DOG MENTALITY: A PHENOMENOLOGY

This morning when I woke up, saw a neighbouring dog making its usual trip around the compound and lifting its one leg performing ‘sue sue’ ritual at certain places. This is not the first time I saw the dogs doing so. I just remembered a documentary on tigers which I watched in the National Geography channel who also have the similar practice. Not that these animals have the problem of frequent urination, but in reality, these animals are marking their boundaries. And within this boundary, they are ‘the Kings.’

Tiger Marking its boundary

A dog marking its compound

A dog marking its territory

The ‘King Dog’ gets wild when a foreign dog or animal comes within its marked territory. Its individuality, supremacy and territory is now at stake. Even though the foreigner is much stronger than the owner of the place, still it gets enough courage and strength to chase the enemy away. The moment it goes out of its own boundary, it feels weak and at times trembles. But inside the boundary, it will bark, yell and is really the King.

Often times our fate is the same. We have our own marked territory, marked area of power, marked area to exercise our influence and strength. Outside this boundary we are weak and mumble. Though we feel King in our place when we get out, we are almost beggars and at the mercy of others (just like the dog puts its tail under its legs when it feels weak in front of a stronger one). What a paradox! What a pity!

King Alexander who conquered a greater portion of East, tells his fellow men regarding his funeral. He asks them to keep the hands dangle out of the coffin, because he wanted to tell the world that the person who conquered the world did not bring anything when he came and will be going empty handed when he dies. We build castles, kingdoms, territory in the form of money, power, influence etc., as if it is the Kingdom which we will be taking along with us when we die. When someone outsider questions to our territorial establishment our individuality shakes. We realize our own ‘self,’ we feel that we are ‘barking’ within our territory.

At times we compromise with ‘others’ for the territorial reason. It is wise thing to do when a stronger enemy is attacking, the king knowing its weakness,  goes for a compromise if not, one will lose even that subjectivity which one owes. However, is this compromise at the cost of other’s life and relation? Difficult to answer, but it is true. Directly or indirectly, one is affected by this relationship of compromise. It may also be possible, a few may again gain power and territory and a few may become victims of it.

However, everything is just a play. Just play and enjoy the game. If not watch the game, and enjoy. 

Raju Felix Crasta

Tat Tvam Asi as Cosmotheandric Experience

Among the four ‘great verses’ of Scriptures, ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ is one and is found in the sixth chapter of Chāndogya Upanis̟ad. It has been explained and commented by various Ācāryas of different traditions in different ways to suit the philosophy of the commenting Ācāryas. For example, śaṅkara sees from the kevala Advaitic tradition as,  ‘That Thou Art’ and says, ‘you are That’ and ‘That’ is explained as ‘Brahman’ and therefore, ‘You are none but Brahman himself.’ For Madhva who follows Dvaita Vedanta, takes grammatical nuance and says, ‘You are not That’ and therefore, ‘You are different from Brahman.’ However, almost all the commentators agree that this mahāvākya refers to the Supreme Reality and its relation with the other realities.

The ‘other reality’ here refers to the beings in the world. It can be human being or any other animate or inanimate beings. In other words it refers to the whole of cosmos. Thus the word ‘tvam’ would refer to the world of beings in the cosmos apart from the Supreme Being, Brahman.

The relationship existing between ‘Tat’ (Brahman) and ‘tvam’ (world of beings) is denoted by the word ‘asi.’ For Viśis̟t̟ādvains like Rāmānuja this relation may be expressed in terms of ‘collocation’ or ‘Samānādhikaran̟yam’ or like ‘body-soul’ relation (śarīra-śarīri relation).

This is the reason, I find, some advaitins speak of the entire Gītā in terms of ‘Tat-Tvam-Asi’ i.e.,  the relation between Lord Krishna who represents the Supreme Reality and the World Reality in terms of Kaurava and Pandava and their relationship with Krishna.

What I would see here is, a basic Cosmotheandric unity in the form of Tat-tvam-asi. Cosmotheandric would mean the unity between, Cosmos, Theos and Andros (World-God-Man). Basically there is a unity in the whole of cosmos which one cannot negate. Human beings cannot exist without relating with other human beings and other beings. The very fact that human being is existing on the earth, affirms that he is related to the earth. Further, for the survival of human being, one has to depend on the vegetation on the earth, air the atmosphere and so on. This is the relationship one has with other world of beings. Deep down again, there is a power or mysterious energy or mystery one is part of. This mystery is expressed in the word ‘Tat’ in the Upanis̟ad.

According to Madhva, the world of beings are not independent, they are dependent on the Supreme Being, though there is a visible dualism (dvaita) between them. It is only for the western philosophy, the dualism is independent of each other. For Dvaita, this dualism is dependent and independent of each other. The whole of world of reality is dependent on God for its sustenance. Thus, there is a basic unity and uniformity in the whole of ‘tat-tvam-asi’ concept.

Human beings, who are the crown of God’s creation, must experience this cosmotheandric reality to make the world a better place to dwell in. The whole reality of Tat-tvam-asi must be experienced in one’s life here on earth. The word used for experience in Sanskrit is ‘anubhava’ which comes from the root ‘Bhava’ which means ‘to become.’ One becomes or experiences the divine one-ness through knowledge, good works, devotion, good conduct and good virtues,  “Once you know that, you become that.”

In the  Upanis̟ad Ārun̟i tells  śvetaketu ‘You are That’ and therefore, it follows, you have to ‘become that.’  The background here is, śvetaketu has just returned from the Gurukul after 12 years of study. But has become proud, and thinks that he has learnt everything what one has to learn, but did not practice what he has learnt. Therefore, śvetaketu must forgo his selfishness, pride and live a practical life. He has lot of things to learn from the nature. This is expressed in the nine analogies given to him by his father. For example, father tells him to bring a fruit of the nyagrodha (fig) tree. Son goes and brings. Again the father asks him to cut open seeds and the son does. Then the father again asks him to cut the seeds which again the son does. What is being underlined here is, the ‘worldly experience.’

Every day we see miracles in the nature. Flower blooms, insects pollinate them and within a few days we see fruit. The seeds fall in the ground. ‘Lo and Behold,’ within a few days, there is a tiny plant coming up. We have no answer for the question, “How it came?” It is the divine plan. One has to see this miracle and has to admire at this. However, not just admiring, but be one with it and become eventually ‘That.’  This makes us to see everything as divine, God oriented and spiritual.

If one realizes, this, no doubt, one will make this earth, a loving home accommodating all the cultures, civilizations, faith, living and non-living beings, ecology and environment.

  

Raju Felix Crasta

I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!


With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

Note:  I do not know from where I have received this story, but heart touching. has a beautiful message for all of us. The incident itself will reveal you the message. Read it carefully, meditate and reflect. 

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

DIALOGUE AS A WAY OF LIFE

To co-exist in the pluralistic and multi cultured society like India where there are people of different way life, one needs to relate with the other responsibly and courageously.  The leaders of the society must give a true leadership in the spirit of building the community and not breaking it. Each culture has its own strength and weakness. Knowing one’s culture, religion and scripture in its real sense opens itself to see the other religious texts and practices in a constructive way. Once this is achieved, it enables the person to get into the other cultures and relish the goodness in it.  The fact that one is doing this, is already in “Dialogue.”

Starting point

To build any work, one needs to begin. The foundation laid on the rock, remains strong even though there is a strong wind and the foundation laid on sand will fall off even to a mild breeze. Therefore, what would be our foundation? There can be several foundations to begin an Inter-religious dialogue. It can be one’s experience, value systems, converging aspects, and diverging aspects. The aspects of faith, scriptural understanding, God, Ethics can also be strong starters. However, care should be taken by both the parties not to hurt each other. The dialogue becomes effective when both the parties can ‘laugh at each other’ when they make mutual criticism and thus cancel out the ill-feelings.

Learning from each other

Every religion is the seeker of Truth. Truth is that thing which does not change. In the core of every believer, there is a thirst for something which is unchanging. Every religious person is an advocator of this reality. My understanding of God begins here. In order to get soaked in this reality I engross myself in the Bible and Magisterium. This search does not end here, when I find it, I proclaim it to other, “Come and rejoice with me… it was lost and now I found it.” The second part of my life now becomes the ‘light and guide’ to others, that is ‘I live what I found and experienced.’

My thirst to ‘become light and guide’ cannot be complete without knowing the ‘other.’ And now I engross myself with the cultures of other, scriptures of other. When I see something converging, I pick it up and keep it on the lamp stand. When there is something ‘unbecoming,’ I critically evaluate it and if it is really causing damage to the community, I need to act against it. I think, the people who fought against the sati, child marriage, caste system, racial etc problems, is from this perspective. Irrespective of religion, the people of ‘good will’ supported this noble cause.

The two parties

Who engages in a healthy discussion? Only a happy person can engage a healthy discussion. ‘Happy person’ is he, who is having the mind of equanimity, love for the neighbor, self-less in thought and action and above all a real spiritual person. Such people only ‘give’ and do not look for ‘gain.’ If a person is looking for something for oneself, he is ‘unhappy’ person.

Now, the dialogue can be effective and long lasting between two happy persons, because they would like to give always. A dialogue between happy and unhappy person will also be effective but one sided and therefore, not healthy and will not last long. The third possibility is a dialogue between two unhappy persons and it will be like; ‘the blind leading another blind,’ both fall into the trench. The first dialogue will be non-violent and accommodative. The second will be partly non-violent and partly violent and the third, violent.

Why this Kolaveri?

In the olden days, people had no problem to have people of other faith in one’s neighborhood. But in the recent years, the trend is changing. Two reasons can be sited here: ‘Marketing’ and ‘Political.’

The rise of Fundamentalism is mainly because of ‘Marketing’ technique of religion. Each one wants to sell his/her goods with attractive shares. Here, the concern seems not the quality of interior happiness nor the Truth seeking, rather quantity of ‘gain.’ In such scenario, can a dialogue take place? Obviously, no.

The second reason can be the merging of politics with religion. Religion has become the handmaid of the political leaders. It is the power which handles the religion. A total separation of religion from politics will yield a better nation.

Challenges

Speaking to a philosopher’s gathering, Swami  Bodhananda expressed his views where one can learn from the other cultures. He said, “Semantic religions are clearly focused but are exclusive. Hindus are not focused but inclusivists. Christians are far ahead in social service, education and healthcare, whereas the Hindus do not have such experience.” The point is very clear, if one wants to have a healthy atmosphere, accept the other and support the other. It is true, that the Christianity stresses too much on structuralism while the Hinduism has the nature of flexibility. However, both are needed for an effective co-existence. One has to learn from the other. If I am a seeker of Truth, will it be possible for me to accept the other cultures and the revelation there? Will that revelation affect the revelation which I am already holding on to? Is ‘My Truth’ the only ‘Truth?’ It is very difficult to answer, but only a dialogue will enable to arrive at the consensus.

In fact this is a challenge before us, to make our world, ‘home,’ a home of love. Since we live in this home, are we not the ‘keepers of this home?’ In order to bring harmony in this home, we need to fight against the corruption, environmental degradation, Fundamentalism, poverty, untouchability etc. These can be real starters to begin our search for an effective and lasting co-existence.  In the establishment of this task, we can be truly called, the “Brothers and Sisters, Children of God, Sons and Daughters of the earth.’

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

Fast: Remaining near the Lord

The word used for fast in Sanskrit is “upavāsa,” which is the combination of two words: upa and vāsa. ‘upa’ means near, the proximity and ‘vāsa’ means dwelling, staying or abode. Thus the word Upavāsa means, staying near or dwelling near.

Where we need to stay near? In the religious sense, we need to stay near the Lord. To stay near the Lord one needs to be worthy of it. One becomes worthy by purifying himself. The purity comes by abstaining not just food, but also those things which malign the divine nature of human beings.

Why do we fast? In the traditional religious understanding says, we fast to keep the ‘harmony’ (R̟ta). Harmony, not only of the nature, but harmony of the self as well. Only when I keep the harmony of my ‘self’ I will be able to keep the harmony of ‘other selves.’ Thus for the religious, fasting and penance go together. We realize that we are sinners and therefore we need  repentance. Just repenting is not enough, but we need to do some repair work as well. That is, repair the loss we committed by our ‘commission’ and ‘omission.’ Scientifically, this sounds well. At times our body needs some diet. It needs rest from food intake, the high calorie food to low calorie food, from non-vegetarian to vegetarian food, from enormous junk burgers to simple ‘dal-chawal’ (simple food - rice and dal)

The question is how then we are to fast? We have hundreds of examples in the Bible where people fasted and did their penance by tearing off their clothes, wearing sack clothes, sprinkling ashes on their body, and praying the Psalms of Mercy. Again Jesus tells us, ‘When you fast, apply oil in your head, do not show your gloomy face…’ I think, the key to fast is here, “Let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing.” When I am fasting and praying let it be not a show, but be an expression of my deeper inner self. Let my act bring closer to my God and help me to “Remain near the Lord.”

In the Bhagavad Gītā Krishna tells Arjuna, do not work looking for fruit (chapter 2, verse 47), rather work for the ‘lokasaṁgraha’ (chapter 3, verse 20, 25), the welfare of the worlds. Our fast should be like this, for the wellbeing of others (‘kalyān̟kāri.’). We see in the Indian freedom struggle, Gandhi underwent a lot of ‘upavasa satyāgrahas’ for the welfare of the country. This kind of fast is an inspiration from the Gītā. Fast, thus becomes, ‘kalyān̟kāri.’ Religiously speaking, our fast can be ‘kalyān̟kāri’ provided we offer our fasting and penance for a good cause and make it emancipatory or liberating. Thus, it becomes a spiritual act.

The Church officially instructs us to fast on two special occasions: ‘Ash Wednesday’ and ‘Good Friday’ (see can. 1249-1253 for details about this in the Code of Canon Law).  At the same she also recommends all the Fridays for this. However, fast on the ordinary Fridays is not obligatory. 

We see in the society, there are people who abstain from illegal-practices, alcohol, drugs, sensual things, throughout forty days of Lent. It is not bad, very good and commendable. However, what is bad is this: in spite of controlling for forty days, on the very next day, they fully ‘yield’ to it as if nothing has happened to them. We need to congratulate those people who really have given up those things after forty days. Encourage them. At the same time, need to sympathize with those who could not come out of their bondage. Can we say, for these ‘weak conscious people’ those forty days were, ‘days near the Lord?’

Along with the fast what church recommends is abstinence. Abstinence from meat and other food items as prescribed by the Conference of Bishops in a particular region. For some people, meat is very common and they have to abstain from this. For the people living in the coastal sea areas, fish is very common and they need to abstain from this. For the people who do not even have a proper meal, can they not eat meat if they happen to get one day? Therefore, what is important thing to be noted here is, not what is to be eaten but the ‘spirit of the Lent’, the spirit of ‘staying near the Lord.’ If a person is sex crazy, let him deny this for some time and see the difficulty of being abstaining and make the sufferings as emancipatory. If a person is glutton, let him abstain from eating for a day or two and offer that ‘pain’ as ‘salvific.’ In today’s E-world people are addicted to internet, facebook, whatsapp,  twitter, mobiles and messages, i-pods, i-pads, songs, DJ, pokemongo type of games, etc. Such people need to abstain from this, at least during the days of ‘obligation’. I have heard people saying “what will I do, I will be mad…,” when there was a news about the closure of Facebook. This is just one example where we need to abstain. Every time you feel the ‘temptation’ to get in, you are reminded of your emancipatory ideal and you are near the Lord.


Finally, Fasting time is a time to remind oneself about one’s shortcomings, ill-feelings, difficulties, unworthiness etc. When I experience this dryness within me, it should remind me that world too needs liberation from such things. Let me begin the welfare of the world not from others, but from me.

let me conclude in the words of Pope Francis:

Fast from HURTING WORDS and say KIND WORDS

Fast from SADNESS and be filled with GRATITUDE

Fast from ANGER and be filled with PATIENCE

Fast from PESSIMISM and be filled with HOPE

Fast from worries and TRUST IN GOD

Fast from COMPLAINTS and contemplate SIMPLICITY

Fast from PRESSURES and PRAYERFUL

Fast from BITTERNESS and fill you heart with JOY

Fast from SELFISHNESS and be COMPASSIONATE to others

Fast from GRUDGES and be RECONCILED

Fast from WORDS and be SILENT so that you can listen

Learning from Monkeys the Ideal of Fasting and Abstaining 

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY AS OUR DUTY

10 Commandments of Hinduism

Ahimsa or Non-violence

Truthfulness

 Non-Stealing

Celibacy or sense control

Non-greed

 Purity of Thought, word and deed

 Contentment

 Austerity or renunciation

Study of Scriptures

Surrendering to God with faithful loving devotion

(Cf. Patāñjali Yoga Su̅tra 2.30 – 32)

10 Commandments of the Christians

Thou shall have no other gods before me

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain

Observe Sabbath and keep it Holy

Honour thy parents

Thou shall not kill

Thou shall not commit adultery

Thou shall not steal

Thou shall not bear false witness against the neighbor

Thou shall not covet neighbour’s wife

Thou shall not desire for neighbour’s property

(Cf. Exodus  20:1-17, Deuteronomy  5:4-21)

8 fold path of Buddhism

Right view

Right thought

Right speech

 Right deeds

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right resolve

Right meditation

Along with the eight-fold path, Abstinence from all evil, Purification of mind and performance of good acts are also the doctrine of Buddha.

5 Cardinal principles of Islam

  Faith in God, His message and His Messenger

Meditation and Prayer on the glory, greatness, and the message of God for spiritual growth

Helping others by giving Charity

Austerity for self-purification by fast in the month of Ramādān

 Pilgrimage to the holy places

         
          Is this not something beautiful that every religion is teaching something fundamental to our living?
          If so, why do we fight in the name of religion?

       Let us Build therefore, our Humanity

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

WHY DO WE SUFFER?

On 8^th March, 2006 I received the sad news of the untimely death of my sister-in-law. She left behind her loving husband and three little kids and her in-laws. She died within six hours of her third delivery with some complications. As soon as I received the news, I rushed to the chapel,  full of anger, crying questioned God, “Why did You let this happen?” I was angry with God. This is not only my reaction but also the reaction of hundreds of thousands when a sudden terror strikes. One of my friends was narrating a similar experience. He lost his father when he was very young, then his mother and sister due to tuberculosis within a period of six months at the age ten. Now became totally orphaned. He was angry at God till he was fifty years old.

My niece, Lavita who could not see her mother  

Whenever some disasters strike, we scold God as if He is the one who is responsible for it. It may be because we are formed in that way. It is a perennial problem that why there is suffering. In philosophical language this is called the ‘Problem of Evil.’

The problem of evil can be stated as follows. God is good, all powerful, Omnipotent, Omnipresent etc. He knows everything – our past, present and future. At the same time evil is a reality. Sufferings do exist. Why then the all powerful, all knowing God allows suffering?

If God allows sufferings and evil to take place, then God is not powerful. Therefore, it is either God is powerful; if not evil is powerful. For years the philosophers, theologians and scholars in various capacities have tried to answer. None could answer satisfactorily.

According to Hinduism the present life is the fruit of our past Karma:  Greater the sin in the previous life, greater the sufferings and slower the mukti (salvation). Better live this life and not escape the suffering. Escaping would be postponing the salvation. Thus sufferings are salvific.

According to Plato human being is basically a soul. Body is a prison of the soul. Soul existed in the ideal or perfect world. Due to some wrong committed by the soul, it came to the earth and took a body. Therefore, the human being has to suffer and the ideal thing is ‘death’ where the soul is liberated from all sufferings. Plotinus, a neo-Platonist once remarked, “I wish I had no body.”  St. Augustine too had this kind of notion in mind when he wrote his book, The City of God in which advocates that the body as something negative. For him, we are evil people, sinners, do not know what we are.

One of the answers given by the Christian mystics for our sufferings is ‘our sins,’ that we have gravely sinned and therefore is this condition. If so, what sin has that child committed to take away its mother in the birth itself, who could not even taste even a drop of mother’s milk? What mistake is that ten year old child has committed to remain his whole life orphaned? Further what sin that aborted child committed to be deprived off from heavenly glory and remain in the ‘limbo.’ For St. Augustine the children who died before the baptism go to the ‘Limbo.’ Therefore, for me it is not the sin of commission for which we are suffering. More than this it is the sin of omission, we are guilty of. Sin of Omission is the sin we collectively are committing: the degradation of nature, pollution, unjust distribution of wealth, unjust wages we give to our workers, our lack of love and concern for the much needed person, our unfaithfulness to our commitments etc.

In order to console the person in distress, some people say, “God thought it was best thing for you. He has a purpose in it.” Can a good God who loves his people so much will take away the happiness one has? For me, if so, he is not God at all. God suffers when his child is in danger. Consider a mother whose child is sick. How much pain and suffering the mother undergoes for the child? Why? Just because, she love her child. Love leads one to suffer. If I love, I need to suffer. The Good Shepherd goes in search of a lost sheep leaving behind the ninety nine;  just because,  the Shepherd was in distress, in agony, in pain. Therefore, our suffering is not a best thing for God, neither a good thing nor He has a purpose for me in it.

Most of our problems are created by us. When a smoker gets a Lung cancer, it is the disease which he himself demanded. When a drunkard gets multiple organ failure in his unripe age, it is his own fault. When a prostitute gets an AIDS, it is again the fault of the victim as well as of the society. When a man dies of hunger in the street, it is the fault of our society who does not like to share its food. Thus most of the sufferings are either the result of the sins of commission or of omission.

Certain problems are co-incidental (kakataleeya). A Man was walking and suddenly a tree fell on him and he dies on the spot. What is the reason? It just happened so. It is not because of the presence of Rahu or Gulika or any other stars. Often people go to check with astrologers about the problem who not only bring some more problems both psychologically but also economically. These soothe-sayers fill their pocket by misleading the innocent people. Thus some things happen because of our stupidity.

There are some natural calamities taking place in the universe. Fall of comets, eclipses and movements of planets and stars affect the earth and due to which there are tsunami like situations, extreme weather conditions  etc. Landslides, lightning and thunders, flood etc are natural happenings.  There is a law of nature behind these activities. I cannot ascribe these activities to God. They happen according to the law of nature.  Some things by nature have to be like that. For example, a tree cannot walk and should not walk and it is not meant to walk. It is the beauty of creation.

Often we ask wrong questions and get trapped there. Instead of asking “why did God take away my sister-in-law” I should have asked, “why did it happen, what is the reason?” Obviously the reason is clear. She had a long medical history. She was sick when she was a child. Her parents did not take care well due to poverty and lack of medical facilities in the village. Her liver got damaged, her kidneys got affected. Parents without knowing these things married her to my brother. Accordingto the doctors, “with these conditions, she should not have had pregnancies.” But still, she was pregnant thrice. Is it not the blessing of God that she survived in the previous two deliveries? If God is allowing to become my brother a widower, she should have died in her first delivery itself. God does not want someone to suffer; rather wants someone to live happily which we, the human beings do not understand.

During one of my retreats, a preacher answering the problem of evil said to a nun who questioned God for taking away her mother, “God took away your mother, so that you can be a good mother for many who have lost their mothers and are looking for mothers love. You can be a good daughter to those mothers who cry for their daughters’ untimely death, who cry for their children who have abandoned them.” Religious vocation is this, ‘to be mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers to many.’  Religiously this may give some relief to our convictions and the vocation we live. But what is the reality of death itself?

Death is inbuilt in us. Every material being which has a beginning has to have an end. Death is that end. One cannot stop it. The mere fact that God created me an embodied person, I need to suffer, feel pain, experience heat etc. However, God gives me freedom. It is up to me to use or misuse.

Another common mistake we commit is, “it is written in my fore-head” meaning to say that God has already decided to happen so and so. Everything is finalized. We are just puppets in the hands of God. God plays the strings as he likes whether we like it or not, just dance. This is a narrow understanding. Of course God knows. God by knowing himself, knows everything. We by knowing something, know something else. To know the temperature of today, I need to experience what heat is and how it changes. I cannot know the future nor can determine the future. If I can predict the future, I make it to happen. God predetermines what and who we are, but he does not work each and every details of our life. These details are left for us to work. That’s why the consciousness and freedom is given to us and to no other beings this faculty is given.

I am indebted to St. Irenaeus for giving me a dynamic world view against St. Augustine’s Static world view. For Augustine, God created everything perfect, beautiful. Human beings are the  most perfect creatures created by God on the earth. But human beings failed and therefore, sinned. This sin is the original sin which we still bear the consequence. For St. Irenaeus, God neither created human beings perfect, nor as mature. We are created to become perfect and mature and we become so by loving. We grow towards perfection by becoming fully human and fully alive. Eating the apple at the Garden of Eden is like child stealing a chocolate or jam when the parents are away. Children see porn. It is not bad. It is bad just because they are not yet matured to see it. Once they become mature, they can see it.  Is this Original Sin, a sin to be condemned generation to generation? Driving out of paradise is not a punishment rather it is a way of correcting the person to become mature, to be fully human and alive. We have to learn in the process. By learning we grow and mature.

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

MISSIONARY PARADIGM

“Go forth and make disciples everywhere” is the missionary command given by Jesus to his disciple. Following this call, disciples went far and wide to actualize it with a true spirit. We the religious too being the followers of same Rabbi, need to actualize the call we’ve received. In reality the zeal remains vibrant for a few days after our Ordination or profession and within no time this spirit evaporates and we become ordinary people.  Here let me share two paradigms we usually fall into.

Duck Paradigm

Ducks do not live in isolation. Often they live in groups. Further they look for ponds or streams to swim. They catch small fishes. They just float and swim in the water, cleaning the dirt from their bodies.

Many of our religious people live as Ducks. Happy with the religious life within the four walls of convents, presbytery or monasteries or seminaries. They are happy that they get everything ready-made. There is a ready-made stream or pond to swim in the form of school or parish or an institute. Happy with the little service they do. Happy with the little development it is already making. No extra work, no extra burden to carry and no extra initiatives. Once in a year they clean their dirt (confessions), that too out of compulsion, as it is the rule. No doubt, they don’t do missionary service or in the heart they do not have love for the mission; they do have and are doing, however not with the missionary zeal as they ought to be.

No sooner they establish themselves in the institution, than they become faceless and one among the crowd. They follow a strong crowd mentality. Now the concern of the people is not their concern, but their concern is forced on to the people whether the people like it or not.

I had been to a parish on my holidays. An old man of about 60 years came to meet the parish priest at around 3 O’clock in the afternoon. As he pressed the bell, a stern reply came from inside not even bothering to see who the person is, “Don’t you know that this is my siesta time? Come after 4 O’Clock.” This is not just one incident from a presbytery. There are several such common incidents from other institutes also. The question is, where is my pastoral / religious commitment gone? Like little ducks we are happy to swim in the same pond, catch small fishes and float in the same water.

Eagle Paradigm

Eagle by its very nature lives an isolated life; lives in the high mountains and in the dangerous places. Mostly their nests are in the dangerous places. They are the only birds which fly high in the sky and have the sharp vision. They catch not only small fishes or worms but larger birds and animals even. They seldom fly alone.

Some of the religious people are like eagles. They like to fly alone, swim against the current. Fly in different situations and conditions. They like challenges, they like to live in an isolated, dangerous places. Their nests are amongst the dangerous people and situation. They do not fear for the animals or hard situations. They catch not just little fishes, but all kinds of fishes and birds. They have a sharp vision. They can see not just far but beyond their time.

These are the people who do not have time for themselves. There is no distinction between day and night for their service. When Blessed Joseph Vas was in Mangalore, he was asked to take Holy Communion to a sick man by a group of people. With utmost sincerity, he takes and walks miles and miles at night without knowing that the people are trying to trap him. It is the Eucharistic miracle that saved him from death on that night says the history.  That’s why such missionaries live forever.

Mother Theresa, Xavier, Martin Luther King, saints are some of the examples for this ‘eagle missionaries.’ What kind of missionaries you want to be? Is it eagle type or duck type? Are you ready and able to take risk in life or like to move with the anonymous faceless crowd?

(This is a sermon I preached sometimes ago for a religious community). 

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX that pronounced and defined in the “Ineffabilis Deus,” the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This dogma states that the Blessed Virgin Mary, "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful".


On behalf of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, today we too proclaim a four-fold joy:

We proclaim that God is daringly loving, a God who freely and abundantly gives to his creation: his love - a love that represents the pure pleasure of giving. One should weigh Mary's Immaculate Conception not only in terms of a brilliant move in salvation history. God loves Mary for herself. True love is not utilitarian, but daring, because it is sure of itself and sure of the loved one.

We also proclaim the grandeur and nobility of Mary. She is full of Grace yet without merit, the Queen of Saints, yet remains the handmaid of the Lord. Mary's grandeur is with God and her true nobility is rooted in her poverty.


In proclaiming the Immaculate Conception we simultaneously proclaim the Immaculate Concept of the human person. What Mary is, we should have been, that is, the living embodiment of the un-corrupted concept of man or woman. This dogma is not only about Mary the exception, but also about us, each one of us, the unfortunate rule. The immaculate concept of the human person implies the original unity of creation and grace. And so what in Mary is reality becomes our destiny, meaning that in a very real way she, the Immaculate, will always be a challenge to our human and religious identity.


We also proclaim that sinless-ness and sanctity are "privileges of action" and not mere status symbols. All action in faith is love. Therefore, the Immaculate Conception is a perfection of love. We may rejoice because through sinless-ness and sanctity the Immaculate Conception becomes our ‘end,’ which means that she is our way to perfection, just as she herself had to go the way of Christ's perfecting love, all the way to the Cross and from there to the ever present, yet invisible, core of the Church.


The Immaculate Conception of Mary that served to underline the universality of sin in the past serves today to teach us about the universality of redemption. The same Christ whose love and obedience to the Father preserved Mary from sharing in the universal human disaster, this same Christ makes Himself available to the desperate world of today. The redemption that kept Mary sinless is still there to take away the sin and the failure and the aimlessness of every human being who is willing to accept it. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception implies the universality of original sin, but it also reflects the doctrine of the efficacy of Christ, of the universality of redemption.


Mary is the model of the Church, the one who is totally committed to Christ, His first and most pre-eminent follower, but follower none the less. We, too, profess a commitment to Christ, we, too, claim to be His followers. The original sin from which Mary was preserved is the original sin from which we, too, have been freed. The grace of Christ that was hers is the same grace of Christ that is ours. Mary is significant for us because the central factors in her life are the central factors in our own. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary has served as a reminder of the need for redemption to a world that was smug and self-sufficient. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary has also served as a sign of the accessibility of redemption to a world in despair. Perhaps the lesson is that, no matter in which direction we may be facing, we need Mary Immaculate in our lives in order to remember who Christ is and who we are ourselves


Let us remember that God not only endowed Mary with the necessary graces and dispositions to fulfil worthily the role of Mother of His Son, but also the role of the Mother of all mankind. Because of her fullness of grace her maternal heart burns intensely to bring all followers of her Son - more closely to Him still; and those who have wandered astray, she seek more than we can ever know, to bring them back into the fold.


Mary is our model of perfect redemptive suffering. She offered her own suffering as a mother for the sake of our salvation. What if you could offer up your temptations or sufferings for the sake of someone else’s salvation? Would you be willing to give up a certain sin or even bad habit if it could help someone else go to Heaven? What would those offerings be? Who would you offer them for? What were your “straws for the manger” yesterday? What will they be today?


There is a prose written in honour of the Blessed Mother in the 11th Century: 
“Inviolate, spotless and pure art thou, O Mary, who wast made the radiant gate of the King. Holy mother of Christ most dear, receive our devout hymn and praise. Our hearts and tongues now ask of thee that our souls and bodies may be pure. By thy holy prayers obtain for us forgiveness for ever, O gracious queen. O Mary, who alone among women art inviolate."

MADE FOR EACH OTHER

Marriage is as old as the world itself. However, the phenomenon of divorce is a recent one. Earlier, when a boy married a girl, the relation was understood not only as the union of two souls, but also two families. And the bond remained forever.  

In today’s globalized and technocratic world, people are so busy among themselves that they do not have enough time for the relations.  The family relations have become secondary. Though the parents and the children live under the same roof, eat the same food cooked in the same vessel, eat at the same dining table, yet far away from each other. In other words, the ‘friends’ living far away are more ‘closer’ than the people living ‘nearby.’ Members of the family  go to schools or to work and come back and glued to the internet, chatting, watching TV programmes or stick the ear-phone in ear and listen to the music as they wish. In such environment, where is the scope for family relationship?

In most of the time, reason for the cleavage of bond is because of the misunderstanding. One fails to understand the other. Husband thinks he is superior to wife and vice-versa. Children, as they grow older, think that the parents have no right over them. Recently I came across a few reflections of a house-wife who thinks that husbands should understand their wives better. The same applies to the wives too. Let me share these thoughts: 

"Love her … when she sips on your coffee or tea. She only wants to make sure it tastes just right for you.

Love her… when she "pushes" you to pray. She wants to be with you in Jannah (Paradise).

Love her… when she asks you to play with the kids. She did not "make" them on her own.

Love her... when she is jealous. Out of all the men she can have, she chose you

Love her… when she has annoying little habits that drives you nuts. You have them too.

Love her… when her cooking is bad. She tries.

Love her… when she looks disheveled in the morning. She always grooms herself up again.

Love her… when she asks to help with the kids homework. She only wants you to be part of the home.

Love her... when she asks if she looks fat. Your opinion counts,  so tell her she's beautiful.

Love her… when she looks beautiful. She's yours,  so appreciate her.

Love her...  when she spends hours to get ready. She only wants to look her best for you.

Love her… when she buys you gifts you don't like. Smile and tell her it's what you've always wanted.

Love her… when she has developed a bad habit. You have many more and with wisdom and politeness you have all the time to help her change.

Love her… when she cries for absolutely nothing. Don't ask, tell her it’s going to be okay

Love her… when she suffers from PMS. Buy chocolate, rub her feet and back and just chat to her

Love her… when whatever you do is not pleasing. It happens and will pass

Love her… when she stains your clothes. You needed a new thobe (kurta / suite) anyway

Love her…when she tells you how to drive. She only wants you to be safe.

Love her… when she argues. She only wants to make things right for both

Love her… she is yours. You don't need any other special reason!!!!

                                                                                                                Author unknown

Family is an integral part of the society we live. The family which stays together, prays together lives forever. Such families do not break. Each one has concern for the other. They have something to share and something to laugh at.  Mistakes are part of life. When one does mistake, the other corrects him/her. There is a mutual understanding.