God who protects the virtuous

The Holy Bible shows in umpteen ways how God walks the extra mile to protect the virtuous, because their lives are in his hands. He cannot let their lives be swept away together with the wicked. There are stories after stories in the Bible which show God’s special care for the virtuous, who follow his directives. He separates them from the evil-doers at the time of retribution and gifts them with life. Such is the case with Abraham’s brother Lot, who is taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah, before God rained fire and brimstone on the twin cities and destroyed it beyond all recognition, but he remembered to save Lot. In his old age, God promises that he would not destroy the city where he would take shelter as he ran away from the cities of destruction. That was a wonderful way how God had a special plan for Lot.

Whenever we cry to the Lord, he listens to our prayer. All that we need to do is stretch out our hands to him, and he is sure to hold us. Think of the situation of Peter, who was known for his impetuosity, and while seeing Jesus walking on the sea, he too wishes to walk on the water. Jesus loves people who dare to dream big, and therefore he invites him to step out of the boat and walk. Doubt and uncertainty grip him hard and he begins to sink, and the very next moment he seeks the help of his Master, who stretches out his hand to him and holds him tight. Jesus would not even require the request of Peter to save him from the danger of sinking, for he would not let his beloved disciple die in the sea. Such is the case with all those who seek the help and assistance of God, he would be there to protect and save them.

I may wonder if I am truly virtuous to win the favor of the Lord, and seek his protection; one thing is clear that very seldom would a mother desert her son or daughter. The children are her own blood and there is a bond which is thicker than blood; if such is the case with our human mothers, how much more would be the bond that God had bound us with himself, our creator and Lord. There is not a single person who can feel that he or she is unworthy of God’s mercy and compassion; even the most hardcore criminal and sinner could find a safe haven under the protective wings of God, because the breath that we breathe does belong to God, and he cannot forget us, even if we go far away from his loving protection. The only condition that we need to fulfill is that we seek his help and assistance, that would do, and he would do the rest.

Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd who goes after seeking the lost; as is normally the case, often times the sheep might go its own way and may lose tract of its flock, and yet the shepherd does not complain and say, let it go to hell, it was after all not my mistake! He would leave behind all the others and go after seeking the lost. There is a wonderful message in this scene of the good shepherd that Jesus presents in the gospel according to John. He is the one who leads us to fresher waters and greener pastures, for he knows better than all, what is best for me and he would do accordingly. My judgments could err, but his judgments are impeccable and they would truly lead me to life in its fullness. Today I seek the protection of God, who alone can give life in its fullness to humanity.

We have no merit to call ourselves virtuous, and if there is any trace of virtuosity in me, it is thanks to the free gift of God, which he lavished upon me gratuitously. And yet before God, we all of us can find peace and security, irrespective of how we had been relating to him. Those who refuse life are the people who refuse his free gift, and still he is not the one who would reprimand and throw us away, he would still take us close to his bosom, because life was an extension of his divine self, which he showers upon the human persons. If Jesus is the one who goes after the lost sheep, then every sinner can find a place in his heart. This is truly consoling for all of us who are trying to tie up the loose ends, so that we can find true happiness and joy all by ourselves.

Displaced Depression

No one in our office could believe that he would have mental derailment; he had always been a soft spoken and quiet man, who spoke very little, and that too only with the people whom he considered trust worthy. It came as a rude shock to our staff, when he confided with one of them that he was frightened of the police, of the evil-intentioned people hiding from somewhere close by waiting to attack him. He was terribly frightened and nothing would stop him from believing that he was just imagining all these things and there was not an iota of truth in what he spoke. But he was convinced that he was speaking truth, and every time the telephone rang, he thought that his rivals were enquiring about him, and that made him all the more nervous. He even asked a few of our staff if he could stay with them and not return to his home, and it took them sometime before they could make him return to his home.

It was only today that I came to know that he had been quite upset with the family matters, especially his mother supporting her younger son, and opposing whatever this gentleman did. The younger brother had been trying to usurp the parental property, and therefore had blamed him of having a relationship with the wife of his elder brother. Everyone knows for sure that he is not the kind of person who would entertain anything of that sort. He said that he occasionally call up his sister in law, only out of courtesy, and would just enquire how she was and nothing more. His younger brother made use of this issue to blackmail him and now he is mentally disturbed, a situation he is happy about, so that he could grab the property for himself.

I was feeling sad for our staff, because he is a quiet person, who is guileless and would not think evil for anyone. It is hard to believe when bad things happen to good people, and unfortunately that seems to be the law of the land. Good people suffer far more than evil intentioned people, and it would often appear that this is the accepted norm and we have nothing to grumble about. What could we do to our staff to bring him back to his healthy self? He has already gone to the hospital and had consulted doctors, who have given him medication, and hopefully after some days he will be able to come to his healthy self, provided he is allowed to live peacefully without attempts to sabotage his mind and peace. But it is doubtful if his younger brother would allow him to leave peacefully, at least till he succeeds in grabbing the property.

The world has seen lots of bloodshed due to greed for parental property; it is easy for lazy people to depend on what the parents have augured through their hard labour, and not giving a try to put their best to earn more. Truly honest and hardworking people would not depend on parental property, but would try to get something out of their sheer hard work, and this is the kind of wealth and property which will last. All those who rely only on the parental property may one day find themselves paupers, because they only learn to rely on what others had given to them, and such people may leave hardly anything for their offspring. Even if it hard to manage daily living with the earning, if people make it a point to stand on their own feet, lots of lives could be saved, and the greedy would have time to mend their ways.

It is hard to say what would happen to our staff in the next weeks and months; it is hard to predict how his younger brother would take it, when he comes to know that his elder brother was getting back to normal, and that might foil his evil designs to get his share of property. There is very little that we could do to help him limp back to normalcy, but some of our staff call him up now and them assuring him of our support, and that is what we could do. We would not like to sit in the seats of judgment to condemn the evil designs of his mother and younger brother; it is not for us to judge their actions, because we know very little about objective truth, and even if we know for sure that they had deliberately tried to cheat our staff, and still we cannot condemn them on the basis of what we know. Judgment is not for us, but to support the suffering and troubled hearts is what we could do to ease those who long for fresh air.

Memories sans Morality

We are back to our memories - one of the most powerful tools that nature has either to revitalise a drooping spirit, or maim an energetic soul. It is a reality that often we have very little control, and memories can be the most precious treasure or the worst enemy of my life, depending on what past has stored for me. We have acknowledged that often in life we are imprisoned by our memories, and feel quite helpless unable to get out of them, however hard we may try. Memories are the last resort one may in order to keep alive something that is lost for ever, and even such memories may slowly fade into oblivion as time passes. In fact, according to psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain and recall information, and they would often divide memory into short term and long term memories.

Short-term memory allows one to recall something from several seconds to as long as a minute without rehearsal. Its capacity is also very limited and may even be faulty. By contrast, long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span). Here we deal with long-term memories, which last a whole life, and have greater impact on us. We shall not enter into a theoretical analysis of how information or data is transferred from short-term to long-term memory, and how they are slowly solidified and stores, so that we could have access to them at will. But we understand that it is a process that takes place each day, without out being conscious of it, and thank God it is automated, much of our energy is saved for other things.

But let us face it! We cherish every moment of pleasant memories, and wish to run away from the painful memories; we are all too frightened of the painful memories, especially those of the loss of the dear one or that which has caused something very grave in life. Think of a moment when a person was on the jaws of death; or a moment when a young lady has been assaulted physically by a group of strange people; or an instance when one witnessed the gruesome killing of the closest family member by some one known. The very moment we think of the incident or memory, we begin to sweat, and our body immediately reacts naturally and automatically. Our heart beats faster. Sometimes people who have gone through such moments are provided psychological help, basically through counselling to break open the prison walls of the memory.

It is a joy to spend hours together recollecting the joyful moments of the past, but not so with the painful memories. One may gain a lot of strength from re-living the past joyful moments, while one may feel agitated and shaken by the painful memories; one may even be impelled to do something socially unacceptable due to these memories. The consequences at times could be quite tragic and destructive. It is like a room that is full of these moments stacked up deep within me, and at particular moments I hear some strange noise from this room and am frightened. And this may happen over a long stretch of time, and I may be frightened each time to open the room and confront what that noise mean to me.

Memories in themselves are neutral and indifferent, it is I who attribute a certain quality to these memories, as joyful and painful ones. Today I look at the most important memories that strike my mind more often, and look at them objectively without attributing any quality to them. It is only when we attribute qualities as joyful or painful memory that they will have a corresponding reaction on the body. But that is not what we desire for now. Let us look at them as objective reality that I was subjected to. No judgement or no moralization. Just the memory sans morality. Stay with it for as long as I can, even if I have the urge to get out of them and find back my escape routes to find my comfort zones. Let me also realise the unseen, invisible presence of the entire humanity standing by my side to hold me, support me. That is where I may find my way back home!

Jamming Judgements

I have been told umpteen times that I am a man of strong characters, strong temperament, likes and dislikes. It would be quite hard for me to accept or reject this major complaint about me. I would not make an attempt to address this issue of strong sentiments. Honestly speaking over the years I had been spending considerable amount of time delving deep into the inner recesses of my heart; the greatest discovery that I can possibly achieve during this life on earth is unravelling some of the baffling secrets, which are even now shrouded in mystery. No Sherlock Homes will ever be able to do it; nor can any Feluda of Satyajit Ray can ever enter into the guarded Red Forts!

A man of strong characters! Is it a virtue or a vice? You might smile and say, it all depends on whom I ask. But is there an objective truth in our judgements? How much of our judgements and evaluation of persons in our society are based on objective facts? In fact, even the very term objective facts may be understood by one hundred persons in one hundred and one ways. Each of us look at an external reality on the basis of our own perceptions, or to borrow an image from psychology, on the basis of the color glasses we wear. Perhaps there is not a single day in our lives when we had even unwittingly failed to judge a person or an event. It has become our second nature. Often I feel judging is itself a necessary evil that we have come to accept and acknowledge - judge others, often erroneously and allowing ourselves to be judged.

One of the greatest tragedies that often shake the world is caused by people who take the judgement of others too seriously. For many, what others say is the gospel truth; even if they know the information to be completely false, yet they will give undue weightage to it, and undergo untold suffering and pain deep within. It doesn't cost us any money to judge a person - either positively or negatively. For quite many of us in socieyt it is one of the most favorite passtimes. We know the very moment we take the words of these people seriously, our world may begin to crumble slowly. All our dreams will be fragmented into a million pieces all within a minute! But the moot question is : Am I free to take this judgement or not! Do I have the power to reject it? Of course I have the power deep within me!

This brings us to yet another crisis moment in life: can I ever live a peaceful life without paying heed to what others say about me? Is it not too rude and impolite to reject the opinions of others? It is not! In fact it is only when I begin to ask myself if I should take or reject the judgements of others, do I truly begin to show that I am a mature person, and am serious about my relationship with others, and that I control the direction of my destiny. Often we wish others to control our lives and find it frightening to reject what a good majority in society may say, or wish us to accept as blatant truth.

At this juncture, what am I to do? the one and perhaps the only question that I may have to ask myself is this : how far is this evaluation of myself by others or the judgements going to shape my future. If we give power to these judgements, however sound they may seem, then I am sure to ruin my life; but unfortunately more than 60 per cent of the people in society may take the criticism of others literally. Today I pause for a while and think of the one or two persons who had judged me positively or negatively, or reacted to me on the basis of his/her prejudgement or prejudice. Can I overcome the consequences of these judgements? Let me over come the excessive pain or pleasure that they may cause. Let me learn to take them for what they are truly worth! That may also be the beginning of accepting myself as I truly am, and there is the way to true enlightenment!

Prejudice Revisited

No, I am not going to talk about the proverbial Pride and Prejudice of Darcy and Elizabeth in Jane Austen's novel of 1813. The novel is more than just a reality even today. Austen had portrayed these two common characteristics of human beings as present in two individuals; but just imagine these two characteristics found in a single person, who is at the same time proud and prejudiced. Believe me it is not very hard to find such a person, if we look around us carefully. These are the persons who can spew venom into a society. Being prejudiced I am told is one of the common characteristics of not only our age, but all the epochs have gone through it, and the fact is that there is not a single individual on the face of the earth, who is not prejudiced about certain person or other, at a particular point of time. But we here talk about compulsive prejudiced persons, who judge a person's character, even before they have met them.

Talking of prejudice, it is dangerous to be prejudiced in either way, positively or negatively. We often find persons who would glorify an individual even before they have known them, and after a little while they might talk just the reverse of it all. Any judgment or opinion which is not based on reason or fact is sure to crumble. But unfortunately the world operates on the basis of prejudice; take for instance, any area of our everyday lives : we are constantly confronted by this one reality : prejudice.

One of the greatest injustices that we could ever commit against humanity is to act on prejudices, and thus misjudging people. This simply means not giving due credit to people to what they really are. Positive prejudice is giving undue credit to people who do not deserve, and negative prejudice is discrediting people. And in either way we are dong injustice. But is there a way how we can be unbiased and unprejudiced? Humanly speaking, we all of us have our own color glasses, and therefore the reality we see around is always colored. But there is a way how the impact and effect of these color glasses can be controlled to a certain extent. If I am aware that I am seeing the reality through my color glasses, that itself will partially undo the damage that would otherwise wreck.

Some of the world's greatest disasters were caused not by willful, deliberate, conscious judgement, but more often than not by prejudices. What happened to the millions of Jews hacked to death or chocked to death in gas chambers during the reign of terror by Nazi regime in Germany under the leadership of Hitler is based on prejudices. We may unwittingly discredit many of the people we relate to every day due to our prejudices, if we do not check on them. Uncontrolled prejudices can cause damage not only to others, but also to my own self; I am building wall between myself and the other, instead of building bridges of fraternal outlook towards the other. In the long run this may cause me a lot.

Today I would like to take two minutes to sit quietly and recall to mind some of the persons that I am prejudiced for or against. Let me bring to my consciousness some of the persons who make my heart leap at the very look, or the people who make my day bad, by the very look. If I am prejudiced against some, they too have the right to be prejudiced against me, and that is the formula that can make me truly unhappy, and shrink my circle of friends and wellwishers. If I am able to give due credit to each person, according to their true worth, then I too can expect people to estimate me on the basis of my merit. If I am able to see my worth and the worth of each of the people I mingle each day, a beautiful state of mutual appreciation may rise up, and that is truly a gateway to true and lasting happiness!