Where you there when they crucified my lord?
Eloi eloi lema sabach' thani, (my God, my God why have you forsaken me)?
The cry of the human beings who suffer in this world;
Why does God forsake me during the time of my suffering?
In this technocratic era, who listens to the cry of the other?
Who ever has concern for the need of the other?
Who bothers for the life of the other…
The most difficult question that I have ever had to tackle in my life has been about the meaning of life. In the moments of sufferings, injustice, oppression, pain and rejection... I think where is my God in whom I trust, and to whom I pray, and whom I adore everyday? I seek God of mercy and compassion, love and justice, immanent and transcendent
Actually the one who knows the reality and who is enlightened with truth, knows neither jealousy nor hatred, neither sin nor sorrow, neither fear nor poverty, neither past nor future, neither desire nor agony, and is neither a doer nor a deed. He is free from all duality, is self-contented and stable.
When one looks into the messages in the Holy Scripture and its meaning for his daily life, he/she finds the pervading presence of God in his creation. Our own existence reveals the wondrous deeds of God. But the creation under-goes many changes and it moulds itself as if in a furnace according to the will of its maker and it assures reward to those who endure the pain of being pruned and mould in the eternal life. We should be able to make people aware that the plan of God is beyond human reason and one should establish a practical and meaningful relationship between oneself and God and between other human beings and the world in general. As we grow we should be able to see the world in a grain of sand: and the heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in he palm of our hand, and eternity in an hour. INDIAN ature we read how we can attain the happiness in life. The saying goes like this; knowledge makes you humble; humility gives you character; good character attracts wealth; wealth can be used for doing good deeds. This in turn leads to happiness in the world.
Vidhya dhadhathi vinayam vinayadhyathi pathratham
Pathrathvadhdhanamapnothi dhanadharma thathaha sukham.
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A collection of dreams and ideas
To do and achieve something through action.
One can use imagination for destruction
Which may prove death-dealing,
While others can use for constructive purpose
Proving a life-giving deal.
[
There are Omar Abdullah and Bin Laden
Who destroy WTC killing thousands.
There we Dhirubhai Ambani or Narayana Murthy
Who provide jobs and livelihood for thousands.
Now decide, where are you moving?
Towards death dealing or life – giving,
To do good or evil,
For constructive or destructive purpose?
Check it out and live a good, useful life,
For yourself and others too,
Because we have but, just one chance/life!
Is life so simple, so cheap?
That we decorate it with the cheapest,
of all things that exist,
food, cloth, drinks and wishes?
That one buys the food cheap,
wears the cloths cheaper,
quenches with the drinks cheapest?
Is our humanity so cheap?
That often it is sold and bought in markets,
Though we know it should not?
Because
Our life is so valuable and dear,
We must fill it with good things
Of all that exists for us humans
Food, shelter and cloth as requires human need.
It has been seven years since that ill fated day, when a torched train at Godhra sparked out violence throughout Gujarat. In fact, it was heart-breaking and had wrought wreck in human relationship.
To analyze further, over the years religion has turned to be the cause of all conflicts and violence among the people. And our mother India, known for nonviolence, witnessed a series of communal clashes that took away the lives of thousands of innocent people. The inhuman atrocities caused by various groups of religious fanatics to the commoners have them anxious and fearful. The cry of innocent blood still echoes in the different parts of our country. Streams of tears continue to flow from the eyes of the victims, and the tremor of attack felt in every heart of minorities.
What has gone wrong in the land of spirituality? When the western society produced famous political leaders like- Abraham Linchon, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela and others, the eastern like-India supplied the spiritual leaders like Ramakrishna, Parmahansa, Swami Vivekananda, and Mahatma Gandhi. Who won the hearts of millions of people all over the world. But it is staggering to see how the anti-religious waves have crept into the land of spirituality. Our country known for long standing plurality of cultures now finds it hard to strengthen the broken relationship between different groups.
In the recent past, the saffron parties tried to utilize religion as a tool to win the hearts of people for which they look up religious issues to hit the emotions of the people. Besides this the improving economical status of the other religious minorities created jealousy among the Hindus and led to communal tension. At that crucial juncture saffron parties wanting to exploit the situation for their selfish political ends, extended their full support to the rioters to ransack the properties and destroy the life of the minorities. As a result there was only bloodshed, death, and the survivors were under total mental trauma and psychological shock. Aren’t their lives in coma? This is what the unholy mixture of religion and politics has contributed to our mother land. However, unless we the people of India transcend the narrow confines of religion and fanaticism we are not going to be successful in erasing the dark pages of the history of our recent past. And if we apply the same formula (religion + politics) in the future, we will be condemned to witness the dark days ahead too.
P MUM, WHEN I AM NOT DUMB?
Bro. Naveen Pinto
By nature, human beings are adventurous and hardly get satiated with the things accomplished in life. The famous philosopher Protagoras says, “Man is the measure of all things.” Certainly it is true to a great extent. But can he ever overpower the Creator? Never! However the unsolved challenges of man really pose a threat to human existence.
We are always confronted with unique situations, and try to resolve them. Some do take up the challenges to stifle the adverse effect and some leave it aside for someone else to tackle it. If so, where are we? Do new challenges of present day perturb me and put my life at stake? Obviously each and every one gets affected by day today problems, but how smart are we to toss the luck in favor of us. There are some questions that we must ask ourselves to know the latent intention of the present culture. Are problems on the rise or fall? And do I give yesterday’s solutions for today’s problem? In fact we can question a lot of things that need our reflection. As we are in the post modern era with its massive developmental programs, where are we taking this world? Do we ever pose this question? Don’t we promote degradation of human values, insensitivity, and self-centered life by keeping mum to the latest malign forces of the society?
At this prime time, it is nice to understand how people find new ways to establish themselves in the corporate world. Profit as compared to service in education and health sector, fanaticism instead spirituality in religion, and wealth against health in business are the unhealthy factors that influence the people. It is said “ignorance is the gold mine for the mind manipulators.” Indeed, open brain washing is the trend prevailing in the society and because of our ignorance we succumb to it. Consequently artificial needs are created in every individual by the corporate world and we fail to understand it. Moreover, every person is challenged to cope with the unrealistic demands of the corporate world. Hence, every person sleeps with the motto of success and dreams, the zenith of excellence. Yes, time has come to wake up and fight the new evils in the world. Everyone faces discrimination, suppression and blows on one’s freedom. The well established ethos of the society is totally being massacred. But why do we keep mum, when others are insensitive to us? Can’t we raise our voice?
Well, if you want to leave your foot prints on the sands of history, then don’t drag your feet. Ignite your mind and break the silence.
FREEDOM BY STEPHEN S.
In this permissive society, it is rather difficult to say that the society exercises social freedom in its full meaning. This permissive society has allowed the people to do what they like, not considering the freedom of their neighbours. Today it has become an individualistic society where the person has no social responsibility towards any other fellow human being. However freedom always carries social responsibility. Freedom is always for something not for one's own comforts when he is in difficulties. Today the connotation of freedom is fully misunderstood by the people especially the youth. We have become accustomed tom the worldly outlook of equating a person with one's possessions, positions, actions, appearance, and the group one belongs to etc. an outlook that leads to competition which involves ambition, greed, hatred, fear, opposition to one another and attachment.
We are conditioned by this outlook and it has its own advantages; success, more wealth, higher positions in society, prestige, fame etc. because of these people become socially un-free and they struggle throughout their lives to attain social freedom through above means; which is an impossible thing to speak of. We cannot become socially free without this awareness of how we enslave ourselves not able to move to freedom, for while this freedom is a gift, it is also a task. Freedom, which involves responsibility, also calls for better cooperation, responsibility, relationship, sharing, caring and working for the betterment of his /her fellow human being. Freedom should be exercised in the society with out harming the other human being. Today there is corruption, greed, violence, discrimination, castism, orphan and widow have no voice, and people find it difficult to practice their culture because the word freedom is misunderstood in a manner in which the human beings are not taken into consideration.
This kind of situation calls for a conscious change of the people in the society. If we really want to experience the real social freedom, give your time, attention and share your things with the people of the society. Here we can remember the saying of Mahatma Gandhi who insisted that the morality of an action is to be measured by its concern for the least of the brethren.
CAN I BE A PRIEST?
dear reader do you love Jesus? Hold on! Do you know Jesus? I don't really know? I know so many things about Jesus from various sources. But honestly speaking I don't know him. My mind is full of views, ideas and images of Jesus. I learned from my parents, fathers, teachers, the Bible, books and others. It is like, for example knowing Mr.Rahul Gandhi. I know so many things about him. There are various sources from which I have come to know quite a lot about his likes, dislikes, views, family, friends and much more. But do I know him? No! Ever have I seen, met or spoken to him and how can I love him whom I don't know?
But, can I know Jesus? Is it possible holding on? There is another question disturbing me. Is Jesus really real? Is he just a historical or mythical figure? If at all he was, did he really die or resurrect? Was he taken down from the cross by his disciples as the Jews believe? Can I say confidently that Jesus is?
If he is really real why are the Christians leaving the true God and becoming Muslims, Hindus or other religious? My little mind is unable to know all these but could any of you really convince me from your experience or so Jesus is?
Don't tell it is just faith! If I don't believe, is he not? Can we - the would be priests - the supposed to be "another Christ" - convince the people of his being real? Because today, people are asking for the "real experience of Jesus" and not about our studies and qualities.
Can I be a "representative" of some one whom I don't know? My dear brothers, today the people are searching for something solid.
Are we going to know Jesus personally and represent him or are we going to fool others and ourselves?
BY BRO. CLARET GEORGE
The Rhythm of Nature
OUR world is not mere by a conglomeration of things or objects. We find a kind of rhythm in its working; a dynamic interplay between its events. Everything is fitting into a totality. There is a sort of specificity at every step which cannot be denied. Just as the human body which is constituted of different organs with different functions working together, we find a coordinated functioning of the entire universe. Thus we all are called to a cosmological equanimity and ecological mutuality which is founded on the goodness of the creation. It is only in the mutual relationship a being can exist and actualize himself in this temporal and spatial world.
One of the common characteristics which can be found is, that all find themselves as contingent beings, i.e., no one has the cause for their own existence. When they exist, they cause the existence of the other beings. Each being lives for the other and contribute to the whole reality. Different food chains, balances in the level of various elements, intrinsically show the interrelatedness of all beings. Thus all of us are parts of the same totality, contributing to it. Everything in this world appears as a complicated web of relations between various parts of a unified whole.
The most advanced studies in physics also reveal the basic oneness of the universe. The quantum physicists accept that the real knowledge is beyond the framework of instrumentalism and realism. The tiny sub atomic particles of the micro world manifest the same basic principle behind the differences and the vast horizon of the unexplored philosophical potentialities to find its cause. The marvel and the amazement we feel at the fascinating phenomena in the world around us thus ultimately lead all our enquiries to an element of mystery in it. Every little flower, or a fluttering butterfly, or the charming rainbow, or a shinning star, becomes then graffiti of wonder and a ladder to the Wise Orderer.
The homogenous character of the universe is that everything in it has an order and is designed to achieve a purpose or goal. The interconnectedness of the parts, the intelligibility, specific features for life, conditions for growth, regularity etc. manifest the rhythm of nature as arranged by a Wise Designer. The question of origin of this beautiful universe and the issue of the unity, integrity and coherence of the cosmos finally reaches to stand with awe and wonder before that Greatest Craftsman. Thus the rhythm of the universe presupposes the supreme intelligence as the cause and as a preserver and sustainer. It is from the overflow of His goodness the world came into existence and every being shares His goodness, being the part of this world.
When I look around, He appears as a primary architect who displays extraordinary skillfulness in creation by producing fundamental building blocks and putting them together in perfect and proportionate composition; and when I feel Him inside I find Him as a personification of love and compassion, who is interested in my well being and of every being. Then every thing in this world gets meaning and I find myself well suited in this world. I become aware of the intrinsic goodness in me and the specific purpose for my existence only through that Being, which is the substratum of every being, whom I call ‘my God’.
According to St. Bonaventure, “The whole universe is an open book in which God is read on every page”. The universe is a ladder for climbing to God. According to St. Thomas Aquinas,“The world points out its Creator, because neither the world in which we find ourselves nor the beings we come across can account for itself”. The author of the Book of Wisdom states:“From the greatness and the beauty of the created things, comes a corresponding perception of their Creator”.
We find the reality of change, every moment in this variegated creation and still every creature keeps the identity of permanence. Every organism has its definite role in keeping the equilibrium of this permanence in change. There is no being in this world, which can be counted as unimportant. Every being, whether it is a bacteria or an elephant has its significant role to keep the rhythm of nature. Thus the rhythm of nature points out the threefold values: firstly, the value of every being as a being in itself; secondly, every being as an inevitable part of the cosmic web, and thirdly, every being as indicative of a further deeper Real.
BY BRO. SIJO C.
THE CONCEPT OF THE MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA OF TIME BY TOM P
You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons. Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing. Yet the timeless in you aware of life's timelessness and knows that yesterday is but to day's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
Khallil Gibran
Time, you are everything. In you and through you, everything comes, grows, moves, dies and gets rebirth. All things become part of you but you are’nt part of them. Time is the condition for our existence. It is time that enables change. Time is constitutive of reality and life, that every human experience is contained and constituted by time. Time gives existence to all and is extended to a small part of us. We are heavied with the burdens of times. We think time intervenes, yes it does, but it turns some to joy and some to sufferings. And then time smiles: This Too Will Pass Away.
I try to meditate upon time but often it seems time meditates upon me. Oh! time you are in me, but I am not in you. You were before me, but I was not. You will be after me, but I won’t. I am what I am, because thy work in me. All pass through thee and nobody knows not thee. Everybody lives in you, but all forget thy existence in thee. We are today, but not tomorrow and then smiles time: This Too Will Pass Away.
Nobody knows how time is created, how it exists, it exists because I exist. If I die, I die in your existence I have no existence beyond time. My existence is thrown out in to time. Time is the teacher and she teaches me what I need and what don’t. My becoming is in time and my being too. I squat in time, but I reflect not on time, then smiles time: This Too Will Pass Away.
What is the beginning and end of time? Time joins and breaks. Time wounds but it also heals, time conceals but it also reveals. My life is hidden in time but without knowing it I pass through it, when all go away from me time stands by me, still I understand not thee. My happiness is enfolded in time but I never unfold it, but I search it outside time and I discover not thee. Time forwards, if it backwards everything will resurrect. Then smiles time: This Too Will Pass Away.
We will not understand time, but we encounter our life and do not grasp but live it, we do not comprehend it, it is part of our life. But still the paradox reminds: we do not know what time is? We live it, but we do not own it, we are time but we do not have it. We measure time we cannot save it. Still, when we make sense of our life, time creeps inevitably. Time is present in every aspect of our life. Be it our work, our effort, our hopes, our love or even our own self, we just cannot be ourselves apart from time. We are temporal beings, who are living into time, who live time and who are time; we are tossed between having time and being time. Life is possible only in time, change is understandable, only in time and hope is sensible only on time.
Finally, the most consoling thought for us humans; Everything Passes Away. Our present anxieties and worries, our joys and hopes, and our very life itself will pass away. Everything that is precious and detestable will pass away, including you and me. Nothing remains eternally. That is the joy of being. Let’s abandon ourselves to the flow of life, to the movement of time, and to the vitality of love: precisely there lies the Divine, who alone travels and transcends the flows of time- Who is time and beyond time. This too will pass away but let us live and relish our passing away.
PRAYERFUL GREETINGS OF ST. THOMAS
LOVE FROM
FINE ROWS
KPRT, ASHTA
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