From the perspective of Eternity!

As I am getting ready to leave for Secunderabad, a twin city of Hyderabad, now in Telengana State in India, to do my 4th Module out of six modules of the course in Advanced Counseling, I was munching in my mind about some one, whom I had been counseling. That person (gender, name, place - all confidential!) was at the verge of collapsing back to the depressed state that once had bogged down that person. I was trying to pep up and bring that person to the rational thinking level so that that person would be out of that dangerous state of sliding back into depression. 

During the course in counseling, I read Selwyn Hughes' book, "A Friend in Need: How to help people through their problems," which narrows down the essential personal needs of human beings to basic three needs of 'security, significance and self-esteem.' These needs deal with the need to belong, the need to achieve, and need for self-worth, respectively. He ends the book showing that in this transient world, all these three important and core needs of a human being could only be found in God. Searching for these in the wrong places, namely the spouse or children or parents or friends or work or social relationships, are the root cause of almost all of our problems in life. Larry Crabb, in his book, "Effective Biblical Counseling," brings down the important personal needs to two, security and significance, both of which when available, would go on to make a perfectly and well adjusted person, for his self-worth would have been completely satisfied. He also takes pains to explain that this is possible only in God, our Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die in our place so that we could live. 

Recently J. Warner Wallace had written that if we compare our stay on the earth with eternity, our lives on earth is such a small fraction of the whole, that our pains are not really so significant as we think. If eternity is for ever, and our life-span on earth is at the most only 100 years, then it is not much from the perspective of eternity. So what are we really grumbling about? Our sorrows and pains, struggles and disappointments, heart aches and many times joy also, these appear huge to us because we are so close to the happenings. Imagine that all our sorrows end in hundred years, and after that we live in eternity without any pain what so ever, then will our sorrows really count much? It won't. 

Of course to inherit that blissful eternal life, the only way is Jesus Christ, because he says so as recorded in the Bible, at John 14:6, 

'Jesus said to him, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life,

No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus Christ comes to reside in us as our Counselor and Comforter, guiding our every step, so that we do not make a false move. When we trust in Him, He becomes our security and He gives us our significance, not just here in our limited life on earth, but also for eternity. 

I am reminded of this beautiful Psalm, 30, verse 5b, 

                 "Weeping may endure for a night,

                 But joy comes in the morning."

Yes, our lives on this earth with all its troubles and trails is only a night, for morning comes like the dawn, bring with it joy, that of eternal life and living in the very presence of God and Christ for eternity. 

We can face any tribulation in this life of ours on earth, with the perspective of eternity. 

Bye friends. 

Same sex marriages! OMG! What ever happened to American people?!

I am not able to understand the psychology behind these same sex marriages, and the Supreme court's ruling that it is legal in America. What seems to be the problem? Is there a shortage of eligible men or eligible women in America? I personally know of many young men and women in USA, divorced or just single, waiting to find the right partner, including my own son. Is it that girls there find young men obnoxious and young men find girls undesirable? What is this inborn tendency, or sexual orientation, which is said to be the reason behind a man preferring a man, and not a woman, as a life partner, and vice versa? It is not even that the divorce rate among homosexuals is any less or better than that prevailing among the heterosexuals. It is seen to be almost the same. Then why? I cannot fathom this, for this seems a greater mystery than even the Big Bang theory and the controversy, whether matter existed always or began with the Big Bang!

Trying to find out how the general populace acquiesced to such relationships in the West in general and in America in particular, it is seen that it was quite gradual; till the time of Presidency of Ronald Reagan, in 1984, it was still being opposed. Gradually the climate changed and every on-coming President then on gave-in and gradually support to this peculiar sexual orientation grew politically and socially. If Clinton openly supported it, George W. Bush opposed it, but indirectly supported it. However, it was Obama, who openly supported and passed on legislation to remove many discretion against same-sex marriages. He must have been looked upon as their savior par excellence.

We find similar relationships legally recognized and flourishing at least once in the ancient world, in the classical period in Greece. But that was a little different in that it was an amorous relationship between an adult male and a young teenage boy. In today's language we would term it as pornography or sexual abuse of teenagers. In ancient Greece, in 6-7th century onward, it was an accepted practice, which Socrates himself indulged in. We call it Pederasty, which basically means 'abuse of minors.'

Again going back in time, we find such a tendency in the narrative of the life of Lot, nephew of Abraham, given in Genesis, chapter 13-19. Abraham is considered the Father of both the monotheistic religions, Judaism and Islam. Lot, his nephew, had settled down in the well-watered plain of Jordan, where the town Sodom was situated. Gen.13:13 says, "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against God." Gen.18:20-21 says, 'The Lord said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the out cry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." Having heard such reports against the cities and having ascertained the situation personally, God decides to destroy these two towns completely and sends His angels to carry out the punishment. Lot takes the angels as visitors to the town and takes them under his roof for food and stay. That is when the men of Sodom come knocking in asking Lot to hand over the visitors to them so that they 'may know them carnally.' Gen.19:5. These two cities were overthrown by the Lord who rained brimstone and fire out of the heavens. Gen.19:24. The sin of these men is traditionally referred to by us as 'sodomy,' known after the wicked town of infamy.

May be the homosexual people in the West, living in the Post-Christian world, have forgotten about this episode or they just don't want to accept it as true. How could God be so cruel as to destroy two towns in such a manner, for just having such a sexual orientation? Not, possible, they might say. Or better still, 'we do not want a God like that, and we will be our own gods and redraw the boundaries of ethics and do exactly what occurs to us as right.' It is almost like thumping their noses at God and saying, 'There I have done it! Now what will you do to me?' So much for free will and freedom of choice and civil rights of any and every one in the world!

There is a saying in India, 'King will kill immediately, but God will linger on and kill.' Yes, God gives a long rope, hoping against hope that  people will repent and return to Him and to the healthy ethical life He has advocated and commanded in His book called Bible, so that He doesn't have to destroy the cities or country or the people. But long rope is just that, a long rope. When people do not understand it and try to defy God, then the rope becomes something to hang the neck by.

How I wish that the West, will return to Bible, it's author God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and not go down the drain. Today's America appears to be ruled by the minorities. What is the majority doing? Wake up from the slumber, your country is going down the drain. Do not allow it, for God's sake!

What did Eve do that merited such a big punishment?

Some time ago a friend of mine asked me, 'What is the great crime that Eve committed that God should punish, not just the first pair, but the entire humanity in such a horrible manner?' Of course, the whole thing was subject to Bible being truthfully the Word of God. Presuming that the matter reported in the Bible is the truth, which I believe firmly, this remark made me go into the depth of the first disobedience, to analyse and see what was the motive behind the whole affair and was whether the punishment was excessive or not.

Was Eve attracted only by the wholesome fruit or was there something more than that? Genesis 3:6 tells us that she contemplated regarding the proposal of the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, and took the decision to to disobey God's command and eat the fruit and also give it to her husband, who accepted her decision and ate it, based mainly on three reasons. One, the fruit was good for food, it did not look poisonous or bitter; two, the fruit was pleasing to the eye, it was neither crooked nor gruesome, and third, it was desirable to gain wisdom. The third reasoning must have clicked the deal. Even so, after all, they just desired to gain wisdom. Surely that cannot be a major cause for banishment and punishment! Then what was it, that made God take such a drastic measure? What was the ultimate motive of the first human pair? 

The clue lies in the proposition of the serpent. Satan, who used the serpent to approach Eve, said in Gen.3:5, 'God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' He further assured them that they will not die if they ate the fruit, as God had warned them. That seems to be the crux of the matter. God was all powerful, had created the wonderful universe and the earth and all the living creatures in it, including the first human pair, so effortlessly, through His word. He spoke and it happened. Awe inspiring power and majesty! Instead of just standing there gaping at all these and worshiping that God for what He is, wouldn't it be wonderful if they had similar power? Then they could be Gods and need not worship any body else! May be somebody else or something else will worship them! That was the temptation and both succumbed to it. 

Three truths to be grasped here. One, God's first command to children of Israel, whom He rescued and brought out of slavery in Egypt, was "I am the Lord God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." The next one was, "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:1 & 2. God does not have any rival and does not entertain such claims to be equal to Him. He is the Creator and the creatures better not try to usurp that position, for it will end only in disaster for the creature, and not for the Creator. It is for our own good that we accept our status as creatures and stand in awe of the Creator, who made us in His likeness. 

Second truth to be grasped here is that Satan himself was a victim of such grand designs. In Ezekiel 28:12 onward what is written is taken as referring to the Fall of Satan, from his prime position of the archangel, created by God. "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering; ...You were the anointed cherub...you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you." And what was that iniquity? Isaiah 14: 12-14 explains thus: " How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!...For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit." Satan then, had ambitions to be God himself! What a pity, he lost his seat in Eden and was flung to the deepest of the pits. Having now become nothing, with enmity in heart, and vengeance to wreck any good work done by God, Satan approached the first human pair and sowed in them the same ambition to become God themselves. And the Fall happened. Because they were duped by the enemy by his clever words, God did not destroy His fallen people, but sent His only Son Jesus Christ and through his work on the cross, recovered those who believed in Christ to be His own again. 

Thirdly is some thing that I discovered while I was researching for my PhD. While God of the Bible said that there shall be no other God and punished people for aspiring to be God, the writings in Upanishads say just the opposite.  Upanishads are the Vedanta, belonging to the Vedic corpus of the Hindus, and this has given rise to a specific philosophy known as Advaita philosophy. Today's New Age teachings in the West are based on many of the tenets of this philosophy, popularized in the West by the Gurus from India. Here the teaching is, "I am Brahman," Brahman being the Supreme Self, the First Principle in the world, the God. The human soul, 'atman,' is being declared by the sages that it is God. In Sanskrit it is "Aham Brahman Asmi," mentioned in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10 & 2.5.19. Then again it is said that "Thou art That," in Sanskrit, "Tat tvum asi," in Chandogya Upanished, 6.8.7. That is 'You are God,' namely Brahman (God) is atman (man) and vice versa. There is no need to go in search of  God somewhere, because you yourself are God. And when you realize this truth you become whole and attain deliverance from this horrible cycle of births and deaths and merge with Brahman, which is called Mukti or Deliverance by a Hindu. So which is the truth, that there is no God but the Creator or all humans are gods? When Moses, who brought the Israelite from Egypt, asks for the name of God, God of Bible says, "I Am Who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I Am has sent me to you." See the difference! First, how do we even think that we could be gods and second, how do we even suggest that all religions are the same and all religions are different roads leading to the same God? Both "I Am Who I Am" and "I am Brahman (God), cannot be the truth. They are different as east is different from the west and far apart as heavens are from the earth.

Now can you see the real motive behind the disobedience of the first human pair and that the punishment was not really excessive? However God is merciful to His creation and is awaiting us to acknowledge that He is the Only God and return to Him in repentance, awe and wonder. 

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands!

As I went speeding over the flyovers to reach Sarjapura Worship Centre, I kept mulling over the message I had planned to deliver there and chuckling to myself about the controversial nature of the subject and wondering how I am going to handle it. Well, I laid it out like this.

Man and woman were created equally in the image of God, so states the Bible. Of course I do understand that in the West, Bible quoting is no longer considered fashionable as Bible itself has gone out of fashion! In countries like India we still values Bible as the Word of God and revere it. So lets get along with it. 

Genesis 1:27 (chapter 1 and verse/sentence 27) says, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." So in creation there was no difference, for both man and woman were created in the image of God, reflecting His attributes. Verse 28 says "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish...birds...over every living creature..." So when God handed over the authority to rule the earth and all the other creatures on earth to mankind, He gave the responsibility equally to both of them, and not to Adam alone. This point is worth noting. 

So what went wrong? We move over to Gen.3:4, where Satan in the form of serpent, brings in the temptation to the human pair. He first approaches Eve, God knows why, but he tells the woman that the forbidden fruit of the tree will not lead to death as told by God, but will open their eyes and they would be like God, knowing good and evil. It is not the simple eating of the fruit that consisted the disobedience to God's commands but the motive behind the disobedience, that is, 'to be like God.' Now, Eve reasons out before eating the fruit. She has three reasons to eat the fruit, as given in verse 6. "the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." So Eve analysed the situation, and then took a decision for herself and her husband and broke the rule. Adam was with her all the while, and agreeing with her, he also ate the fruit. He did not object or give counter reasons why they should not disobey God. He simple ate it along with her, going by her logic, may be being convinced by her reasoning. 

Well, we know what happened after that. It was a pretty bad decision. It changed their lives and the whole world turned topsy-turvy. Let's see how God handled the situation. In verses 14-15, God cursed the serpent, but punished both Eve and Adam. God did not curse the man or the woman, the crown of His creation. For Eve, in verse 16, God multiplied her pain in child birth and most importantly says, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Period. Full stop. I think there ended Eve's independence and her decision-making authority!  

Turn now to the instruction of Paul, written in his Epistle (letter) to Ephesians Eph.5:22, that "Wives, submit to your own husbands as you do to the Lord." Still this doesn't explain everything. One could take it that after all only Paul wrote it and not Jesus Christ, and that he was a man living in 1st century AD, when women were not highly educated or exposed to work in secular occupations as it is today. So, may be it does not apply to us women in 21st century, separated by 20 centuries! Well, you have great hopes, for we cannot cherry-pick in Bible and take only what we want! You may argue, that because of this clause, man has subjugated woman through centuries, abusing her physically and torturing her within the family. So what does Paul say about that? 

After saying what he says to women, Paul tells two things to the men. One, Eph.5:25-28, "husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." and two, "husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." Second thing first. Creation account of woman in the Bible says that woman was created from the rib of man (Gen.2:21-24). Adam, when he saw her first said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;" So woman is the extension of man and created from him, so a husband ought to consider his wife as his own body, a part of his body and look after her! Now the first thing, the husband has to love the wife to such an extent that he is able to lay his life for her welfare, just as Christ did for his church. When a man does these two, I am sure even the 21st century woman will have no problem submitting to her husband! 

One last point. When God made man the leader within the family, He made him responsible too. Through out the New Testament, whenever the Fall is referred to or the disobedience to God by the first human pair is referred to, it is always "Adam sinned,' and never once it is referred as Eve sinned, though it was she who committed the first offence. Man was made responsible. He is like a covering to his wife, taking responsibility to the repercussions and consequences of any decision taken in the family.  It is like Jesus Christ taking the sin of human beings on himself and shielding the human beings, who believe in him, from God's wrath. That is the role and status of man within the family. Wow, that is hard!

That said, it would be always better, if the leader consults the wife and grown up children in the family before taking major decisions, just like there is relationship and consultation with in the Trinity. 

But what happens when a man turns out to be a tyrant and abuses the wife? Does she have any recourse? Or should she put up with the ill-treatment? Definitely not. She must bring it to the church Pastor or elders, who must counsel the man and bring him to his senses. Most of the time, the shame of others coming to know of his conduct itself will cure him. Intervention by the church and the elders sure will bring the matter to a reasonable end.

Well, this is also a long blog, but hope it has been of some help to you. 

Bye, and God bless you.    

Holistic Healing of Adults Through Counseling

A question was posed to me the other day after I wrote on "Counselling and Childhood Baggage." The question ran like this: It is alright to talk about being careful with the children so that their emotional health does not suffer, but that will help only the present day young mothers and fathers, but what about the adults whose parents had no such exposure and these adults are in their mid-forties and fifties, many carrying such wounds. How would they deal with the problems? How are they to get healing? What is the remedy?  

A person must first find our whether s/he really needs such healing or not. Every body may not be suffering with such severe case of deprivation that they need counselling or some sort of help. The indications that a person is suffering from such maladjustment in life are, repeated failures in getting the right partner to marry, or repeated failures in marriage; having multiple sexual partners; inability to pass an exam and repeatedly failing in exams; isolation and not having even a single friend; being in a state of depression; bouts of anxiety attacks; not able to stick to a job; inability to face the world and so on. When such severe problems raise their heads in any one's life, such a person definitely needs some help.

I am not a great counselor as yet, but to my mind there are a few things necessary to do with such  a person, before we can bring that person to a holistic healing, leading to become a well adjusted personality, able to face the world squarely and generally be optimistic about life. 

1. Having realized one needs help, the first thing to do is to find out a good reputed Counselor, better still a Christian Counselor, who has the compassion and love of Christ. Not a Counselor who works primarily for money. There are a few reputed ones in Hyderabad, Person to Person counseling center, also some in Bangalore. We can always find out good referrals in other places. 

2. In the process of counseling, we need to find out any childhood trauma that could have caused rejection, or abuse or damage to the child's personality, emotional deprivation, damage to self-esteem, and so on. A sensitive and experienced Counselor will be able to probe into the person's (Counselee) childhood and find out the root cause of the problem. Such experiences could have happened not only in childhood, but late also. Talking the problem through with another sympathetic listener itself will act as a major catharsis for the Counselee. 

3. Once that is done, in cooperation with the Counselor, Counselee  needs to go about the process of correcting the wrong done earlier and shedding the baggage from childhood. The burden has to be cast out. 

4. The first step in this is to forgive the other person, who had caused the damage. It could be the mother or father or sibling or a close relative or a close friend or a total stranger. In forgiveness you let go of your anger, grudge and the hurt itself. This is not easy, but the example and teaching of Christ to forgive and pray for the enemy is of great help here. We can ask for help from Christ himself in prayer to assist us in this process and start to pray for that person who wounded us. That takes away the sting from the hurt and softens the heart of the victimized.

5. Counselee has to not only forgive but also forget the process or event that traumatized her/his life. And consciously train herself/himself never to talk about it again, to oneself or to the person who caused such a hurt or to anyone. 

6. Having shed the baggage from the past, the person is now ready to face the world with positive principles to bolster the future. This process, of course will differ from person to person, largely depending on the type of problem and the seriousness of it. The Counselor can encourage the Counselee herself/himself to come up with a plan of action to rebuild her/his life afresh. This will be a transformation, a holistic healing of that person. 

Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and heal yourself, with proper help and the Helper, and transform your life, with the renewing of the mind, if you are not already out of the blue! 

    

The Sequel - So Why Bother?

One might ask, so why should I bother about what was the link between caste and karma theory, if I am not confronted with it now in my life? 

My dear friend, one has to know the past, especially our cultural past, if we want to set things right and forge ahead in life. It is not sufficient to become a rich person or a rich country measurable by the GNP or the standard of living. In 18th century, when the foreigners, Britishers were trying to grab pieces of our country, or what was called then a Mughal Empire, we were at the heights of riches. Foreign traders had to pay in silver or gold for the goods they purchased in India or else they were not accepted during the Mughal time. Yet within a few decades we were surely going under foreign domination, because of internal strife, lack of unity and lack of character. Within 200 years, India had been reduced to a Third world country with poverty and illiteracy ruling the ruse. How did it happen? Why did we allow it to happen? Reasons may be many, but one thing is clear, our caste system kept us divided and impoverished within the hierarchy. How can 15 % of people keep all education to themselves and all power to themselves including the power for the souls to attain liberation? 85% of the population was kept under subjugation by the upper castes quoting karma theory and the result was fatalism and subjugation by not just the upper caste, but by any and every foreign power that set foot in India. 

Karma has no heart; it grinds on like a cruel machine, mechanically. There is no scope for forgiveness or a gracious God whose heart cries for human suffering and willing to sacrifice to bring the lost souls to the shore. Only when Hinduism and it's oppressive tenets were questioned and bombarded by the Western Christian Missionaries in the late 19th century and early 20th century, that the Hindu leaders awoke and reformed their religion. Then, Brahmin became any one who was educated and showed intellectual leanings and Kshatrya, any one who was brave and so on. Hinduism evolved and changed under the attack, to survive, to refurbish itself and to thrive. Still the then Hindu leaders like Dayananda Saraswati declared there is no need for a God, because Karma theory will operate regardless a God. There was no hope under it. A slum-dweller is born there because of his karma, so he has to suffer and pay his dues, and no one should or could help him - that was the mental make up of a Hindu orthodox believer, until followers of Christ came and taught otherwise and tried to help uplift these suffering people. 

Do you now see why caste and karma theory should be given a decent burial? India, if it is to really progress in the true sense of a nation, has to come out of these conflicting and oppressive cultural and religious moorings.

Jesus Christ came to earth and gave his life as a sacrifice so that the suffering masses can come to God and be saved from eternal punishment. It is not restricted to men alone or to particular higher caste alone. All are same before God. 

There is forgiveness offered by Jesus, if only we could accept him and come to him in repentance. No karma is strong enough that Jesus cannot forgive, wash away and restore the penitent seeker. Truth liberates human beings and Jesus is the Truth.  

Will that ever become clear to my beloved country? I wish and pray it will, one day, some day. 

The Indian Caste System and Karma Theory

Hi folks, this is a perennial topic of great interest and an important and inevitable part of Indian social fabric. That is why I was so shocked, when one of my Hindu friends feigned ignorance of the actual out-working of these, that of karma theory and the caste system in India. I realized that, may be in India and elsewhere, people are not really aware of the implications of such a system and  may have taken it for granted. May be the opening up of Indian economy to the Multinational Corporations and in the after math of technological surge and the triumph of IT revolution, and the job market it has created, especially in the urban area, such things as caste and karma have been either diluted or relegated to the margins. The youth and not so young have been swallowing what the Indian Gurus dish out as the Great Indian Traditions and how 'Mahan Bharat' is, sweeping these uncomfortable aspects of Indian culture under the carpet. This becomes more significant, as the West has swallowed the modernized version of Hinduism, hook and line and incorporated it in its New Age teachings. 

This I thought calls for some introspection and explanations. After all caste and karma have not disappeared from the land of their birth, India. Caste is still a force to reckon with in the rural areas of the country, where 60 % of the people still live and also in urban cities like Hyderabad and Chennai, which are still traditional, and not as sophisticated and culturally advanced, as some other cities like Bangalore or Mumbai or New Delhi. It is very much relevant in Indian polity even today, where every election is fought on caste basis and on caste calculations. 

There is a vital link between Karma theory and the caste system. Karma theory is based on Law of Karma, where an act or deed done by a human being, good or bad, accompany the dead soul and determine the soul's destiny in its future births. A soul will get reincarnated as human being or animal or insect, according to the accumulated good deeds or bad deeds done in the previous lives. The position a soul occupies in the hierarchy of the caste system closely correlates to the accumulated deeds of the past. A person of good deeds will be reborn in the higher caste, for eg., as a Brahmin, and a person of bad deeds, as a dog or a Chandala (a lower caste). Please refer to Kaushitaki Upanishad or Chandogya upanishad to get more information on this. 

A human soul keeps getting into repeated births and deaths, which is called 'samsara,' until it gets liberated (attains moksha), from the cycle of births and deaths, when it's accumulated karmas are completely exhausted and good karmas outweigh the bad karmas. That is liberation for a Hindu, escape from repeated cycles of births and deaths. These are the major tenets at the core of Hinduism. These are based mainly on Upanishads, which are called the Vedanta literature, written during the end of Vedic age. 

The society itself was divided based on birth and occupation into four Varnas (mainly based on the color of the skin) and thousands of castes or jati, since the time of Rigvedas, which indicate the time when Aryans were supposed to have poured into India through the northern Himalayan passes and spread out in the Gangetic valley, pushing the indigenous people, the Dravidian, southwards. Rigvedas are taken to have been written during 1500 BC. The four Varnas were Brahmins, the priestly class, Kshatriyas, the warrior (also rulers and administrators) class, Vaishyas, the merchant class (also the tradesmen, farmer and artisans) and the Shudras the labor class. Outside these varnas lay the out-castes, commonly known as untouchables (presently called Dalits) and the Tribals people (the Adivasis or original settlers). The first three classes are the upper classes and the last one the lower caste and the Dalits are outside the caste.This is the infamous caste system of India.   

It was the ingenuity of the priestly class that they incorporated the karma theory into this stratified caste system, thus placing the Brahmins on the top, along with Kshatryas and Vaishyas as the upper castes, as those who have accumulated good deeds in their past births and the Shudras as those who have done bad deeds in their past lives. The out-castes are the worst offenders of all, of course in their past lives, thus are born in such low status in this life and had to suffer untold miseries. This not only justified the ill-treatment of the Shudras and the Dalits by the upper castes, from ages immemorial, but also gave the low castes a cushion to absorb the insults and ill-treatment meted out by the upper castes, and it was all legitimized by the Hindu religion. It was their fate to be born thus and suffer. May be, if they suffered thus in this life, in the next life they can improve their status and be born in the next higher caste. There was strict segregation between the castes and restriction on eating and marriage. Lower castes were segregated and could not even live in the main village, but in the outskirts of the village only. They could not own property and could only survive as laborers, at the mercy of the land owning upper castes. This hierarchical ordering of the society, based on karma theory and caste system, was unjust and heartless, bringing untold sufferings to the lower castes and out castes, for thousands of years. Treaties like Manusmriti codified such unjust rulings, by prescribing the works for each of the castes/classes and differential treatments to be meted out to each of the castes, all based on birth and their place in the hierarchy..  

Only after the British rule, rule of law was made applicable to all and education and government jobs were thrown open to all castes. This has grown into positive discrimination in the independent India, leading to many Dalits and backward classes (then Shudras), to come up in life. Today in the 21st century the city dweller might have forgotten these hard facts of life, but in the villages caste and discrimination are still very much the reality and people still suffer. 

Well, this has become a lengthy blog, but I needed to start with the basics. 

You can get more information and a good bibliography from my book, "Values and Influence of Religion in Public Administration," SAGE, 2011. 

Counseling and Childhood baggages

I have been attending accredited Counselling course run by Person to Person, Hyderabad, for quite some time now. There are six modules, each consisting of one week classes with assignments. I have completed three and would be attending the fourth one by the end of this month. On the lighter side, my friends and relatives keep asking me, why am I studying even at this age? Will I ever stop attending courses and studies? When will it all end? And more embarrassingly they ask, what will I do with all those certificates one gets on completing the courses? Well, to be precise, I do not know the answer to any of these. I can only say that I love studies! Any one who can love studies and exams, you would consider, as a nut case or a nerd! May be I am, a bit of both! In my defense, there is a saying in Tamil, "What you have learnt is only fistful, but what you have yet to learn is about the size of the world." (I am transliterating here) So you see one can keep on studying, for there is no dearth of subjects you can study and ultimately be also of some use to humanity. It keeps your brain active too, keeping it engaged, exercising its 'muscles!'

One thing I have learnt in all these counselling courses is how much people are hurting, not necessarily due to their own fault. Some one is dealing with a break in the marriage, going through divorce proceedings; some one is sorting out childhood sexual abuse from a trusted person; some one is crying over a husband, who had walked away taking the only child with him; marital problems, emotional problems, physical problems - oh, how people are hurting in this world of ours. 

Another thing that comes our crystal clear is, most of these problems, which people face as adults have their origins in childhood. We all carry a baggage from childhood as we come to adulthood and face the world, and then problems that lay hidden, all begin to surface. A person who had not received love from the mother, when he was a child, shows symptoms of 'rejection' as an adult. He is not able to love any one deeply, for he has not received such a love as a child. He is not able to trust anyone, for he has not experienced love and couldn't trust  the parent/s, as a child. A mother could have given such a feeling of un-love to her child, may be because she was busy, travelling, or dealing with her own emotional problems, or due to prejudices she had absorbed as a child. Finally the man, as an adult, suffers and his wife and children suffer too, facing the consequences.

Rejection is just one such problems, but serves as a sample. So what can we do that we do not damage the personality of our children, who have been entrusted under our care? 

I am giving the following tips, especially for those who are young mothers now or those who are expecting to become mothers.

1. Love and cherish the children when they are young. They need it. Let them know that they are welcome into this family and the world. 

2. Cuddle them a lot, let them have the physical assurance of your love and their tactile sensors are to be nurtured.  

3. Be firm and discipline them, and do not indulge them, just because they are to be loved, or they be single children or being brought up by single mothers. Or else they could become like the 'little emperors' common in China, demanding and being selfish.

4. Resist from writing your desires as messages in their minds, which at that young age are just fresh and like clean slates; they come into the world with no prejudices and it is we who give it all to them. I couldn't be a Doctor, so I will instill that desire in my child from childhood, a father may think. You might achieve your dream, but the personality of the child will be badly damaged.

5. Teach them about wrong touches and be vigilant about who is around them at home and elsewhere. 

6. Raise the child on the strong and sure foundation of Christian belief, prayers, worship, Bible study and morals as taught in the scripture. When the child grows up s/he will not go astray. In today's world of multicultural and religiously pluralistic culture, this is important. 

Well, these are researched and found out, from my own experience and life and also from the counseling courses I attended. I do understand that parents themselves could be products of wounded- self, and are not perfect. So we need to rely a lot on the Lord to help us in raising our children and thereafter. I am hoping that these will be of some use to some one somewhere in this world.  

'As Many Gods as Possible.... is it okay?'

A good friend of mine, during our discussion on religion, said very jovially that he doesn't mind going to as many gods as possible, with a begging bowl, so long as any one of those gods answer him and give him what he wants. Well, this is the general tendency in India. I have heard this expression from many people, some educated and highly placed, some uneducated and lowly placed, and any number in between. Taken in this way, it is beneficial to have a large number of gods on role, so you can go to any one of them or all of them depending on your need. This is polytheism at its best. 

In a reversal of matters, just think what happens, if none of the gods respond. Then you are in a quandary! Or imagine many of them want to help you and jump into the foray, one competing with the other to do you the favor you had asked. I am almost reminded of the Greek gods who showered their favors on certain individuals, like for example, Hercules, who happened to be their favorite among human beings! Now that could invite trouble. You may not know which god is doing you the favor and might by mistake offer your thanks giving offerings to the wrong god, setting that one to be angry with you and you end up in a mess. 

This also makes one shallow and disinterested in the matters of life and death, involving the ultimate questions relating to life itself, like where do you end up after death? What happens to your soul? Where does it go? Is there life after death and so on. Any in depth search into these questions is considered hardly relevant. Why bother! 

So what is the remedy? Well, my only advice to my friend would be, stick to one God, the Almighty, the Creator of heavens and earth, who has no rivals, who is mighty in His deeds and is able to save your soul for eternity. Search for such a One and worship Him, and not fritter away your adoration that legitimately belongs to One on many. 

The Golden Phase of Life

Well, this is in deference to my friends, who complain that my blogs are all very serious. Not really though, what about curry leaves and buying nice food on Sunday! Never mind, I will go light and not heavy today.

As some of us retirees took our customary evening walk and were strolling by in the nearby park, we were ruminating over age and about being called very respectfully, but of course condescendingly, the senior citizen. One can claim to be a senior citizen, if one is above 60 years and until 100 years, I suppose, if one lives that long. Bible says that God fixed man's life as 120 years. Genesis 6:3. Not many live up to that age now, but that is the allotted time for man on earth. Within this span of 40 years, presuming people will live up to at least 100 years, I observe, there is a gradation - like some method or order in madness. 

Sixty to seventy five, I would call them, young senior citizens (like young adults!). Such people do not like to be called senior citizens, though surreptitiously enjoy all the perks that come along with that tag. They are still very active, go for their morning walks or swimming or to gym  and some are quite well preserved, I should say. Some do not like anyone calling them Grandma/Grandpa or in the local lingo Patti or Thatha, unless of course their own grandchildren call them so. Well, this is the group to which I proudly belong to!  

Let's consider the second group. This would be from 75 to 85 or even 89, still on this side of ninety! A very mature age, calmly surveying the world as it rushes past by, the youngsters hurrying to office or work or children being carted to and fro to schools and chuckle with a smile, commenting, oh, how we have passed these stages in life and how well and how efficiently we accomplished all these and so on. Still strong on foot, but considerably slowed down. I would call this the golden phase of life. Not yet feeble, but still independent and able to manage one's affairs, full of wisdom and maturity, with lot of chances to dish out advice, many a time, uncalled for. 

Now comes the last phase of life, 90 to 100 and above. This is a very difficult age, they say people revert to being like kids in this age. They are selfish, want their needs to be attended to immediately, or else throw tantrums like children, complain and castigate, and generally make life difficult for themselves and others around them. Good luck for the care-givers, they need plentiful patience and real deep love to get by. 

Bible has a beautiful picture about old age. In Isaiah 46:4 God of Israel, whom Jesus called his Father, says thus:

    "Even to your old age, I am He,

     And even to gray hairs I will carry you!

     I have made you, and I will bear;

     Even I will carry, and will deliver you."

What comforting and reassuring words from our Maker! Wonderful. Then again in Psalms 92:13,14, it is written,

    "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord

      Shall flourish in the court of our God.

      They shall still bear fruit in old age;

      They shall be fresh and flourishing,"

So folks, old age could be very fulfilling and flourishing, a time to look forward to, with all the assurances from God to really take care of you. So do not be cast down for any reason at all.   

Good luck, all ye senior citizens!

Pantheistic Worldview

In India, the common adage is "all religions are the same, for all religions lead us to the same God and these are but different roads to the same God." My Hindu friends say these all the time. I do get very disturbed hearing such sweeping statements, uttered without bothering to know whether the others, belonging to other religions also think like that or not. For them their view looks so very accommodating and inclusive, showing a largeness of heart. How could any one take offence of such a worldview? This has to be the view of every other religion too, they think. Why not? Doesn't it sound logical and all-comprising or all-compromising? 

The problem is, Christians and Muslims, the other major religions in India, definitely do not think like that. Especially for Christians, who worship the God, whom Jesus Christ called Father, the only way to the true and the only God is through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself famously said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. So this view that all religions are leading to the same God is not acceptable to a Christian. To be frank, I resent it when my Hindu friends so casually make such a statement. 

The main objection to the exclusive claim of a Christian, that Jesus is the only Way to God, is that Christians are so narrow in their approach to God and are not magnanimous, but are restrictive. They are seen sometimes as even arrogant, trying to arrogate such exclusivity to themselves. Is it so? Let us think about it. If all gods are the same, as a Hindu claims, then why object to conversion to Christianity? After all it is the same God, so a person who was on the road of Hinduism so long, has now decided to take another road, Christianity, to reach the same God. Why object? So come to think of it, finally, if you go deeper, no one is willing to give up his or her own God for another. If this is not exclusivity, then what is it? Come to think of it, every religion is exclusive in its claims and will fight tooth and nail before giving up such claims to another. In such a scenario, is it not eyewash or hypocrisy to say all gods are the same and in the same breath deny the right to conversion to another religion from his/her own? Is n't this self-contradictory? Is this living in peace? Or may be a smooth talk to get over a difficult patch during an argument, but holding onto ones own view inside, a double-talk? 

Whatever it may be, I would request my Hindu friends to think rationally of this worldview of them, that all gods are the same. Imposing my view that Jesus is the Only Way to God on others seems arrogance, what do you call the imposing of the majority view that all gods are the same on me and the minority? Is n't it arrogance? Is n't it a form of conversion practice? 

Another view point of such a philosophy or religion is, God is every where and in all things.  The inanimate and animate forms in the world are invaded by Brahman (the impersonal God of a Hindu) himself, and even a tree or stone is worthy of worship. When truth is not acknowledged and any and every object is worshiped as god, then people are groping in the dark. When truth shines like light, then darkness vanishes. And there cannot be many truths on any one subject, but only one can be the Truth. If so, logically nothing else can be the truth, but only false. 

Ponder over these, my friends, and we can have friendly debate over these points. I expect more discussions and convincing each other in a friendly manner.  

   

Calcium rich leaves and chutneys!

Today even as I asked my cook to make chutney out of curry leaves, she quarried me as why I am always eating this chutney and why doesn't she make some nice chutney out of mint leaves (puthina leaves) or coriander leaves (kothamari/kothamalli or cilantro leaves)? 

I tried to educate her on the nutrient content of these three leaves and explain to her why I prefer curry leaves to the other two. You see, curry leaves have 830 mg of calcium in them, while mint leaves have only 243 mg and coriander leaves a paltry 67 mg of calcium in them. So naturally I prefer curry leaves for their richer content of calcium, especially as I have osteopenia, which is a wee bit better than osteoporosis, which is quite an advanced case of calcium deficiency, leading to brittle bones. Trying to build calcium into my body naturally, I have settled for curry leaves chutney among the chutneys! 

Of course nothing to beat agathi leaves, which have 1130 mg of calcium in them! So make the most of it, if you can get your hands on it. I must warn you that the cows in Tamil Nadu are fed with these leaves! That shouldn't make you any less human! So go ahead and hog. 

In my research I also found out that gingilly seeds have 1450 mg of calcium in them; cumin seeds 1080 mg of calcium; poppy seeds 1584 mg and omum (ajwain or carom seeds) have 1525 mg of calcium in them. What are you waiting for? Buy these greens, make chutneys, poriyals, kootoos and what not, according to your taste and eat. Powder the seeds and sprinkle them over your vegetable kootoos and curries. 

Strong bones leads to a healthy life! Hurrahs to these greens and seeds, which are available in plenty and at very reasonable price all over India. 

Bon appetite!

Big Bang Theory and me!

I happen to read about the Big Bang Theory today and it was as if I was hit by a megaton bomb! My head was reeling and I had so many questions that begged answers. How is it that human beings are able to ascertain the time the Big Bang happened as 13.7 billion years ago? How is it even possible to go that far in time and space, not withstanding, Doppler effect and red-shift and so on? Even more amazing is the finding by the Astrophysicists that time and space started exactly at that time when Big Bang occurred. It has even been discerned that 3,80,000 years after the big bang, light was released from the plasma of the expanding universe!  As the Universe expanded, so also progressed the formation of life and evolution of it from smaller to the higher life forms. Wow!

And to find order in our universe and to discover that simple laws hold together all the galaxies, stars, planets and their moons, is even more amazing. Man seems to have come thus far, so close to finding answers to eternal questions, yet he is not able to progress further. He is not able to answer the questions such a quest throws about. What is the meaning of this universe? How did it come about? Was it created or did it happen on its own? If created, then who created it? If it happened on its own, how did it happen? It is said that if there is even a slightest variation in any of the rules or forces that keep the universe together, it will shatter to smithereens and cannot sustain life on it anymore. Who made such a fine tuned universe? Can it happen on its own? Can it be the product of an accident? Or is it a well thought out design by a Great Power, a Great Designer, an Unmoved Mover, a Creator, God? 

Amazing! The physicists having come thus far, are not able to explain the dark matter from which 90% of gravity seem to come; they are not able to fathom the dark energy, which seem to be keeping the universe ever expanding and finally no one seems capable of explaining why such a universe came about? Can man reach God and know His mind? Ah, but He reveals Himself and then such a Revelation could offer us glimpses of the whole pattern and design of this universe and the rationale behind it all. Genesis 1:1,3 of the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...And God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light," and so on. There lies the explanation and answer to all the questions that have plagued humanity ever since the beginning. 

Will man listen and understand? 

    

Women's day in the church!

Hi folks!

Just returned from Koramangala Methodist Church (KMC), loaded with foodies! After the service a sweet surprise awaited me. To be frank, my cook, who comes thrice a week had cooked enough food on Friday to last two days. By Sunday, the third day, there was nothing for lunch or dinner and I had planned to buy something from somewhere to eat. Voila, at KMC, there was a Food Fest going on organized by the women's group to raise funds for their programmes. It suited me so well. I bought some pork vindaloo, with soft idlies thrown along, yummy chicken biriyani and a non-veg pasta. What a feast! Sometimes I wonder how the Lord organizes matters so as to take care of your every need, even your need for a good lunch and dinner! Amazing God we have! Thank you my Lord Jesus.

Having gobbled up pork and the idlies, I am quite happy and satisfied with life in general and am planning to take a short afternoon nap and rest my body! The exercise of gobbling up must have been very tiring for the body!

bye then till I meet you all again,

Take care

shanthi