You never know.....

The Traveling Angels
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Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansions guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied..."Things arent always what they seem."

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good nights rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, "How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him", she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die!" "Things arent always what they seem", the older angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then, last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave her the cow instead. Things arent always what they seem".

Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way you expected. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not know it until some time later.

Perspective :

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your yes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

-- Lewis Carroll

Do you have any idea ' how small we are ?'

We too have a Religion - Red Jacket Speech 1805

Otetani, chief of the Seneca tribe, who was born in 1758, became known as Red Jacket from the bright red coat given him by the British when he supported them during the American Revolution. As chief his title was Sagoyewatha. As the main spokesman for the Six Nations, he became a friend of George Washington. Red Jacket opposed attempts to bring European values to his tribe. This eloquent address at a council of chiefs of the Six Nations was made when Christian missionaries tried to baptize his followers.

It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken His garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and Him only.

Brother, this council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy; for we now consider that we stand upright before you and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.

Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place. It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from home and we do not wish to detain you. But first we will look back a little and tell you what our fathers have told us and what we have heard from the white people.

Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He had made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country and taught us how to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done for His red children because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting-ground they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood.

But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity of them, granted their request, and they sat down among us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.

The white people, brother, had now found our country. Tidings were carried back and more came among us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor among us. It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.

Brother, our seats were once larger and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.

Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this is true? We understand that your religion is written in a Book. If it was intended for us, as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that Book, with the means of understanding when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?

Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between His white and His red children. He has given us different complexions and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for His children; we are satisfied.

Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.

Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will not tell you that I have been at your meetings and saw you collect money from the meeting. I can not tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that it was for your minister; and, if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.

Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey and return you safe to your friends.

Nish, Aish and Willow

Quote :

Patriotism is the conviction that your country is superior to all other countries, just because you were born in it.

George Bernard Shaw

Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

Friend or Freud

SHIV VISHWANATHAN

In the globalised world, the Guru needs no miracles......s/he allows for the lateral thinking our society needs.

Spiritualism in the post-liberalisation era could be described cynically as hypocrisy packaged aggressively. Or one could talk of faith and belief and show what kinds of new needs and communities the Guru caters to today. The spiritualism we talk about might be seen as a marketing miracle. But we need to realise that markets are only indexical of communities. They carry their own anthropology of questions, and it is these that we must examine. We have to ask: what does the spirituality and the spiritualism of Baba Ramdev, Asaramji Bapu, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandamayi or Murari Bapu consist of?

Spiritualism in the age of globalisation is not just a pop theory of the occult or sociology. It needs no miracles to sustain it. If modernity cut the world into painful oppositions, spiritualism and spirituality produced the hybrid, the weave, knitting dualisms together. In doing so, they made oppositions and contradictions playful, by creating Lego sets of meaning and vocabularies of life that each individual could work with. They helped Indian lives reach beyond unlivable oppositions like science vs religion, science vs politics and religious vs secular.Spiritualism needs a guru. A guru is more than an ideologist. An ideologist propounds a doctrine, a guru a way of life. A guru is more than a management consultant. Remember, we call our Prahlads and Jagdish Sheths management gurus. We don't call our gurus spiritual managers. But managers they are. The guru and his ashram create not just a community of meaning and a society of doing. They have created a service ethic that can match an army.

Out of this have emerged educational institutions, water projects that rival any technology mission, disaster managers and adoption of cutting-edge IT innovations. Gurus understand media and multimedia without being objectified by them. They allow for the lateral thinking our society needs.

The journalist Mahesh Llanga told me this lovely story of Murari Bapu. It seems pregnant shark whales would beach on the Gujarat coast, especially between Somnath and Dwarka. This patch has one of the largest concentrations of fishermen, and they used to beat the whales to death. Whale meat commands huge prices in the export market. Witnessing this, wildlife activists appealed to Murari Bapu, who agreed to talk to the fishermen. Murari Bapu had a simple message. He asked the fishermen: how can you beat the shark whale? She is your daughter who's come home to rest. The fishermen then virtually adopted the whale as a totem. No secular environmentalist, no Greenpeace movement could have spoken such a language or had such a profound impact.

In gurus like Murari Bapu or Ramdev, there is no Hamletian pathos about modernity. In fact, the gurus, through the discourse of spiritualism, have woven a meaningful everydayness around health, food, hygiene and meaning. Culturally, I think this is important in a society where neither the confessional nor psychiatry play a major role. One should also emphasise that gurus have been part of family life. Even now people fix images of gurus on their car windows. It is a simple statement of belief. Families in crisis, people facing dilemmas, or in search of meaning, visit the guru. Sometimes they find a solution, at other times they find themselves.

I think of India as a collection of texts and temples and discourses. It is the discourses of these gurus—Mata Amritanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sai Baba, Baba Ramdev—that keep India together. If temples provide a sacred geography, gurus provide a spiritualist one. I am a secularist, yet I realise that secularism can never create equivalent acts of community without the help of the state. I'm not saying in a Kantian way that I don't need God but my charwoman does.I follow no guru but I realise they have invented creative texts and contexts for our society.

There is a lot one can be cynical about. There are regular reports of sexual excess, financial irregularity. Gurus, while not political, are intimate with power. As a wag once put it, IAS officers should be classified not by state cadres but the guru they are affiliated to. Regardless, I think the gurus have generally discarded Orientalism and met modernity head on, while being sceptical about westernisation. Our ashrams are better problem-solving agencies than our universities.