The Making of Civilisation - Simplicity is the King?

In short, isn't civilisation the process of making simple things complex and feeling good about it? Civilisation may not be about refinement, but about layering convenience, ritual, and symbolism over simplicity until we confuse effort with meaning.  Culture may be the way we live meaningfully; civilisation, the way we complicate that meaning to sustain systems.

Yes, feeling good is what matters - when the so-called uncivilised groups feel good with the least complexity in life, not even being aware of their being fulfilled, the so-called civilised groups feel good by making things complex and finally feel good about having accomplished something. 

The Basic Act of 'Eating' as an Example

Basically, we eat to survive - energy needs for our functions as living beings.  

It can be coarse and uncooked material, obtained through gathering or hunting (a kind of gathering).  Availability is a contingent factor. Contingency is removed through the cultivation of food, growing food, and harvesting it. This process makes culture, and the varying modes of the process lead to civilisation. 

From raw material to cooked material is another step towards civilisation. This adds to the complexity. The animal survival mode is refined or made complex, leading to greater vulnerability. Once used to this stage, having no cooked and readily available food can leave humans helpless and susceptible to illness. 

Perhaps, both agriculture and cooking came to be by sheer accident, and finding them useful and advantageous, they were improvised and refined further to make them part of the lifestyle. 

In the initial stages the food could have been eaten directly as obtained. Now it requires vessels to store, vessels to cook and vessels to eat as well. From a standing position, one needs to sit to eat. And once eaten sitting on the floor, is refined further to sit on a tool that makes sitting easier and then a tool to keep the vessels so that human beings could eat without the trouble to bend low. 

The next step is avoiding the trouble to use one's hands to insert food into the mouth, which necessitates washing of the hands, to keep it clean for other activities. Cleaning typically requires water which is cold in the witner, and this is avoided by introducing tools that help one to insert food into the mouth without soiling the hands - spoons, fork etc. Or if one has to use the hands directly, a towel to clean it, without having to wash it during the meals. 

To avoid the trouble of washing those tools - utensils, what could be used and thrown away is conceived - disposable plates, cutlery and tissues. 

An entire manufacturing chain is created to manufacture materials that help one eat - of varying qualities like durability, safety, beauty, etc., making the process further complex. 

There are ancillary processes at each stage or with each aspect of this complex process. Thus, in growing food, there are efforts to boost growth - faster and abundant. A whole lot of inputs are created for that, and research and experiments for the same are carried out in a big way. 

While promoting growth and abundance, there pestilences emerge and then there are any number of efforts to check them leading to the devising and manufacturing of pesticides. 

Then there emerges threat from pesticides and there is need to introduce safety standards and processes for the same - at each stage of the food creation and consumption chain - seeds, soil, harvest, storing, processing, eating and post-eating. 

And education and training for all these aspects and processes as well. 

And policies to govern and control all these and personnel to guide and enforce them!!

At this complex stage, eating and related activities - growing food, processing it etc. become culture. And activities like cooking become an art, a profession, a job calling for education and training.  Even agriculture could take the form of an art in some cases. 

This is how civilisation is built by making very simple things complex and further complex, and undertaking those complexities with precision, and feeling good about having done this. 

I recall the story told about the culture of eating - no offence meant to anyone.  Some so-called modern civilised man gets into the hands of a forest-dwelling community, still practising the culture of cannibalism. Naturally, he is tied down.  Then comes the chief, dressed in the traditional attire of the people, but he addresses the man and converses in chaste English. Despite the horror of the imminent death, the prisoner is not able to contain his curiosity, and he shares the same with the chief: "You appear highly educated.  Didn't your education make any difference to your approach to this practice?" He responded warmly: "Oh yes, yes... In earlier times, we used to eat this feast with our bare hands. Now we feast using fork and spoon, and knife, and use tissues to wipe our hands."

Whether the complexities make a finer being out of the persons engaging them, and lead to greater happiness - for themselves and others - that should be the test of a culture.

Religion: Christian Eucharistic Culture as an Example

Another case that comes to my mind is that of religious rituals: typically, the topmost among the rituals Christians follow - the Eucharist. 

I believe that Jesus did hold a passover meal, just before his death - the traditional Jewish ritualistic meal; but away from his family of birth (perhaps, his mother was there), but establishing a wider family of the children of God. Forseeing the imminent persecution for his teachings and actions, it is likely that he made the meal symbolic of his life and approaching sacrificial suffering. And his instruction, 'do this in memory of me, ' in all likelihood, was an injunction to follow his model of sacrifice and suffering for the principles he stood for - for approaching God with the freedom of the children of a loving father, of setting aside all rules and regulations for increasing goodness around oneself, for making people happier through fellowship, meals and making them whole. 

Perhaps, the initial century of Christianity, starting with a group of Jewish followers of Jesus, gradually realising the broader meanings of Jesus' teachings, made itself more inclusive by absorbing members of other communities, generally despised, threatened and persecuted by the Jewish leadership and the Roman authorities, continued the practice of fellowship meals in which they shared whatever they owned with the members of the community, and blessed God for that spirit.  

Gradually, over a century or two, the movement gets established as a sect, a religion, and the matters related to God becomes separated from that of the material welfare, and then, a cadre is evolved to take care of those matters, with those aspects becoming distinct, formalised. The spiritual is getting distinct from the material welfare, and symbols and formulae are getting infused into the former to establish rituals. And a few traditions emerge from the linguistic and cultural contexts and get solidified. They become so solid that anyother form of reliving the Jesus experience of the divine in the world becomes a heresy, a threat, a sin, a crime. On the other hand, the rituals become much more complex - with specific space, furniture, decor, vestments, prayer formulae, trained and dedicated people. 

Thus the simple meal fellowship emerging to address the basic need of sustenance, where sacrificial sharing of material resources was the core of a spirituality leading to wellbeing of all, became a highly nuanced ritual, bordering the magical.  The thanksgiving (Eucharistia) for the spirit of goodness that prompted self-sacrifice, became a ritualistic thanksgiving borrowed from the Judaic tradition. 

Making it further magical, the meal aspect got reduced to the real presence in the matter (species) of the Eucharistic ritual, which was induced through the utterance of the magical formulae (institutional words) by duly consecrated priests.  And then emerges the practice of storing that material presence for emergency access, whereas the promise of the presence in the fellowship in Jesus' name as well as the presence of God in each of the fellow humans, became conveniently forgotten. Abuse of a fellow human could easily be tolerated, whereas abuse of the magical sacramental presence could not be. 

Now, further rituals are developed around the magical presence confined (imprisoned) in the presence of consecrated bread (wafer host), and you have any number of devotions around that - perpetual adoration, 40-hour, 13-hour, 1-hour adoration, with any number of theories and explanations surrounding them. To my mind, such ingenuity in piety is parallel to the formulation of three-day, one-day and limited over cricket!! (Phew, this might sound very irreverent) There is a science about the presence of Jesus in the consecrated bread, formulated with fantastic philosophical concepts of form and matter, substance and accidents, and evolving such terrific concepts as 'trans-substantiation'. Height of theological imagination!! 

There are fasts and feasts around its celebration, and they themselves become pious practices and rituals. The piety entrepreneurs don't feel satisfied with the annual solemn celebration of the passover time of establishing the sacrament of the Eucharist (the presence of Jesus in fellowship meals reimagined), that they created a special feast for the Eucharist, with solemn 9-day (what is the significance of 9 days? After the 9 planets?) preparations, fasts (in Germany there are fasts of one week to 3 days in preparation for this feast) and processions along the streets where the encased eucharistic prisoner is taken around. 

A business and culture is developed around the devotion - 1) the material for manufacturing the wafer hosts 2) the method for the same 3) the machines for the same 4) vessels for storing the unconsecrated hosts 5) the vessels for storing the consecrated hosts - ciborium 6) the equipment for exposing the consecrated hosts for veneration - the monstrance of various designs - gold or silver plated, with its specific receptacles 7) the ornamental cloth covering of these vessels 8) the special vestments for raising the hosts for veneration and benediction 9) the special cloth cover to shade the minister and the monstrance taken around in procession. 

There are special prayers, hymns, music, methods, and symbols for all these details. 

The efforts involved in learning and recalling the names of these very many forms of rituals, their materials and the liturgical vessels and items are themselves a task!!

And yet, there are genuine and simple souls who have experienced the divine through such paraphernalia of rituals and blindly believing in this whole system of imprisoning God and imprisoning minds, being elevated to greater visions and noble acts of charity. 

However, it is to be admitted that all these put together do not match the amount of goodness the faithful generate around them within their households or in their neighbourhood. 

The Contradiction: The Ritualistic Religion Devoid of the Spirit of Christ 

And the 21st century Kerala church has shown the folly of all this, with all these kept in tact, priests, consecrated persons and men and women claiming to be folowers of Jesus (perhaps that has taken a backseat, they are merely Christians, another sect built around the faith in Jesus Christ, but very little bothered about his mission or methods) fighting in the Churches, fighting at the altar, fighting reciting prayers, and fighting in the streets and in civil courts, clearly giving a damn to the person of Jesus around whom all this has emerged. 

The preachy Christian leadership has not bothered if the rituals being introduced really make sense to the people concerned, or whether there could be possibilities of accommodating the popular aspirations in how the communitarian celebration of faith or communitarian worship is held. 

Dom Helder Camara, the radical and martyr bishop of Reciffe is said to have commented when there was an act of desecration of the Eucharist in one of the Churches, addressing the gathering in atonement and protest: 'We are pained at the desecration of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; however, we are unconcerned when the presence of God is desecrated in our fellow human beings subjected to exploitation and want.' (paraphrased). 

Sitapur - Mishrik - Dadhichi Heritage - Salutations to the Arch-Organ Donor in Indian Mythology

My impression of Sitapur is changing. 

It is not just a bucolic sleepy place - within its sleepy appearance, there are very dynamic action centres and Mishrik, just about 30 kilometres away from Sitapur district headquarters, is a prime example. 

तीरथ बर नैमिष बिख्याता।अति पुनीत साधक सिधि दाता। This place is referred to by Goswami Tulsidas, as a tirth of top order, providing 'siddhi' to the devotee.  

Mishrik reaches the height of its active pace around Holi, with the pilgrimage involving the circumambulation of the town as said to have been first initiated by Maharshi Dadhichi. Dadhichi is reputed for his selfless service and hospitality to guests. His goodness was all-embracing; by listening to his prayerful recitations even demonic characters were transformed into divine characters. 

In those days, the godly (devas and rishis) were persecuted by the asura King Vrtasur, and they sought a way out. Brahma guided them to go to Dadhichi who was in possession of the divine weapons meant for the godly.  When they did that, he said that he had consumed those weapons by dissolving them in water and bhang and now they had become part of his bones. They requested his bones for the well-being of the world, and the Rshi agreed to that gladly. 

However, realising the uniqueness of human birth, he was determined to ensure that it accomplishes its purpose. For this, he proposed a 'snan' (bath) in all the 'tirth' (holy waters) and a circumambulation of all the saints and gods.  This was made possible by Indra.  Being the King of gods, he made all the gods to be present in Naimish, which they did in the 84 kos region. This is the present day Naimisharanya, the forest that has the presence of all the gods. And being the god of all waters, he made the waters of all 33 hundred crores of the teerth and rivers of the universe in the waters of the Naimish region, perhaps, in Dadhichi Kund, so that Dadhichi could go ahead with the bone-donation without any hitch.  Since all the waters of the universe were mixed (mishrit) in one kund, it came to be called Mishrit and later on, Mishrikavan, which is now called Mishrik. 

This having accomplished, Dadhichi smeared curd and salt over his body, which was licked over by divine cows, leading to the loss of his flesh (and life) and leaving the bones at the disposal of the gods. From his spine was created Vajra, the weapon of Indra, with which Vrtrasur was destroyed. The rest of the bones were used to create legendary weapons Pinaka (used by Shiva, and which was used by Ram in Sita swayamvar), Gandiva (considered as the weapon gifted to Arjuna by God Varuna on request by God Agni, who sought Arjuna's help to consume Khandava forest to regain his power) and Saranga or Sharanga (the weapon associated with Lord Krishna). 

However, the family was not happy.  His wife, Suvarcas, decided to be a sati, and as she was about to take her life after her husband, it was made known that she was pregnant. She resolutely removed the child in the womb with a stone and kept it safe in a Pipal tree, and accomplished sati. The child grew up as a child of Pipal tree, and was called Pippalada, a famous rishi, initiated by Sage Narada and associated with Pippalada school of philosophy, described in Praśna Upanishad. 

Thus, Naimish-Mishrik becomes a great place of pilgrimage for those who follow Hindu tradition. Remembering the great sage and his self-sacrifice for lok kalyan (common good), millions throng the region during the time of the year when he accomplished his great sacrifice - on ekadasi (11th) of the waxing phase (shukla paksh) of the month of Phalgun, i.e., just before Holi. Mishrik becomes a great crowd with people from all over UP and even other states thronging here, camping in the open, covering the 84 kosi parikrama with great devotion and also enjoying the religious fellowship, the culture and the essential market of traditional and modern goods, coupled with provisions for family entertainment by means of various rides and other attractions of a typical amusement park.  Food is cooked by the families who arrive in small vans, tempos, or tractors or by public transport. 

The Dadhichi temple is visited with great devotion, and I was surprised to see the devotion getting converted into money, seeing the amount of money being received in offerings by the devotees, on public display. It is said that around 500 bigahs of the land of the Mishrik town is owned by the trust of Dadhichi temple. It houses schools, college, hospital, temples and farms. The temple adjoining the famous Dadhichi kund is simple, frugally furnished, befitting the frugal and detached hermit.  The structure encompassess shrines for the entire family - Dadhichi's parents, wife, son and so on. The raised structure has a very beautiful and ancient-looking tree on top, which I could not identify. It has, as usual, several tokens of faith and gratitude attached on it by the devotees. 

Another, centre of attraction is the Sitakund, a smaller fresh water tank, which is famous for having had Ma Sita to have used for bathing during her vanvaas with Lord Ram. Both these tanks have water all through the year, and apparently are said to be replinshed from ground water source or rain - neither does water drain in nor drain out. 

There are several individuals, families and organisations offering free food to the pilgrims and the sannyasis who arrive from Prayagraj after the kumbh mela. The whole township converges on the single point of 84 parikrama. The school, colleges, etc, are converted into camping areas. The porch and veranda of homes and even hospitals are made into camping areas.  The lifeline of Mishrik, the Sitapur-Hardoi road - NH 330D (SH 21) is blocked 3 kilometres from the town on both sides, so that the pilgrims can do their parikrama without any trouble. This blockade will remain in force for the five days of the parikrama, perhaps, practically for a whole week. 

So the residents generally remain stay put here - attending the religious festivities, and playing hosts to their guests. But they appear resigned to it, or perhaps, they relish it or look forward to it.  I felt in all this, the party that suffers the most is the environment - with huge quantities of non-biodegradable waste generated, and dumped in the fields and ditches in a careless manner - besides creating an eyesore, also leading to the damage of the air, water and soil of the locality. The great teerth itself appeared to be littered with organic and inorganic materials by the devotees, though devotees seemed least bothered about all that while taking a dip.  That aspect of caring for the fellow beings (even, gods) of water and earth has not caught up with the religious spirituality of the teeming thousands. 

This could be one aspect the Dadhichi trust could take care of - managing the mega event without further polluting the aranya housing the thousan ds of gods, and the waters having the mix of all the holy waters of the universe! 

I also wonder if the altruism of the Sage Dadhichi ever gains the attention of the devotees - whether they are ever motivated to similarly enhance the common good by being a willing donor of blood or organs, when they are dead. Can modern Hinduism promote such forms of altruism after the great sage Dadhichi?  Or protection of tree cover, drawing inspiration from the Pippalada story - that trees are in a way protecting our lives, and in turn, they need to be protected as surrogate mothers for all other life-forms?

I feel Naimish-Mishrik 84 kosi parikrama could be an excellent case study for the students of Management or Tourism, or Economics from the angle of the economic impact of this annual event. I even assume that many eke out a living thanks to this mega annual event of Mishrik-Naimish. The festivities continue in the form of a mela that is said to last for a whole month. 

Sitapur - Mishrikh-Naimish – Chaurasi (84) Kosiya Parikrama of Holi

Mishrikh-Naimish – 84 Kosiya Parikrama of Holi

https://www.facebook.com/1251360683/posts/pfbid02N2Xd1Ay4C3zVWs3KHpEuiVTx1XsSNgujgmRM9T4pAc4YnC4e8zNEfFVfdZkhwYGPl/?app=fbl

Sleepy Sitapur turns spectacular come Holi – the five days culminating in Holi are perhaps the most central days for Mishrit. The chaurasi kosi parikrama of Mishrikh attracts hundreds of thousands. In tune with the professed Sanatanism, the Yogi government tries to promote the pilgrimage, combining both the ideological and economic agenda. Apparently, it is now becoming fashionable for the state cabinet to meet in such venues, underscoring the twin agenda. Naturally, with lakhs, perhaps, millions turning up for this very rare and unique pilgrimage, it can definitely be a centre for pilgrim tourism. It is amazing to observe the faith and devotion (shraddha) - the uninterrupted flow of people – going for the circumambulance of 12 km around the township of Mishrikh (From mishrit – after ‘mixture’ of the teerth of all the sacred rivers, as a boon for Maharshi Dadhichi, who could be Puranic prototype ‘organ-donor’ for Indian Knowledge System, donating one’s bones to be transformed into divine weapons for the destruction of wicked powers affecting the [human] world). The full course of parikrama of 84 kosi of 252 kms (1 kos = 3 kms) is said to touch all the 15 centres touched by Lord Ram as he passed this region on his vanvas. The roads, the streets, the houses, the open spaces, the shop-floors, the schools, even private houses are kept open for the pilgrims so that they may complete the parikrama in the easiest manner possible. There are any number of pandals for the devotees to find shelter and bhandaras offering free food. The whole city is covered with tents (tamboos) – people pour in with the family and friends, and with the bare minimum requirements, pitching a tent with a taat (a polythene sheet, stitched from sacks), cooking food, and finding time for the parikrama. While the aam yaatri treads on foot, there are special parikramas on elephant or chariot. There are several Naga sannyasis taking part of the pilgrimage, perhaps, after their visit to the Kumbh mela at Prayagraj. The great gathering naturally extends as a big mela, with great and affordable shopping opportunities for the pilgrims, a dip in the sacred Dadhichi kund, all sorts of pravacans, a variety of cultural programmes – religious and secular, several rides of a typical amusement park, a circus.

The state highway 21 from Sitapur to Hardoi is blocked for all sorts of four-wheelers and public transport for the smooth conduct of the pilgrimage and the control of the crowd. So for Mishrit people, it implies a camping time with the milling crowds of the pilgrims from different parts of the country.

I noticed camps from Odissa and Delhi. Perhaps there are from other parts of the country as well. The most impressive camp is that of a modern-day high-profile guru, Anil Kumar Shastri of Shri Ved Vyas Dham Trust. It is a bit away from the crowd and their tamboos – more elegant, class. He is said to have hundreds of brahmacari followers, and is said to have accomplished the complete parikrama on a fabulous chariot.

Guided by my faculty colleague Mr Sandeep Kumar, it was an enriching experience - glimpse of a culturally rich Sitapur!

Pati aur Patni - Wow!! Karwa Chauth through SDG Lens

Oct. 20, 2024 Sunday

'Pati, patni aur woh' - is a popular Hindi movie of 2019 by Mudassar Aziz (Kartik Aryan, Bhumi Pednekar & Ananya Panday) which was a commercial hit and entertainer with fidelity in a marital relationship being the central theme.  The title had been very popular after the 1978 movie of the same name by  B.R. Chopra with Sanjeev Kumar, Vidya Sinha and Rajneeta Kaur in the lead roles. 

Today, on the day of Karva Chauth, reading about it in 'amar ujala' I was inspired to reflect on the pati-patni relationships, and with several of pati-patni of my own generation and those prior to me on the canvas, I cannot but say 'wow'! What commitment, what forbearance, and hopefully, great contentment and mutual enrichment!  I hope, the modern day believers who practice such religious traditions enlarge its scope to make it a celebration of mutual commitment, devotion and support in marital life, encouraging gender equality (SDG 5)for the well-being of families, the well-being of all.

Deva-daanav battles are a prominent feature of one of the dominant Hindu traditions. And the narrative is in favour of the Devas, invariably they are the protagonists; and the Danavs, the antagonists, even when some such fights are triggered off by the villainy of some of the Devs!  So the story is about such a fight and the Devs were losing.  They were desperate, approached Brhama, who finding no way out, suggested that if the consorts of all the Devas would fast and pray with a clean heart for the victory of their husbands, And they all did exactly that - and lo, the losing battle was won around the moon rise on the fourth day of the waning phase of Moon in Kaartik month (Krishna paksh Chaturthi). It is kept by all suhagins (those 'blessed' married women with their husbands alive - one of the very few uniquely Indian concepts of the Indian grand narrative, howsoever obscurantist that may sound; modern India has not contributed a single new concept to the world) fasting the whole day without even water till the moon rise, for the long life, health and all good fortune of the husbands.  The fast is broken by receiving water from the husband at moon rise. There is a tradition that considers an unbroken 12 to 16 years of this observance; or life-long. 

The story is replicated with Draupadi having kept the karva chauth fast leading to the victory of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata battle. 

The Internet provides other stories as well: Queen Veeravati, newly married,  kept a strict fast for her husband, but fainted on account of exhaustion, and her seven brothers, not able to bear her suffer, convinced her that the moon had risen and made her break the fast. No sooner had she done that she receives the news of the untimely death of her husband, and on her way to her husband, she is met with Lord Shiva and Parvati, from whom she gathers that the false breaking of the fast as the cause. She devotion is rewarded by Parvati bringing the prince back to life, still ailing. She finds her husband in a delicate condition with needles all over his body. She is said to have kept the fast of Chauth in each of the 12 months that followed her husband's revival, and she patiently picks out one needle a day, leaving just one for the next Karva Chauth.  When she had gone out for the karva puja, her maid removed the remaining needle, and gaining consciousness, mistakes her as his queen and the real queen as the maid.  Veeravati's genuineness finally wins the husband back and queenship is restored to him.

The other story is about Godess Karva whose husband was killed by a crocodile while bathing in river Thungabhadra.  She tied the crocodile to a tree using raw yarn with the strength of her chastity and dedication, and prayed to Yama for reviving her husband. Yama didn't dare to provoke her anger and brought him back to life, while sending the crocodile to the next world. It is the inspiration for Karva Chauth, where married women fast and pray to Goddess Karva for the wellbeing of their husbands,  offering arghya to the moon.  

I was happy to read Yogesh Kumar Goyal (Amar Ujala Oct. 20, 2024 p. 11) commenting that there are today enlightened husbands who join their wives - this appears healthy, in a practice otherwise reinforcing exploitative patriarchal values. Ideally, this should happen - fasting in an otherwise overconsuming culture is itself a good health practice. Combining it with prayers with a clean heart for the well-being of the life partner is doubly healthy.  If the entire Hindu fold observes this (with this intent the whole world should do that), avoiding all food and all cooking for a day, it can immensely enhance the well-being of the common home (vasudha - which indeed is considered the family, according to an Indian axiom).  Hence, for me, it is a celebration of SDG 3 - good health and well-being. 

The images I found of the feast generally project a fasting woman waiting for the moon to rise, at times, accompanied by her (caring) husband. However, I found a few pictures of women gathering around puja materials and food.  Though the celebration in itself appears to be the celebration of patriarchal values, at least for one day it is a woman's world for themselves - though centred around the husband figure. It appears to be their fellowship and their space, which are very often absent even in this modern world.  While I don't feel, we, in the South of India, are missing anything by not having Karwa Chauth, yet bearing this spirit, zindabad karwa chauth! 

https://www.memeraki.com/blogs/posts/karva-chauth-sacred-stories-behind-the-fasting-ritual

images: https://in.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=karva+chauth+-+images&fr=mcafee&type=E211IN885G91648&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.thequint.com%2Fthequint%2F2019-10%2F9b4233d0-b074-4475-a78a-ffe541128d5e%2FiStock_1180633448.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat%252Ccompress#id=91&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdata1.ibtimes.co.in%2Fen%2Ffull%2F540135%2Fkarva-chauth-2014.jpg%3Fw%3D1200&action=click

हिंदी दिवस पर कुछ विचार

भव्य नमस्कार!

१२.४५          - हिंदी दिवस समाचरण 

कार्मेल ब्लॉक - ३०१ 

सभी वर्ग प्रतिनिधियों को इसमें भाग लेने दीजिये| 

इसके अतिरिक्त यदि २ या ३ विद्यार्थी कवी सम्मलेन में भाग लेना चाहते हैं तो उन्हें भी अनुमति दीजिये| उनका नाम फैकल्टी ग्रुप में डाल दीजिये और कार्यक्रम के पश्चात आकर रिपोर्ट करने के लिए कहिये| 

जिन्हें रेगुलर क्लास नहीं हैं वे इस समारोह में भाग लेने केलिये अवश्य आईये| 

प्राचार्य 

हिंदी दिवस पर कुछ विचार 

सीतापुर सेक्रेड हार्ट में, अधिकतर किसी भी गोष्ठी में मैं अकेला अहिन्दी भाषी हूँ| उन सबके लिए तो हिन्दी मातृभाषा है, तो मेरे लिए यह राष्ट्र भाषा है, जिसे मैं ने सीखा है| अगर मेरा बस चलता तो मैं  स्नातकोत्तर डिग्री और खोज की डिग्री दोनों ही, हिन्दी से ही हासिल करता| एक समय ऐसा था जब मैं BHU में उच्च शिक्षा प्राप्त करना चाहता था - जो डा. हजारी प्रसाद जैसे मनीषियों के सान्निदध्य से अनुग्रहीत है| 

खैर, छोड़ो इन सब निजो बातों को - आज हिंदी दिवस पर - मेरा ध्यान अब की  नयी शिक्षा नीति (NEP 2020) पर रखना चाहता हूँ | 

इसके अनुसार, अब तक का अनुभव यह रहा कि भाषा अध्ययन की प्रधानता लगभग पूर्णतया उच्च शिक्षा प्रणाली से निकाल दी गयी है | वैसे तो, शायद अधिकांश स्नातक  विद्यार्थियों   केलिए यह कम भारी, और इसलिए अच्छा लगे, लेकिन मेरा मानना है की यह उनके सर्वांगीण विकास के हित में नहीं है| कम से कम ऐसा कोई प्रावधान होना चाहिए जिससे स्नातक उपाधि अर्जित करने के लिए न्यूनतम तर पर किसी न किसी - देशी  या  विदेशी - भाषा का अध्ययन सम्मिलित हो  

दूसरी बात यह है कि NEP 2020 निजी या प्रादेशिक भाषा में प्राथमिकशिक्षा दी जाने पर जोर लगाती है|  यह दावा किया जाता है कि शिक्षा निजी भाषा में दिए जाने से, बच्चों का ध्यान आसानी से रहता  है,  ड्राप आउट प्रतिशत काम हो जाता है, और सृजनात्मकता (creativity) को बढ़ावा मिलता है| यह सब बातें अच्छी लगती तो है, लेकिन संदेहास्पद लग रहें|  यदि नोबेल पुरस्कार जीतना सृजनात्मकता तथा नवाचार का सूचक मन गया तो, उसे और निजी भाषा शिक्षा से कोआर्डिनेट करके देखें|  विज्ञानं के क्षेत्र में नोबेल विजेता विभिन्न राष्ट्रों में लगभग, निम्न सूची प्रकार है: 

Belgium                    - 29

Brazil                        - 13

China                       - 11

France                     - 71

Germany                - 111

India                       - 05

Italy                        - 21

Japan                      - 26

Korea                     - 1

Phillipines              - 1    

UK                        - 132

USA                     - 404

इनमें से USA, UK, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, China, Brazil, Korea  आदि राष्ट्र में निजी भाषा में ही शिक्षा होती हैं, लेकिन, उच्च श्रेणी की खोज और नवाचार में ये सभी सामान रूप से अग्रसर नहीं है - जिन ५ भारतीयों को  (अमर्त्य सेन को मिलाकर ६) विज्ञान के क्षेत्र में नोबेल पुरस्कार मिला है, वे सब अंग्रेजी माध्यम से प्राथमिक शिक्षा प्राप्त करने वाले थे|  मौलिकता अवं नवाचार तभी होता है, जब शिक्षा प्रणाली इन बातों को लक्ष्य और आधार बनाकर चलती हो, और इनका प्रोत्साहन देने वाली हो|  जिस इनोवेशन इकोसिस्टम की बात कही जाती है, वह शिक्षा प्रणाली से जुडा  हुआ  होना चाहिए|  इसकेलिए समस्याधिष्ठित (समस्या निरूपण एवं समाधान) पर आधारित, प्रयोगअधिष्ठित (एप्लीकेशन based) शिक्षा प्रणाली की आवश्यकता है |  निर्भाग्य वशात, इतपर्यंत हमारी शिक्षा और शिक्षक उस तरफ मुड़े नहीं है| 

इन बातों के बारे में बहुत चर्चा हो रही है - पर अक्सर इन्हें प्रयोग में लाने में जो प्रयत्न, मार्गदर्शन, प्रोत्साहन और अनुवर्ती होने हैं - वह बिलकुल भी नहीं हैं, हों तो, केवल विश्वविद्यालय और गिने चुने उच्च शिक्षा संस्थानों तक ही सीमित हो जाती हैं| 

हमारी भाषाओं की सीमितता यह है कि इसमें मौलिक बातें न हो पाती - इनमें जो भी नए पद आएं हैं, लगभग वे सभी, अन्य, खास तौर से अंग्रेजी, फ़्राँसी, जर्मन, इतालियन आदि भाषाओं से अनुवाद किये गए हैं - इनसे भाषा तो बढ़ती ज़रूर है, लेकिन मौलिक सोच, खोज, अनुसंधान परिणाम और आविष्कार बहुत ही विरल हैं|  अतएव मौलिक अवधारणाओं और ततउत्पन्न पदों से ही भाषा निजी बल पर बढ़ेगी - इसकेलिए न केवल भाषा का प्रोत्साहन चाहिए, बल्कि इससे अधिक, समस्याधिष्टित शिक्षा प्रणाली और प्राथमिक ताल से अनुसंधान एवं नवाचार का प्रोत्साहन होना अत्यावश्यक है| 

निज भाषा उन्नति अहै, सब उन्नति को मूल।
बिन निज भाषा-ज्ञान के, मिटत न हिय को सूल।।
विविध कला शिक्षा अमित, ज्ञान अनेक प्रकार।
सब देसन से लै करहू, भाषा माहि प्रचार।।

अतएव, यद्यपि में भारतेन्दु हरिश्चंद्र जी से प्रभावित और प्रोत्साहित हूँ, आपके इस प्रसिद्ध कथन से मैं सहमत नहीं हूँ| फिर भी, मैं  उन्हीं के साथ निज भाषा पर (जो कि मलयालम है) और भारत सर्कार की औद्योगिक भाषा हिंदी पर गर्व करूंगा - केवल २०० साल  के अंतर्गत भाषा के सभी अंगों  या शैलियों (genre) में अत्यधिक अभिवृद्धि हासिल की है | इनका अधिक से अधिक प्रोत्साहन भी दूंगा| 

महा विद्यालय के कवी श्री विश्वदीप का हार्दिक अभिनन्दन करता हूँ - उन्होंने अपने वरिष्ठ अद्ध्याप साथी मुझ पर एक कविता रचकर मुझसे या किसी भी प्राचार्य से जो उम्मीद अध्यापक और विद्यार्थी रखते हैं उनका विवरण दिया है - में आभारी हूँ|  सांस्कृतिक समिति के संचालक डा. योगेश ने भी कविताएं और शेर सुनाकर अपने में छुपा हुआ कवी का निदर्शन दिया|  हमारे पूर्व विद्यार्थी और बीते वर्ष का छात्र समिति अध्यक्ष श्री प्रखर इधर आकर इस कवी सम्मलेन को निस्संदेह जान और जोश दिए| और हमारे युव कविगण - पूरे एक दर्जन - अपनी सृष्टियाँ प्रस्तुत करके महाविद्यालय को अलंकृत किया है |  सबको बधाईयां, ख़ास तौर  से इनमें से पुरस्कार पाने वाले उन तीन युव महिलाओं का भी मेरा ससंतोष अभिनन्दन| 

हम सब मिलकर बनाएं इस प्रांगण को पवित्र - क्योंकि यहाँ हम करते हैं कार्य हृदय से, और ढालते हैं हम पवित्र ह्रदय| 

जय हिन्द |  जय सेक्रेड हार्ट| 

विश्वदीप की रचित कविता 

जो परिवार में हैं सबसे बड़े,

सबके सुःख -दुःख में हमेशा रहते हैं खड़े ll

मृदुभाषी, प्रकृति प्रेमी,सतत विकास के प्रति समर्पित हैं,

जीवन का हर क्षण जिनका बच्चों के हित में अर्पित है ll

रिड्यूस, रियूज, रिसाइकल सिद्धांतों को अपनाते हैं,

प्लास्टिक को रिफ्यूज करो, हम सबको समझाते हैं ll 

शोध और नवाचार के प्रबल समर्थक हैं,

हम सब गौरवशाली हैं, आप हम सब के अभिभावक हैं ll

'सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः' जिनकी चाह है,

'वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ' जिनकी राह है ll

बेहद विनम्र, प्रभावशाली, चित्त जिनका शांत है,

इतने गुणों से परिपूर्ण हमारे फादर प्रशान्त हैं ll

रचयिता 

विश्वदीप शुक्ला

Indian Roads again and the Public Transport Experience

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Not that I had not been using public transport during my busy career days as a SW educator, and later, as the HoI of a leading HEI of Keralam. But occasions were very limited, and it was Keralam. Now back to UP after 3 decades, I am observing with interest what the public transport experience of this enormously huge state. In less than 1 year I already had three long rides. 

Bus services in general have improved a great deal. The buses, the seats, the frequency, parallel services etc are much better. The roads definitely are - with the added national highways and expressways and the improved state highways.

In western & central UP, we have buses of UP roadways, Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam, Delhi Transport Corporation, and not so infrequent Haryana, Punjab, Himachal & Rajasthan transport corporations. 

After the CMI gathering at  Coimbatore on our responses to our Common Home (where we discussed use of Public Transport as an indicator of our committment to our Common Home), I get a ride to Kochi airport as my good friend was travelling in the direction by the official Innova car. The odd 160 kms are covered in 3 hours & 15 mts. My attempt at online check-in with Air India is somehow converted into a Digi yatra in spite of not having the required app. That makes the various entry points at the airport easier. 

The flight takes off 15 mts late, but does a smooth landing at 11.50 pm 15 mts ahead of schedule. It takes half an hour to get out and almost 12.40 when I am finally ready to get to ISBT Kashmiri Gate. The prepaid taxi requires Ra 2500. An Uber biker induces me for a bike ride  and shows the Uber bid of Rs 460. It's a tough ride of around 45 minutes, and the last leg requires my assistance with waze support. He has managed to trick the arch Trickster like Uber while getting the benefits of the Uber label to get his due. I have no quarrel. 

It's past 1.50 am. And I find no direct services to Bijnor direction. My past experience of 1980s prompts me to take the Haridwar bus ready to move. It takes off at 2 am. The driver is very accommodating - he stops by a pan shop where one of the apparently inebriated young riders can get some bidi. The privileged seat across from the driver is given to another 2 so that they could have their fag while the bus is in motion. Apparently, a gracious gesture meant not to cause disturbance to fellow riders! 

The other bunch is making boisterous comments ranging from Har Har gange to Modi zindabad (more in a sense of disapproval than respect), feeling hungry etc. Finally forcing the conductor to warn him, and eventually show him the door forcefully. Fortunately, it ended there. No violence. I resigned to putting up with the smoking. Didn't just feel like challenging.  Halfway, I find an empty three-seater and managed to stretch on it till Haridwar. We are there by 5.50 am. I get a bus to Najibabad without delay, salute ganga mayya from the bus, and notice the drastic changes brought about on the tarmac patch running through the forest and farmlands. Just 15 kms before Najibabad, they stop for breakfast and I manage to get down at the Bijnor mode, just about 300 mts. From the ashram. It is some 300 kms and the cost is Rs 460.

Evening, I plan to board any bus going in the direction of Lucknow to reach Sitapur early morning. Fr Vijay takes initiative to arrange for a seat I  teh Lucknow bus from Haridwar with a driver Madan, a catholic, who drives the roadways on that route. I wait at the bus stop from 5.10. I get a call from the conductor Neeraj that they are not far away. It arrives at 5.25, I board and get the most comfortable seat with free space to stretch my leg - the double seat behind the first seat across from the driver. The google map indicates it is 395 kms. The ticket is for Rs 645. But the bus is not moving - a family comes out with an old man who needs to empty his bowels. He needs the support of his aging wife to accomplish it, and wash himself clean? Right in front of everyone - and all are putting up with it with no murmur.  The old man appears unconcerned about anything other than taking his next wavering step and be back on the bus. That duly accomplished, the bus moves and leaves Najibabad township only to turn in the opposite direction and stop for another 20 minutes for tea and snacks. These dhabas have greatly improved, with tolerably clean toilet facilities, snacks and typical North Indian food. I feel least attracted to any of the items including the kulhad tea. The noticeable addition is the welcoming announcement regarding the food with the warning that the bus will now go nonstop. 

The bus proceeds further and a very heavy rain lashes out at it, making the ride cool, but visibility minimal. The wipers are not functioning, both the driver & conductor make some effort to clean the glass. By now we are at Dhampur and they locate a small workshop, get a screwdriver, do some maneuvering to get them work. This is very unlike our KSRTC where the duo would have happily called off the trip,  calling up the office, and leaving the riders to fend for themselves, except for the support in putting them up on the next bus. Another 20 mts! And the rain is also gone. 

2 hours gone it has covered just about 30 kms. And from the target of 12.05 waze indicates now 1.24 am!  The bus moves on away from the expressway, and we are confronted with loud wailing from behind - I guess it is from a child who is looking for her dad gone out and not returned; but the wailing is persistent, the child appears inconsolable, while she babbles about the 'baba', and there is some effort by the fellow passengers to put her at ease. We realise that the senior person who had the problem with his bowels has now reached his destination - not the planned Lucknow hospital, but the ultimate one! That was why the young woman, presumably his daughter, was inconsolable. Now this has to be tackled. Another 10 kms or so, the bus stops by Kaanth Thaana in Muradabad, and another hour, police reporting is done, now the family is at peace, and the trip resumes.  All are at their ease and pace.  And the baba is made comfortable on his seat by his wife. At rare intervals, the muffled cries of the daughter emerge. At Rampur, the conductor tries to comfort the family by bringing some tea for them. I am at a loss as to what I could do to make things better.  I say a small silent prayer. 

There is another break for 15 mts. The bus has blocked off cars parked in the bus yard unauthorised.. They ask to adjust the bus so that they could go. There is no big argument - the driver comes back and adjusts the bus so that the unauthorised vehicles could get away without trouble. 

10.40 pm. It's now 5 hours of the trip. And we have covered just about 170 kms. The last stretch from Dhampur seemed to have been mainly through a forest patch. Now, we are on the expressway which means no humps, no red lights and greater speed. And the waze indicates the target time as 2.20 am. But I observe that even on the best stretches, the bus does not exceed 80 km. The conductor explains that the speed is limited by default. 

I doze off for a good 2 hours and find the suave driver unfamiliar to this route struggling to turn the vehicle back, having missed Shajahanpur. He has to trace back another 3 kilometres to find the stop. 

Now finally, the conductor Mr  Neeraj is at peace. He relaxes into the front seat parallel to the driver's seat and enjoys a fag. I am in no mood for arguments or adjustments. He gives the plan for the babaji for whom his people would arrive at a pre-determined spot.  

Contrasting Employee Responses: A family wants to get down at a convenient location before the Migelganj station - he facilitates that. It's late night. The family is made comfortable. That is in sharp contrast with Kerala conductors who work to rule in 'their best interests' - exceptions notwithstanding. I began this trip with a ride in a packed FP bus to Muvattupuzha from Karingachira. I had to get down at a convenient location to move to the private bus stand. When I told this to the young lady conductor she admonished me - oh you should have gotten down there and got into a private bus. (My all-grey [white] beard, apparently does not yet cut a venerable old figure with people it seems - at least no one shows the sympathy one ought to get at 60 of being a senior citizen.) The bus had just left the stop. She could very well have stopped the bus once again. I thought the bus would stop at the next junction, from where we could get a bus or an auto. But no! Then some youngsters pulled the bell string and the bus halted. I was about to get out, and then there was an argument between them and the conductor, and the bus moved on, and with my age and baggage, I didn't want to run the risk. A fierce argument erupted between the two parties and by then the bus reached the bus stand. I slipped out quietly while the argument continued. 

Here, I find the conductor directing the bus for a detour just to help the people of the Babaji (he was sporting a Gheruva dhoti & shirt, and was sporting long hair and a beard) to receive him into the awaiting tractor with ease. That is done. And that is the farewell trip. The driver had turned off the music after the news of his death by way of showing respect to the departed fellow traveller and his family. 

Contrast: At Muvattupuzha bus stand, the auto wallah asked Rs.60 for the trip which would have cost me. Rs. 40 if she were to let me off earlier. I didn't haggle. On reaching, I asked the driver politely if he would have change for Rs 40. He reacts rather fiercely arguing that it was Rs 60. I said peaceably that I did not ask for any less! Here in Sitapur, I cover a much longer distance by e-rickshaw and I pay Rs 50 happily for me and him, that too at midnight. What does that speak of? Standard of living or coat of living or organised labour power?  (However, the e-rickshaw ride along the bumpy 4 km track was really back-breaking! Unless you adjust yourself according to the bumps, you are bound to have the impact on your vertebral column without fail! I feared if the driver was being vindictive in some fashion.  Perhaps, the driver seat does not get the impact as would the passenger).

It's 3 am. In less than 48 hours, I have covered the Indian roads of Keralam, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, UP and UK in an Innova car, on a taxi bike, on Kerala SRTC, UP & UK buses, on foot, on a scooter and on an e-rickshaw. Altogether over 1000 kilometres - enjoying the rain and the changing landscape - generally green all over thanks to the monsoons, witnessing the haughty organisational power of labour in God's own country making it Dogs' own country (literally), the accommodative ownership of the state buses by its employees in North India, which help them to run on profit, and bidding farewell to a fellow traveller who just went thus 'tathagata:' 

I am still to come to terms with the bindas UP style where anywhere any road is a 'road to freedom' for them - oneway easily overcome by anybody charging in the opposite direction and the rest of the crowd accommodating that, barring the exceptional bad mouthing or cursing from those who think themselves to be 'trafficly sophisticated'.  The culture perhaps makes it God's own land for them! 

Raksha bandhan - Celebrating sisterhood - brotherhood - family

Rakshabandhan

As we celebrate this day, and I get a day free from office, I thought I would pen down my random thoughts for the day. 

The last day of the sacred month of Sravan (the fourth month) is celebrated as Raksha Bandhan in the Northern part of India. The most popular ritual is that of the sister tying a raksha - raakhi (an amulet or a talisman) around the right wrist of the brother. My coworkers tell me that usually this is done in the afternoon around 1.30 pm as that is considered auspicious for the same (I do a google search to find that the most auspicous time is between 1.43 pm and 4.20 pm for this year!).  The amulet is supposed to ward off evil and protect (raksha) the brother, while the tying of rakhi would imply the assurance of protection of the sister by the brother. Though there are well-known instances in history where Indian queens have sought such protection from more powerful male rulers of the region, essentially, this is a family festival and explicitly promotes the bond between siblings. 

There is an Indian tradition which speaks about the real scholar (naturally, a male!) based on his perception - perhaps education should lead to that stature. Of the three aspects, the first is 'maatruvat para daareshu' - the ability to see women who are not in immediate kinship as 'mother'.  This festival inspires me to tweak it to consider them as one's sister - though, not an easy task.  But achieving that status you are a learned person - pandita:! Another attribute for the enlightenend learner/scholar is the ability to perceive 'every being as oneself' (aatmavat sarva bhooteshu).  This appears to go along with the great statements (mahaavaakya) of Vedaanta - aham brahmasmi (Brihdaarnyaka Upanishad) and tattvam asi (Chandogya Upanishad)! If education leads to the ability (competency) of recognizing oneself as a God-presence and the other as the reflection of the same, treating everyone as if one would have treated oneself (as taught by Jesus, Luke 6:31), then the world would be Kingdom of God or Raamraajya. 

In today's world where in spite of all the big talk about the equality of genders, everyday atrocities against women are reported, such celebrations should go beyond the rituals to a collective resolve of ensuring protection for the more vulnerable sections of the family and the society, without making that a pretext for subjugation.  Even today, the Manu Code (9:3), often taken literally is the norm: 

पिता रक्षति कौमारे भर्ता रक्षति यौवने ।
रक्षन्ति स्थविरे पुत्रा न स्त्री स्वातन्त्र्यमर्हति ॥ ३ ॥

pitā rakṣati kaumāre bhartā rakṣati yauvane | rakṣanti sthavire putrā na strī svātantryamarhati || 3 ||

The other Manu statement on women, is often twisted to ritualistic sanctification which would further curtail the freedom of women. 'yatra naaryastu poojyante ramante tatra devataa: (यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवताः 3:56).  This calls for honouring and treating the women well. 

Unfortunately, this noble culture of protection gets confined to the homes, and at times takes a virulent form of over-protection, where the women are denied their rights to choose their lifestyle, profession or means of livelihood, life partner etc.  The changed contexts are not applied when it comes to the status of the more vulnerable of the society - it could be women, it could be those who belong to the lower rungs in the caste hierarchy. 

Selective Rage

The festival is happening against the backdrop of the raging anger against the cruel rape and murder of a senior medical intern at RG Kar Medical College, Kolkotta on August 9, 2024 night. The anger just doesn't subside and it is spreading, apparently in an organised manner. Understandable. However, I am really surprised that a similar incident where a young nurse working in a hospital in Uttarakhand was reported missing on July 31st and her body was found on August 8th in Bilaspur, UP and the perpetrator of the crime is said to have been identified and arrested on August 13th.  There isn't heard a whimper of a protest or there hardly is any rage about this woman's rape and murder. There is hardly any problem with any governments by anyone since the finding of the body on 8th and the arrest of the alleged rapist murderer on the 13th. Today, the newspaper reports the gang rape of a minor in Dehradun, the girl is alive and apparently with the Child Welfare Committee of the state. Yes, the gang is identified and those involved are arrested. 

I am unable to distinguish between this selective rage spreading over the entire nation over one elite victim, and hardly any mention or even reporting on similar incidents happening in other states - especially in UK and UP.  Or does it have something more than mere empathetic rage for the victim? Or is it because it has happened in the assumed safety of an institution - or a hospital (which have become soft targets for violence against health professionals)?

Right to Safety, Security and Protection - for Women and for Everyone, Everywhere

Today's newspaper also reports the attack of an AI stewardess in her hotel in London - indicating that the issue of women's vulnerability and need for protection is not a matter confined to India.  I recall instances of preying on women leading to rape and murder reported in the US last month. 

Protection of the life of everyone is the need and the right. A state can claim that it is a welfare state only when this is ensured. It implies that the state is a friendly place for all and it is tested true, when the most vulnerable enjoy such protection - the women, the ageing, the physically-mentally-socially challenged, the children! Where every individual citizen is 'honoured' and 'revered' as a dignified presence as guaranteed by the constitution of India. 

An Inspiring Model 

The Catholic church celebrates St. John Eudas of 17th century France this day (August 19).  

He founded a women's society dedicated to the upliftment of women who were found to be leading a disorderly life, rescuing them back to lead a life of dignity. 

 

He lived in an era where the Church had become extremely degenerate, with the higher clergy leading an ostentatious life exploiting the commoners and even waging wars, and the ordinary clergy ill-educated to guide and inspire the faithful.  He tried to reform by establishing an order of well-educated priests who would take up educating the priests as their primary mission. 

While it is fitting to demad protection from the state as a right, St John challenges us to do our bit to make our homes, our institutions, our communities safe spaces for all! 

My Sisters

Though we don't have any such festival in the South (or at least in Keralam), I have found our sibling bonds to be rather strong - they used to be.  Now being sort of away from such circles, I am not sure whether this is still so. 

Our student Soumya of II BCA is playing sister for all of us today. A first-time rakhi experience for me. 

Today, I remember my beloved sisters with love.  The three of them elder to me had been a great support to all of us as we grew up as siblings. I remember how well they managed their studies while taking upon themselves the daily chores of our small family of 9 siblings😀😃! I have also seen them delicately balancing their professional life actively involving in the same, while managing their homefront, not leaving room for any of their children to complain of neglect. Perhaps, in doing that they set aside the possible heights they could have scaled in their careers.  But I think they have no regrets, though, at times, I do. 

I also remember my sister-cousins - good many of them - with whom even now, we all maintain very healthy and warm relationships. 

Sisters and Mothers for the World

But I remember also those sisters, hundreds of them, who have left their homes to be the sisters of everyone in the world - many of whom were my teachers or promoters, who still treat us all with motherly care - especially those sisters of the destitute who have been our sisters thanks to the schooling we all received from them. My teachers Sr Elsius, Sr Gennet, Sr Lisa, Sr Barthol (+), Sr Christa (+), our headmistresses Sr. Lucy (+), Sr Florine (+) and several others including the beloved Srs. Philamine, Josephath (Roseline), Maris, Kusumam, Beena, Geena, Chrisalda, Ann (+), John Mary (+), Eusabia, Floria (+), Rozario (+), Rosalind (+), Evlalia (+), Donald, Bertilla, ....a host of them.  All of them dedicating their lives as per the gospel of today - Mtt. 19:21 - left everything and followed Jesus, to be sisters and mothers to all the world. 

PS.  Watched the movie 8 AM Metro directed by Raj Rachakonda, where a man and woman get to know each other quite unexpectedly, developing a friendship, and in the process healing each other. Felt good watching the movie told in a very simple manner, but indicating the possibilities of healthy human relationships that lead to wholeness - human potential for intimate relationships without the nomenclatures of brother, sister, friend etc. 

www.samskritabharatiuk.org

https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi/d/doc201361.html

Resolving the Syro-Malabar Crisis - An Appeal to the Holy Father

To The Beloved Holy Father of the Church on Earth, from a few clerical members of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI)

cc: Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli - Apostolic Nuncio to India

Beloved Father, greetings and peace from the Church in India!

We would like to bring once again to your attention that we are deeply concerned for the Church to remain core to the message and person of Christ.  Though these matters have been brought to your attention from various sections, however, we are prompted to reiterate them and our concerns. 

As it has been communicated to us, you have pointed out that issues of liturgy have to be sorted out amicably at the level of the sui juris church itself.  The changes introduced in the Liturgy in the past few decades are indicative that this can be done and that there is no such absolute untouchability to the text or the rubrics, than what is beneficial to the celebrating faith community as decided by the synod (in a synodal spirit; not necessarily by mere majority). 

We are all for the unity of the Church, and those of us who had been in the practice of celebrating the Eucharistic Liturgy ad populum for the past many decades, have not felt any lack of unity, when we had to celebrate the Eucharist in the Chaldean way when the celebrating context was such.  We have never felt that such uniformity is required to maintain Christian unity.  If that were the case, we would not feel unity with the Holy Father or the very many neighbouring church communities who celebrate the mass in the Latin rite. 

We feel that the test of accepting a form of the ritual should also take into consideration how that communicates with the community of the faithful concerned. The Latin rite liturgical form adapted for children gives us the confidence that in the Church, such flexibilities are possible.  In this case, some matters appearing very trivial and highly ritualistic are raised as matters affecting unity, howsoever rich in symbolism they are purported to be - a) turning towards the altar and away from the people; b) having a separate table (Bema) for the liturgy of the word!

When the Holy Father sets a Christian example in trying to reach out to people considered to be in 'sin' - e.g.,  those in same-sex marriage or partnerships, those who are not married as per church regulations - to threaten almost 600000 people including their validly ordained priests with the medievalist and unchristlike excommunication threat, for the simple reason of not following the synodal decision of celebrating the Eucharist ad orientam, appears appallingly against the Spirit of Christ. 

There has been a clever manipulation bordering sentimentality of two principles of Catholic Christian life - (i) communion with the Church and (ii) obedience (including, obedience to the Holy Father). We feel the apparent intolerance to differences/diversity and blind adherence to ritual vestiges of an archaic tradition is a graver danger than the insistence on a tradition that has taken root in this region over the past six decades or more - with the majority of the present-day priests and the faithful having been born into it, and trained in it, and accustomed to it.  

Our humble requests to the Holy Father are: 

1. Permit the variant of the Eucharistic Liturgy as practised in the Ernakulam region as a valid Eucharistic celebration, till further consensus is reached on the issue. 

2. Instruct the synod and the episcopal leadership to avoid unchristian threatening language in eliciting compliance from the believing community. 

Looking forward to your paternal intervention, 

Your sons in Our Lord, 

1. 

2. 

Resolving the Syro-Malabar Ritualistic Rift

On one of my rare evening meditations, on the feast St Anthony of Padua, the great preacher and critique of clergy of his times, the gospel presented to me was the death of Jesus.  Mtt 26:47 ff. where I read, 'then Jesus, crying out again with a loud voice, gave up his life (50). And behold, the veil of the temple was torn into two parts, from top to bottom...'(51). 

Isn't this gospel narration of the tearing away of the curtain of the temple signifying the demarcation between the holy of holies from the rest of the temple a pointer to the new phase in God-human, God-world relationship where such separation was not warranted; where God was no longer the punishing unapproachable God who wouldn't let anyone come near him, whose special presence was to be separated by a veil, lest those who approached it - human or animal - would be burnt to death, but rather, a God who dwells amidst people, with God's reign being established here (Lk 17:21)? 

I feel one of the consistent agendas of Jesus was to liberate people from slavery to rituals, but we are here literally being enslaved by ritualism, and behaving in an unchristlike fashion to preserve them or to challenge them.  Psalms (74: 4-11) of today's vespers aptly fit my meditation on Syro-Malabar Church of Ernakulam: 

O God, why have you rejected us forever?
4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;

5 They behaved like men wielding axes
    to cut through a thicket of trees.  

6 They smashed all the carved paneling
    with their axes and hatchets.
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
    they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
 8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
    They burned every place where God was worshipped in the land.    

9 no prophets are left,
    and none of us knows how long this will be.

10 How long will the enemy mock you, God?
    Will the foe revile your name forever?    

11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?    Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them.  They set up their standards as signs. We are given no signs from God...

Christ must be laughing at the incorrigible human nature which always wants a  'golden calf' to satisfy its aspirations, which in the Catholic Church, especially in the Syro Malabar church, has taken the mould of the elaborate ritual symbolic of the thanksgiving and self-effacing meal Jesus celebrated.  We have succeeded in making it a magical formula with grand narratives being written on the real presence,  and the magnificent and bombastic theories like 'transubstantiation'. 

I hope he repeats his act of cleansing the temple at least once more - whipping these bigoted leaders who perpetuate ritualism and fight over it totally against the spirit of Christ. 'Woe to you for making them twice the sons (or daughters - on this account also there is an effort to maintain gender justice) of hell that you yourselves are for the sake of your traditions?' (Matt 23:15).  (This doesn't imply any hatred towards these leaders - but just a figurative way of presenting a hope of being led in the Christ way, genuinely fearing that the present mode is away from it). 

• Why is this unchristian adherence to the details of the rituals? 
• While rite itself is built on the thesis of diversity, why is another addition to diversity not tolerated? 
• Is the (so-called) apostolic heritage the only valid basis for a valid liturgy? 
• Is it the purpose of the liturgy to lead people to God, and if that is not served, can't new modes be envisaged? 
• Is uniformity in celebration of the Eucharist to be the most distinguishing feature of a Christian community? What about Christ's compassion, forgiveness, inclusiveness, and self-suffering?  If the liturgical outcomes are not on these lines, aren't we treading a faultline? 
• Does a threat of excommunication for not adhering to a norm passed by the majority befit the Church of Christ? 

While the present understanding of God's revelation guides the Church to seek to understand God's presence and revelation through other cultures in dialogue, here, for the sake of establishing uniformity in the ritualistic celebration of the Lord's supper where the authority figure shows himself as the servant and washes the feet, our Church leadership wields the threat of excommunication to those who refuse to adhere to the ritualistic details. 

While till late it was the conventional catholic sentiment of obedience to the Holy Father which was utilised as the tool for bringing in compliance, now that the Holy Father himself has declared that such matters are to be decided at the local church level; and it has been amply proven that there is no such 'untouchability' in the details of the rituals by the drastic editing which took place in the last phase, isn't it the right time to allow flexibilities while mandating that the official version remains what is passed by the Synod? 

It is the scripture which insisted that 'obedience is greater than sacrifice' (I Sam 15:22 ) and it was the Master's example to sacrifice one's self in obedience to God's will (Lk 22:42).  This is indeed laudable and all Christians can arrive at an easy solution by obeying what is decided by the majority of the Synod. 

However, the question still remains about its 'christianness' and the very idea that rituals are the core of our Christian existence and adherence to the rubrics a great Christian virtue, appears totally in contradiction with the spirit of Christ's liberating gospel. 

His insistence that God is to be worshipped in spirit and truth and not necessarily on this mountain or that (Gerizim or Jerusalem - Jn 4:20-24) is amply indicative of his liberal stand towards issues.  This may be juxtaposed with his statement on the faithfulness in small things and that not even an iota of the law will be changed (Mtt 5:17).  But almost in the same breath, he cautions that our 'righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisees' (Mtt 5:20).  The big picture Christ tries to present appears hanging in favour of liberating humans from slavish adherence to ritualistic religion, where all such means should serve to build up the reign of God, not a reign of high handed superiority, suppression of dissenting voices, but a reign of justice, peace and joy in the holy spirit.  It is worth the while to examine if either of the parties, in their fanatical adherence to their version of this means, is contributing towards the larger and primary purpose. 

Can't the leadership facilitate a consensus formula? 

1. The officially recognized form of celebration of the Syro-Malabar mass will be the one approved by the Synod. 

2. Where there are strong sentiments against the new format, especially regarding the aspect of where the celebrant should face - the people or the altar - freedom be given to the local community to discuss and decide on the basis of a majority (preferably, consensus) decision to have regular masses in the parish ad populum or ad orientam

3. In any case, the mass considered to be the Sunday Mass be celebrated in the approved form of the Synod. 

4. It would be good that the Eucharistic celebration as part of Sunday Catechesis of the Young be also celebrated in this fashion. 

I hope by now the more involved and intelligent members of the Church might have put forward similar or better solutions before all concerned. I wish I were given an audience by the new Major Arch Bishop.  I would definitely make an effort this time, hoping to share these views as a concerned member and ordained minister of the Church.