Living Creation (1.b)

Let me continue from where I stopped during the previous part (1.a). I had been looking at each part of my body, appreciating the contours and beauty of each part, chiseled by the master craftsman. Now it is time that I own up my body as it is, and not as I would have loved it to be. I have very little power or option to change the way I have been created (and even the best of plastic surgeons may not be able to give an original appearance to my body, as I have been created!), but it would do me good to accept my body as I behold it here and now, with all its proportions, shapes, and contours. Let me accept my body as it is, without wishing anything to be different from what it is!

I would like to apply the Ignatian application of the senses contemplation to “commune” with my body as I behold it here and now! I had already completed the first part of the contemplation, seeing each part of my body; now let me listen to my body, let me listen to every little sound that my body makes; the heartbeat, the heaving of my chest, the breathing in and out, the knuckles, the movement of different parts of the body… let me listen to my body. What does it say to me? Let me run down my body from top to bottom listening to each part, and maybe even in the stillness of their being, they may be telling me something profound; maybe the muscles may ask me to release them, the chest may wish to breathe in and breathe out at its own pace… Let me pay close attention to their “speech”.

I have almost forgotten how I smell? It is not that I have to smell my body only when I wear some fragrance or body spray; everybody has its own odour, and scientists may call this pheromones, which are supposedly responsible for love attractions, all that I am interested in here is to be aware of how I smell. Am I comfortable with the body odour of my self, or do I hate it, and wish to cover it up with an artificial body spray? The next phase of the exercise is to taste how my body is; new-borns and toddlers do it spontaneously. When toddlers suck their thumbs, what they do is taste their body, though Sigmund Freud would have a different explanation. Let me lick different parts of my body and see for me how I taste!

The last part of this exercise is to feel my body as it is; to be alert and conscious of what is happening to my body; if I am not going to be conscious of what is happening to my body, then who can? Let me close my eyes, and lying on the floor on my back (in savasana – dead body posture), legs spread apart, and both the hands about 10 inches from the hip… let me become conscious of each part of my body, and let me enter into a dialogue with each of them! What do they have to tell me here and now? Let me release every form of pain or tension and uneasiness, and relax all the muscles. Let me not hold any tension within, but leave them all slowly and joyously.

When I have relaxed my entire body, I might fall asleep, but I would appeal to my body not to fall asleep, and sure enough the body would respond to my appeal positively. There is no obedient subordinate to me than my own body. I continue to lie on my back in savasana position. Now following the exercise by Anthony De Mello, considering myself as dead, and my body placed before others, let me see how different persons respond to this body. Let me look at this body as if I am a third person; look how different persons look at the body. Let me listen to what they say, what they do. Is there anything which is striking to me in the way how they treat my body? Let me stay for a while looking at my body… Then I would be ready to enter into the third phase of the day’s journey inward!

Chasing the Wind

If there are two powers which govern our fate in the country, and the world at large, they are money and muscle. There is hardly any place for creativity, sincerity, honesty, genuineness, ingenuity, hard work... No one seems to care for these. But show a bundle of bills, you can get whatever you wish to; or just flex your muscle, and your work is done. Unfortunately this is the world we live in, and maybe this is the world we will die one day. Blessed are those who have either of these, for their lives are apparently secure, and their dreams may be realised at some time or other in their lives.

The fate of the nation is determined by who hold the reins of these two dominant powers in the society; in our country, unfortunately they are vested with politicians, who by no means can claim credibility. It is not the time to go back to the pages of history to see how we have given way to a corrupt form of governance, which is based on these two powers; rather it is for us to assume a greater role in the society, so that at least in the personal lives, we are not controlled and monitored by them.

I was joyed to read in the newspapers how two persons had reacted to politicians who tried to make hay while the sun shines - the father of slain National Security Guard Unnikrishnan, and the wife of the slain chief of NSG, Karkare. If each one of us who matter in the society were to keep the politicians at arms length, we would shape the world according to our dreams. Politicians are the people who do not know how to look beyond the tip of their noses, and such people can think of all reality only in terms of the vote-bank they crave for - for the vote bank is the seal of approval for making undue claim over money and muscle.

But let me not bemoan the fate of India, as regards the role of politicians in the life of a nation; the same is true of all developing nations. It is no different in Philippines, or Bangladesh. We have heard stories of how the Imelda Marcos had amassed national wealth in Philippines for herself and her posterity; if the bank accounts of all politicians were to be frozen, that would amount to a huge chunk of the national wealth, most of them ill-wrought. But what can we do about them. Unnikrishnan and Mrs Karkare have taught us something that we all can emulate - keep the politicians at arms length; don't let them come close to you. The famous adage is a constant reminder to all of us : no sincere person can survive in politics.

The fate of the nation is in the hands of the citizens, conscientious persons, who care for one another. If we can call the cards, then there is no place for the vile games of politicians. There is a greater power beyond that of the 2 m's that the politicians wield, the power that rules and governs the universe. Recognising the power of this supreme being flowing deep within us will give us the temptation to submit ourselves shamelessly to the powers of the world. Today my prayer therefore to the Lord of the Universe is : do not allow us to be tempted to the powers of the world.