Not Even a Nose Ring

Mr TSR Subramanian was an IAS officer of the UP cadre. Having risen to the post of Chief Secretary in the state government and Cabinet Secretary in the central government, he retired a few years back. After retirement also, he has been useful to the society and is serving it in many ways. Sometime after the retirement, he wrote a book under the title ‘Journeys Through Babudom and Netaland’. This book is a kind of autobiography as well as a good analysis of ground realities in our country, particularly in respect of administration and politics. The book was very well-received and created a good debate among those who find mention in it. I read it soon after its release and enjoyed reading it. My one-line comment on this book is that it is a good dig on the system. While it does not provide answers to the malady of the system, it certainly provokes the system to think about the answers. This way it serves a great purpose. Subsequently, the book was published in Hindi also. 

Leaving this aspect of the book here itself, I am going to mention an incident narrated in the book, which left a deep mark on me. It relates to the period when Mr Subramanian was posted at Geneva, on a UN assignment. In the same office, there was an elderly class-four employee named B Singh who hailed from eastern UP. He had been in Geneva for quite some time and was very popular among the Indian officers posted there. The reason was his helpful nature along with the wisdom he had acquired on account of this trait. His counsel to all officers, particularly those posted newly, was well received and everyone looked for his help at one time or the other. He used to live there with his family.

It so happened that during the period of Mr Subramanian’s posting there, the wife of this employee passed away and Mr Subramanian visited his residence to pay his condolence. It was early afternoon; his apartment was a bare one-room flat. A few other Indians were there to share his grief. Singh had just returned after the cremation of his wife. He was dry-eyed, drained of all emotions, and talking more to himself than to the visitors at his home. He said, “She died last night. The nurse asked me to come back early this morning. She was being bathed and the nurse asked me to remove her nose ring before the cremation. Saab, I have never seen her without the nose ring ever since I had known her and married her when she was a ten-year-old. She wore it all the time, in bed, while bathing; it was a part of her. I could not bear the thought of separating her from the diamond nose ring. I told the nurse that I don’t want it, let it go with her. The nurse said that the metallic item could not be taken into the cremation. Saab, I tried to remove the nose ring, but my hands were trembling and I could not unscrew it. Finally, the nurse removed it and gave it to me. You see Saab, she could not even take this small thing with her when she went. But you see people who madly collect houses and money and property they cannot take with them.”

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Restless Peninsula

After the Muhtha incident, the army under the command of Khalid Ibin Walid returned. The Byssantian army was happy on the death of some prominent Muslim leaders and the their retreat without prolonging the war. They praised their Lord. However, the reason for their return was the performance of Khalid Ibn Walid in the battle field. The Arab tribes around Syria witnessed this event with wonder. Further, Fareh Bin Amru Dudari, who was leading one of the battalions of the Byssantian army declared that he embrace Islam. Fareh Bin Amru Dudari, who was the head and leader of one of the prominent Arab tribes, on the declaration of his conversion was arrested in allegation of treason at the instructions of Hirocleus. He was offered higher positions if he consented to reconvert from Islam. He was not prepared to go an inch against his decision. Thereupon, he was murdered by the Byssantians. The result of the murder of Fareh was that Islam was found rapidly growing. This in turn created tension in the minds of the Byssantians. One of the Governors of Hirocleus, who was entrusted with the work of disseminating salary to the soldiers permitted the army of the tribe of Sham to be released. Many of the allies of Jews who were defeated in the war namely the tribes of Gatwaa, Ahhjaa and Adudyan also came forward and embraced Islam. Among them was Abbas Bin Mordah the tribal head of Sulai. Thus the northern part of Medina came under the sway of Islam.

At the same time the reaction of the Muslims in Medina on the event in Muhtah, was really different. They called Khalid Ibn Walid and his army to accuse that they could not defeat the Byssantian army. Many leaders were ashamed of this accusation and were reluctant to come out of their houses. At the same time, the Meccans considered the Muhtha incident as the end of Muslim power and thought that they need not give any value to the treaty of Ubaidia. They thought that the Muslims were not only in a position for an attack but also they are not even capable of a defense and they could let loose attack against Muslims and their allies. There was a provision in the Ubaidia treaty that tribes who were non-Meccans were free to enter into alliance with the Meccans or Mohammed.  Accordingly, the tribe of Qusava had made an alliance with Mohammed and Benu Beker had entered into an alliance with the Meccans There was feud between these tribes and the treaty of Ubaidia created a situation that both tribes should turn to be part of compromise. However, when Meccans felt that the power of Muslims was shattered with the war at Muthvah, the tribe of Banu Bail thought that it was appropriate opportunity to attack Husaa tribe. Ikrama, the son of Abu Jal and a few companions encouraged Banu Ubay tribe to go ahead with their plan. Some leaders of Mecca supplied arms to them. One day, in the night when some members of Husaa tribe camped near a well, they were attacked.

Justice P K Shamsuddin 

Papal Dynamics - 3

Besides the sexual abuse scandal, there are other problems such as the contentious birth control debate, gay and lesbian issues, homosexual unions, women’s issues including their ordination to the priesthood, married priesthood, stem-cell research and the whole field of medical ethics, divorce and re-marriage, vocations to priesthood and religious life, and the exodus of Catholics to other less enlightened religious denominations, and above all listening to the serious concerns of ordinary Catholics that Pope Benedict failed to address. With an a-priori academic, rigid mind-set, and an authoritarian, autocratic approach, Pope Benedict XVI did not have the openness or the psychological mindedness to deal with real problems in the real world. Even theologically and spiritually he needs to have known that we need to let go all pre-conceived ideas about faith and even God so God, the Pure Energy, can come into us and become the In-dweller (Vasudev). This indwelling is nothing but the Pure Gift of Grace. This is what all the dignitaries in the Catholic Church ought to know. Of course from this Pure Gift of Grace proceeds good works for others because we are all one humanity in the One God.

Pope Benedict’s final significant decision of resignation is progressive, and appears to come, I would like to think, from his long dormant liberalism. It is all the more important since he, a conservative, made it. It certainly gives fresh life and new hope to the immediate Church. It will help in ushering the Catholic Church into the modern era. Many more things like democracy, equality, and freedom are needed to launch the Church into the modern era and the Kingdom of God. They will come down like an inevitable avalanche crushing the ramparts of the official authoritarian autocratic Catholic Church that has nothing to do with the Universal Catholic Church of all the members and the spirit of Christ. But the resignation of papacy, the bastion of autocratic authoritarianism is a start. It certainly takes into account the ground realities of a Church that needs to live in the modern world. This one decision of Pope Benedict is certainly a redeeming act in that it begins to demystify the papacy. This may be considered to be the greatest contribution to a lackluster and almost disastrous papacy that went nowhere. I am sure this one decision took the conservatives by surprise. He gave credibility to the idea of a pope’s resignation.  No serious reform of the church took place under his watch. He also turned the clock back on the second Vatican Council that ended in 1965. In the minds of many progressive theologians, the second Vatican Council was only a beginning of reforming a Church lost in the dark, cruel, and barren desert of the Middle Ages. Pope John Paul II in his long papacy wasted his moral capital and kept the Church limping with his so-called charism.  Pope Benedict XVI did not have that charism and not much of moral capital.  His energy was already spent under John Paul II in blocking progressive theologians and upholding conservative and absolute traditional values in a relative world. An apt metaphor might be that Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI spent all the ammunition trying to shoot a flying bird with a static gun. They could not accommodate fast and vast changes in the modern world. The teachings of Christ are valid for all times. But the application of these perennial values changes according to changing conditions and times. They were not visionaries. They were not able to see the signs of the times. They were not able to adapt according to the changing times. That is where they went wrong. Any good driver knows that any driving has to be adjusted to the road conditions: heavy rains, cloud bursts, avalanches, snow, sleet, pot-holes, sudden flooding. They were not able to do that.

Intelligent as they were, they surrounded themselves with conservative and ultra-conservative clergy and made the mistake of thinking that they had absolute, unchallenged authority from Christ, and that they had answers to all the problems facing the Church. Relying on their out-dated concepts of supremacy and infallibility, they used the official machinery to appoint persons who toed their line of thinking as bishops and cardinals to important positions in the Church. Supremacy and infallibility were ill-suited to a servant-Church missioned to serve and not to be served. They only denoted pomposity and separateness that kept disagreements and spawned fruitless debates. Instead of bringing persons together they drove wedges among them and separated them. They demanded absolute obedience and submission from the vast majority of Catholics who are mostly naïve and unthinking, and accepted their pronouncements uncritically as part of their faith and routine trust in Church authority. (To be continued).

Swami (Dr) Snehananda Jyoti  

Immensely Valuable

An Indian sage is said to have advised, “Successful living is neither smart management of situations nor hoarding of money, power or information; it is being in the awareness of the Ever-present. It is in pure awareness that one realizes the value of what he is given.”  The importance of realizing the value of what we are given appeared to me very clear through a simple folk story which Osho once told us.

  

In ancient India, there lived a family which inherited a rare musical instrument - Rudra veena. A long discipline and years of intensive training were required to play it and nobody in the family knew how to play it. Slowly it turned out to be a nuisance for the family. Finally they decided, "It is useless for us; it is better to get rid of it." So they went out and threw it on the garbage pile by the side of the road. Before they reached back home, they heard sweet music flowing all around. They turned back only to see a beggar playing the instrument, which they had thrown out. The beggar was a musician, who was roaming in search of similar precious musical instruments. The people of the house came back, and when he stopped playing they said, "That instrument belongs to us."

The beggar said, "Remember one thing: a musical instrument belongs to one who knows how to play it, there is no other kind of ownership. You have thrown it in the garbage. You have insulted an immensely valuable thing.” There was a whole crowd to shout for the beggar. I know what Osho meant: ‘life belongs to those who have learned to live it’. I’m not sure if I myself haven’t insulted this immensely valuable life. I could not also think of what would have happened if the same life I got was given to somebody else.

Joseph Mattappally

The Need to Forgive

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Alexander Pope

Forgiveness is a way of living. It is developing a readiness to forgive: by pardoning others for the little everyday hurts and annoyance; by pardoning ourselves of small things too. Living this way prepares us to handle the more important injuries and blunders. Forgiveness is a decision. It is not a feeling.  A decision to forgive is the first step. What happens then depends upon the individual. Forgiveness is taking a risk.  It makes me vulnerable. People can begin to deepen relationships if they forgive each other. Forgiveness is accepting an apology. It is graciously to respect the effort of reconciliation, when the hurt is deep and when it is not.

Life can be a jungle. In the work place others might blame us for incompetence and can show us a condescending icy shoulder. At times words or actions may have cut deeper than we ever knew was possible. The reason why we should forgive our enemies is not because we think that someone else is deserving of our favour, but because our lives are driven by the One Who Created us. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever. Pause and ponder, think before you act. Forgive and Forget .If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

True forgiveness is hard to extend because it demands that people let go of something they value- not a piece of jewellery, but pride, a sense of justice as understood by the person concerned, or desire for revenge. We have all heard the famous ‘defence’: I   have forgiven but to forget is not easy. On February 25, 1995, Samandar Singh brutally murdered Sr. Rani Maria. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Sr. Selvi Paul, the sister of the murdered nun, tied rakhee on his hand and forgave him in 2002. The same was done by her brother and mother in 2003. True example of genuine Christian forgiveness moved the heart of Samnadr singh and he became a transformed person.

When asked ‘What is forgiveness?’  a little girl gave this lovely reply, “It’s the sweet scent that a flower gives when it is being crushed.”

Sr(Dr) Lilly Thockanattu SJL

Krishna & Chaitanya

Among the lovers of Krishna, Chaitanya’s name stands outstanding. Chaitanya’s method was termed as ‘Achintya Bhedabhedavad’; the word means the unthinkable is precious. Those who know through thought will say that both matter and spirit are separate or they are one and the same. Chaitanya says they are both one and separate. For example, the wave is both one with and both separate from the ocean at the same time. And he is right. The wave is separate from the ocean, and so we call it by different name – the wave. And it is virtually one with the ocean, because it cannot be without it, it comes from it. Therefore the wave is both separate and inseparable from the ocean. But all this is within the realm of thinking. Chaitanya adds another dimension to it, that is Achintya or unthinkable. He says that if we come to know through thinking that the world and God, matter and spirit are both separate and inseparable, this realization is worth nothing. Then it is nothing more than an idea, concept and a theory. But when the seeker comes to it without thinking, without word, when we realizes it in the state of no-mind, beyond thought, then it is experience. Then it is worthwhile, it is real and great. For example, someone wants to know what love is and he reads huge scriptures on love. He will become knowledgeable about love. He can write great treatises on love, yet in reality he will not actually know what love is. There is another person who has not read anything about love but has experienced it, lived it. This man knows love through experiencing; the other one knows through words and concepts. Experience is always unthinkable; it does not happen through thinking process. Experience comes first and thought follows it by way of its expression.

That is why Chaitanya says that unity and separateness of the world and God is beyond thought. Unlike Meera, who was a person of emotion and love, as for as Chaitanya is concerned, he was a great logician of his time. Chaitanya was renowned for his sharp mind and brilliant logic. He had scaled the highest peaks of thinking. He was incomparable debater in philosophical discussions. Such a rational who had indulged in hair splitting interpretations of words and concepts throughout his life, was one day found singing and dancing on the streets of Nawdeep, his home town. Chaitanya was not a man of love unlike Meera. He turned to love and devotion- which was a miracle. This 180 degree turn in his life demonstrates the victory of love over logic. He came to a point in his own life where mind lost and love and life won. Among people who walked the path of Krishna, Chaitanya is simply extraordinary. It is unthinkable how a tremendously logical mind like Chaitanya could come down from the so called ivory throne, take a drum in his hands, and dance and sing in market place singing praises of Lord Krishna in devotion. He makes the statement that words and logic is nothing in compared to experience of divine. It is this way he renounces mind, renounces thinking and declares that “Reality is beyond thought, it is unthinkable.”  Chaitanya’s statement has gathered immense significance; it comes after crossing the last frontier of meditation.

Let us understand Krishna to understand Gita.

Wishing you all good health and happiness,

Dr.Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people 

Who is not a Bahai?

Our society is divided on various counts. These divisions are on the basis of geography, religion, caste, language, food habits, occupation, etc. While it is a fact that no two creations of Nature are exactly the same, it is also a fact that essentially the whole creation is one. The ultimate goal of life is to realise this fact and that state is the ultimate in our spiritual journey. Once we understand and move in the direction of this understanding, the duality starts diminishing and our disharmony with the world starts lessening. Eventually, all our conflicts disappear and we live in a state of perfect joy.

I had an interesting experience of this process a few years back in Lucknow. The head of CMS schools there, Sri Jagdish Gandhi is a follower of Bahai faith. This faith is very liberal in the sense that it talks of universal brotherhood and believes in no rituals. The faith appeals to all those rational persons who find this lacking in other religions. The concept of universal brotherhood has always appealed to me and I find myself very comfortable in the company of such persons who believe so. One day, Sri Gandhi invited me for breakfast with a senior fellow of the Bahai faith from the USA, who was on a visit to Lucknow. It was a pleasure to accept his invitation because it was a good opportunity to know more about the Bahai faith apart from respecting the invitation.

We were at the breakfast table for over an hour and during this period we were so engrossed in the discussion that breakfast became a secondary affair. I was in agreement with almost everything the American friend said and perhaps, he also appreciated my way of thinking. When we rose from the table, he warmly asked if I was also a Bahai. Certainly, I am not a Bahai in the strict sense of the term. But to say no at that point of time didn’t appear appropriate to me. Therefore, after a pause of few seconds, I answered in the form of a question only. And my question was, “Who is not a Bahai?” This answer pleased him a lot and obviously he could understand the deep connotation of this statement, which came from me spontaneously. Thereafter, we took leave of each other after exchanging greetings and never met again.

However, this meeting and more so the concluding part of it, keeps coming to my mind wherever I notice any conflict on account of various divisions in the society. I have always thought that there can never be a conflict between the essential nature of two persons, and if it is so, it is on account of our ignorance. Therefore, the need is to remove this ignorance, and all our pursuits, whether secular or spiritual, should also be for removing this ignorance. Greater the success in this direction, greater would be the harmony in society. And ultimately, it would be possible for us to feel that we all are Bahais. Not only that, we should develop similar feelings towards other faiths also. After all, being a true Bahai only means to be a good person who cares for others more than for himself. By this definition of a Bahai, a good Hindu, a good Muslim, a good Christian, a good Sikh and so on, are all the same. 

Rakesh Mittal I A S