MAHATMA GANDHI

Banished to a currency note

By P N Benjamin

We have denied Gandhi in every step we have taken since Independence…

Today is January 30. As a nation we pay our homage to Mahatma Gandhi’s memory with great fanfare and publicity: the visit of dignitaries to Raj Ghat, the laying of wreathes, the singing of Ram dhun, garlanding of Mahatma’s statues and portraits, the mass spinning, the public speeches of praise for all that he was to us and to the world, and in our individual and collective life. Our duty done on that day, we revert to our ways of individual and collective violence, greed, political chicanery, economic and social oppression.

Albert Einstein had wondered whether future generations would ever believe that such a man as Gandhi walked this earth. His wonder stemmed out of his uncanny discovery that Gandhi’s unshakable faith in the efficacy of non-violence in thought, word and deed, his warning against industrialisation for its own sake and his crusades against social oppression, wherever it occurred, were relevant to the entire humanity.

The famous comedian of the last century, Charlie Chaplin, who packed his films with a philosophy of life, of simplicity, sincerity and human brotherhood, is credited for his movie, Modern Times — a satire on the dehumanisation of modern man in the machine age — only after he had met Mahatma Gandhi in London. But these are far away things for today’s India.

It’s unlikely that our decision makers, society doyens and grassroot activists own up much on Gandhi these days, but perhaps they should. He had said in an essay: “Industrialism is going to be a curse for mankind. The world we must strive to build needs to be based on the concept of genuine social equality — in it, the prince and the peasant, the wealthy and the less well-off, the employer and the employee are on the same level. Economic progress cannot mean that few people charge ahead and more and more people are left behind.”

In the light of today’s globalisation and its consequences, Gandhi was remarkably prescient even though he was referring to his time of infant industrialisation more than a hundred years ago. Globalisation may have swaddled the industrialised societies in prosperity, but there are more poor people now than ever before. Caught up in the growth of Internet, it would be a mistake to confuse the vibrancy of the present industrialised world with the increasingly troubled state of the real world.

We have denied Gandhi in every step we have taken since Independence. Wherever we turn, whether the scene is political, economic or social, our record is nothing but un-Gandhian. It is all a mad struggle for power. The massive lures us and our villages present a picture of desolation, with millions of people migrating to the cities to eke out their pitiful existence. The rising toll of dowry victims and the regular killings of the socially oppressed, and the rape and parading of dalit women naked through the streets blotch our social scene.

We have morally killed Gandhi by rejecting every one of his cherished principles. Of course, we offer lip service to them — a measure of our departing from his principles. Father, forgive us…!

Having bid goodbye to truth in every walk of life, as individuals and as a nation, we are reaping the bitter fruits of a rat-race. We have relegated Gandhi to national holidays, stamps and currency notes. He may well be “the greatest Asian of 20th century”, but his influence on Indian politics is negligible today.

For 43 years, Mahatma Gandhi had worked for a free India. He was a frail, wizened, enigmatic little man, toothless and bald, bowed by the weight of the sorrows of mankind. But he was one of the fabulous figures of human history.

(Deccan Herald, Bangalore- 30 Jan. 2009)

The Crusade behind Conversions

COVERT- Fortnightly

Jan. 16-31 2009

 

The Crusade Behind Conversions

By P.N. Benjamin

Christians are thoroughly muddled over the business of conversion. They don’t want to quit this field of clover. However, think for a moment. Do they really want their Hindu and Muslim friends to join the churches? Listen in at their Pastorate Committee meetings. Quarrels over who is to be the next bishop, principal or secretary? What’s so wonderful about Christians that they should appeal to others to leave their traditions and come to Christian camps? Christians, who are neither fish, flesh nor good red herring? Do they really take the teachings of Christ seriously?

Christians’ morals are no better than others. Don’t they take and give bribes, tell lies like anyone else? As to violence, they don’t need to learn anything. They have in the past set fire to a bishop and his wife. The bishop survived and the wife died. That happened in the late 1970s. The bishop was none other than Bishop Anantha Rao Samuel who later became the Moderator of the Church of South India. I ask my Christian brethren: wasn’t there anything else we could burn — paper, cigarettes, fireworks?

What is more — Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew and he remained one. He did not found Christian religion. That was done by organisation-loving men. He showed the Christians a way, which was he himself. But he was a daredevil all right, and used pretty strong language when it came to telling the priests and leaders where to get off. He even called them “whited sepulchres” [isn’t that a lovely phrase?]. The Jews despised the Samaritans, somewhat like the way Dalits have been despised in our country for centuries or the Blacks in the US. But Jesus was always telling them stories about how much better as human beings the Samaritans were.

When the traveller fell among thieves the priest and the upper-castes passed him by, but the Dalit bound his wounds and took him to an inn. Ten lepers were healed. Only one returned to give thanks to God and he was a Dalit.

One day Jesus was found talking to a Dalit woman — a woman, believe it or not. Jews never spoke to women and even his disciples were shocked at his atrocious behaviour. Added to it, the woman had had five husbands. To top it all, he asked her for a drink of water. As bad as a Brahmin asking a Dalit in some parts of Tamil Nadu for water from an out-caste well. No wonder the priests wanted to do him in. They waited around corners to slosh him on the head. Finally, they got him crucified with two thieves.

No one can deny that genuine conversions do take place through the influence of one individual. A lovely Ca nadian girl came to India [Bangalore] on a Government of India scholarship to learn Bharatnatyam in the 1970s. Like so many of her generation she was an agnostic. She was U.S. Krishna Rao’s star pupil and made her debut in six months. One day she met Mother Teresa. She fell under her spell. She abandoned dance and donned the robes of a nun. “You are a born artiste. How dare you become a nun?” Krishna Rao raged in vain. She went to Kolkata and later to Mexico where she was working in a slum when we last heard about her. No one can quarrel with such a conversion. But when a well-organised body financed by foreign money begins to shift a whole herd of people from one caste to another, one begins to suspect their motives.

A brilliant Danish professor, Dr Kaaj Baago, in the United Theological College, Bangalore, made history when he said in the 1960s: “Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists should never give up their religion to join the Christian Church.” On the other hand, the Church should humble itself and find ways of identifying itself with other groups, taking Christ with them. Christ, he said, was not the chairman of the Christian party. If God is the Lord of the universe he will work through every culture and religion. We must give up the crusading spirit of the colonial era and stop singing weird hymns like “Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war“. This will lead to Hindu Christianity or Buddhist Christianity. It must involve the disappearance of the Indian Christian community, but he reminded us: “A grain of wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls to the ground and dies.”

Needless to say, Indian Christians were furious. He left the College, the Church and the mission and took refuge with the Danish Foreign Service. He later returned to India as his country’s Ambassador and died in harness in 1988.

One last story. About 150 years ago, the Church of England was sending out a very important Anglican Church dignitary as Metropolitan of Calcutta. The Brahmin priests got wind of it. This foreign religion might become a threat to their own traditions. They must investigate. So they sent one of their men to investigate. He wandered around the city till he came to the Bishop’s residence. It was a vast, sprawling opulent mansion. As he stood at the gate the great man walked down the steps, arrayed in his magnificent robes. He stepped into the waiting carriage drawn by two horses with a postillion sitting at the rear.

The spy returned to his friends. “Have no fears,” he said, “this is not a religion we need fear.” The priests were relieved, and rightly relieved, for the pomp and splendour of organised Christianity holds no appeal for any genuine seeker after truth

P.N. Benjamin is Coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue [BIRD]

Mahatma Gandhi & the ‘Modern Times’

Mahatma Gandhi and the ‘Modern Times’

By P.N.BENJAMIN

Today, January 30. As a nation we pay our homage to Mahatma Gandhi’s memory with great fanfare and publicity – the visit of dignitaries to Rajghat, the laying of wreathes, the singing of Ram Dhun, garlanding of Mahatma’s statues and portraits, the mass spinning, the public speeches of praise for all that he was to us and to the world, and in our individual and collective life. Our duty done on that day, we revert to our ways of individual and collective violence, greed, political chicanery, economic exploitation and social oppression. The great scientist, Albert Einstein, had wondered whether future generations would ever believe that such a man as Gandhi walked this earth. His wonder stemmed out of his uncanny discovery that Gandhi’s unshakable faith in the efficacy of non-violence in thought, word and deed, his warning against industrialization for its own sake and his crusades against social oppression and injustice, wherever it occurred, were relevant to the entire humanity. The famous comedian of the last century, Charlie Chaplin, who packed his films with a philosophy of life, of simplicity, sincerity and human brotherhood, is credited with the production of the movie, “Modern Times” – a satire on the dehumanisation of modern man in the machine age – only after he had met Mahatma Gandhi in London. But these are far away things for the present day Indians. It’s unlikely that our decision makers, society doyens and grass-root activists own up much on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi these days – but perhaps they should. He had said in an essay: “Industrialism is going to be a curse for mankind. The world we must strive to build needs to be based on the concept of genuine social equality – in it, the prince and the peasant, the wealthy and the less well-off, the employer and the employee are on the same level. Economic progress cannot mean that few people charge ahead and more and more people are left behind.” In the light of today’s globalisation and its consequences, Gandhi was remarkably prescient – even though he was referring to his time of infant industrialisation more than a hundred years ago. Globalisation may have swaddled the industrialised societies in prosperity, but there are more poor people now than ever before. Caught up in the growth of Internet, it would be a mistake to confuse the vibrancy of the present industrialised world with the increasingly troubled state of the real world. We have denied Gandhi in every step we have taken since Independence. Wherever we turn – whether the scene is political, economic or social – our record is nothing but un-Gandhian. It is all a mad struggle for power. In the economic field the massive lures us and our villages present a picture of desolation, with millions of people migrating to the cities to eke out their pitiful existence. The rising toll of dowry victims and the regular killings of socially oppressed, and the rape and parading of dalit women naked through the streets blotch our social scene. This is our India today – every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. We have morally killed Gandhi by rejecting every one of his cherished principles. Of course, we offer lip service to every one of them – a measure of our departing from his principles. Father, forgive us…! Having bid goodbye to Truth in every walk of life, as individuals and a nation, we are reaping the bitter fruits of the rat-race. We have relegated Gandhi to national holidays, stamps and currency notes. He may well be “the greatest Asian of 20th century”, but his influence on Indian politics is negligible today, as negligible as his impact on the present-day Indian politicians. For forty-three years Mahatma Gandhi, saint and mystique, had worked for a free and united India. He was a frail, wizened, enigmatic little man, toothless and bald, bowed by the weight of the sorrows of mankind. But he was one of the fabulous figures of human history. The light of Gandhi that “shone over this country was no ordinary light… In a thousand years that light will still be seen, the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented something more than the immediate present; it represented the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom”. (Nehru) Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom/Lead thou us on; /the night is dark, and we are far from home, / Lead thou us on. P.N.BENJAMIN