HE WILL GIVE HIS ACCOUNT... YOU GIVE YOURS














Pic.: Bhushan Thakkar
Some twenty years ago, one morning, this line popped up in my heart, and, I, immediately, scribbled it down in my dairy:


“If God were to judge me by my sins,

I would have been condemned to hell-fire long, long ago.”


Today morning, I found, once again, the same line popping up in my heart… And, I felt very strongly that God didn’t judge His children the way the world did… That, it was nothing short of  plain mercy – His mercy – that has saved me from such a punishment!


I know what a sinner I am. Maybe, I have not murdered, looted or raped any one… Maybe, I have not cheated on my marriage, abused my children or caused agony to my parents… Still, if God, today, decides to list down my sins, they are grave enough to mete me out with punishment!


Mercifully, the God I believe in is a very, very kind, loving, and large-hearted God. He doesn’t judge me the way the world does… He provides me with many, many chances… and, even if I don’t live up to  His expectations and let Him down, so often, He still holds back His judgment… His condemnation. Yes, I am spared of the punishment!


By the way, why is this talk, today, of all the issues in the world?


Shashi Tharoor is our Union Minister. He is young, dashing, attractive… very vocal… and, his statements, personal and glamorous lifestyle has kept him in limelight and controversy. It looks as if he married glamorous Sunanda just the other day… It was the third marriage for both of them… And, suddenly, two days ago, the reports started coming out, from all over, that there was something seriously wrong in their marriage and trouble was in store… And, there it was, this morning! I learnt from the social media that Sunanda was found dead in her luxurious hotel-room… and, then… within hours, Tharoor was admitted to the ICU with severe chest pain!


I was more curious about the reaction of my own mind! I caught myself judging Tharoor, his deceased wife and their doomed marriage the way everyone else around me was busy doing… Let me tell you this: my judgment on the entire episode stemmed from my own bias:  How I had I viewed Tharoor, so far!


“A stupid herd mentality,” I was now passing a judgment on my own behavior, “Everybody is bashing Tharoor; so, I am, too!”


The next moment, I remembered how – back in our village - our mom would scream at us, her sons, whenever she saw us passing judgment on others (other sinners!) around us ... 

“Look son, you are no one to judge him,” our mom would fire us, point-blank, “He will give his account...  you give yours.”


Our loose mouths would shut up, right way!


“Sorry mom!”


GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Anonymous said…
Really meaningful!
- Heena
January 19, 2014 at 6:21 PM
Tarun Nadkarni said…
Punching!! Tarun
January 20, 2014 at 11:53 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...