Christ. The way popes and their magisterium govern the Catholic Church at present, I do not trust in their ability to govern this body, the Catholic Church, spiritually in keeping with the teachings of Christ. And that is the precise reason that Pope Benedict XVI at 85 years of age, having spent out his steam in the 20th century fighting progressive theologians should peacefully pave the way for a Third  Vatican Ecumenical Council that would among other things also create a wholesome democratic power structure. Pope Benedict XVI as Josef Ratzinger in his liberal, reform-minded days wrote in his 1968 book, Introduction to Christianity that the pope has a duty to listen to differing voices within the Church. At that time he also downplayed the centrality of the pope.

Swami (Dr) Snehanand Jyoti

Yet they are honourable

 “…..Yet they are honourable men ….” I was compelled to recall these words from the famous speech of Mark Antony as illustrated by Shakespeare; it was when I happened to read an interesting comment on India, presented by an Indian patriot through Face book.  It read, ‘India is my country... All Indians are my brothers who are rapists and sisters who fall prey to them. My country stands united only when there is an India Vs Pakistan cricket match being played. …… India is a great country because the people living in this country will fight with you, abuse you and even kill you if you say anything against it. ..... India is a great country with strict laws and regulations. We are paying taxes, so that the government can pay and protect politicians. Shame on all of us.... But India is a great country..!”

Sometime back, I remember to have read another similar comment on India. It read, ‘India will be corruption free’ – tense wise ‘Future Impossible’. The recent shameful rape and murder incident in Delhi could raise many eyebrows. For the first time in post independent India, people sealed the most protected Rashtrapathi Bhavan – the prestigious house of the President, without a political magnet to hold the banner. It all says that the heart of India is wounded badly. It also says that a few nuts can not at all damage neither the spirit of India nor its’ proud heritage. I think positive, I believe not in the few scoundrels who cover the news boxes but in the many shouts that shook the Raisina Hill.

Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude for our existence should be as regular as our heartbeat

           Gratitude is the memory of the heart. It means that we do not take for granted things that are done for us but appreciate them and in one way or another make a return for them. It is said that a grateful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues. Gratitude is like the sunshine, we can do without it, but when present, it brings warmth and throws light on the whole scene of life. The more one is able to return an act of kindness, it enhances the nobility of the person. If we develop right attitude we will be able to see everything in the right perspective and accept it as a blessing.

       We are dependent on others till we say goodbye to this world. With gratitude in our hearts, life becomes richer and more joyful. Many of our troubles could be eliminated if we could focus more on the blessings received and be grateful to God. As the culture of saying “thanks” is slowly vanishing in our day to day humdrum of life, let us foster it consciously in our own personal lives.

Thanksgiving is gratitude in action. An attitude of Gratitude brings healing and wholeness. We have heard of persons suffering from terminal illness being healed because of their positive attitude and spirit of thankfulness to the Lord. Besides thanking God for all the favours received, we need to be grateful to our fellow human beings for all the favours and services received and reciprocated.  More than ever we need to develop a sense of gratitude to our Mother Earth for providing for all our needs. The greatest challenge ahead of us is to protect and sustain the scarce resources for the future generation. “The finest test of character is seen in the amount and the power of gratitude we have.”  M.H.Gates.

Sr (Dr) Lilly Thockanattu

Fathima Matha College, Madurai

Inequality of Humanity

Why Krishna did not remove inequality of humanity

We should not wrongly think that Mahavira, Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus and Krishna did not talk of equality. They addressed about the kind of equality which was possible and also the need of their times. It was spiritual equality they taught throughout their lives. They preached that the soul, the spirit of every human being was the same. They preached that spiritually all human beings were equal. They could not have said about external conditions then, for that matter even now! The coming generation too will surely accuse us for our failing to do so.

I will try to explain this with the help of an illustration I heard from a renowned economist. Today a person has to work 8 hours each day in field or factory or in office to earn his bread. And we think that is how it should be. The time is not far away that all production will happen through automation. The humanity will be freed from the labour. The necessities of life will be available for humanity without having to work for it. How to spend the leisure time would be a problem then, not employment. Already the economists of advanced countries are grappling with this kind of futurist problem, when complete automation of work will make human labour superfluous and unnecessary. Just 30 to 40 years from now the situation may arise when someone in future is going to ask why men like Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and even Karl Marx did not say it is immoral and inhuman to compel people to work for basics of life. But right now it is difficult to conceive it as moral or social problem. Ideas and thoughts are intimately connected with the realities of time and space. The pains of inequality in materialistic things were not felt in the time of Krishna. Even the poverty was not felt the way it is felt today.

In this world we have to search for and find everything we need, nothing is given gratis. From health to wealth and from ignorance to super consciousness, all are received and achieved by us only when we seek. God is everywhere, he sees the sufferings too. But we have turned our back to him and we are free to do so. Now if we turn our face to God and find him, can we complain why he did not seek us before we sought and found him? If we complain then Krishna or any God would say, that it would be a trespass on our freedom if he forced himself on us without our asking. Freedom means that we are entitled to find what we seek not that which we do not seek. Waiting of Krishna for us is essential. It is not that God was not coming to us because he was unhappy with us. God is beyond these petty emotions. It is necessary that we should seek him. The day we seek and find the God or the ultimate reality, we will realize that the God or the ultimate reality was all the time waiting for us to seek and find. This is the essence Krishna shares with us in Gita on the Bakti (Yoga of Devotion) and Gnana (Yoga of Knowledge) Yoga. And most religions and teachings of great personalities too tell us the same.

Let us understand Krishna to understand Gita.      

Wishing you all good health and happiness,

Dr. Dwarakanath, 

Director, MITRAN foundation- the stress management people!