Ways to Wisdom

The beginning of all wisdom, according to me, is the humility to learn from the last and the least, the friend and the foe, the rain and the shine, the good and the bad! On the one hand, when a person thinks that s/he has learned enough in life, that is the sign that s/he is gripped by the claws of pride, and that opens the floodgates of wisdom, if at all s/he has gained something from life, to let it flow in wastelands. Humility, on the other hand, is the gateway to all wisdom; one cannot bewitch to the goddess of wisdom and knowledge without first befriending humility. For, wisdom often resides in the most unexpected of places, and those who find her dwelling, find it easy to befriend her.

I have felt that some of the wisest men and women garner knowledge even as they fight a ferocious battle with death. I remember many years ago, a great mathematician and teacher, Father Goreaux going through Bengali primer, learning to read and write in Bengali, when he was on the verge of death bed. Someone would have asked him, what use it would be to learn a language when you know for sure, you would not have years to practice it! The utility is secondary; what matters first is to equip oneself with necessary knowledge to face situations, which may or may not require a set of knowledge. Truly wise men and women were ever ready to welcome wisdom in their midst at any time of their life’s journey.

As I venture into a new field or two, I find it necessary to learn the ‘tricks of the trade’. Sometimes there are no ready-made, handy guidebooks, like the hundreds of self-help books and guides you find on any topic imaginable. There is no better guide in life to learn something new than experience itself; however a friend or foe who has already gained knowledge would be in a much better place to open the gates of the new palace, to show which is where, so that I need not walk through all the corridors and rooms to find what is where. If I am ready to be rebuked and reprimanded in the process of gaining knowledge, then I know I am ready to take yet another lesson for life.

There was something mysterious in Christian Life Community (CLC in short) movement, which had attracted me, when I was attending a short course in the Holy City a year ago, and I am enthused to explore what I can learn from the many groups who practice the Ignatian spirituality, served in a way which is not only palatable, but also useful for their daily Christian living. There are young boys and girls, and there are adults, all of them translating the Ignatian vision into reality, through a spirituality which is so practical and pliable that all can feel the divine coming down from heaven to the earth. But ahead of me is the opportunity to learn from these men and women who had tasted God, and be enriched by their experiences.

I am prepared to learn from anyone who would be able to accept me as a disciple; I am also aware that at times my ego pops up and resists the lowly and the least sitting in the chairs of authority and teach me things I have not known in life. Sometimes these experiences may also make me realize how ignorant I am, and when I know what I do not know, then I will know that the doors of knowledge are wide open for me. This experiences are nothing less than spiritual experiences, where I can encounter God in the midst of His people, and I can be well on the way to bridge the gap between God and human beings; that is the role of every priest of God, to play the bridge between heaven and earth, and here is a golden opportunity I can jump and grab!

Homage to Goddess of Wisdom

Today is the feast of Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom, and it is appropriate that I dwell on what I consider is true wisdom, as a way of paying my humble tribute to this wonderful (and beautiful) Goddess. One way how I could pay her my respect is to fall back on the popular Saraswati Vandana, which some states had made it obligatory to be recited in all schools. Looking at the lyrics of the Vandana, one would feel that there is nothing which is averse to a person of other faith, except that it is addressed to a Hindu goddess. One may find it hard to understand the Sanskrit slokas of the Vandana, as is presented in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-5PhbqgJY0&feature=player_embedded.

I liked the words of the lyrics, which describe the goddess in a pictorial way, and at the end seeking her protection. Here are the lyrics: "Oh Goddess Sarasvati, who is fair as a jasmine flower, the moon or a snow flake, who is dressed in white and whose hands are adorned by veena, who is seated in a white lotus, to whom Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara pray, please protect us." If four names are replaced by some other equivalents, this can go as a beautiful prayer, and I would love to make it part of my prayer each day; it can as well become the prayer of every person who believes in the true wisdom which flows from God.

How would I make my own adaptation of this prayer addressed to the Goddess of Wisdom and knowledge? "O God of wisdom, who is fair... to whom all angels and saints pray, please protect us!" The different images that are used to describe her, jasmine flower, moon or a snow flake, dressed in white, veena, lotus, all represent different aspects of true wisdom that flow from her (have we not heard about God as a feminine, even in Christian tradition? Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, have referred to God as a female figure!).

Jasmine flower is representative of the fragrance that is natural, and which can fill the atmosphere with a heavenly presence; snow and white naturally represent purity; veena of all human artistic talents and endeavors, lotus of soft and gentle flower, which even while living on water, yet is not overpowered by it! It may be hard for us to become like Saraswati, because as mortals, we may only share a tiny part of the divine wisdom that flows from her; part of the wisdom is granted to us at the time of our birth, and the other part is to be cultivated during our life-time here on earth. Only when we synchronize these two parts of wisdom, do we become like true images of this God of wisdom!

Wisdom also implies a humility on our part which reminds us constantly that we are merely a shadow of all true wisdom, which flows freely and gratuitously from God, and as we receive his wisdom, we have the responsibility to nurture and produce fruits which can benefit the world around us. Thus all true wisdom has a purpose, a social responsibility. If someone were to claim that his wisdom and knowledge is only for his personal satisfaction and contentment, then we may assume that what s/he has gained is not true wisdom, and that may be merely a pigment of his/her imagination. For a jasmine cannot contain its fragrance to itself, and a veena cannot contain the music within itself, and a lotus cannot contain the beauty to itself - they are all oriented to reach out to the other! That is where true wisdom may be found!

Fast in Fellowship

I know many people in India think of the former chief minister of Bihar, Sri Lallu Prasad Yadav as a clown in Indian politics, one who can amass public money property shamelessly, and even justify doing so publicly. He has been credited to have turned the ever loss-making Indian railways into a profit making one, which made the world take note of his USP. But I have a soft spot for this Bihari for several reasons: he is a man of the soil; he might have made a fortune out of the fodder scam, but he is also the one who believes in taking care of cows, and sometimes does not feel shy to pose milking the Jersy cows for photographs!

Needless to say, Lallu's wisdom is rustic, untouched by scientific and technological advancement. There are sparks of rustic wisdom in his speech, and one is left to amusement at the wisdom of this man, who however fails to apply such wisdom to reality. While many parts of the country are going through drought-like situation, Lallu had proposed a way to partly overcome this drought, which for the most part is human made. Citing the example of Jagdivan Ram, who during the time of drought in the early years of Indian independence, invited the citizens to fast once a week, Lallu invited the present generation to skip their meals (at least one meal) one day a week!

I found this simple solution not only innovative, though the credit goes to Jagjivan Ram, but it also challenges the people who are responsible for creating such a situation. It is also a challenge to the ever-increasing human greed and avarice. I welcome the idea whole heartedly, and propose an improvement of this idea as follows: It may be hard to skip the meals a whole day, since most of us would not have energy to work if we don't eat the whole day. So here is a way out. On alternative days, I can skip a meal; on monday I skip breakfast, on Wednesday lunch and on Friday supper. At the end of the week, I had skipped three meals, equivalent to not eating for a day.

Doctors recommend fasting as a means of staying healthy, and there are people who fast to keep themselves trim. But fast that is proposed has a wider social message, not only purely personal. What is important is not just to skip a meal, because that may not affect the world around. But then there is a way to make this simple act of fasting meaningful to a wider society. I cannot eat up what I save out of fasting on other days. If I feel the pain of those thousands of men, women and children going hungry to bed each day, then I will keep the grains, pulses and vegetables I save each week, and hand it over to the people who are in dire need of them. In this way, while I feel the hungry stomach, I can see the smile in the face of the hungry children.

Living very close to the VIP road of the City of Joy, I can see on weekends there is no parking space around our house. There are hundreds throng in and around Music World in Park Street, prepared to dole out some money to eat outside. If all these eateries, both big and small, were to pull their shutters once a week, save the food and money, and hand them over to the most deserving children, men and women, then we will see the world changing rapidly.If all men and women earning a salary or wage were to pause for a day in a month, and hand the money for those who lack basic amenities of life, then the world would be a better place for all of us.

Falling in Love

Walking through the hallowed portals of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, once gets a feeling that a sound mind is of paramount importance to continue the tradition of intellectually understanding the workings of the Spirit in the Scriptures, the Church and in the world. Talking to some of the students of this prestigious institution, which can boast a quality that can only be compared to that of Biblicum or Gregorian in Rome, one gets a feeling that Christian (or Catholic to be precise) theology has unfortunately moved from the heart to the head. In fact that is precisely what one of the students had told me, that theological studies today in this University, is a mental work, and not so much that of the heart. That may be an understatement for a person who believes in sound intellectual study in theology, but one may ask the moot question, can theology be only intellectual, not touching the heart?

Every learning experience is an entry into the ever vibrant sea of wisdom; every time we make an effort to intellectually perceive or understand something, we are taking a dip at this bottomless sea; our intellectual quest may never be quenched, and our thirst for greater clarity may never dawn. Unfortunately wisdom is far removed from the processes of the mind or the intellect; wisdom is to do with the heart, and it strikes a chord with the heart, while intellect puts a person directly in touch with the mind, and disconnects from the workings of the senses, feelings of the heart. Learning cannot take place in a vacuum, true; but a mere intellectual exercise may leave a person high and dry at the end. True learning, or a dip into the ocean of wisdom, is a joyful experience, which one may wish to go back time and again; it may be something that may give that person enough stamina and strength to meet the humdrum reality of ever day life.

One thing is for sure, there is very little scope in the modern day teaching-learning situations, for one to really fall in love with what one is busy with almost night and day. If I am doing my masters degree in Systematic Theology, I cannot learn truly unless I fall in love with the subject I am learning. The curriculum, staff, books are to help me in this process of falling in love. They may only help me, but it is for me to really fall in love. Besides, the situation may be such that one is prevented from falling in love in reality; the circumstances may encourage one to enter into a Platonic love relationship, where the partners may appreciate one another at the head-level, not venturing to enter into the heart-level. Can we call it love? Sure, but of a different kind. This is surely not the kind of love that we long for.

In fact once I fall in love with what I am trying to grasp, I go beyond the prescribed books, assignments, tests, examinations, seminars… and in certain cases I may even become mad! No wonder many people who had tried to enter into their subject in a serious way, had found themselves in such situation; they had to be taken to psychiatrists. There is a danger in associating with the subject one loves and studies in an absolute way. But once I begin to love what I do, what I study, I enjoy every moment I spend with the subject, and cherish even when I am away from it. I am not shattered by the bad results in the examination or inability to get through tests and assignments, because I can very well cherish what I am in love with, without worrying too much about what I make out of this relationship. Sadly much of our learning stops at the level of the head, what someone called a mental jugglery.

Today I would like to pause for a while and recollect what I had been doing from the time I got out of my bed early in the morning. I am going to ask myself this simple question, to which I will try to answer as honestly as possible: have I been in love with what I had been doing throughout this day? It is possible that I did certain works or duties or assignments with greater love and care than some others. Let me enlist those that I enjoyed doing, I loved doing, and had taken great care in doing, and had driven great satisfaction. Let me also enlist those things I did out of compulsion, out of necessity, out of duty consciousness. It is not possible that we stop doing these latter things, because sometimes we may find ourselves with too few options. But it is within our power and choice to make the latter as interesting as the former. I may need to take each item for a few days, and transform it slowly into something that I love and enjoy doing it. That may be the secret of making my day as enjoyable as I can ever make it! (Brussels)