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
Tarun Nadkarni said…
Punching!! Tarun

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