Poverty of Paupers

As I joined friends to lift the ‘dead body’ of our friend who had died just two hours ago, to hand “it” over to the caretakers, an eerie feeling crept into me, and it lingered in me for quite some time. At that time, our friend went just with the ‘lungi’ he was wearing, and a bed-sheet below and above. That was all that we had sent him with; and today when he was in the coffin, he was dressed up handsomely, with one of his pants, vests, and a cassock. Already we were handing over his body, I noticed that there were very few things in his room; I had been told that some of his things were in the house he had been staying for quite a few years, and so the bare minimum was in the room. A day after his death, when I was looking for his personal photo album, I realized one of his trunks was there and a suitcase with clothes. A cassette player was the only gadget he had.

For a man of 57, he should have been having several times more things; I have heard about some of our friends, and especially diocesan clergy, when they are transferred they required at least a couple of trucks to transport all their belongings. One might ask what sort of things these people carry from place to place as they are transferred. In simple words, all the things that a family requires, those are the very things these people carry. The things include the following : television, mixie-grinder, cassette-players, VCD/DVD players, books, personal files, clothes, speakers, CDs and DVDs, clothes, blankets, bed-sheets. Some, I have been told, also carried their furniture and almirahs. In other words, they carried all they ‘bought’.

I imagined for a moment what are the things I have accumulated over the years, and what would happen if I were to bid goodbye tonight. Do I really need all the things I have in my room? Each one of us has a habit of accumulating things, for some it is books, for some others cassettes or CDs or DVDs, for some clothes, and for some others electronic gadgets… we have our own special interest and try to get all that is possible, not even thinking if we would ever need them in life. This is a psychological compulsion, and very seldom do we pay enough attention to this kind of tendency. If I were to look at carefully at the kind of things that are piled up in my cupboard, I would realize that at least 70 to 80 per cent of the material could be given up easily, without hurting my future.

Most often we collect things with the hope that one day we might require them, but the fact is if I do not require a thing today, probably I may not need it in the future. For instance, collecting electronic gadgets is a compulsion, and there are people who may not be satisfied with one gadget, but may like to have several things to keep their ego satisfied. These are the people who are always on the lookout for new gadgets, and as soon as they hit the market, they are there negotiating the price with the shopkeepers, not realizing that in a few days time the gadget will fill the market and they can get them for a much cheaper price. The same is true with “collectors” of all kinds. Today I need to ask myself, what is my compulsion? What do I take pleasure in collecting or accumulating?

I am overly concerned about my future and feel the need to keep things ready, not trusting in the providence of God. It is for this reason that Jesus has told us not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. We need to learn this lesson from birds of the air and lilies of the field. There is yet one more thing that I am invited to do: go through the things that are piled up and clear all that are not required for me. I do understand that many of the things which I may not need, may be needed gravely for someone else. Much of their efficiency might have been lost because they do not have these things, and if alone I can hand these to them, there might be better atmosphere for fraternal sharing; and it is possible someone else might give me something which I am in urgent need of. And that is when we can feel the need of being part of a wider human family.

'Greater Common Good'

The most important principle which is operative in corporate endeavors and production and service sectors is undoubtedly 'profit'. Everything is geared towards accruing greater profit. The people who had invested a lot of money wish to make more money, several times more than what they had invested. The 'business' people do not care for what happens to the rest of humanity, so long their purses are full. But the law of nature prescribes that every attempt to have 'profit' is bound to deprive some deserving person from his/her share of due wealth.

Unfortunately in most of the countries, the political leaders belong to the cream of the society, who have the least experience of the poverty, sweat and blood of the poor, who earn wealth for the nation. Depriving the voiceless masses is seen in almost all the nations, rich or poor. It happens in the South African countries, in the developing Third World countries, and in the developed nations too. The concerns of the poor and the majority most often do not appear in the national agenda; it is only the interests of the moneyed and muscled men and women who control the policies of development.

India had so many instances where the political bigwigs had been pushing so-called developmental projects (supposedly at the greater interests of the masses!), which deprived the poor farmers their ancestral lands, the water, forests, rivers, and the community. The fight for the holy river Narmada by Mehta Patkar and her Narmada Banchao Andolan is just the tip of an iceberg. There are projects which are aimed at displacing thousands of people, without proper rehabilitation and infrastructural facilities. Some years ago I had the privilege of witnessing what the people who would lose Narmada riverbed were going through.

Today the phrase 'greater common good' has become a mockery. One would hear this phrase repeated again and again at all political platforms, at every election campaigns, and it has become a cliche today. But then who cares? The people who sponsor the election campaigns and political meetings and rallies would have their pound of flesh by hook or by crook, and no one can stop them from doing it. The state machinery would in fact, stand by them to make sure that no one lays his/her hands on them. That is the state we have reached in the country.

In order to live a happy life, we do not need to worry about profits! Anyone who has the profit motive in business is bound to guided by greed and selfishness, which would lead him/her to take recourse to any social and moral evil, which may be justified before a court of law. I would like to consider for a while how I respond to the genuine yearnings of the people of the land. Am I able to feel their pain and agony; their tears and blood, and cry for their fundamental human rights. If the state denies these, then where could they take refuge?

Learning to be a Literate

While talking on the ceremonial conclusion of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of St Xavier's College in Kolkata, the Prime Minister of the subcontinent made it clear that the government was keen on eradicating illiteracy from the country, and more so of female illiteracy. Every child should have the fundamental right to education, which goes beyond the scope of basic literacy. Unfortunately today all those who know how to sign their names are deemed literates by the government records, but will that ever suffice to live a honorable, diginified life, where education is all but taken for granted?

If the country has not attained 100 per cent literacy, even 63 years after its independence, who should be blamed and be held responsible? On the one hand are the selfish exploiters, who would make use of people's ignorance and illiteracy in order to fulfil their selfish goals, and on the other are faulty government plans and policies which had not made basic literacy an obligation. But now that Right to Education bill has been passed by the government, more effective ways of implementing literacy programs is expected to be operative soon.

One of the main reasons for illiteracy in every nook and cranny of the subcontinent is faulty literacy methods; the government had been pushing a uniform pedagogical method in all cities and villages, hoping that children would benefit from the methods; but the method has failed miserably in the rural areas, where the students come to school with different kind of expectations, preoccupations and hopes and aspirations. We still believe in chalk-and-talk method of teaching, which is an alien concept to village children.

No one in a tribal community teaches the children the art of archery, hunting, swimming, singing and dancing. The community takes responsibility to introduce the tiny tots from their very early age to the different artistic repertois of the community, and one cannot come across a tribal young man or a lady, who does not know how to sing and dance in his/her own tribal language! But how is it that the ministry of education has not thought about this kind of innovative ways of imparting true education. The same thing is also true of the art of farming that the children in villages learn from their parents, and can't it be called an art in its own right?

Sometimes I wonder what is my role in spreading the vibrations of literacy and true education around me? I am a single man, and my area of operation is quite limited, and yet how could I be part of the process of spreading literacy around me? Can I just close myself from ignorance all around me (and the Indian Vedas would call 'avidya' as the root cause of all trouble, evil in the world), and live in my glass house? If I am not able to come down from my pedastal to reach out to the hundreds of ignorant children, men and women and teach them what they know, and learn from them the art of caring for the earth, singing to the tune of birds of the air, to flow with the carefree currents of the brooks, to lie leisurely with drunken donkeys... I have a lot to learn, and am now ready to take my literacy classed today!

Salvaging the Savior

Often in life, we wish to be saviors, redeemers, and don the mantle of patrons, parents and trouble-shooters. We are on the lookout for people, whom we can adopt in a psychological sense, and help them come up to our expectations, and these are the people who are vulnerable in one way or other, and wish to come to terms with their own dreams and aspirations. There is a greater amount of selfishness in any patronage and desire to “help” someone in need; the parent in us pops up at a moment when we find a scope to exercise certain amount of control over the vulnerable, and what a joy it is to have someone who listens to us with ears and heart wide open, and even promises to follow our roadmap to happiness.

When we sincerely seek to help someone who is in dire need of assistance, counsel or a helping hand, subconsciously or unconsciously we are trying to help ourselves, even though we may not accept this fact easily. But how do we test if our spontaneous help to another person in need is genuine or it has a reasonable dosage of selfishness? The criteria is rather simple: if the person we seek to help is someone we do not know, one with whom we do not have longtime association, one who may not remember us after the help is rendered, one who may not even say ‘Thanks’ for the valuable help we provide, one who does not ask for our mobile phone number or address, one who may not even speak kindly to us after receiving help, then we can say with certain amount of certitude that our help had been genuine. Needless to say, if it happens to be otherwise, then there are all the chances that it is our need and not that of the other person.

As an average human being, we all of us are born with same amount of selfishness and self-centeredness, and what makes us different is the tactics we use in order to fulfill our ego. Human mind is capable of devising any amount of ways to “trap” others, especially those who are in some way vulnerable and limited, and most often we may not even be aware of the fact that we are on the prowl looking for a victim. But the tragedy takes place, when the victim begins to seek his/her own selfish needs, and we are caught unawares. We realize the sheer futility of our “sincere and genuine” desire to help others, when the recipients take advantage of our generosity, and ultimately make us suffer in the end.

But does that mean I should not be prepared to reach out to others in need? Of course not; that is not the point. The point is that I need to be conscious of the fact, while I am trying to help someone in need, I am trying to help myself too, and the other person is also going to make use of me (either positively or negatively). The tendency to be saviors and redeemers can go to a higher level, when on realizing that I had been taken for a royal ride by the victim I was trying to help, I begin to console myself saying that it is alright even if I lose, so long the other person is happy! That is the savior-syndrome entering through backdoor, while we let the ‘victim’ has his/her final laughter!

I am surely not against reaching out to others in need; we all of us need to strengthen the bonds of cooperation and collaboration, and it may not be possible for us (human as we are) to completely overcome selfishness, which is mixed with our blood. Even an eternity may not be enough to remove this dosage of self-centeredness from us. So, let us not camouflage ourselves as doing good to others, while in fact we are trying to do good to ourselves. Being conscious of this tendency in us can make us reach out to those who are in real need of our help, and if we are there to give a helping hand without counting the wounds or the cost, not even the psychological satisfaction of doing good, then we can be proud that we have climbed yet another difficult step towards divinity.

Seeking Self

I am selfish, and let me not pretend that I am selfless, because it would not take more than a minute of dealing with me to realize how selfish I am, and I do not feel bad about it at all. In fact, this is one thing which is so very common to all of human race, big and small, young and old, men and women. Maybe selfishness is the trademark of humanity, and if you don’t believe in it, all that you need to do is to put the person in a situation where there is a need to struggle for survival. To fulfill one’s personal need is the primary concern of every person; the safeguard and protect one’s body, mind, spirit, and the security of one’s future, all form part of that search for one’s survival in the midst of decay and death, and how can I be exempted from this rule of life?

It may sound non-sense, but one has to constantly defend one’s position, even to the extent of justifying one’s wrongdoings and crimes, in order to strengthen his/her own survival. There are not too many takers for the new law of die-to-live rule of Jesus, and even most of his disciples may think twice to apply this golden rule to their personal lives. But that is how the world operates, and all those who would stand against the world may have to feel the wrath of untimely death or prolonged agony. But if that be the case, am I not constantly fighting with the world to protect my own skin, even if I had exhibited my meanness and hardcore selfishness through daily actions? To acknowledge one’s defeat and mistakes is sure to cast a shadow on every tomorrow, and affect my future days.

True awakening can take place in me only when I begin to become conscious of the rottenness that I have landed myself into, and feel an urgent necessity to get out of the rut. Until I get the stench filling my entire body and mind, I may not feel the necessity to own up what I truly am. In such a situation, I may not like anyone else to remind me what kind of person I am; in fact, when someone else might try to instruct me who I truly am, my spontaneous reaction may be to protect myself in public, even if I am ready to acknowledge my commissions and omissions in private. Transformation can take place only when the awakened mind can vouch to turn a new leaf.

But the world is blessed with more than its own share of people who are professional “naggers”, who can quicken the untimely death of normal, sane people, and such a kind of people are not easy to live with. We also come across people who can play the role of catalysts to quicken the process of awakening and the subsequent transformation, and the voice of such people can hardly be heard, because in their case, more than their lips, their hearts speak louder, and they can effect change in others through their very presence, and may not require to go after people to mend their ways. This only requires that the people who struggle to come to terms with their own ugly selves (in fact, all sane men and women go through this process at some time or other) should have enough time to go through the process.

Behind the virtue of patience with the people who struggle to turn a new leaf, is the greater virtue of compassion; it is this virtue which makes one to look at one’s own image in the other person, as if the other person becomes a mirror to become conscious of one’s own shortcomings. Compassion can smash the hardest hearts, melt the strongest metals, and there is nothing that cannot bend its brow before genuine act of compassion. It is a Godly gift, which cannot be bought or sold, but it has to germinate in our hearts, grow to maturity, and when it is in full bloom, there will be several birds of the air coming to take shelter in its shade! That may be a moment of celebration, when all can rejoice forgetting the narrow selfish boundaries, each one crisscrossing with the personal boundaries of others. That is indeed a moment to celebrate!

Divided We Live

There is no creature on earth as authoritarian and self-centered as the human beings. Unfortunately we have come to believe that the human beings are the centre of the universe, and everything is at the behest of them. I am intrigued to think that we have fragmented the world that we received thousands of years ago, and the world is slowly dying, and I wonder if we will be alive to give her a decent burial. We have cut the earth as if it was a birthday cake we would like to share with others, and today in the name of sovereignty and supremacy, we have broken the world into pieces demarcating for ourselves and preventing others to enter into our territory. That I think is the height of human mockery of the unity of the universe. We cannot think of the universe as one, because we are used to seeing ourselves as different from others. What annoys me is the wired-fence that divides this earth into countries and nations, preventing freedom of movement.

If birds of the air enjoy that absolute freedom to move wherever they want, even migrating thousands of miles in order to avoid the bone-chilling cold, or the scorching heat of the sun, why can’t human beings be so; if the fish of the ocean can move from one end to the other, spending a good part if not the whole of her life, why can’t we. If I move from one place to another, clandestinely sneaking through the wire-fence, I am penalized, and put behind bars. When I am born, I am not born as an Indian or Belgian or a Filippino (Pinoy), but I am born as a human being. I am born as part of the human family without any boundaries. But as soon as I see the light of the day, a tag is tied to my wrist that I am an Indian or an American. I carry this tag till I fall into the ground again, and when I am placed inside the womb of mother earth, I go as I had come, without any tag. I die as a human being, without any identity. Then why do I need to entertain the wire-fence.

Who has limited my freedom of movement; the word is in fragments. No one carries with him or her even a square foot of earth. We all of us will die empty-handed; then why is this demarcation? There is fear in some people that if the wire-fence is removed, then there will be a mad-rush to wealthy nations, and soon the riches of the nation will be drained, and the locals and the natives may be deprived of the riches they had been enjoying for centuries. But isn’t that logic first of all based on false and erroneous premises? The wealth of the earth belongs to the humanity, not only to the people of one particular group; the oil of the Gulf does not belong to them, the gold mines of the America do not belong to them; we behave as if we have worked for this. By claiming absolute power and authority over the natural resources, we have brought infamy upon humanity. How can the custodians of oil fields in the Gulf live in palatial buildings, while hundreds of thousands die of hunger and thirst in the African and Asian countries?

I have neither the intelligence nor the means to undertake a novel research to eradicate all wire-fences, so that the wealth that we invest in guarding the boundaries, preventing people of one “nation” trespassing into another land, may be better utilized to improve basic amenities to the downtrodden, and the backward class people. Let no one claim power and authority over the land, which does not belong to any one particular group, even if they are the original settlers of the land. The earth does not belong to anyone, neither to me, nor to you. Let us think of the land as we think of the sun and the moon, and the oceans. Thank God, we have not made demarcations on the ocean, to say that the water till that line belong to us… I would like to be the almighty God for just one minute, or just one second, if that could ever be granted. I have only one wish as the all-powerful God : in a fraction of a second, to uproot all wire-fences, and replace them with flower plants all over. People then will present one another bouquets and flowers, sharing not only what they have, but also what they are.

While we talk about the boundaries that separate us on the basis of the nation and country, there are also other smaller boundaries and limits that we create for our own convenience. Today I would like to pause for a while to think of all the different boundaries I have created for myself, on the basis of my caste, creed, nationality, religion, culture, profession, interests, tastes, color of the skin, language… every time I make a frantic attempt to belong to a particular group, then I am excluding myself from a wider group, or humanity. Our social structures compel me to belong to different social groups, but I am also free to be by myself, so that I enjoy the freedom that I am born with. Today I would like to consciously dissociate myself from all the different groups I am part of, and consciously brief myself as belonging to the community of the universe. As I sit quietly to contemplate this great feeling, let me see in my mind the endless ocean of men and women surrounding me, and I slowly getting dissolved in this limitless ocean. Let me feel the energy flow from one person to another, enriching and ennobling the entire human race. Can I then ever tolerate wire-fences separating me from my own brothers and sisters? (Brussels)

Looking Beyond Self

Self-promotion is the hobby and serious business of some in our society, and they would go all the way to make their presence felt, in their social circles, in the wider society, and every other person they come in touch with is roped in to promote the former's interests and designs. No, I am not talking in abstract terms, I have a very specific person in mind. It is not that I do not dare to disclose the name of the person, but would not defame him (and as a result defame myself!) in public. And it is not hard to find such persons around us.

Over the years, I had realised that so long I am absorbed within myselfmy concerns, my narrow world, I am blind to the world outside of me. The beautiful world outside of me is yet another tortuous reality, I try to run away from, and the safest niche I find for self is the inner self; to ruminate the numerous designs to feel safe and secure, not letting anyone in the world know the ever-lasting deep emptiness I am floating. It is my world, my dreams, my people, and often I become an "I" specialist.

Once I wanted to do a small experiment for myself... it may sound a bit silly, but I thought it was a brilliant exercise. I wanted to become aware of the sentences in my normal conversation with people, when I had used the pronoun "I"; the second step, which I wanted to do was, to consciously replace the "I" with "we". To be frank, it is not all that easy to do that. I had realised that I had used the world "I" far too many times... Yes, you are right! Just count the number of times "I" had been used in this very paragraph : if you are correct, it is 11. But I have a reason to use it here, to present my own case study.

Have you ever wondered what makes these people to be engrossed within themselves? At least for me, it is just a conscious act of covering the inadequacy, the emptiness that one feels deep within. It is a deliberate act of showing to the world that they are far more important than what the world thinks, that they are far more capable of things than the society knows. So they go on from one experiment to another, in a frantic attempt to "prove" to the world that they are made of sterner stuff, of what mettle they are made of.

The people who are self-contended and love life and apprciate the bounty of nature (call it God!), look beyond their selves... their concern is on the other person. They would be engrossed in the welfare of the people, often foregoing their personal wants, interests and even welfare. Thank God, we still have people who belong to this category, and that is one of the reason why we find humanity has not perished. Today I hear a call from within to look beyond my nose, as a popular saying would go, and find fulfilment. If I can see a beauty within me, I will be able to look at the world with the same eyes, and find beauty all around me.

Annual Clearance

Probably there is no other creature on earth as selfish and greedy as the human beings, and this is not something that we can be proud of. All around us we see the fruits of human greed, in the economic melt-down; the small-scale investers and producers find it hard to keep the shutters, and they are looking up to the government and industrialists to work out a magic formula that would ease the tension that hurts the pockets and purses. But will there be a viable solution to this global phenomenon? We are yet to see the signs of a reversal of processes.

If only we had the humility to learn lessons from nature, the earth would be still full of flowers for us to admire, grains to fill our barns, fruits to keep our stomachs full. But we are all too proud to take lessons from nature. The animal world too has so much to teach us. Is it not a wonderful thing that a tiger would never hurt the best of prey, once its stomach is full. Have you heard of a lion which kills a prey, and after eating its fill, stores the rest for the next day? It would leave the rest in open for others to eat.

Sometimes I feel guilty when I open the cupboard/almirah in my room, and find clothes that I dont need to use in the next three months, when there are millions in the far flung corners of the country who have nothing to wear. Is it not a crime on the personal front? It is because many of us have the compulsive tendency to hoard things (often superfluous objects of pleasure), that the deserving dont get a chance to enjoy them.

May be it is possible for us to undertake an "annual clearance" day, and clear all the excess that may lie in our cupboards, and give to the people who are in real need of them. They could be clothes, gadgets, equipments, books, objects of pleasure... anything that costs a price. It is a fact that the more we hoard, the more will be the greed to acquire more, and that will never come to an end. On the other hand, once we start clearing all the excesses (just like shedding of the extra kilograms in our bodies), we would feel so light, so joyous.

Today the Lord calls me to keep a check on my life-style - am I floating with the trends of the world, which are far too removed from a contended life that I can live within the means I have, or am I fully in control of the means to a happy life at my disposal. My prayer to the Lord of the Universe is that I may have the generosity and the heart to tell Him/Her, Enough Lord for the day. Let me share the rest with the deserving brothers and sisters around me.