Gerald D'Cunha

  “I felt in need of a great pilgrimage. So, I sat still for three days… and God came to me.” Kabir   O ne of the places, I very often visit whenever I find a strong urge in me to do, is the Mount Mary church at Bandra. Now, many times I do that all alone, and many times with my family. But, the, if you ask me, if I go there during the Bandra Fair (the week following Mother Mary’s birthday sept 8) – I say, without any hesitation – “No, I don’t” That’s because, I simply can’t connect to Mother Mary, Jesus or God in a ‘Fair’ – a mela. I can feel the personal deep connect, only when I am – like sever strangers out there inside the shrine – sitting there quietly all alone. Yes, there is a strange high when I tell others, that I visited the ‘Bandra Fair’… But, why did I do that? ‘ Jana maolo jaatre marolo’… This is an age-old saying in Kannada. It means, people behave strangely in every religious fair and melas… Often they act weird, illogical and, even insane. Now...

I haven’t been to the hallowed shrine of Sai Baba at Shirdi. But, I feel very close and connected to the great mystic. The more I reflect on the kind of life he practiced and preached, the more relevant spirituality and religion seem to me. The same is my feeling about Kabir. The God we hear about in the teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi and Kabir is formless… And, He doesn’t reside within the confines of temples and mosques… Their God lives in every pore of our being… in every breath we take… and, to experience Him, we need to pull down the walls we have created between us – the Hindus and Muslims, between you and me… “Sab ka Malik Ek Hai"… How loosely we use Sai’s famous words! Is that really so? That, the God that you and I worship is the same? Really? Will I teach it to my children? Will I teach it to my students? “There is a wall of separation between oneself and others and between you and me,” says the great mys...

“I laugh when I hear that fish in the water is thirsty… I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” -           Kabir I have never been to Shirdi. But, I have, always, been awe-struck by Sai Baba’s life and teachings. He and Kabir will, always, remain close to my heart… Last evening, along the Eastern Express Highway, I saw hundreds of pilgrims… men and women, young and old… dozens of volunteers, vehicles carrying food and beverages, medicines and first-aid… saffron flags and silver palki … some chanted… some laughed… some quietly walked… By foot, our driver told us, it would take the padyatris  about eight days to reach the shrine at Shirdi… Many groups across the city organize these pilgrimages, he told us. Faith is purely a personal matter. Right from inside the car in which I was commuting, I remembered Baba’s life… So utterly simple and uncomplicated it wa...