THE ENEMY OUTSIDE IS LESS HARMFUL THAN THE ENEMY INSIDE






Pic.: Sonia Asrani



Love your enemies… Praise your enemies… Bless them.

Well, we are not Jesus Christs to do that. We are ordinary mortals…  So, we are not the ones to show our left cheeks when our enemies slap our right ones…

We will react, immediately… Tit for tat… Two swear words for one… Two eyes for one…

Loving, praising and blessing our enemies… yes, it is the remotest of our ideas…

But then, I am still a student of this old school of thoughts and ideals… At 57, I would like to believe, that I have seen my fair share of enemies and their harassment and torture… I have had enough of it in my life… I have been provoked to get even with them, abuse them, curse them… try all means – maybe except physical violence – to silence them….

Nothing has silenced my enemies… Nothing has changed their hearts, so for.

So, when I think of it, I ask, “By playing their own games, have I not only doubled my troubles, ruined my inner peace by twofold?" On the one side, they have tormented me… on the other side, I have tormented myself… They have taken half of my peace… and I have taken the other half!

So, no matter how outdated and naïve the old advice sounds, I think, it is the only sensible way to silence our enemies in the long run… and, yes, bring that inner silence in us.


I am writing about this today, because, I happened to read what two of my dear friends had posted in one of our groups. Apparently, they had been long tormented by the same enemies. One of my friends had posted this:

“Praising and blessing dissolves all negativity. So, praise and bless your enemies. If you curse your enemies, the curse will come back to harm you. If you praise and bless them, you will dissolve all negativity and discord, and the love of the praising and blessings will return to you. As you praise and bless, you will feel yourself shift into a new frequency with the feedback of good feelings.”

My other friend’s response was quick and familiar:

“It’s a joke!”

But, to me, what was more familiar was this: I have been on both the sides of this fence… More often – and more fortunately – on the side of my first friend. Yes, I have shown to my enemies more often my other cheek, too… And, less often, I have been on the side of my second friend… been provoked and angry, abusive… cursed.

Two of my friends live in me… I am my friends. And, therefore, I am my enemy, too!

The enemy outside is less harmful, less dangerous than the enemy inside…

I am telling this, today, to myself…

For, my peace is my responsibility!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

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...