Animated by a Fire

Seldom do we come across people who are so full of life and zest; it is not easy to be enchanted by something which turns our life topsy-turvy, that we do not think of anything else. Some years ago, Pedro Arrupe had said something which always ring in my ears. He said, “Nothing is more ractical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything”.

One thing is sure, only people who are impelled by the power of love, who could be so full of life, and I had two duos, who were so animated by what they were convinced of that I could see they had truly fallen in love with what they had found. If there are people who are half dead in our society, it is because they have not fallen in love. A priest who had realized the power of the Word of God is making ripple effects of the transformation that the Word can bring in the lives of simple and ordinary people, and there is a nun, who is young and vibrant, fearlessly taking the Word to far and wide, fully convinced of her mission to help people open their hearts and minds to the Word to be transformed.

I had spent just a couple of hours with them, and they had so many things to share with me that they could not stop talking about what they had experienced, and now feel convinced. It was their love for the Word which is drawing hundreds of people to experience personally the power that Christ is pouring out into the hearts of all those who take the first step to reach the Bible House in Krishnagar. When there is love, which can move mountains, then there is the indefatigable conviction that what they are in love has the power to do the impossible. I had the opportunity to listen to some of the wonderful stories of transformation. Many of the stories are humanly impossible stories.

The young and beautiful girl, who is a post-graduate student, had left her house on the Bengali New Year day to spend a few hours at the Bible House. A Hindu by birth, and quite traditional in approach, she did not mind to leave the house on such an auspicious day, because she felt that she had a lot more to receive at the Bible House than at her home. From lack of peace at home and in her heart, now she has an over flowing of peace and harmony within that she talks about her transformative experiences wherever she goes. She does not even spare marriage parties and even as she decorates the bride and her party (she has done a beautician course), she talks about Jesus and what he could do to people who call on him. She is not a Christian, and there is no talk if she would embrace Christianity soon, but she is a changed person, and there is fire when she shares about the story of her transformation.

The story of the young man, who also had a U-turn in his life two months ago, tells a similar experience, and after seeing the transformation that he had gone through, neither his mother or the Father or Sister, or he himself cannot explain what had happened. All that he had done was to make the effort to reach the Bible House for once, and now he behaves and relates with people in a different note. He confided that he was used to smoking and drinks and ever since he had stepped into the Bible House, he had not touched a cigarette or drinks. There is no inner urge in him to take them. He does not know how all these things happened in him. He is inviting his friends to the Bible to experience for themselves what the Word can do in their lives. There was fire in the two young people too, and I was telling myself, if only our young men had this kind of fire in them, then there would be miracles taking place in every village, town and the state. But to begin with, we will have to start with what we are in love with.

Date with Colors

As I travelled around the city on our car yesterday, and by bus day before yesterday, I could see hundreds of young men and women reveling on the road with colors, most of their faces colored beyond all recognition, and they seemed to be enjoying the fun of chasing one another to apply abir on the face and body! It is Holi, and the festival of colors had everyone on their toes, that all the eateries on the Park Street, alias Mother Teresa Sarani closed their shutters for the day, though Sunday is the busiest business day for most of them. But this is one day when the business persons cannot take it lightly; men and women fully drunk could do anything on that day.

Colors, and colors; there were long stretches of road painted with colors, and no one seemed to bother about mingling the artificial with the natural color of the earth; traditionally this is the day of licence, when persons who are otherwise prohibited by social norms are permitted to do what they wish, and it is the time for the young people to find their partners to play the game of Krishna and Radha, and in fact the festival has its roots with the divine sport of Radha-Krishna duo. Religious sanction is one that is considered more sacred and important for the modern day youth than the social sanctions and licence. Holi is not merely a festival of colors, but also of merriment and enjoyment in the company of friends and relatives.

Unfortunately Holi is associated with Hindu mythology and religious traditions and customs, and so people of other faiths might hesitate to join the Hindu friends in playing Holi. Needless to say, many of the cultural festivals of India, have been appropriated by major religious sects, and given a religious coloring. Such is the case of Pongal, the harvest festival of Tamils, and the Durga Puja of Bengalis. It may be possible to directly link Durga Puja to Hindu traditions, but the cultural festivals should not be too directly linked to religions, forcing the religious persons not belonging to that particular sect to stand outside and watch.

Most of the colors that were sold in the markets a few days prior to Holi are spurious and are injurious to one’s health, and yet there would be very few people who would abstain from using the synthetic colors, especially the colors that are applied onto the face and body. Here emotions take precedence to reason and common sense. On the other side of the spectrum is the cost of the colors that are bought at a very high price; the business people know that the colors are indispensable for the sport and so would be forced to approach the shops, and so the shopkeepers hike the price so high, some of them make as much as 200 per cent profit.

I love colors, especially the mixture of colors, and the different colors merging with one another to make myriad colors and shades. It is possible to make millions of colors with the computers, but nothing is like having the colors in black and white; artists and painters have eternal love affair with colors and some of them are married to colors that they die with the colors. But it is a different thing when the human bodies become the live canvass for one another to pain the pictures they have in their minds. On this day every one becomes an artist, experimenting with colors unimaginable. There is joy in the game, in the divine sport, and it is sad that the whole game has to come to an end within a day, though the young people would love to have the day prolonged for all eternity!

Into Eternity

Organ donation is still a rare phenomenon in our country; and the same is true of other nations as well. When we come across persons who have dared to donate their eyes and body, we raise our eye-brows; we find it hard to believe that there are persons who could so easily pledge their eyes, so that through someone else, they can see the world; their bodies would be used for medical research in medical colleges and research centers, so that students would be able to learn anatomy and be able to serve humanity better. There are so much organs in need each day, and probably only a fraction of the demand is met by generous souls!

I am coming back to Jyoti Basu, who had donated his eyes, and body; his body had been donated to the SSKM medical college and research center. That was Basu's last gift to humanity, truly a wonderful gift! We Christians believe in buying our bodies, so that they may become earth; Hindus cremate their bodies after death, and they too become earth. But when cadaver is handed over for the betterment of humanity, does it not serve a greater purpose than reminding us that we are earth, and to earth all shall return. After death, what else do we have to offer to the world, but our bodies, and that is what this great man has done, and I take my hats off for him.

We live in a society, where even ordinary blood donation is a matter of great rarity. There are sophisticated people who would reason out why they should donate blood, which may be sold for a big price! There is so much of blood is in want each day for either direct transfusion, or during surgeries that sometimes people lose their lives due to lack of blood stock. But, what do I lose by donating a unit of blood? I don't lose anything; the body is able to get back to normal within minutes, and still the stigma remains. We do not need to donate blood on every second month, to make a record, but if we can donate blood whenever we can, we are being responsible social beings.

There are such lovely words said of blood donation; this is something that all of us can do so easily, and it does not cost us anything. All that we require is a little courage, and a greater amount of generosity. Only about one in a ten thousand or million may die due to donating blood, and when we give blood to the needy, we are sharing the free gift of nature. This is something that we all of us can share without holding back, and it is this blood which makes us all one, going beyond distinctions of rich and poor, privileged or underprivileged. We do not need to worry about donating our eyes or our body, we can start with blood donation. If I can donate blood to those in dire need, I can be proud to be a universal citizen.

There is fear and prejudice against organ donation; this happens even between siblings and first degree relations. We are surely against commercialization of human organs, which are priceless gifts; but if I can pledge to give my body and the eyes, which is not at all going to affect the way I am, after life spirit departs from my mortal remains, it can contribute a lot to humanity. I know deep within that my spirit is calling me to fill in the form of pledge to donate my organs, eyes and the body, and still there is something which is stopping me, but I know after a few weeks or months, I would dare to fill in the pledge, and tell the world I care for her!