2nd Sunday of Advent (2020)

 

Hit hard, the Shell!

Gospels were written a few decades after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus!  Evangelist Mark begins his gospel narration referring to Pentecost (Baptism of the spirit) comparing the baptism of John in river Jordon!

Obviously John was giving adult baptism!  And it was a baptism of repentance!! Those who came to him inquired, "what should we do?"  His message was "Repent"!  They acknowledged their sins. 

Every conversion or transformation  or revolution begins with a realization and acknowledgement of the existing reality! 

Unless I realize that my village looks dirty, I will never do anything to clean it up!

Until I realize about my wrong food habits, I will never rectify and enjoy good health!

If I don't realize that I am short tempered, I am going to continue hurting people!

Being defensive is against acceptance, and that is not helpful!

Conversion to a spirited life is the real matter!  Mine here are purely civil words, not loaded with any theological or religious connotations.

Mr. Mahesh was a Vehicle Inspector in a town!  His receipt of bribe was like a loot!  He once brought a beautiful golden necklace for his daughter Meena's birthday!  She was only 14.  When the family was in a celebration mode, Mahesh presented the gift probably worth a few lakhs!  The child looked at it amazingly and then calmly asked her dad, "Dad, how did you get such a costly necklace? Is it from your salary or from the bribes you accumulate?"  Mahesh hung his head in shame!  The child gave back the gift to his dad and said, "Sorry dad, I will never be able to accept such a gift bought from the sweat and tears of so many who come to your office.  I would have been immensely happy if you had offered me a single rose bought with your hard earned money.  Sorry dad!  I am Sorry!"

When Mahesh begins to regret his misappropriation, and makes a resolute decision not to take  bribe anymore, that's the Jordanian experience or the Pentecostal experience. Zacchaeus was "baptised" under a sycamore tree in Jericho. (Lk:19/1..)  A woman was saved in the temple campus from the "adults" of Jerusalem was "baptised" (Jn: 8/11).  Conversion is baptism!!  Not the other way about!

Conversion is not purely a religious matter!  It is not religion related!  It's a beautiful turning point in someone's life caused by an intervention!

Philip was smoking a lot!  He fell in love with Saroja!  She detested smoking but loved Philip! Philip gave up smoking for her sake!  It is a conversion!

I often get short tempered.  Instead of putting the blame on others I began to realize my short comings and made a conscious effort to accept this reality.  I began to understand and acknowledge my suppressed feelings of the past!  I now witness that I bloom into a pleasant personality.  This is conversion.

One was all the time thirsting for power, authority and money!  He gathered his caste group around him and stimulated ill feelings against others and was trying to win elections.  Now when he realizes that he has gone against God and others, he tries to live a committed life giving up narrow, petty groupism.  This is conversion.

Acknowledge the fact!

Therefore, Acknowledgement is important!  First, articulate to yourself, your reality!  Go to your privacy, and remove all the masks you had put on for the "social show!" Because, we put on several masks that are not true!  We appear to be compassionate while we actually are greedy!  We appear to be pious while we actually are terrible!  It does not matter what reality is!  But, acknowledge, "I am greedy!  I am terrible!!"  Those very words begin to break your shackles.

Open up!!  Take an initiative!

Conversion is impossible when one is totally closed up!

The hen gives 21 days of warmth to the egg!  But the little chick inside have to hit a bit and break the shell!

The one who wants to get healed yells at Jesus, "do something"! That is an effort sufficient to make a break through! He gets healed!

The world is full of blessings!  The world is so very bright with innumerable opportunities!  But if one is closed up and pulls down all his shutters then he or she is not going to enjoy any of these.

If an youngster developed a funny work ethics and thinks that selling samosa brings in low image, he is losing an opportunity to be a millionaire! 

Some are struck in ideologies!  Some in prejudices!  Some in money!  Some in habits!  Some in lust! Some in dogmas!  Some in rituals!  What not?  They are so very close to the eyes that they don't see anything else or that which is beyond!  They are so very close that it makes you blind!  Only when you take a distance; then you begins to see what blocks your vision and what is beyond the block!!   Otherwise an elephant would be a single pillar for you if you are too close to one of its legs.

When you make yourself blind; you not only lose the beauty around you but become uncertain about very many things.  That leads you to either dependency or enmity with the other!

If your ethnic identity blocks and denies seeing beauty in other ethnic groups it is a mental glaucoma you have developed.  If your religious identity denies seeing beauty in other religions you are going through a spiritual glaucoma!  If your riches don't allow the poor to come closer to you, you are going through a social glaucoma!  If your caste identity denies going closer to other castes and groups, then you are nearing social blindness!

Blind don't see light!  "Blind" don't see Jesus!  "Blind" don't see Buddha!  "Blind" don't see the other human being!

Umbilical cord is vital!  But you are aging!

 

 

First Sunday of Advent (2020)

 

Wake up!

People spend millions to win a local election.  The winner proudly calls himself, "I am the Panchayat president!"  One who lost is dejected and says, "I am not"!

But who am I?  "I am the provincial", "I am the superior", "I am the president", "I am the minister!"  Are you sure?  Is that what You are?  They are "temporary garbs" that you put on.  They are not You!  We falsely identify with them and take pleasure in it or grief over it when it is not there! 

Sometimes you are robbed or feel terribly robbed!  In some hospitals you are ripped off!  Some advocates strip your purse!  After becoming filthy rich they feel empty and frantically thirst for peace!  They go to shrines and hill tops looking for what they had lost.  It is like Mr. Mulla searching for the keys of his house under the street light.  The passerby asked him, "Do you remember where you had lost it?"  He said, "Near my home"!  "Then why the hell are you searching here?"  Mulla said, "because it is bright here." 

Search, where you had lost it.  Places however holy they say, will not deliver you peace unless you resolve to search where you had lost it.  If you had lost your peace at home, don't look for it on the streets.  If you had lost it with your neighbour, don't look for it the holiday resorts.  If you had lost it in your community, don't look for it in the retreat centres.  If your alienation comes due to money, power and position, better to take a distance from them to enjoy the inner solace.  Many falsely believe that money, position and power can bring happiness!  Not true!!  It brings in a little pleasure which is very shaky and temporary!

Naked and empty handed, Nagarjuna was given a golden begging bowl studded with diamonds by the queen.  Initially he refused to accept it but later for the satisfaction of the queen accepted the offering!   "Difficult to protect it" he said the queen and went away with it!  A thief followed him to the rugged place where he was resting that night.  He threw it off and told the thief, "Please take it.  It's my gift.  I don't want to make you a thief"  The thief was shocked!  "I want to come in" he said.  "that is why I threw it off" Nagarjuna replied.  After some conversation, As the thief was about to leave, Nagarjuna gave him just one discipline to be follow.  "You must always remember that you are Buddha".  Just after 2 and half days the thief came back very quickly.  "It is very difficult to protect the bowl. Everyone is eying for it.  There are robbers everywhere!" he said.  Moreover, the other worst problem is, "I am not able to steal.  As I swiftly move my hand to lift something, my hands become numb as I become aware of the discipline that I am a Buddha!  How can a Buddha steal? My thoughts haunt me!"

You cannot go against your consciousness!  When you realize that you are a mother, you get soaked into motherliness!  When you are awake, you don't sleep!

Maggie an young girl used to be a chain smoker.  She had come to us for 6 weeks of rural experience.  She was all the time preoccupied and tensed about her boy friend.  Later when I met her after a couple of years, she was pregnant.  She had totally given up smoking and drinking!  When you are aware that you are a mother, you don't go against that motherliness! 

We get sedated and drop consciousness!  And then you play foot ball on a table tennis board and play table tennis on a golf ground!  In a sedated and dreaming state you can play any havoc!  You can drop atom bombs on cities!  Sell pesticides to kill the nature!  Cut trees to pollute the earth!  Form corporate companies to steal from hamlets and huts!  Win elections tampering the ballots!  Play caste and religion to burn hamlets and humanity! Make use of churches and places of worship to promote dogmas and devotions than care for the neighbour! 

You blow and put off your own lamp and move around in darkness!  And in darkness you don't know what you step on and what you bulldoze!  There are millions of empty candles walking around in darkness stepping on each other!

Here and there, these empty slumbering candles see lights!   They again take pleasure seeing them and begin worshipping them from afar!  They build huge structures to adore and conquer them!  They spend several night and days to create dogmas to support the obvious lamps!

Go near them!  You will automatically get lighted! Emptiness dissipates!  Enjoy the fullness!!

Keep your light burning otherwise darkness will engulf you!  In other words, "Wake up the thief  waits to hunt your home!" (Mk 13: 33-37)