புத்தாண்டே வருக - பாடல்

CELEBRATE THE WORD AND CHANGE THE WORLD

The Bible Speaks For Ever

B.D. Speaks only for A Year

The Joy of Christmas has to be expressed significantly with the Message it conveys.

- [A Repost - But Must Read]

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The Danger

Every other day we read one or the other news that is related to the ecological crises and the imminent danger that is set to fall on posterity. Though there are natural disasters that take away life and the future, the disasters caused by humans are dangerous. Most of the studies show that we and our predecessors who have lived during the past 70 years have done more damage to the earth than all other generations put together.  A recent study shows that “humanity which is just 0.01% of living beings, has caused the loss of 83% all wild Mammals and half of the planet.”

The Critique

In 1966, on 26 December, the day after Christmas, Lynn White, addressed a gathering in Washington D C. The Address was later published as “the Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis,” in March 1967. It became such an important document that it is central for anyone who is interested in ecology. His article criticized the Judaic Christian tradition as responsible for the crisis because of the world view it had portrayed. According to him, the anthropocentric world view is the major candidate to be blamed for the crisis. 

The Response

Whether or not true, we have to give this point some serious consideration, if we really care for the world.  We have often seen the world as a place of exploitation and as if they are at our disposal. In Laudato si, the first ever encyclical totally dedicated to the care of nature, Pope Francis deals with the verse 2: 15 taken from the book of Genesis: “till and keep it”. He says that we have to cultivate and care for the earth. We become stewards and care-takers of the earth. We, the Christian community all over the world applauded the encyclical so much and conducted seminars at various levels to till the earth and care for it. Three years after receiving the encyclical, we need to ask ourselves where exactly do we stand?  

We cannot save the earth with mere seminars and meetings. We need to continuously struggle to protect it.   We need to have a committee dedicated for the care of nature – “ecological committee” like finance committee in the parish and at the diocesan levels. If we seriously respond to the criticism of Lynn White and respond to the call of the Pope, we need to ask ourselves – what ought we to do as Christians?

A sincere question is posed to us: what have we done as Catholics to reduce the damage and harm done to the nature? More than 25 % of the total trees are cut down in the world for the paper industries. I don’t need to tell you the importance of trees and the forest. Yet we have been cutting down trees for human consumption. In spite of the digital world, we still use lots of papers for the day today life. We not only need to plant a few trees, we need to work out a plan that will indirectly reduce the cutting down of trees for the paper industries.

The Word became Man

Let me explain the issue in the context of the season when we remember God’s incarnation - God taking the human form. Jesus loved this world – all his teachings somehow included the reference to the natural kingdom – the birds of the air, mustard seed, the sower and the word of God, etc. All these examples can be the source of our care for the nature. But more importantly, I want to insist that the logos of God which is God Himslef [Eucharist] and his words that are contained in the scripture [Bible] are the true sources of our Faith. Along with the Eucharist, the Bible is the source of God’s Words uttered to us to meditate / contemplate and to understand the plan of God.

The Bible became Closer 

It should be acknowledged here that only after the Vatican II, the Catholic Church has moved up from below sea level in the use of scripture to the heights of the sky. The Catholics began carrying the Bible and using it during the breaking of the Word. The Scripture is used in the Mass not as an academic material for study but as the sacred scripture that is used as the Holy Book. That is why liturgy of the word is part of the Eucharist. People who were carrying the Bible now are carrying ‘Bible Diaries’.

The Bible becomes an Object of Untouchability

With the advent of the business of making bible diaries, we are going back to the level below the sea in using the Bible. We had distanced the Bible from the faithful prior to Vatican II from the people. With the consumerist publications of Bible Diaries we are distancing the scripture from the faithful yet again. We begin to separate the word of God from the Bible and make it as an object of study or an exercise in piety rather than words for contemplation. We have the bible diaries – normal, special, pocket size, executive and Royal Bible Diaries. We are alienating people from the Bible as well perpetrating economic discrimination. Are we not perpetrating different bible diaries for different classes of people? 

I believe that the publishers would have earned some profit when half of what they had printed sold out? However, in the month of January the diaries are available with 10% discount, in February 20%, and Easter time with a 30%. Some publishers would even be willing to bury the unsold diaries in the dust bins rather than giving it to the poor to read in the month of April and May. 

I am well aware of the fact that I am touching upon a very sensitive issue. And I am struggling to see a way out of this problem. May be it is left to the Christian Publishers in the Country who are different from the secular liberal publishers whose motive is profit. It may also be true that other religious or secular organisations have Christian names for their publications and are publishing profit making materials. However it is time for the Catholic Publishers to prove that their target is not profit but rather the promotion of truth, proclamation of the good news and setting an example to others on being true witnesses. Though I have no rightto enter into the business of the publishers, I think Christians have a moral duty to respond to the ecological crisis by reducing the use of paper on unnecessary publications. 

The Word Reprinted

We print the bible diaries every year which have nothing new except the small reflections. Otherwise every other year the readings are the same for weekdays and the same every three years on Sundays. What we need along with the bible is only the ORDO. Instead of carrying a small book, we are publishing various diaries. Are we not doing something out of proportion? Should we keep on printing bible diaries which can be replaced by a booklet? We agree that we will not be able to totally abandon the use of paper and print industries. But our bible diaries are simply being reprinted every year and wasted too. 

Even if those diaries are published, not as a material for profit, for the purpose of evangelisation only, I earnestly request the Christian publishers to think of alternate books for bible diaries, like bible commentaries or reflections rather than bible diaries which are redundantly published. I believe that an ordo (already the parish calendars have the daily readings) and the bible are sufficient for the faithful and the preachers. 

The Gift!

Let our Christmas Gift for the other be simply the ordo and not the bible diaries. By doing this we are contributing indirectly to the saving of the trees by saying ‘No’ to bible diaries and ‘Yes’ to the Bible. Since nature, like Gaja which struck in and around Vailankanni, Vedaranyam and the delta region, may have its own way of uprooting the trees, we should not be the cause of uprooting the trees.  

We may not probably reduce the cutting down of the trees entirely, but we could make a difference. Let the incarnation of Christ teach us to listen to His words properly with due respect in the Bible. This is our message and let this be our resolution for the New Year.   

MERRY CHRISTMAS 
AND 
A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!  

Originally published 

in Vailankanni Calling, December, 2018

THIRUVALLUVAR - 2050

Thiruvalluvar is a Tamil philosopher-poet belonging to the ancient sangam era [roughly 2000 years before]. He is such a great mind that can be paralleled to Aristotle in the ancient Greece. Thiruvalluvar has written Thirukkural consisting of 1330 couplets in 133 chapters. The book has been translated over 80 languages. There are around 50 different versions in English alone. Thirukkural is called the scripture of humanity - not because it is widely available in different languages - because of the content of the book which is common to everyone, irrespective of the religion, creed or the country. Few literatures enjoy the status of being acclaimed as belonging to humanity and we are proud that Thirukkural enjoys such a status.

When somebody enjoys such popularity, there might be always people who either want to identify him as their own or oppose him vehemently as their enemy. Mr. Patel is surely a congress man according to the recorded history; however, it is the present central government whose principles are totally against the congress has constructed the world’s tallest statue of Mr. Patel [600 feet tall] somehow making him as its own ideologue. The congress finds itself in a precarious situation. It cannot oppose an honour that is due to one of its members and therefore has to be silent and accept the honour done to him. But by its silence it also allows one of its members to be absorbed by its own political enemy. A congress man has been immersed into a man of its opposite camp. Absorption of  the members of the opposite camp seems an easy way in politics in India. 

Some such attempts are successful while others are not. Ambedkar’s statues were vandalised and painted in saffron in 2018 and the acts of vandalism were retaliated by the Dalits in UP.  It is quite prevalent in India that some important people’s statues often face vandalism. Now recently in Tamil Nadu, Thiruvalluvar [whose 185 feet tall statue is in Kanyakumari] has been the target of vandalism and absorption. A statue of Thiruvalluvar was desecrated in  the first week of November, 2019 in Pillaiyarpatti, a village near Thanjavur. Later one of the leaders, an associate of the BJP, cleansed the statue and garlanded and paid respect with a saffron towel. I don’t think it to be a problem with paying respect to a person according to the beliefs and colours of the one who pays respect. However, one needs to see this issue of garlanding in a larger context of absorption and diverting the attention of people into an emotional realm. 

The recent trend in India is to create a controversial issue which would divert the people’s attention from their actual problems. Indian economy is down, government companies are at the verge of being privatised. The debates in the media never focus on any of the essential problems of the people. Politicians, whichever party they belong to, seem to engage in this sort of diverting the attention from real problems. These politicians assume the responsibility of experts and scholars by discussing the issues of history and sciences that need scholarship and expertise. It is a sham and shame that politicians, with their influence, modify the historical facts and evidences for their vested interests. If at all there are some discrepancies, it should be left to the battle of the research scholars who objectively evaluate the evidences and establish the truth.  When a state enters into politicising education, an objective research is never possible. Facts and figures will change according to the ruling party. 

Let us take the case of Thiruvalluvar. He was born 2050 years ago. Scholars studying his text and that of others determine the time of the composition and what type of religion he belongs to. Only in researches do we prove others to be wrong and not by desecrating the statue of a man. Once something is established then we could actually change the structure. It is yet another trend in our country that we first change the structure and then try to modify the facts. 

While many scholars believe that Thiruvalluvar belonged to Jainism others believe that he was a buddhist and some believe that he was a man beyond religion who never identified with any religion. I believe that Thiruvalluvar transcends beyond his time and region and is a philosopher of the world. His ideas can be applied to any place and any time and to any God. Let me give an example to the greatness of Thiruvalluvar who cannot be restricted to a particular religion and region and who stands out from other philosophical figures in India. Thiruvalluvar never speaks of a particular God - his notion of God is very common to monotheistic God. That is why he is a great philosopher. Let me give an example of this from the Attributes of God described by him and Thomas Aquinas. 

Thomas Aquinas says that there are 8 attributes of God: God is Simple, Perfect, Good, Infinite, omnipresent, immutable, eternal and Unity [one]. The idea that flows from these attributes are that God alone is the perfect and necessary being who is the first cause (creator) of the universe, who is present everywhere, all the time, without any division and therefore united in Himself. 

Thiruvalluvar has also explained the 8 attributes of God in the first 8 couplets. He says that  1) God is the first cause [as the letter A is the first of all letters, so is God]; 2) God is the  most intelligent Being [pure knowledge]; 3) Omnipresent [He resides even in one’s heart] 4) the most perfect [void of desire or aversion];  5) immutable [No good deed or bad and so unaffected] 6) eternal [faultless, because no desire];  7) Only one [Incomparable]; and 8) all good [Sea of virtue]. 

When a scholar compares the two different versions of the attributes of God, coming from two different epochs and cultures, he/she may find lots of similarities. If we have enough space, we could actually establish that both have been roughly saying the same attributes. Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural is called a World’s scripture because his writings go beyond his time and religion. Therefore he cannot be really be coloured with a particular religion. Though he is rooted in this soil, he extends his branches worldwide. Let me move on to write that how comparative studies can be also misleading.

We have shown that there are similarities between Valluvar and Aquinas. Therefore, can I claim that Aquinas was a disciple of Valluvar? If I do so then that would be totally a baseless claim. I cannot use my political supremacy to say that Aquinas is a Jain / buddhist/ Saivite, because Aquinas gives the same attributes to God as does Valluvar. I think if somebody wishes to propose this hypothesis, he needs to establish the fact of Aquinas’ visitation to Tamilnadu or at the least the possession of Thirukkural in his library. Until it is established or proven with facts and conclusive evidences, the claim is only a hypothesis intended to divert the people’s attention or to create riots among people.

Let me focus now on another point for our consideration explaining why Valluvar cannot be absorbed by those who claim that he belongs to them. The entire writings and ideas of Valluvar has to be taken into consideration before identifying him with my religious identity. Valluvar is a philosopher against casteism which determines one’s worth with birth and therefore the business is determined by one’s birth. When one believes that our trade is determined by birth, the son of a scavenger will be a scavenger, the son of a business man will be a business man and the son of a priest will be a priest. Birth takes precedence over business and therefore birth is suffice to determine one’s superiority over the other. 

Valluvar reverses this idea of birth determining one’s worth saying that all humans are equal by birth and we are different (not superior over others) only by profession. This means that the son of a business man can become a priest and his son can become a soldier. If we understand the importance of virtue in Thirukkural, it is not difficult to translate the couplet 972: “Birth is equal to all; good deeds or bad deeds in our professions determine our worth.” If someone does his business virtuously he is respected because of his profession. If somebody cheats others in his business, he is disrespected because of his profession. Hence someone, who believes that we are good or bad by birth, has no right to absorb Valluvar as his/her own.

Just because Gandhi said that he liked Christ and his teachings, I cannot claim and say that Gandhi is a Christian if we take into consideration most of his writings and explanations. If I do so then it is clear that I am doing it for my own political vested interest. The case of Valluvar also is the same. Just because there are similarities between Thirukkural and different religions, one can never absorb Valluvar in to his/her own religion or culture. And just by modifying the statues, one cannot rewrite history. Let us be generous in leaving out the research to the scholars. Let the scholars fight over this. Let the politicians fight for the rights of the people. 

By way of concluding, we could listen to Valluvar who has a lesson to teach us: “if a man inflicts sorrow upon others in the morning, it will come upon him unsought in the very evening”[319]. And there is yet another lesson that is to be learned from him. “The (proper) punishment to those who have done evil (to you), is to put them to shame by showing them kindness in return” [314].  

We need to respond to them with kindness, but, would that kindness have any effect? I hope so.

[Published in 2019 December - Vailankanni Calling]