Gerald D'Cunha

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” Pema Chodrun S pirituality has nothing to do with our religions and rituals. What happens inside our hearts, at present, is enough to make us all spiritual… There is no ‘Your God’, “My God’ and ‘Their God’. And, God doesn’t need those colossal worship places… not even those Holy Books… What goes on inside us, that’s enough! If men don’t want to budge an inch, or even half-an-inch, let it be… They all will be swept away, anyway, when God strikes down his whip! Funny it all seems… This brute arrogance and resistance! Who is the ‘persecuted minority’ on this planet, now? Who is going to give shelter to whom? Who is going to include or exclude whom? We all seem standing alone and crying out: “Is anybody there?” “Is anybody there?” “Is anybody there?” That’s how we all learn to know the difference between our religions and spirituality… To be sp...

“Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.” Elie Wiesel M y last post was about why it is important for us – in times like this – to focus positively on things within our control. Aptly, I called it ‘on what is inside our doors’. What happens in the outside world – outside our doors – is beyond our control. Yes, we are concerned about them… Like when we see the heart-wrenching images of mass exodus of poor people… walking hundreds of miles toward their villages, holding their little babies and bags, in this scorching heat with no food, water or shelter… no money… no hope. Watching these images makes us numb… even guilty and ashamed when we eat our food and switch on our fans and air-conditioners… Some of us are unable to sleep and even feel uncomfortable when we close our bathroom doors! Are these not the same people, who till the other day, made our ‘Wheel’ roll? And, suddenly, the fear has taken them over, and the...

I loved what our Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said in his message, yesterday. In his composed tone, he advised the citizens of his state, Maharashtra – and, particularly of this mega city of Mumbai – to focus on what we could do, in a positive manner, from inside our doors. For, that’s within our control. What’s outside our doors was outside our control… Yes, we all are concerned about the situation outside, today…   We all are anxious, worried and scared. Yes, we all are… and, it’s understandable. But, let’s be a little rational and ask: “Do we have control on things outside our doors? Can we really control them?” If not – and, it is not – why do we spend so much time and energy focusing on such things? Are we not losing our own power apart from our sleep? Are we not ruining others’ sleep and diminishing their power as well? Stephen covey illustrated this phenomenon through two circles. He named the inner circle as the circle ...

"Things you may take for granted, other people   are praying for.” Marian Rico Lee “T he stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This Biblical line has been, often, used to convey, how the things, that we had once taken for granted, have, later, become so important in our lives. Just as they have become, today! Yesterday, while I was talking to my friend, Joe, who lives in my hometown, Mangalore, he reminded me of this line, and, he gave me this familiar account: “There is a grocery store near our house, which has been there since the days of my great grandfather. A local Musulman had started this store, and it had been called after him - “Maplyachi Angad’ (in Konkani) … The Musulman’s store. Some years ago, the area around this shop became a hot property… Swanky malls and super markets mushroomed all around it, and, suddenly, the store of the great-grandfather era looked irreverent and was found rejected by the new...

“Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” -       Christopher Reeve -         W e all are sailing in the same boat, now. Yes, our President, Prime Minister and Mukesh Ambani included… The Pope, The Super Powers and The Super Stars included. And, whether we sail this rough sea aboard our Titanics or village boats, the storm doesn’t ask who we are… Just as Werner Erhard said, “If you stand in the rain, you get wet, whether we understand water or not.” What ‘is’ is what ‘is’… Not what we want it to be… Not how we want it to be. That’s why, the early we learn not to argue with the reality, the peaceful our hearts will be. Byron Katie keeps reminding us, “Sweethearts, we don’t get to vote on reality.” Just as the plight in which we all – yes The Presidents, The Prime Ministers, The Bill Gates, The Jack Mas, The Ambanis and The Adanis, The Tom Hanks, Bachchans and Rajnikants, you,  ...

“When you make peace with yourself, You make peace with the world.” -       Maha Ghosananda T raditionally, the term ‘Jobless’ has been used to convey these two meanings: 1. One has no employment – no source of earning 2. One has job – a source of earning – yet, he cannot go to the workplace… There is a third meaning, which, most of us have wanted to convey by saying, “He is jobless.” … Yes, “Koi kaam dhandha nahin hai”… “Bekaar baita hai”… Today, the meaning of all these three versions of ‘Joblessness’ – becomes so clyster clear as the roads, skies and seas, even the deserts of Dubai, are! We are all ‘jobless’ today, in one sense or the other…   But, let’s not put the blame and curse on poor Corona … The curse has already befallen us! So, we, the so-far-so-good folks – the jobless ones - are on our cellphones, laptops, computers or tabs and doing a million things, without kno...

“ A new world order can only be created if we establish an order where the powerful wolf cannot eat the weak lamb!” ―  Mehmet Murat ildan S o, is it all over – I mean, that Sunday 5 p.m. thing – the taali, thaali and ghant i? Is the time to say ‘Thank you’ done and gone? Is there anyone left out there to be thanked? King Solomon – the wise king – wore the magic ring, which had this constant reminder: ‘This, too, shall pass’… How nice! What a great reminder! But, the irony of this old-testament story is this: We use these words to remind us of the ‘ achhe din’ only when we are neck-deep in our bure din . But, when our days are rocking, we never remind ourselves: “Hold on dude,... This, too, shall pass… Bur e din aane wale hai!” Now, the bure din are here again; and, suddenly, we are all reminded, “Hang on dude... This, too, shall pass!” Pass it will. For, that’s how it has always been… The tide of Li...