Why Do We Fall?

Interviewer said, "I shall either ask you ten easy questions or one really difficult question. Think well before you make up your mind!" The boy thought for a while and said, "My choice is one really difficult question." "Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice! Now tell me this.

"What comes first, Day or Night?" The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depends on the correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while and said, "It's the Day sir!"

"How" the interviewer asked.

"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a second question!"

This boy is said to have been chosen for IIM in an Indian Institute. It is this sort of brilliant approach that we consider to be hall mark of excellence. All over the world we struggle to insert similar experts in key positions with a belief that it is the number of such persons that make a nation great.

Sometime back, I happened to read the story of a Librarian from Tamil Nadu, Mr. Kalayana Sundaram. He worked as a Librarian for thirty years. All his service life, he continued donating his full salary to help the needy. He didn’t spare even his pension amount of Rs. ten lakhs. He met his personal needs from the work he did in a hotel nearby. In recognition to his service, United Nations Organisation adjudged him as one of the outstanding People of the 20th Century. I’m sure that such people move not only the heart of a nation but also the brain of the world.

But, do such passionate souls like Kalyana Sundaram alone make a powerful nation? I think, India never believed in a compromise and that was the prime reason for India easily falling prey to foreign invasions in the past. Now, the age is absolutely digital and there is enough of compromise everywhere. Is not our present fall greater than the worst in the past? 

Joseph Mattappally

What Is Charity?

“Charity is a virtue of the heart and not the hand. Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving,  lies the expression of my aliveness.”

                                                                                                             Erich Fromm

Every good act is charity. Your smiling in your brother’s face, is charity; an exhortation of your fellow-man to virtuous deeds, is equal to alms-giving; your putting a wanderer in the right road, is charity; your giving water to the thirsty, is charity. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. The greatest gift we can give to others are not material things but gifts of ourselves. The great gifts are those of love, of inspiration, of kindness, of encouragement, of forgiveness, of ideas and ideals.

The rabbis taught: In three things are deeds of love greater than charity.

Charity is done at the mere sacrifices of money, deeds of love are performed with one’s money and one’s person.

Give a smile to everyone you meet

Give happiness and you will be made happy.

A little girl came home from a neighbour’s house where her friend had died.

“Why did you go to that house?  questioned her father.

“To comfort her mother”, replied the child.

 “What could you do to comfort her”?

“I climbed into her lap and cried with her”, answered the child.

How often have I taken steps to comfort someone in pain or in sorrow?

Sr (Dr) Lilly Thockanattu

Upasana the Devotion

Upasana means to sit or be close to someone. But what is the distance, the remoteness that has to be overcome in order to be near. There are two kinds of distances; one is physical and the other is spiritual. Upasana is a way of ending the inner distance, the psychological separateness between the seeker and the sought. This inner space is created by becoming; the more solid my ego the greater is the distance between me becoming and being. And as ego melts and evaporates the inner distance is destroyed in the same measure. And when the ego evaporates completely and “I” am no more, I am all emptiness and then the inner distance between me and God disappears altogether. So Upasana, devotion, means that the devotee becomes emptiness, nothingness, a non being. To know the truth that “I am not” is to be devotee is to be with God. As long as one comes and goes, there is distance. And when “I” and “thou” disappear, distances disappear. And with the disappearance of distances, the meeting happens, the merging happens. We have to die as “self” and we come close to the supreme. 

Krishna can take us to devotion. In devotion both “I” and “Thou” disappear, and what remains after this disappearance is inexplicable. It is not possible to put it in words. It is infinity, which is nameless. Whatever the names we use, spirit, matter; they are all going to be wrong. That is why all the great devotes chose to remain silent, they refuse to name it. They simply said, “It is nameless”. They said “it is without beginning, without end; it has neither form nor name”. Great devotees became silent; they did not make statement about the highest truth, because all statements land us in the mire of duality. We human have no such word that is not likely to lead to dualism. All words are loaded with dualistic meanings. The moment we use word we divide existence into two opposites. It is as if the ray of light sent through prism separates into rainbow of colours. The prism of language divides every truth into two parts, and the truth divided turns into a lie. It is for this reason that great devotes kept silent. They danced, they sang, they played flute, they made gestures, but they did not say a word. They said through their gestures, dance and laughter, what the truth is. They have raised their hands towards heavens to say what it is like. They have said it with their silence. They have said it with their whole being. But they did not use words. 

Truth cannot be said in words; at the most it can be indicated with indications and sign, with gestures and hints. Or like Kabir (great monk and poet of India who transcended religions!) one can say it with paradoxes, self- contradictory statements. Kabir’s language has been described as Sandhyabhasha, which literally means twilight language. Twilight is a space which is neither day nor night, where one can neither say clear yes nor a clear no. We can neither accept nor deny. Here everything is fluid, vague and mystical. It is for this reason no one has been able to discover a clear cut meaning in Kabir’s sayings. Krishna’s saying belongs to same category. Whosoever attempted to express the truth in words, their language has invariably turned into twilight language. They cannot be assertive; they have to say yes and no together. Or they will accept and deny the opposites together. And that is what makes their statement illogical to us the commoners. It is for this reason that people who came to know the space where “I” and “thou” disappear, where all opposites cease to be and duality disappears, have decided to remain silent. More discussion on these areas will follow. 

Let us understand more of Krishna to understand Gita!

Dr Dwarakanath,

Mithran Foundation, the stress management people.

Without Appointment

With the growth of civilisation, several man-made laws, customs and practices have come into existence. Their main objective is to create order, convenience and efficiency in the society. They are also important for the protection of an individual’s freedom, dignity and happiness. With the increase of pressure on the individual’s time due to several modern developments, the need for them is also increasing day by day. As a result, we are becoming lonelier and paying its price in a different way. I had such an experience a few years back in the USA. I was in Denver staying with a nephew of mine who was alone at that time. He used to take me for outings whenever it was possible to do so. He is a nature lover and the surroundings of Denver provide plenty of natural beauty. On one such outing, he mentioned that a brother of the Indian magician P C Sarkar lived nearby, in a beautiful house on the bank of a lake. He also told me that he was a frequent visitor to that house and was always welcome there. He further added that he would show me the house from a distance, as going inside without an appointment might be inconvenient to the family. 

Being generally aware of the American way of living, I was in agreement with him. While returning from the outing, he took a detour in order to show me Mr. Sarkar’s house. Soon we arrived there and he stopped the car at a short distance from where Mr. Sarkar’s house was visible. It was a beautiful house and I had some desire to see it from the inside. Besides, after a long drive I was feeling the need for a cup of tea also. But I left it to my nephew only. Incidentally, when our car stopped and we came out of it, Mrs. Sarkar was outside the house watering her lawn. She immediately recognised my nephew, who then extended his greetings to her. Responding to that, she invited us inside. On this, my nephew became formal and said that it could be inconvenient for her as prior appointment was not sought. In reply she said that it was not inconvenient at all as she was free at that moment. My nephew again tried to be formal on which I intervened and persuaded him to accept the invitation. 

Thereafter, we spent about half an hour with Mrs. Sarkar, going around, inside and outside the house. This was a very meaningful interaction, which greatly enriched us with many facts about American life and Indians’ contribution to its development. A hot cup of coffee was an additional gain, which was indicative of the true Indian hospitality. I thought to myself that there has to be a limit to man-made laws, customs or practices and man should have the power to refuse them.

Rakesh Mittal I A S

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