Spirituality Binds

 

Spirituality Binds

Jesus came into the world to save mankind and rid them of the evil that was stalking them. It was never his intention to proselytize or establish a religion or a cult.  His teachings were simple and eloquent. Through the Lord’s Prayer he taught people how to pray – a prayer, not a literary masterpiece or not a rambling narration.  He fought against the injustice meted out to the indigent. He fought against corruption in high places and especially corruption in the church. The outcome was predictable. When their hegemony was under threat, the inconvenienced crucified him. They thought that was the end of Jesus. However God had other ideas.

Jesus had exhorted his followers to propagate his vision to the entire world. Christianity as a religion came into existence when the followers of Jesus Christ were identified as Christians. The early Christians suffered at the hands of the Romans. Though the Roman persecution was stringent, Jesus’ followers propagated the teachings of Jesus branching out into the world. Christianity prospered amidst unimaginable persecution. Today, Romans are nowhere. The Roman Empire that ruled the world has been eclipsed.  And now, Rome is the capital of Christianity. Look how God acts.

India that is Bharat has a 5000 year old civilization and tradition. Spirituality is at the core of the nation and spirituality is the chord that holds the country of vast diversities together.   Hindu religion has survived here despite multiple onslaughts by invaders from all over the world. They had enslaved the people. They had pilfered the riches of the country, invasion after invasion. But India has survived. Hinduism has survived. The Hindu religion is the world’s most tolerant religion. It advocates inclusion.

Christianity arrived in India 2000 years ago. So did it in our part of the world too.  If forcible conversion or proselytisation had been the agenda Christians would have been numero uno in India. But they constitute hardly two percent of the population. Yet Christianity has survived in India solely due to the phenomenal tolerance of the Hindus.

Christians of our era have been handed everything on a platter. Most of them enjoy a prosperity that is the envy of the rest. They could say they had been immensely blessed by the Lord. But what has it done to them? Except for the picture of Jesus Christ that invariably adorns the walls of the Christian households, Christ has no place in the hearts of quite a number of Christians. Jesus has become an ornament here.   I had often wondered a long while back,  wasn’t   it time the picture of the crucified Jesus in Christian homes had been replaced by a Rupees One thousand bank note, that however is no longer in existence now.   Yes, money power has the upside over faith today. If we mourn another religion reigns over vast tracts of land parcels where Christianity had held sway, we don’t have to go far to search for the causes. Corruption and money power that Jesus had fought against have made their mark once again in the Christian Church. Our God does not like the sheep straying from the chosen path.  And he punishes.  How?

It was in 2011 a preacher, an evangelist, from New Delhi had delivered messages in the convention held at Christ Church, Trivandrum. He spoke on general terms. He was pained at the materialistic tendencies prevailing in the Church in India that was taking people away from God. He said, he had a feeling some persecution might be good for the Christians in India so that they would stay closer to God. According to him persecution brings out the best in man. I do not subscribe to his view that is self effacing. But it is true, faith has to score over materialism

Yes, faith in God alone pulls us through the thorny, stony track.  If you think you are somebody, God would make you understand you are nobody.

Believe. Just believe in God. And discover where it leads you to.

Abraham Jacob

7^th February 2024

 

DIFFICULT

 Difficult

We were at Church

Today

As people moved up 

To partake in

Holy Communion 

We could see people 

Have aged

Just as 

We are

They laboured

As they moved

Now

Walking is difficult

Climbing steps is difficult

Bending is difficult

Running is difficult

Raising hands is difficult

Seeing is difficult

Jumping is difficult

Working is difficult

Eating is difficult

Sleeping is difficult

Staying awake is difficult

Reading is difficult

Writing is difficult

Keeping fine is difficult

Cooking is difficult

Laundry is difficult

Squatting is difficult

Crouching is difficult

Kneeling is difficult

Exercising is difficult

Thinking is difficult

To the chagrin of

The old

Growing up is

Indeed difficult 

Questions

Questions

Abraham Jacob

21stJanuary2024

HONESTY & HUMILITY – THE TWIN Hs

 

HONESTY & HUMILITY – THE TWIN Hs

Honesty and humility have a multiplicative impact on life as well as leadership,

 

Humility is staying grounded through cycles of success and failure, knowing that you alone are not the reason for your success.

 

We have pristine honesty and majority honesty.

 

When you have the courage to do right even when everybody else does wrong, it is pristine honesty.

 

The attitude, ‘we do right when everybody else does right, but we find it acceptable to do wrong when everybody else does wrong,’ defines majority honesty. We think it is acceptable for honest people to do wrong because everybody else is doing wrong as well. We don’t think we are dishonest when we do wrong that way.

 

Life goes haywire when the twin Hs - Humility and Honesty – go missing.

 

Leadership fails.

 

Source:

Catalyst

Chandramouli Venkatesan

 

 

A COMPLAINT THAT WENT UNHEEDED

 Shri. K. Rajan,

Minister for Revenue and Housing
Govt of Kerala
Trivandrum                                                                                                                           7^th September 2023
 
Respected Sir,

COMPLAINT
 
I take the liberty of writing to you as I strongly feel you have to be aware of what happens in the offices under your control. I beg your pardon for using English instead of the official language that is my mother tongue.
 
I visited the Village Office,  Kadakampally, Thiruvananthapuram today, 7^th September2023 for remitting land tax for the year 2023-24 at 11.30 AM.  I enquired with the official at the reception counter where I could remit the land tax.  She directed me to the official at the extreme end. I waited for my turn there. When the person in front was dealt with, I requested the official to accept the tax. She told me I have to go to the Sir at the other end. There were two persons ahead of me in the queue. When they had moved off I presented Five Land Tax receipts of the previous year to the Sir. The properties were in the names of three members of our family. To my utter surprise, the Sir told me he could not accept the tax as there were five receipts. Further he added there was a queue behind me. When I counted later there were six people behind me. The Sir advised me to go and remit the tax at Akshaya Centre. When I asked him where the Akshaya Centre was situated the reply was, he did not know. As I moved off disappointed, a person in the queue told me the Akshaya Centre was fifty feet across the road.
 
When I reached the Akshaya Centre, they told me they would accept the tax there. But there was a hitch. They could not do anything without electricity. The supply had gone off when they had opened for the day. Though they had registered a complaint there had been no response from KSEB, Pettah till then. There were quite a number of people there waiting for services. I chose to weight it out. It was 11.50 AM. As I waited there, I could hear them complaining repeatedly to the KSEB. The public too took up the cause and they too had complained to KSEB. At 1 pm two employees of KSEB reached the Akshaya Centre. They rectified the glitch in about twenty minutes. Once the power supply was restored, the Akshaya Centre sprang into life and they needed just ten minutes to accept the payment Rs.960.00 from me. I left the Akshaya Centre at 1.45pm. Kindly look at the herculean effort to remit taxes to the Government.
 
I just wonder why the Sir at the Village Office refused to accept the tax payment from me.  I feel he had forgotten that the cash I remit would add to the State’s kitty whereby it would form a part of his salary. Government, I believe is for the people and not for the Sirs like him alone.
 
Before reaching the Village Office, I had visited the Zonal Office of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation at Venpalavattom to remit the building tax for our residence and the residence of my son. The official was quite friendly. While he could accept the tax for the house in Kadakampally Ward, he was unable to accept it for the Pettah Ward. When he referred the issue to his superior,  the unfriendly supervisor at once told me to proceed to the Corporation office at Palayam. When I told the friendly official that taxes for both the houses were remitted at that office the previous year, he asked me to wait. I saw him searching in the computer and finally he told me the tax could be accepted there. He collected the tax and issued the receipts.
 
My request is that the Government must post friendly officials at the counters that engage the public.
 
I narrated the two incidents along with the indifference of KSEB with a view to make you aware of what the common man is going through when he approaches Government offices for essential services. Personally, I have found  the remittance of taxes due to the Government has been an ordeal all through these years.
 
I will indeed be happy if you can alter the cruel mindset, of the officials who are well paid, for the better.
 
Yours Sincerely
Abraham Jacob
House No 28
NSS Karayogam Road
Anayara PO
Thiruvananthapuram 695029
 
Phone. 9447253532
 

BETHEL ASHRAM Kuttapuzha Tiruvalla Kerala India

 

BETHEL ASHRAM 

 

Bishop Gill who led the Anglican Diocese of Travancore and Cochin in the erstwhile Princely State of Travancore, found the marginalization of women in Travancore quite strange.  He knew from his own experience in England, the country of his origin, that no society could ever progress if it denied basic rights to women who formed fifty percent of the population of a country. Together with his wife, Ella Margaret Gill (Mary Thorp Gill) Rt..Rev.Charles Hope Gill, a man of God and popularly known as Bishop Gill conceptualized the Bethel Ashram with the vision, ’As seeing Him Who is Invisible,’ in the year 1922 and entrusted Sr Edith Neve & Sr. Rachel Joseph to translate the concept to reality.

The eminent Sisters, who had nothing, set about methodically to enliven the vision. They had God behind them, with them. Their assignment was explicit – empowerment of women, with zero exclusions and with special focus on the Dalits and the marginalized, looking after and taking care of the interests of the children, for they were the future and above all extension of universal education through the length and breadth of the state.

Bethel Ashram, Varikkad, Kuttapuzha, Tiruvalla, Kerala, an integral constituent of the CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese, helmed by Sr. Santhamma Joseph, the Mother and Sr. Annamma Mathew, the Assistant Mother, today is a beehive of activities. It resonates with the training of missionaries for evangelization, English and Malayalam medium schools, boarding for girls, Creche, Nursery, Orphanage, Old age Home, shelter for sick and weak women, vocational training in Tailoring and agriculture. However, the infrastructure yearns for modernization.

The year 1928 is an important milestone in the history of Bethel Ashram. With a view to foster universal education, the Bethel community Lower Primary School was established in the Campus that year. It brought education closer to the people for whom it was inaccessible till then.  It was upgraded to an Upper Primary school in 1964. In the year 2014, respecting the desire of the people of the locality for better educational facilities for their children, the Sr.Edith Neve & Sr. Rachel Joseph CBSE School had been established  in  the Campus. Though the construction of a new school building had commenced soon to house the CBSE School, it could not be finished due to financial inadequacy. The well-planned project requires a minimum of Rs.95.00 lacs more for completion.

Bethel Ashram does not generate any income on its own. Yet it believes in making the world a better place through the munificence of well-wishers who are legion in numbers. Prompted by the Lord they have sustained Bethel Ashram till date. It has enabled them make a difference in the lives of the children by providing them with essential facilities in their quest for knowledge.

However Bethel Ashram never appeals to anyone to take to heart their needs.  They leave it to the Lord to look after their needs. They are sanguine God would elicit support for them.

Strange, but true.

 

 

TAKE IT EASY

 

                                         TAKE IT EASY

                 To be Stress free, adopt ‘Take it Easy’ Policy

‘Stress’ has always been with mankind.

Stress is a complex physical and psychological response of an individual to any challenging or intimidating stimulus.

Stress, on the positive side, enables us to step up our efforts to survive and fight back. If there was no stress you would become lazy and remain in your comfort zone forever.

Stress, on the flipside, jolts us, threatens our cheerfulness, overwhelms our psyche and unless managed effectively ends up in inflicting several bodily and mental disorders.

Today, we are perpetually fatigued. Our mind is muddled. We have meagre resources to fight back, as we have to content with an unfriendly environment, natural disasters, polarisation, fragile and distant relationships and a workspace that demands success at any cost.

Though we can blame external factors for the mess we are in, we have to admit that stress is our inner response to the issues that pin us down. Stress, in most situations, can be effectively managed if we understand our discontent and learn to rewire ourselves.

There are two steps to manage stress.

First, disconnect ourselves from information, tasks and worries that are unimportant. Employ your time, energy and mental resources judiciously. Tell yourself, there are tasks that can wait, there is a lot of information you need not be aware of and there are worries that would never be life threatening.

Second, never carry a profound wish to bring about a change in people close to you. Perhaps they may not vibe with us. Please accept that in real life, some things will remain out of our control and will never match with our vision. Let go of them. Focus on what we can do to make our life more peaceful, meaningful and fulfilling.

De-stressing becomes a way of life when we learn to take it easy and discard superfluous baggage.

For, feelings of peace and happiness are not dependent on what is happening beyond us, but are based on how we feel within us.

 

Condensed from an article, in Times of India of 30^th November 2023, by Pulkit Sharma, Clinical Psychologist, Puducherry.   

 

ON DEMOCRACY DEBATE AND DISSENT D Y Chandrachud CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

 

ON DEMOCRACY  DEBATE  AND DISSENT

D Y Chandrachud

CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

 

The Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud  says that a society that does not encourage its citizens to critically think, question powers that be and engage in non conformist democratic discourse will fail to progress because it will fail to create dissenters.

He elaborates, “Dissents emerge not from thin air but from a democratic culture of fierce debate. Abolition of slavery, annihilation of caste, emancipation of gender minorities and religious harmony were all once dissenting opinions.” “Social harmony in a democracy should not be achieved by flushing out dissent. In a democracy the majority will have its way, but the minority must have its say. A society is often known by its great dissenters because dissenters inform us of the location and direction of a democracy. The beauty of a democracy is the sense of moral status with which all citizens can participate in a country and the consensus in its decision making.”