Call to be Catalysts

If there is one news channel in the country which acutely feels the inadequacy in the systems that govern the lives of the people and initiate moves to remedy at least those which are within the purview of the audiences, it is undoubtedly the New Delhi Television (NDTV), headed by Dr Pronnoy Roy. I had a lot of admiration for the son of this soil, West Bengal, who today exerts a lot of respect in the national level, not only for his journalistic acumen, but more in the way he and his team puts across the news of the national level. It is not the so-called passive, indifferent news reporting; the different reporters of the channel break all myths of traditional journalism; they get involved in the scene, and would not hesitate to tell us how he/she felt at the time of the event... Barkha Dutt surely belongs to that category or fire-brand reporters.

But what caught my attention as I sat two days ago in front of the television to see the crude clippings of the siege of the Taj and Oberoi Trident in Mumbai, the team went behind the scenes to capture the sentiments of a wide spectrum of people; everyone had something to say about the events... what the channel does, though not directly, is building a healthy public opinion, to counter the vile attempts of the political parties to politicise every event possible. Until we dissociate events of the country from politics, there is no salvation. Rightly did the Mumbaites had the guts to tell the politicians to keep away from the scene... Could every citizen in the nation were to say that, we will have better peace and control in the country.

I was so delighted when anchoring the newscast two days ago in the evening at 9 o'clock news, Roy did two things that were quite unthinkable for a news channel : one minute of silence in the honor of the people who died in the encounter, and direct applause to the National Security Group for the commendable job they did in fighting back the attempts of terrorists to blow up the hotels. Giving due credit to all those who deserve will take us a long way in building a healthy atmosphere to fight against the evils that haunt our nation today.

While there are new news channels mushrooming every other day, a news channel of this kind is sure to contribute towards awakening the citizens from the slumber, created by politicians and pseudo intellectuals. In fact, each and every one can become a catalyst towards change within the circumstances we are placed. We are not expected to do something which is beyond our capacity, but if I feel the need to be a catalyst, then I will also find the ways and means of being one; it is not for self-glory or for priding that I need to be a catalyst in the society I live, but as a mark of my responsibility to the people I live with.

I am a teacher in a school, and how can I be a catalyst in my work place, in the school and in the family? It is not difficult to work out the ways how I can be a catalyst; think of the number of chances how I can educate my students on the need to respect one another, to go beyond "narrow domestic walls" of culture, religion and nationality. If every teacher becomes a catalyst in his/her school or college, then the future will be in safer hands. We may not need to face another siege of the Taj or any other place in the country. Today that is my prayer: to realise the need to come forward to take responsibility for the people with whom I live each day, and if I can do something for the good of the people before I leave the world, what more could I ever think of from this short life!

Healing the World

I must acknowledge that my mind is still full of images of Mumbai violence that shook the business capital in the last three days... the stories that I heard with wrapt attention on a private television channel left my sensibilities numbed. Over 150 men and women killed brutally by the suicide squad is not a matter of joke or political parleys. All in the name of religion. For many fundamentalists and fanatics, any means can be justified to attain an end they have in mind. Probably the one question that comes back again and again to all of us is : what have we done to deserve this brutal killing of our dear ones? Has any one got an answer to this question?

My mind today goes to that little two year old Jewish child, who was saved by his nanny day before yesterday, and whose both the parents were killed yesterday by the terrorists; it is assumed that his grandparents are also dead in the shooting. The news channel that narrated the story of this family also mentioned that today is his birthday... I shudder to think of the fate of this little child, who will have to live a life, with scars of this bitter memories, of a world that did not allow him to live even a few years in the loving embrace of his parents. Have we become so insensible that we would dare do anything for whatever cause it be?

Sleepless nights, hearts torn apart thinking of the impending danger, darkness enveloping the whole world around... the hundreds of people who had gathered in front of the Gateway of India in Mumbai had only questions, whose answers they cannot think of. No one could give them an adequate answer to their question : why should this happen to their beloved ones?

The whole world is marred by violence; it is not the time to show an accusing finger at the people who had caused the mindless violence; nor is the time to discuss how it all happened. But surely it is the time to pause for a moment and think what can be done so that this does not repeat again in our country. Government leaders will take care of the preparedness that is so lacking, but what can I do about it? A lot. If each one of us pledge that we will NEVER take the life of another person, then the world will be a much safter place for our next generations.

The world has realised the futility of killing animals, felling trees, but we are yet to realise that if the mindless violence of a handful of men and women does not stop, soon humanity will be enlisted in the category of rare species. Every one has a role to play in making the world a better place for you and me... We all of us are required to extend our hands to one another, and that is how healing can descend on the universe. I am reminded of Michael Jackson's famous song, which still rings in my mind as I key-in this blog : Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and me...

Let the healing of the world and the universe begin with the healing of my neighbour, the people I deal with each day; if I can experience healing from within and extend it to others, I would also be prepared to receive healing... It is the responsibility that is vested on each one of us... Let us not subject ourselves to the future generations to accuse us of destroying the world before they could enjoy her blessings and bounty. Let the healing process begin today, here and now!

Looking Beyond Self

Self-promotion is the hobby and serious business of some in our society, and they would go all the way to make their presence felt, in their social circles, in the wider society, and every other person they come in touch with is roped in to promote the former's interests and designs. No, I am not talking in abstract terms, I have a very specific person in mind. It is not that I do not dare to disclose the name of the person, but would not defame him (and as a result defame myself!) in public. And it is not hard to find such persons around us.

Over the years, I had realised that so long I am absorbed within myselfmy concerns, my narrow world, I am blind to the world outside of me. The beautiful world outside of me is yet another tortuous reality, I try to run away from, and the safest niche I find for self is the inner self; to ruminate the numerous designs to feel safe and secure, not letting anyone in the world know the ever-lasting deep emptiness I am floating. It is my world, my dreams, my people, and often I become an "I" specialist.

Once I wanted to do a small experiment for myself... it may sound a bit silly, but I thought it was a brilliant exercise. I wanted to become aware of the sentences in my normal conversation with people, when I had used the pronoun "I"; the second step, which I wanted to do was, to consciously replace the "I" with "we". To be frank, it is not all that easy to do that. I had realised that I had used the world "I" far too many times... Yes, you are right! Just count the number of times "I" had been used in this very paragraph : if you are correct, it is 11. But I have a reason to use it here, to present my own case study.

Have you ever wondered what makes these people to be engrossed within themselves? At least for me, it is just a conscious act of covering the inadequacy, the emptiness that one feels deep within. It is a deliberate act of showing to the world that they are far more important than what the world thinks, that they are far more capable of things than the society knows. So they go on from one experiment to another, in a frantic attempt to "prove" to the world that they are made of sterner stuff, of what mettle they are made of.

The people who are self-contended and love life and apprciate the bounty of nature (call it God!), look beyond their selves... their concern is on the other person. They would be engrossed in the welfare of the people, often foregoing their personal wants, interests and even welfare. Thank God, we still have people who belong to this category, and that is one of the reason why we find humanity has not perished. Today I hear a call from within to look beyond my nose, as a popular saying would go, and find fulfilment. If I can see a beauty within me, I will be able to look at the world with the same eyes, and find beauty all around me.

The Greatest Gift

Today all the dailies flashed headlines of the barbaric bomb attack on people of high society in most luxurious hotels of Mumbai, and the papers said at least 80 people were feared dead, including some of the highly placed government officials. What bothers and worries me as I open the newspapers each day is the number of persons killed each day... violence, hatred, jealousy, the reason may be anything, and it is so easy to take the life of a neighbour that a very thought of it is enough to start the pellets shooting in the sky.

Needless to say the greatest casualty of our times is the human species; I may be exaggerating if I were to say that there are more people killed today than the number of people dying of ripe old age. In fact many in our society find no reason to kill another, and yet when their spirits are low, they dare to do the impossible. The weeklies are full of stories of children killing their parents, mothers tossing of their children in the river, whole family taking recourse to self-poisoning, and there does not seem to be an end to all these.

I am made to pause for a moment and think what is my life worth? Is the human life a dispensable commodity, like a tissue or a sanitarywares? It is only those who have valued the beauty of human life would ever make an attempt to preserve it. Those who think that they are a burden to the society and the world at large, would think the whole of humanity in such a position. They would not hesitate to lay down their lives for a silly and worthless cause, and in the bargain show their anger and vengence on innocent people living around them. It may also be due to utter frustration they may go through which might land them in such an unpredictable situation.

My life on earth is a perhaps the greatest gift of God, and I have no right to take it out by my own free will... My life, to put it figuratively, belongs to the universe, and I have a specific role to play in the cosmic ordering of things, as the Bhagavad Gita would say. When I begin to cherish the beauty and wonder of my life, the world around me begins to smile, I begin to see a thousand hues and colors in them, and it is then that even a blue sky could take me far beyond the horizon, to a land where I can be perfectly in peace with myself and the world around me.

Am I proposing an impossible proposition? Today I would like to forget the world around me; sit quietly all by myself in a "secret" place, far from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and spend just two minutes, taking an inward journey into the core of my being... just I and myself, and no one else. Let me look at myself as I truly am, and listen to the silent whipsers of my heart, the colorful paintings of my spirit in the space before my eyes, the throbs of every grass and plants, the sheer joy of living in every birds and animals... In humble submission, I can hear my heart cry with joy, Thank you Lord, for the gift of Life!

Annual Clearance

Probably there is no other creature on earth as selfish and greedy as the human beings, and this is not something that we can be proud of. All around us we see the fruits of human greed, in the economic melt-down; the small-scale investers and producers find it hard to keep the shutters, and they are looking up to the government and industrialists to work out a magic formula that would ease the tension that hurts the pockets and purses. But will there be a viable solution to this global phenomenon? We are yet to see the signs of a reversal of processes.

If only we had the humility to learn lessons from nature, the earth would be still full of flowers for us to admire, grains to fill our barns, fruits to keep our stomachs full. But we are all too proud to take lessons from nature. The animal world too has so much to teach us. Is it not a wonderful thing that a tiger would never hurt the best of prey, once its stomach is full. Have you heard of a lion which kills a prey, and after eating its fill, stores the rest for the next day? It would leave the rest in open for others to eat.

Sometimes I feel guilty when I open the cupboard/almirah in my room, and find clothes that I dont need to use in the next three months, when there are millions in the far flung corners of the country who have nothing to wear. Is it not a crime on the personal front? It is because many of us have the compulsive tendency to hoard things (often superfluous objects of pleasure), that the deserving dont get a chance to enjoy them.

May be it is possible for us to undertake an "annual clearance" day, and clear all the excess that may lie in our cupboards, and give to the people who are in real need of them. They could be clothes, gadgets, equipments, books, objects of pleasure... anything that costs a price. It is a fact that the more we hoard, the more will be the greed to acquire more, and that will never come to an end. On the other hand, once we start clearing all the excesses (just like shedding of the extra kilograms in our bodies), we would feel so light, so joyous.

Today the Lord calls me to keep a check on my life-style - am I floating with the trends of the world, which are far too removed from a contended life that I can live within the means I have, or am I fully in control of the means to a happy life at my disposal. My prayer to the Lord of the Universe is that I may have the generosity and the heart to tell Him/Her, Enough Lord for the day. Let me share the rest with the deserving brothers and sisters around me.

Erasing Expectations

I thought I was quite reasonable in getting angry with my friend; she had not kept her word, and I waited to hear her, after she had spent several days on bed, recovering from a form of dengue. I was anxious too as to why she did not call me up... or just leave a short message to say what prevented her from calling me. I was quite upset, and when at last when I tried to call her, her mobile phone went on ringing, but I could not get her, and this made me worry all the more. I was justified in getting upset and pour out my anger on her, when she at last called me.

I was justified and reasonable, I thought; maybe she had a valid reason for not being able to call me up and she had not kept her word. But today I pause for a moment to think of the times when I had made undue demands on the people around me. I had been often the centre of focus, and wished all to dance according to my tune. My world is shattered the very moment when my expectations crumble.

Today I would like to place myself in the place of my friend and look at the event that had upset me so much; I know she would not cause pain to me of her own accord, because I know only too well that she cared for me. So who is to be blamed? Am I or is she? Neither of us, it is my expectations. If only I can let my expectations take back seat when I am with my dear ones, much of our misunderstandings could be resolved.

Accepting people unconditionally is a difficult task, because all of us have our own hangups, weaknesses and frailties. But before God, we are all the same. If I were to weigh myself on the one side of the balance, and my friend on the other side, probably we will weigh equal. That is how there is a fair amount of beauty and beast in the world. Today I place my expectations about people before the Supreme Lord of the Universe, so that I may accept them as they truly are, and reciprocate the love they have for me.

Is it something I cannot do? Sure, for a open heart, everything is possible; if the heart is open, then even the heavens cannot prevent the friends and foes entering in there.

Thank you...

Sharing has always been associated with a sign of love in action; the world around is the gift of God to the humanity that He/She loved so much. St Ignatius of Loyola in his famous Contemplation to Attain Love in the Spiritual Exercises, opens the contemplation with the words that Love expresses itself in action, and the world is God's great gift. But how often we forget that every thing we enjoy on earth is the gift of some one or other. The clothes I wear, the wrist watch I wear, the shampoor I bathe with, the cream I apply, the shoes I wear, the foot I eat... every thing. There is no exception to this.

Have I ever thought of this? This sharing of the things I take for granted each day, does not happen automatically, as if they were meant to be so. I so take it for granted that every time when I open the tap, water will flow. But one day if the porter had failed to put on the water pump, then my world crumbles... I feel the pinch. I take it for granted that every time when I go to the dining table, there will be enough for me to eat. But what if one day it does not happen so?

I dare not think of a day when I get up one fine morning and find that there is no Sun... or a night without moon and stars. Is it not so very natural for us human beings to take things for granted. Even our very existence. Today I would like to pause for a moment and think of all the people who have crisscrossed my path today, who had made my day, all those who made me take the day for granted... the bakers who unfailingly bake the bread without fail, the farmers who cultivate the vegetables I eat, the corporation who provide water, the technicians who make sure we have uninterrupted power supply, telephonic connection, my parents who provide all I need... The list will be endless, as you imagine each and every one of them.

Can I possibly do anything in return for them? Most of these people are faceless and nameless ones. They may not even want to be identified and thanked. But today I wish to think of each of them and whisper deep in my heart... Thank you baker for the sweet bread you offer each morning, thank you shopkeepers for providing the provision I need each day, thank you farmers for the vegetables, thank you washermen and women for the clothes you wash and press, thank you Municipal corporation employees for providing all amenities, thank you papa and mama for the food and drink, thank you friends for the company...

Thank you God for this wonderful life that I enjoy each day, for the sun and moon, the light and shadow, the flowers of the trees and the birds of the sky, the blue sky and the dense thickets... The world is charged with your grandeur O God, I thank you from my heart.

God who Seeks Me

When the middle aged lady came to see me for a while, when I was directing a half day recollection for a group of Catholics, I could not think she would have a problem in her "spiritual life", as we religious men and women are used to. But her problem was quite peculiar, and for a moment I could not think that she was indeed going through a problem.

She said that she used to spend a lot of time in prayer and reading of the Bible some years ago, when she was still staying with her parents and husband in a rented house. God had not given her an offspring, but she does not complain about it. She was happy to help people who confided with her and asked for her prayerful support then. But nowadays she does not get people who ask for her prayers or advice.

Have I gone away from God? These days I don't get enough time to spend with God alone in prayer, nor do I get time to read the Bible. I do feel uneasy that I am not able to give quality time for God... she told me.

I thought for a moment... is she moving herself from God's presence? I thought the otherwise. Maybe it is possible that she is closer to God now than before, when she has to look after her aging parents, help in the household chores, besides helping those who are busy with the construction. It is more challenging now than before, and is it possible for her to be in comm-union with God?

The very fact that she is aware of "missing" God is a good starting point. This awareness will bring God to her, instead of she going in search of God. She may encounter God in helping her parents or the construction workers, or in her work in the office. I do think it is true that if we put one step forward to seek God, He/She puts two steps to come close to us.

Marriage of Hurt Feelings

She hurt me quite unconsciously, and she didn't even know that I was hurt by her innocent words. In fact for some others, what she had written to me was nothing worthing getting hurt for. Such innocuous words had pained me deep, and I could not turn to her with a smile, leave alone tell her how I was hurt.

So I thought it better to keep it to myself and let her know when the time was ripe how her innocent words had affected me. And during the four days following the hurt, I had kept my messages to her quite formal, sometimes doing it quite very much like a routine. She should have taken note of a change in my way of addressing her, writing to her, and she too had felt very much hurt by my passivity and indifference.

When at last she realised that something was wrong somewhere in our relationship that she dared to ask me if she had done something to disturb the peace in between us, and I too dared to pour out my pain of being hurt by her words.

It was the marriage of two hurt feelings... as if two dark clouds coming and banging on to each other, and then there was peace... I stretched out my hand with the silent syllables of "shalome" or Shanti and she stretched out with "gugma"...

Is it not possible to get out of hurt feelings? Of course we can, if only we begin to look into ourselves and see that we are more often than not sinners, and not much of saints we thought we were. But God is there for sinners, and as a sinner I feel privileged to stretch out my hand and say softly "shalome".

Welcome to Date with God

Do you chuckle to see this title : Date with God! Am I kidding? No, I am quite serious. You would have noticed that the Blog's title is "Two Minutes a Day with God", and you may wonder, Is it really possible to date with God in just two minutes? It is. Who knows, it may be too much of a time to really "be" with God.

But who is this God that I am talking about? Is it the God of my imagination, of my religion, or of my thought? Objectively speaking, is there a God? We know that every concept of God is quite subjective; we may call HIM/HER with any name... but we know deep down there is a force which activates and directs my steps... A realization of this power which envelopes me all the time, is a boost to my energy, my life on earth.

I cordially welcome you to encounter this force within and outside me, to "find him in all things", and be enriched, to be charged by his/her presence.

I promise, each blog will not take you more than two minutes to enter into this great force, God, and you will not regret having bumped into this blog... for you may find the great power or force that we call God is no where to be found, but at the core of our being... Welcome to an enriching encounter with God of our hearts, the antaryamin.