Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Violence of Love

THE VIOLENCE we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work. Oscar Romero, November 27, 1977

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Divine Transaction

Jomo Kenyatta, First President of Kenya, said - with a lot of truth and a dose of sarcasm: "When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, we had the Bible in our hand, and they had the land." "From the cowardice that dare not face new truth, From the laziness that is contended with half truth, From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, Good Lord, deliver me". (A Kenyan Prayer)

Friday, October 8, 2010

"Till There Was YOU"

There were bells on the hill But I never heard them ringing, No, I never heard them at all Till there was you. There were birds in the sky But I never saw them winging No, Inever saw them at all Till there was you. ........... Thre was love all around But I never heard it singing No, I never heard it at all Till there was you! (The music man)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Anton P. Chekhov

Chekhov's Quotes "I am afraid of those who will look for tendenciousness between the lines and who are determined to see me either as a liberal or a conservative. I am neither a liberal nor a conservative, neither a gradualist nor a monk nor an indifferentist. I would like to be nothing more than a free artist, and I regret that God did not give me the gift to be one. I hate falseness and coercion in all their forms . . . . Pharisaism, stupidity and arbitrariness reign not merely in merchants' houses and police stations: I see them in science, in literature, among the young. That is why I have no particular passion for either policemen or butchers or scientists or writers or the young. I consider brand-names and labels a prejudice. My holy of holies is the human body, health, intelligence, talent, inspiration, love, and absolute freedom, freedom from force and falseness in whatever form they express themselves. That's the platform I'd subscribe to if I were a great artist." You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible. To judge between good and bad, between successful and unsuccessful would take the eye of a god. The university brings out all abilities including incapability. A writer is not a confectioner, a cosmetic dealer, or an entertainer. He is a man who has signed a contract with his conscious and his sense of duty. When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can't be cured. One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake. The more refined one is, the more unhappy. Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out. If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry. Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. The personal life of every individual is based on secrecy, and perhaps it is partly for that reason that civilised man is so nervously anxious that personal privacy should be respected. No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand.... Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing. ...only he is an emancipated thinker who is not afraid to write foolish things. If you cry "forward," you must without fail make plain in what direction to go.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Market

One went in search of an honest man in a market place in the bright day light. Finding himself in vain he remarked: " Market is a place where people deceive each other conventionally buying at a lower price giving at a higher price, and which is accepted by all." Thus goes the story of a Zen Guru who used to go the market place every evening, observing all the new products just arrived in the market. He was known to be a saintly Guru who had only a begging bowl and a single dothi at his possession. However, his disciples were scandalized at this particular act of Guru that which expressed a persisting desire for the worldly things. But nobody dared to ask him about it. Days went on, the old Guru fell sick and was bed-ridden. As he was almost nearing the death, one of his brave disciples enquired him about his irreligious habit of market visit: "Dear Master, although you are considered by many as a saintly Guru living a life of complete detachment, why was it that you always visited the market place and looked at the worldly things displayed in the market, with so much of fascination?". The Guru replied: "Oh..! It was a curiosity of mine to see all those newly arrived things in the market which I do not require to live a happy life." Market has its own dynamism, often artifical. their faces are enchating only to attract you, words are sweet like honey only to trap you, commodities are fascinating only to create new demands in you. The magic of the market is that it will generate in you a happiness that can never satisfy you. It is like honey, the more you drink the more you are thirsty. And it doesn't allow you to find happiness within yourself. Another law of market is utility. In market only things that have utility have demand. And when the human relations are marketed the danger is much more grave. Old age, insanity, lack of abilities and charm, powerlessness, poverty etc. take you to the perifery of the market of life. At times, even I wonder at myself when my "contacts" are increasing and relations are decreasing.

Monday, February 15, 2010

After war, alliance = Marriage

Before marriage groom's and bride's families fight each other on their own maxium advantages. Marriage is the final alliance to settle the issue. Affection and love were less important considerations - Diogenes.
When hearing that her marriage is fixed I asked her, " How is the boy?" She said, "He looks OK." My brotherly love for her couldn't help me asking her a few more questions. I continued, " Have you known him before, I mean, his character?" She said, "NO. It is an arranged marriage." "Have you visited the house where you are going to live for the rest of your life?" She replied, "NO. My parents did." "But they are not coming to live with you, isn't it?" I said. After a few minutes of silence she definitively replied with two big drops of tears flowing down through her cheeks, "You know, after all I am a girl."

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

My SUN

It is said of Diogenes, the Greek cynical itinerant and a contemproary of Alexander the great: Alexander the great who lived amidst the power and pomp of this world ever felt a deep seated prick of conscience while standing before this poor naked wanderer. To somehow get rid of the guilt feeling he wanted to appease Diogenes. One day he went to visit Diogenes who was enjoying the fresh sunlight of the morning sun, lying on the sea shore. He did not notice the arrival of the great emperor. As he sensed that his sunlight was blocked by some shade he turned around and looked, then he saw Alexander the great standing against him. Alexander greeted him and made an offer of a solid amount of gold. Just shaking his head with a sarcastic smile he replied: "please stand away from my sun...!" Things of great value cannot be bought with money. Who can buy sun, wind, horizon, freedom.... with money? And who can take away them from me? Ultimately, life is a gift to be taken with utmost respect, and not to trade with it in the market. In the book of Acts in the New Testament we have the story of a man named Simon, who was a magician from Samaria. He became the follower of Christ after hearing Philip preach the Good News. Later, when Simon saw how the apostles imparted Holy Spirit to the new converts, he was so much impressed by it and asked them if he could buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit. The old magician in Simon saw a potential market for this kind of power. Peter the fisherman is bit indignant in his response to Simon: “May you and your money go to hell, for thinking that you can buy God’s gift with money.” Certainly, there are number of things in life that money cannot buy for you: time, health, happiness, peace, respect, love, friendship, immortality….. The well known saying goes like this: Money can buy house but not home. Money can buy clock but not time. Money can buy bed but not sleep. Money can buy book but not knowledge. Money can buy position but not respect. Money can buy sex but not love. Money can buy luxuries but not happiness. When purchased with money things are goods, when received with respect they are gifts. Purchase and Reception are two attitudes in approaching things in life. The beggar came to meet the emperor to make a request for his basic sustenance. He was told by the court guards that the emperor is praying in the temple, that he can directly go to the temple and meet him there. The beggar stood outside the temple for some time and returned. While returning one of the guards asked him whether he made the request to the emperor. He said, “No!” Guard asked, “Then why did you come to meet emperor ?” He replied, “I thought he was an emperor, but now I understood that he is bigger beggar than me. I heard him begging in the temple before God for greater victory, gold and power.” At times it so happens to us we lose sight of little things in life which are precious but not found in market place at our disposal to purchase.