A Human's Struggle to stay Human

Christmas seems to have lost its anamnesis. The paraphernalia commemorating its memories are at sale but too expensive for the commons. Market has usurped the Manger. The biblical interpretations also legitimize these invasions. When did tangibility gain precedence over anamnesis? As we brace ourselves for Christmas I find a dire need to rekindle the fire of Re-Membrance which is at the verge of being extinguished by the ashes of misinterpretations. By and large, traditions are held at fault. This is again due to our faulty construal of the term ‘tradition’. This reminiscence me the words of the famous composer Gustav Mahler; “Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame.” Since time immemorial we have been preserving the ashes reluctant to feed the fire as we relish the numbness of cold and stagnancy. Our indolence is at the expense of the memory of Christ. We are the Disciples of Christ and therefore His sojourning History. Rajneesh Osho reckoned on ...

Ever thought of dismissing the speculations and apprehensions of a child as absurd? Then this Children’s Day is an occasion to rethink this paradox. We Christians seem to be indolent towards the fact that we continue to follow the God consciousness of a lad. At the age of twelve, Jesus at the temple chose the metaphor of Father to describe God. Do not we foster the same till date? Children are the most beautiful creation of God and childhood the most envious period. It is so important that even God while incarnating did not choose to take a leap. This is an age when relationships survive without the burden of names, when innocence spills over, when imaginations and actions are not at odds, when emotions are freely expressed without the fear of any sort, when smile and laughter are genuine and much more. These are the dominant versions of articulating the whims and fancies of childhood.  How far are they true? We seem to be so relaxed in this complacency. Take a look a...

Would a ninety years old Jesus the Christ have given us the same zeal and enthusiasm as the thirty three years old wayward youngster? Well I do not think so…That’s the beauty of youthhood. Youthhood is an exuberant epoch; a ripe period when our attitudes, inclinations, passions, ideologies, perceptions, world-views and the like are formed.  A time when we are full of energy which if channelized properly could create wonders. Kahlil Gibran, in his book, “Nymphs of the Valley” has remarked, “Youth is a beautiful dream, but its sweetness is enslaved by the dullness of books and its awakening is a harsh one. Shall there come a day when wise men are able to unite the dreams of youth and the delights of learning as reproach brings together hearts in conflict? Shall there come a day when a man’s teacher is nature and humanity is his book and life his school? Will that day be?”   It may indeed feel at odd if I were to say to you that the happiest moment of my life ...

Two great masters Buddha and Jesus. One fetched the title ‘atheist’ (Buddha) and the other ‘theist’ (Jesus). They were dialectically integral but pedagogically critical due to which one got the ‘privilege’ of being the founder of a ‘theistic’ way (Christianity) and the other had to face the ‘ignominy’ of being the founder an ‘atheistic’ way (Buddhism). Both started as ‘Way’. Christianity was initially known as ‘The Way’. Finally both got relegated into a religion. Christianity giving predominant importance to the orthodox dimension of religiosity and Buddhism giving vitality to the orthopraxis realm of religiosity. What is required is to bring the orthodoxy and orthopraxy dimensions together to break the cocoon of religion and reclaim the fragrance of the Way. This is an attempt to bring together the thoughts of either master on theism. Buddha and Jesus      There has always been an argument that Buddha rejected the notion of God and so he was even calle...

What needs to be ruminated time and again is a movement started by a carpenter and a few fishermen; a bunch of stinking labourers whose sweat testified their faith and praxis. They perspired for the sake of the kingdom of God at the expense of being called ‘vagabonds’. Indubitably what emanated from them was the stench of labour than the fragrance of complacency. They knew the value of hunger and that may be the reason why their kingpin Jesus equated his body with bread. What else could he have compared his body with in a poverty-stricken world? How else could he have conveyed his conviction in a world where people were impoverished by the dominant? Mahatma Gandhi reckons “There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”   Christology of Bread becomes the kernel of Christianity keeping in mind the liberative axiom of this ‘Labourers’ Movement.’ Christianity would always remain a Labourers’ Movement incessantly demandin...

A man visited a Sufi Guru. On entering the Guru’s room the visitor felt uncomfortable as there was no chair for him to sit. Visitor: You could have a chair at least. Guru: Where is your chair? Visitor: My Chair? I am journeying Guru: So am I. We are all journeying. “Life is a journey and not a destination” are the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The beauty of this journey is that it has no destination. The problem of having a destination while journeying is we get fixated on it and ‘the moments’ loose their significance whereas to journey without destination is to enjoy the vitality of each moment.   Live in the moment is what I would urge my readers to adhere to. You may either look back, brood on your past and loose your spontaneity in life, to put it in biblical rhetoric, become a pillar of salt (Gen 19: 26) or you could be anxious about future and make life chaotic. In both the cases you are compromising on the veracity of this journey. How conveniently w...