Penny wise, Pound foolish

This senior man was known as an austere man, who would spend hours on end in order to save a few pennies, and would glory in it. He would walk for more than an hour, and would not take public transport, because he had to pay for the travel, and ultimately come back home exhausted. He has a very strict sense of poverty (as a religious man who has vowed poverty, this is very much fitting), and would swear by it. If one were to look at his shoes, it would be worse than that of a beggar, and he has only one pair of dress, which he would wash at night and wear it during the day. Well, that is his style of practising poverty, and no one can really argue with him about it.

It is true, he is fully convinced of what he does, and if it is his personal conviction, no one has the right to question him about it. But what I am concerned about is, not about his personal conviction, but about how his personal conviction comes in conflict with the interests of others living with him. I have realized that it is not easy to live with people who have strong personal convictions; it is rightly said that it is hell to live with saints! But the saving grace is that this gentleman would not demand the same standard from others, leave alone impose it on others. At the same time, he would not like to be questioned about his standards.

He had been coming to our office for three days to complete his annual ritual – entering the marks of a subject he was teaching in the college. This is the moral education, and it is doubtful if any of the students took his classes seriously, but he takes the examinations and marks so seriously that he would spend more time tabulating than in correcting them. He would tabulate them in MS Excel and then would check it, double check the marks, so that there is no error, and then would go one by one marking all those who had failed in Red. Then he would need to take a print out of this for the file. I had been asking him if it is all worth the trouble, and he would want it that way, and no one can argue with him about it.

It was said that this gentleman had one of the finest brains in the campus, but after his completion of the doctorate in physics, he began to teach in the college, but it was found that what he taught went over the heads of students and so he had to be stopped. In the meantime he took up certain topics as his areas of interest, which in the long run, became his obsession, and he would fight with people tooth and nail in order to show that everyone who did not subscribe to his views were wrong and that only he could give answer to some of the moral and religious problems which haunted the human society.

I have no regrets about the man, because there is a fair amount of genuineness in him; he is excessively obsessed with poverty, and it would be a futile effort to argue with him about the notion that poverty does not tantamount to privation and even beggary. We need certain essential things in order to live a decent and dignified life; if one thinks that these things are redundant, and would not like to avail them, then the person is sure to place himself on a separate ground, morally condemning everyone for not following his own standards and precepts. I would not dare to call his way of doing things as ‘penny wise and pound foolish’, but it would be very close to it. If only he could put to good use his wisdom, then he would be richer than the richest. But it may take him another birth to look at the other side of the spectrum.

Letter from Beyond

Dear friend, you might not have expected me to write to you, just three days after my departure from the world, and even before my mortal body is laid to rest! I know my relatives and friends who have heard about my sudden departure could not believe that I had left unannounced. And tomorrow I would be watching with much pleasure and merriment what are you people talk about me; I know much of the words addressed to me or about me would be saturated with honey that it might not be worth eating. But I just want to assure you that I have no more anger on you, or any of our companions; after some years, I am peaceful, and can rest without disturbance. I have no breathing problem, and can drink water as much as I want, without calculating how much I drink. I am in a world so very different, and am happy I have come here.

It is true I loved to live a little longer; all those who would hear that I was just 57 would think that I had a premature death, and could have accomplished quite a lot, were I to live some twenty more years, to say the least. I had a lot of dreams, and only a small portion of them have been fulfilled, and I only wished to bring to fruition some more of them, but when the angels of death stood at my doorstep, how could I say no to them. They told me that my time had come, and I could not give them any excuse. I began to grumble to the Creator that it was unfair to take me at this early age, and that I wanted to spend some more years here on earth. He smiled at me and said that he could not see me suffer, and so decided to take the bitter pill of taking me from the world to his bosom.

Here in this world, I lack nothing, neither the things that were forbidden me there on earth, or the things which I could only imagine, and there is the love of the angels, saints, and some of them have been known to me, and some others had known me for some time. What a pleasant surprise for me to meet the people I least expected to be there, and some other people whom I thought of meeting here, but they were not present. I had decided not to venture into any other place as of now, and slowly may venture into other locations where human beings are placed… I don’t know where the hell is, and where the purgatory is; and what is strange, I don’t know where I am; there is nothing which can make me feel where I am at present.

There are many who are shedding bitter tears for me, and tomorrow many would shed tears for me, and I am not such a noble and saintly person to repeat the words of the Master, Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. You would remember that the Master addressed the women of Jerusalem and told them this piece of advice; but would that matter to you? My race is run, and now I am waiting for the reward. If many of you have to cover the 800 meters race, I have been given just the 100 meters race to complete. It was so nice of the warden to make people run the race according to their capacities and talents. I am happy that I did what I could, given my own limitation and weaknesses. But now I am in a world of absolute contentment; I am just as I am, and realize the beauty of my creation before God.

What could you do for me? Some think that I need their prayers, their abstinence, sacrifices, so that I can be promoted from purgatory to the heavenly peace. I am also aware that I have to wait for all my sins to be washed away before I can enjoy eternal peace. But I remember that I had spent part of my last couple of years in anticipation of my purgatory, and I had even told the Master that I was completing my purgatory and purificatory days, and so if ever there is going to be any punishment for my past sins, it is not going to be too harsh. Now, you may ask me, what I can do for you! Believe me I am in a place from where I can just read your minds, and know things which are not even thought of by you. But fear not, I am not going to supervise or moderate you; it is your life that you should concentrate on; and there may come a time when you could recall to mind my life in the world, and be thankful to God for creating and letting me taste life on earth. I am twice blessed for entering into the world… I know being human is very much being divine! I will continue to write to you when time permits. Your friend.