Broken Covenants

Message of Peace - Justice P K Shamsuddin

The hypocrites were happy on the post war developments, described here. Mohammed was quite aware of the mindset of these two groups. He was also aware that they were plotting against him. He therefore decided to shock them into betrayal of their real motive. The Jews of Banu Al Nadir tribe were the allies of Banu Amir. They went to Mohammed, together with others including Abu Baker, Umar and Amir. When Mohammed presented his views, the Jews pretended that they had acceded to his wishes. Of course some of them loved reconciliation but others were talking about killing Mohammed. Realizing this Mohammed left them, leaving behind his companions but giving the impression that he would soon return.

 The Jews tried to convince the Muslims that their intention was good and also tried to dispel any suspicion in their mind. Soon the companions of Mohammed began to complain that Mohammed had not returned and they went out in search of him. They met a man on the way who assured that Mohammed had safely returned to his place. They later met Mohammed, who told them of the Jewish plan to kill him. It was then only they realized the strange behavior of the Jews. Mohammed had overheard them mentioning about murder. Further, Amr Ibn Quhah entered the house where Mohammed was living, in a suspicious and stealthily manner. Mohammed could no more contain his doubt which their talk and conversations made gradually revealed. The Muslims also held the suspicion given by Mohammed that the Jews were talking to kill him was justified. Mohammed commanded to Mohammed Ibn Mahmah to go to the Jews of Banu Malik and tell them to leave the country as they plotted to kill Mohammed and violated the covenant which Mohammed gave them. Mohammed also instructed him to give them ten days time to evacuate. The attempt of Jews to get the verdict changed did not succeed.

The Jews spent a number of days preparing for a war. In the meantime, Abdulla Ibn Ubayy came to them with the messages that they should not leave their land and soon he would be coming  to their assistance with two thousand Jewish and other fighters to meet Mohammed and his companions. Banu Al Nadir pondered over the promised protection and wondered how he could be trusted of victory. They also recalled that the same man had previously promised to help Banu Qynuqa but betrayed them. They also thought that since Banu Qynuqa had made peace with Mohammed they would not be prepared to come to their rescue. In this circumstance, they decided to leave to a nearby place and come to Medina to harvest their crops. However, the leader Huyayy Ibn Akhtab finally took a decision contrary to their view. He said that he would send a messenger to Mohammed saying that they would not leave their homes and property. Also they would refuse to comply with Mohammed’s demand. He thought that Mohammed would not be able to block them even as long as two years. The Jews were persuaded to agree with this view but some of them left the place within ten days, which left to an armed conflict. For twenty days the battle continued. The Jews waited for military assistance from Ubayy or from other tribes in vain.  At the end, they Pleaded Mohammed to guarantee their life and property. Mohammed conceded to their request and permitted each one of them to leave with a few listed articles. Finally they left Medina and settled at Khaybar.

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Dangerous Small Letters

Blooming Stars - Swami (Dr) Snehanand Jyoti

Many long, tedious, and time-consuming forms in the US and now in India have long printed stuff in small letters containing a great deal of legalese at the end of these forms. Persons filling these forms usually do not read these forms as they trust and do not suspect anything important is contained in them. So they fill the forms and sign them without bothering about the matter in small letters. Later on it was too late when they found out that they had signed themselves into costly traps. Now we are warned by knowledgeable persons to read everything carefully including materials in small prints. In this paranoid culture one really does not know whom to trust and whom not to trust. The other day a person narrated to me his sad story. He was on a long train journey across the country. He boarded the train with another person from the station of origin, and they had a nice time together for over two days. Before the train was supposed to reach the destination he asked his new-found friend to look after his luggage before he went to the restroom. When he came back his friend was nowhere to be seen; gone also were his belongings.

Many lies result from fear, distrust, or desire for some kind of gain or advantage. Fear and distrust are the fertile breeding ground for lies. Most people are stuck in the deep debris of the bad and traumatic experiences of the past from which they have not been able to extricate themselves. They do not seem to be able to stop the self-defeating and self-pitying negative tapes that are running non-stop in their heads. Their deep hurts and wounds are not yet healed even after many years. They have not let go and let God in. Playing the victim role they perpetuate the emotionally loaded memories that consume so much precious energy. This energy is currently not available for their growth and development. Living in what may be called a repetition compulsion, their present is their past. They are emotionally handicapped. A rehabilitation program that would help them live in the present with an optimistic outlook for the future is very much needed.

Our language needs to keep up with the changing times to describe the present realities accurately. It is still very much in the racist, sexist, casteist, feudalistic, and patriarchal times of the past. The court language especially is still reminiscent of the colonial, lord-servant, male-dominated era. A bishop, for instance, is called a thirumeni (holy body) in Kerala as was a brahmin in the past. In an egalitarian, democratic society all need to be aware all are holy bodies (thirumenis). We need to revere and respect everyone as a human being, and not just cater to the egos of a few. When we say what is on our mind, mean what we say, and do what we say, we get ready to break through our culture of lie. We need to purify our language so it can incorporate and reflect the current developments. When we become aware of our dissonance between our thoughts and speech, between our speech and actions, and when we eliminate that dissonance, the culture of lie will not have a leg to stand on. Truth hurts. We do not need any flowery, euphemistic language to soften the impact of truth. We do not want to hurt anyone. But persons get hurt because of who they are even though no hurt is intended. Search for and cultivation of truth is an on-going, never-ending, challenging task. We need to fill our own God-given slot, assert our unique position – because each one of us is unique – in the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity that we are privileged to belong to. Nobody can and will deprive us of or diminish our impact or imprint on humanity unless we allow it. Our imprint is the tradition for the coming generations who after their own scrutiny adapt or adopt what will benefit them, and discard what will be of no use. They will pass on or hand over (tradere - in Latin from which comes tradition) things that become tradition for the generations after them. So life goes on and on. No tradition is so sacred as not to be able to be changed. These are challenging times, graced times for humanity.  Jesus told us to know the truth, so the truth can set us free.

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Map of Life

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

Motivational stories teach us valuable lessons in life, so are lost attempts. Throughout history, inspiring examples were effectively used to motivate people. Nobody is complete and everybody needs boosters in every phase of life, something to lift them up and make them smile. Inspiring messages, people and situations have a vital role in our life, provided we decide to respond the moment we feel for that.

If we propose to go out for a pleasure tour, somewhere far off, don’t we check the place map? It would be great if we have a map of life that could give us helping tips throughout the journey of life. Appropriate motivating messages fixed at critical junctions of growth in life might make a map of life for a successful person. Quite recently, I got a surprise mail from one of my friends, who work in a reputed firm. He was nothing special, as I knew him, but he could rise to the status of a senior executive in the company, he worked. I attributed his fortune to inexplicable twists in life. His letter read, ‘It has been nine long years since I had been in this company. It is with mixed feelings that I tell you that I have decided to initiate my own business in my home city. Mr. Praveen Rathod is replacing me and please offer him all the support you had been gracefully giving me till date. I will still be in my seat for another two more weeks, just to help him settle down comfortably. Living in this city and working with the company has given me a lot of unforgettable experiences. I sincerely thank you for all that I have lovingly received – they definitely make my adventures more colourful.’ 

I could imagine how carefully he was treasuring each minute experience he had in his life, all in hope of a unique adventure of his own. Definitely there could have been moments of shock and awe in his life. But his words are that of gratitude and his attitude is that of acceptance. He is sure to win in life; such is his revealed ability to focus on the ‘present’. It seems that he has a clear map of life, made of experiences and inspiring episodes.

It is said that ‘any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.’  I like to say that you can do anything, but not everything. The basic thing is to learn to be in the present where you are, giving all to whatever you’re currently doing. There only you will be able to get motivated. Focused energy is power, and it’s the difference between success and failure. It appears to me that my friend takes all achievements as mile stones, not as mountain peaks. In his life, past glories do not outweigh his future dreams. Without being complacent, he enjoys the adulation, respect and comfort that success brings. Blessed are those who relax and relish all past experiences at each landmark in life. They always set the bar higher and higher. They find inspired at every moment of life; they fall motivated at every word they hear.  

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Levels of Communication

Views and Words - Dr. K S Radhakrishnan

Richard Rorti and other American writers who were too much conscious of resolving the riddle between body and mind have finally done it by creating a man who is free from mind – the mindless man, a man who is untouched by the problems of the mind. Such types of divisions can be seen in the Western philosophical trend, I mean the Greek philosophical trends. But this issue has been resolved in a brilliant manner by Jesus, when he said that there is heaven in you and there is heaven in me. Heaven is best common entity. There is the body in you and body in me; hence ‘you’ and ‘me’ need bread. Where I am more than the body, I am in need of something more than bread. This concept of the finer forms of human experience in life that begins with the sense organs, travels through the mind and finally reaches a state of experience which can never be explained either by words or even approached by mind. Everyone must be able to experience it. Such a state of experience has been termed as Ananda. Si it begins at Annam Brahma. Annam means the body, the matter - man is a matter. This fact can never be questioned. For ex. suppose you say that it is with wood that the table has been made. That is true; but if you ponder over the question and ask yourself ‘what you by wood?’ then immediately you will get the answer that it is specific unification of innumerable number of molecules in a very peculiar manner and the unification have been made by a set of rules and regulations. The table made out of wood is true at one level of our experience, and at the other level as the physicist says it is a peculiar arrangement of molecules also must be true. Here you agree with the fact that it is both molecules and wood.

Quite similar is the question ‘who am I’? Nobody can deny that there is a material entity in human beings. This truth cannot be ignored or deleted from the sphere of our experience. The body gets in touch with other material entities of the world. Whenever my body contacts with other material entities of the world there is a type of identity between the body and the material world. That is there. Here, you can also say that I am something more than the matter. There we have life - pranan. There are certain entities that come from the finer forms of matter. Life must be in the finer forms of matter. This vision is not new to the Indian Schools of thought, especially the Advaita System. We read in the Upanishads, ‘Who are You?’ ‘I am matter, then more than that I am life’. That life element can be seen in me and the unicellular mechanism in the world can never be differentiated. There is perfect identity in the life elements in me and that in the unicellular organism which can be termed as a microbe. It is impossible to find out that microbe through naked eyes, but with the help of certain equipments one must be able to detect it. But that life element which can be seen in that microbe in you and me is identical (not, are identical). More than that it is ‘mana’ (mind) – the ultimate reality is ‘manas’. Manas is the most subtle form of matter. Beyond manas, there is prangnanam (consciousness) and this consciousness can be seen in matter also. Ultimately it goes to a level of experience that can either be approached by mind or explained by words and such an experience is termed as Ananda. One must be able to communicate at that level also. Pluralism definitely raises the question of communication and this issue of communication can be resolved properly only if one is able to accept that there is something common in between you and me. Common entity can either be matter, life, mind, consciousness and ultimately the extreme Bliss (Ananda). There are various levels of experience, with regard to communication. All these have to be recognized and the moment we recognize it, the question that arises is, ‘what is the tool by which one must be able to understand that common element?’

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Bhaje Govindam - 3

 Health and Happiness  -Dr Dwarakanath

Sankara is too direct when he tells ‘O fool’ but it is the reality. O fool, give up your (insatiable) thirst or desire to possess or amass wealth and earthly objects, devote and develop your mind to thoughts of serenity, contentment and reality, be happy and satisfied with whatever you get as a reward of your past actions and entertain your mind with such noble thoughts. Commentary: after attacking the desire of acquiring mere scholarship in the first sloka, Sankara attacks the desire of amassing wealth in this sloka. The extrovert human being goes away not only from reality but also from himself. He searches for happiness outside himself in possessing or amassing earthly objects, wealth, name, status, fame, etc. while struggling for these mundane pleasures, equipoise due to greed, lust, power, and many such evils.

He completely immerses in samsaara and invites sorrow and enjoys temporary happiness. He forgets his originality, which is endless peace and selfless love. Every such extrovert is a fool as one is suffering from one's own ignorance, because all the satisfaction that one gets from wealth and worldly objects is temporary. Acquiring wealth is not wrong, but the insatiable desire to keep on acquiring wealth is a sin and one has to give it up sooner than later. There is no need to condemn those objects which give physical happiness, but one's relationship with them is always limited and transitory.

While meditating on reality, it is easy for one to use one's discriminatory intelligence and enjoy the worldly objects with a passionless mind. The whole problem is with the mind. If mind is withdrawn from the sensory objects and the objects of entertainment, it stops from dissipating itself on mundane pleasures; it will become empty and its infinite power starts working. So, it is very important to cleanse the mind off its lust for objects, greed for possessions, covetousness for wealth, hungry for power, and worry for status in the society and apply the same mind to contemplate on reality, the eternal Brahman.

One has to live in this world in contentment and satisfaction with whatever one gets as a result of one's past deeds. Desires multiply as long as we keep on satisfying them. With increasing hunger to satisfy desires, one gets deeper and deeper into that quicksand and loses peace of mind and ultimately ends up in frustration. Wealth can purchase only sense-gratification that too for a limited period of time but if one wants permanent peace of mind, the only recourse is to contemplate on god. So, all methods we apply to acquire wealth will only lead us to disarray and disintegration and results finally in degradation, as attachment brings endless worries. True enjoyment stems from true renunciation. The fundamental truth is that one will never get God through greed for wealth. One has to make sincere efforts to raise ones sense objects above the mundane and selfish requirements. As one grows from childhood to adulthood, one does not pay much attention to the toys available in the market, but the child accompanying one, may get attracted to them, the same way one should try to raise ones’ mind above the earthly objects by using ones viveka or discriminatory powers.

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Brakes of the Life Vehicle

Smart Plus - Rakesh Mittal I A S 

In Lucknow, there is a ‘Literacy House’, an institution which has done very good work in the field of adult education. Many years back I became quite friendly with its Director and used to meet him on my way to Lucknow from Kanpur. He was a retired Civil Servant who served the institution with dedication for a long time.  However, towards the end of his tenure, he appeared to be quite upset with the state of affairs in the institution. Moreover, he had some serious personal problems. One day when I met him, he was in a sad mood. He was glad to see me and shared his problems with me. We started thinking why difficulties come in life and whether there are any positive aspects of them.  Instantly came a few ideas to my mind which I am sharing here.

Normally, we consider the difficulties of life as something negative and retarding. We feel that they check the progress of life and delay our reaching the destination. We refuse to see any blessing in them and curse either God or the person who seemingly caused them or ourselves for our past karma. At times our cursing may be justified too but that leads us nowhere. In fact the process of cursing itself consumes a lot of our energy and thus further delays our destination. What then should be our attitude towards the difficulties?

Let us take two examples. Think of an aeroplane landing on the ground. When it lands, its speed is quite high which has to be brought down fast. For this the dampers are opened which resist the movement of the plane. Obviously it is a negative role which delays the reaching of the aeroplane to its destination. But this delay is something desirable and positive. If the speed is not reduced the aeroplane will perhaps never reach its destination and so also the passengers. Now consider a parachute landing. When one jumps with a parachute, it opens and reduces the speed of falling. If this does not happen, the person will fall under gravity and the consequences are obvious. Here also the role of the parachute is seemingly negative, that is, dampening the speed. Obviously none of us consider so and here also dampening is something desirable in order to reach the destination safely.

These two examples will perhaps indicate the message which is being tried to be conveyed. If we look at life’s difficulties with this attitude, we shall understand their utility and consider them helpful in reaching our target. The precaution to be taken is that they should not dampen our spirit so much that the movement is stopped altogether. In that case one will never reach one’s destination. It is, therefore, necessary that the propelling force should be greater than the dampening force. Then only will the resultant movement be forward. The difficulties also provide us time for introspection without which one may follow a wrong path and never reach the destination. Thus they act as navigating aids in the voyage of life.

If we compare life with a road vehicle, the role of difficulties becomes all the more meaningful. A vehicle is a device which runs on account of friction between its wheels and the road. And what is friction? Is it not something negative in the ordinary parlance? However, without friction the movement of the vehicle is not possible. Then consider the brakes of a vehicle. What is their role?  Is it not negative which retards the vehicle?  But will anyone accept a vehicle without brakes? The role of the brakes in a vehicle is as important as that of the engine and the accelerator. In one sense brakes are more important because their failure may prevent you from ever reaching the destination while the engine failure or low speed may only delay it. That is why while driving we generally find on the road sides a warning “Better late than never”.

Thus life’s difficulties are like a vehicle’s brakes. A life without difficulties is like a vehicle without brakes. Howsoever expensive and beautiful a vehicle may be, it is useless without brakes. Of course, here too the precaution is that the motivation for living should be more than the dampening by difficulties. Then only the movement will be forward and one can aspire to reach the goal safely.

A word of clarification in the end is necessary. There are two kinds of difficulties. Some are caused by God or, say, by nature and some are created by us. in fact, the latter are much more than the former. The above discussion is applicable to the difficulties created by nature in the path of a well meaning sincere person. It may or may not apply in case of self-created difficulties. The distinction between the two may be summed up in this manner: “Difficulties created by God are few and for a purpose, while the difficulties created by us are many and without any purpose". It is the God created difficulties which are the brakes of the life vehicle.

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Treachery Unmatched

Message of Peace - Justice P K Shamsuddin

The companions could have save their lives if they had betrayed Islam. Mohammed and his companions were shocked to know about the treachery of Hudhaya. Hussan Ibn Hadith, the Muslim poet composed a poem in their memory, in which Ubaid and Zayyed were subject of the warmest compassion and moaning. Abu Bara approached Mohammed and though Mohammed offered the faith of Islam Abu Bara turned down the offer. At the same time he did not exhibit any enmity towards Islam; he asked Mohammed to send some of his companions to the people of Mezed to preach Islam. Mohammed feared that his companions might face the same treachery. He therefore refused to accept Abu Bara’s request. However, Abu Bara assured that he would be the protector and guardian of his companions. Abu Bara was an influential leader; there was no reason to suspect him. Mohammed ultimately decided to send Mundhir Ibn Amr together with other companions in the foremost Muslim rank.

            The delegation reached the well of Muna at the frontier between Banu Amer and Banu Sulayan. From there, they handed over the message of Mohammed. Amir refused even to read the message and killed its’ carrier. He called on the tribesmen of Benu Amir to kill all the Muslims. When the tribesmen refused to violate the protection offered by Amir Bara, Amir summoned other tribes to do the job. A number of the tribesmen responded positively to his call. They surrounded them and killed them. Only Kab Ibn Zayd and Amar Ibn Umayya escaped. Kab was left wounded in the field on the assumption that he died. Amar Ibn Umayya was set free. He went to Medina and reported to Mohammed what happened.   

            The above event deeply grieved Mohammed. He blamed Abu Bara for it, since it was at his request that these companions were sent By Mohammed. Abu Bara was very much displeased with Amir Ibn Al Duhayl for violating his protective covenant with Mohammed and his companions and sent his own son in vengeance for the violated honour. 

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