LET THE CRESCENT MOON BE








The French philosopher and Clergy, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, said:

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience,
we are  spiritual beings having a human experience.”


Whenever I come across this famous quote, I find it tough to take it in with total conviction. Somewhere, deep inside me, I do believe, that I am a spiritual being – the Godliness is in my bosoms. But, on the periphery, I hear this loud voice: “Come on! This is a harsh, real world… We are all mortals - sinful and imperfect. So, I question: “Are we not human beings having a spiritual experience, yes, here in this ‘imperfect’ world?”


Whatever and whichever it is... I have stopped analyzing about it too much. After all, I have to live in this real world, and with its real people…


In this world,
There will be plateaus and there will be plains…
There will be mountains and there will be oceans…
There will be deserts and there will be oasis…
There will be wars and there will be peace…
There will be love and there will be hatred…
There will be joy and there will be sorrow…
There will be friendship and there will be enemity…
There will be health and there will be sickness…
Light and darkness…
Life and death…
Amen.


This morning, Shahnaz, a dear friend of mine, had shared a lovely quote. The words were poetic and set against the backdrop of a crescent moon. They said:

“And, the Moon said to me…

My darling, you do not have to be whole
in order to shine.”


I, instantly, paused and allowed the profound meaning of Poet’s words to sink in. I wondered: Was he not trying to convey the same truth: “My darling, you are the spiritual being having a human experience”?


Perfection cannot reside in the body... The body dies; it is sinful and imperfect. The wholeness and the holiness are perfect; and, they dwell in our soul… The soul doesn’t die!


So, every time I falter, and every time I get overwhelmed by guilt, regrets, fear or grief, I keep reminding myself: “It’s okay to be imperfect… to falter, feel guilty, regretful, afraid and sad… For, these are the moments of human experiences in the spiritual being…


Let it be… Let it be… Let it be!


I wrote in my comment to Shahnaz: “We all are those ‘Crescent Moons’… We need not be ‘whole’ in order to shine.


Two days ago, a friend of us had come over to see me. She lived in Chennai; and, my wife and I were meeting her after almost twenty-seven years. The meeting was here, in my office We spoke about many things – parents, children, old age, sickness, care, indifference, the generation gap, education and adapting to changes in life and many other things. At one point, I was sharing an incident which had taken place in the early years of my days in Bombay…


Those were the days of my struggle, and I wasn’t able to support my parents financially. My dad, a simple person, had his small dream of building a decent house… The existing house was demolished, and my parents and brothers were staying in a make-shift shack (Actually a shack!)… Dad had taken a small bank loan on the basis of the confidence I and my elder brother had given him… A few months went smoothly, and here, in Bombay, things were not going as per my plan… I was feeling extremely bad for my parents… And, one morning, I heard about my dad’s death!


The house, my dad’s dream, looked like a crescent moon – incomplete! I began to harbor in my heart that silent guilt… Had I been able to help my dad in those difficult times, perhaps, he would have lived to see his little dream come true… Yes, he would have sighted the full moon!


My mother, sensing my inner conflict, consoled me many times, “Son, dad’s death had nothing to do with it… He drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney!”


Thirty six years have passed by since my dad passed away. I have grown into a man who has seen many moons in my life… Yet, while recalling this incident in the company of our friend from Chennai and my wife, I found myself choked with emotions… Tears rolled down my cheeks and I was unable to speak… Our friend and my wife let me be…


“I did not know this,” I heard my wife whispering to our friend as the intensity of the moment began to diminish…


They let my tears be…


They let the crescent moon be…


Do I have the right to shine, even though I am not whole?


My tears say, “Yes, I do”!









GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Anil Bedi

Videos:1. Aditya Utama Wijaya 2. DNreWkaz

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