THE STRANDED PILGRIM



Religious faith is clothed with innocence. Forgive me for adding this: it is also clothed with loads of ignorance!

“Maana toh bhagwan; na mana toh pathar.”

Yes, what makes a lifeless stone God... is our faith, our belief!

What makes river water – even though it is dirty – holy... is our faith!

What makes a virgin conceive... is our faith!

What makes our mistakes in life sins... is our faith!

What makes strange events miracles... is our faith!

A few rituals transform man and woman into husband and wife …

Beads, thread, relics, candles, ashes, mud, hair, fire, air, even the directions – East, West, South, North… everything assumes sanctity when it is clothed with our faith.

No matter to which religion we belong, we all puzzle each other with our beliefs…. As a Christian, I do believe in some things, which, others around me may find hard to comprehend… Similarly, when my non-Christian friends follow certain things, it is not easy for me to understand.

But, then, the trust in God and His mercy has been like this from the beginning of time… The lesser you reason out, the better…

Please don’t ask: Why does God forsake? Where is He, today, when thousands and thousands need Him, so desperately, in the devastated Uttarakhand? Where is the power of those holy shrines? What’s the use of those thousand-mile pilgrimages?

No, no one is asking…. And, that’s how it has been for thousands of years… And, that’s how it shall be….

“O Lord, thy will be done, not mine!”

I believe in God and His mercy… and, even if I were one of those stranded pilgrims, today… I would have still bent down on my knees and prayed, hoped, tried… cried… Perhaps, smiled…


Innocence sir… Ignorance. But, then, 

it is ten-thousand times better than my arrogance! 

I still remember my Sunday-school teacher telling all of us, the little, little ones, that when a person died on a Sunday, it was a holy death… And, she would also tell us this: If a person died while praying in the church, he was God’s dearest and nearest!

Today, as I write this, like so many others, I too feel that I can hardly do anything about the heart-wrenching situation around the holy land in Uttarakhand… Yes, hardly anything….

Perhaps, it might help a little bit if I humbly – with all my innocence  - say what my Sunday-school teacher had told us: “When God chooses you to die or suffer in His own land, you must be His dearest and nearest!”

And, trust me dear, I am not ‘ignorant’ when I tell you this!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Vimmi Batra



Comments

Anonymous said…
Very touching! Sheena
June 24, 2013 at 9:14 AM
Pushpalata said…
God's ways are mysterious; the tragedy has brought me closer to Him!
-- Pushpa
June 24, 2013 at 10:19 AM
Tina Sharma said…
The calamities like this can leave us only more religious. Praying for the ones who have been hit,
- Tina
June 24, 2013 at 10:30 AM
Anonymous said…
No argument on God's will! Munish
June 24, 2013 at 2:39 PM
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