Lighting my Little Lamp

Today is Diwali, the festival of light, and there is an array of colorful lights all around. Most of the houses around have been lit with light of different colors and shapes. It is so wonderful to see the display of light, it is sheer pleasure to behold light. I look at the convent, facing our corridor near the main road, a series of lights (diya) have been lit, and it was a beautiful sight. Women are known for decorating houses on this day, with light. I had known that it is a wonderful day to light candles at least on the corridor near the main road, and brighten up the space, and luckily I found an old packet of tiny candles in one of our cupboards, and made use of them to light up the corridor.

The candles were too tiny to last even ten minutes, I thought, and after lighting some 20 candles, I went for my customary walk; when I returned after about 30 minutes, I could see the light at the corridor, and there were some candles which were still burning. It was a beautiful sight to see a line of candles burning. I hurried to light up some more candles which were left earlier, and I wonder if the corridor had ever seen such candle light soothing its space in all the years of its existence. There is nothing that equals the soothing light of candles or of diyas (earthen lamps). I was happy that I could light up my own little lamp during the ‘festival of light’.

When I first thought of lighting up the corridor today, the line which was flashing in my mind often today was from Rabindranath Tagore, in his poem ‘There are numerous strings in your lute’: “Amidst your numberless stars, Let me place my own little lamp!” There is light all around, and it is not necessary for me to add to the already existing light; however my “little lamps” are sure to add yet another dimension to the light! However small these candles be, they add something new to the world around me, and that is my joy! Often I have the tendency to take for granted: there is already so much light, why take the trouble to light my little lamps!

Looking at the world around, there is always a tendency in me and in others to keep away from what makes the world noble, beautiful and colorful. Why should I take the trouble to do my little part, while it is too tiny, in comparison to what others contribute? Little drops make an ocean, is true, and it takes a little effort on my part to add that little drop; if the world is still worth living and beautiful, I should acknowledge the millions of little drops contributed by millions of people down the years, and several other millions still contributing each and every moment. Then why should I hesitate to light my own little lamps?

If everyone lights up his/her house, the whole locality is sure to be beautifully lit, and that is exactly what the festival of light invites all of us to: to light my little lamp, and I can expect the world to be bright and beautiful. However if I fail to light my little lamps, then I will have no right to blame the world for being dark and damp. It takes very little effort to light my courtyard or corridor, and I don’t need to light up others’ houses; looking at me, probably others may also be inspired to light up their homes, just as I was inspired to light up our corridor after looking at the neatly lit convent! And what a joy it is to celebrate light, which is another name for LIFE!

Thank you Net!

When computers were slowly entering into the lanes and bylanes of our lives many years ago, many thought that it was an Alladin’s magic lamp, which could provide solutions to many of the problems which haunted humanity, and they were hopeful that the machine would soon compete with the human mind in providing solutions, not only mathematical and scientific, but also may take hold of the lives of ordinary mortals. On the other side of the spectrum were people who were very skeptical about the role and function of computers in our lives. They considered the computer as an agent of the devil, or the evil one to use a non-religious word! They were not only cautious, but also warned humanity of the great disaster that maybe brought about by the machine. Many years after the computer was born, the skeptics were face to face with a greater danger to their sanity and sanctity, the advent of the World Wide Web. The world was placed in front of us on a platter, and it is for us to take it or not, but it has sneaked into all that we can think of and is the spirit that pervades the earth.

It would be futile for me to speak for or against the computers and how they have shaped the world today, and information technology has brought the world within our fists, as one cellular phone company has its slogan as. The internet has opened a sea of information for us; there is a danger of being drowned in this sea, but one may also find rich treasures in it, and make use of them for one’s own growth. Often when confronted with problems, perhaps the best friend one may turn today is the www.google.com. And invariably there may be solutions that may make you smile, and very seldom does the internet turn you down. There is anything you want in the net, but I have seen that for a discerning mind, it has all the riches one may seek. It is a double edged sword; one may use it for self-defense, at the same time it could be used to kill one and others. The choice is ours.

In the modern world, people have become so busy that they have very little time for other persons. Time is the most expensive thing in the world today for some, and they may not be able to spare even a few moments to listen to others and give counsel. One has to try to find one’s own solutions to the problems that confront one today, and can no longer look to another for help and support. Over the years, the internet has come to fill the vacuum created by the modern times. A ready reckoner, friend in need, guide in trouble – that is what the internet today is. Let me illustrate this point with an illustration. Before I left the country for a month-long visit to the Europe, I had to reload the Windows in my laptop, and subsequently the program I frequently use, including the Microsoft Office. Since I did the loading just before I was to leave the city, I did not care to install some of the programs (in computer language drivers) required to run internet (LAN driver). When I reached Brussels, I realized I had not loaded this particular driver, meant for this particular brand of laptop. I had not taken the original CD given at the time of purchase of the laptop which contained the necessary driver. I knew where I had to look for help. I went to the internet and looked for the driver, and in an hour, I was running internet from my laptop.

I know it is not the time to shower encomium on the internet, but I have realized that many a time, it had solved many of the problems which might have cost me time as well as pinched my purse. If the internet has in a sense killed the markets and made many a technocrat unemployed, it is also true that it has opened the gates of opportunities to willing souls, at the least price. You might get anything you want without paying a penny, and you don’t even need to run around looking for that, it is given to you on a platter at your study or reading room, or anywhere you are with your laptop and an internet connection. Most of the well-known books are available online, not only for a price, but also free. There I can find every forbidden subject on earth freely available, there are also everything that is sacred. The beauty of the internet is that it has brought together into a matrimonial alliance sacred and profane, religious and secular, this worldly and other worldly, mundane and spiritual; whatever it be, you will get what you are looking for. Isn’t that a beautiful thing.

Today I would like to pause for a while to reflect on what the world has become thanks to the advancement of technology. It has opened the floodgates of grace to enter into every nook and cranny of our little world. I would like to thank the millions of men and women who have spent millions of hours to crunch the world to fit to our purses, tastes and fancies. I would like to remember the countless number of persons who have generously offered fruit of their labor, so that humanity may enjoy the benefits. I would like to think with gratitude all those who have foregone their earnings and payments in order to make available their sweat and toil for the less privileged. It is not that life would be meaningless without the internet and the email, but life has been ennobled because of them. I would like to call the internet as a channel of grace, which has the potentiality to turn the world into a home of peace and serenity; but as is wont, wherever grace resides, sinfulness to hides beneath her skin. But I will have a plea to make : let us not throw the baby together with the bath water! (Brussels)