PAUSE AWHILE AND, PRAY, READ

1. Is terrorism the result of radicalisation or is it the result of discovery of theological facts as they are?

2. Maya covers up (Aavarani Shakti) and Maya deflects (Vikshep Shakti). Both these are being applied by apologists to defend indefensible theological positions which are bankrupt in philosophical content anyway.

3. Read more, like photographs less, for the text of an essay suffers from such apathetic attitude and the cause of propagation of the idea is, thus, thwarted as well.

4. We are no more free in a world bound by Islamic terror. Our rights to freedom of expression are severely curtailed and we remain mute spectators to the ghastly spectacle of innocence being bathed in blood. Whither humanity?

5. There can be no justification for the perpetration of terror even if so-called holy texts arbitrarily sanction such violence citing any supernatural or human authority. Life is to be valued above death and death cults cannot be permitted to assume preeminence in the thoroughfare of life even if they be the ardent adherents of some of the core teachings of major world religions. Life is sacrosanct and must be venerated as such.

THINK TWICE

Television anchors must be honest when they address Islamic terrorism and not be apologetic about fair criticism of its causes to sound nice.

Donald Trump is so vocal about tackling immigration issues as President of USA (in case he gets elected) but is it not merely a ploy to seek votes to achieve his end? Is he serious?

Tarishi's torture should keep us Indians awake to the reality of Islamic terror and we should equip ourselves with courage and fortitude to face it, to fight it and eventually to root out the menace for good. But will it be possible given the double standards of the times?

If the basic text of a religion is violent and intolerant of other religions, then a tradition of violence will be its natural corollary.

Conversion from one ‪religion to another is a violent practice and is tantamount to the offending religion being intolerant of other faiths.

WHEN OUR DAUGHTER LOST HER LIFE ... TARISHI, A TRIBUTE

In this world of fratricidal feud, where man has forgotten that in killing brother man he is essentially killing his own self, where the infidel and the faithful alike suffer at the hands of savagery relayed through ages by transmission of culture that breeds barbarism, in such a world where we all suffer the pangs of a Tarishi being tortured to death for no fault of hers, shall we be mute witnesses to the gory spectacle round the globe and give in tamely to the forces of terror? Or, shall we as awakened citizens of the world fight back force with force, dogma with reason and falsehood with the superior power of truth and enlightenment? Passive piety is unbecoming of genuinely pious people for to be unconcerned about the safety and welfare of others in critical danger of being harmed in body and in mind by the forces of evil and to respond by way of securing self-security only when the threat comes close to one's own self is reprehensible. To eat of the fruits of national security for which the soldiers die daily --- literal senseless deaths so often at the hands of perfidious perpetrators of terror --- and not to water the roots of the national tree is calamitous for the country and woeful for the world for in such indifference to others' agony breeds the virus of violence whose horrors are no more alien to any of us. Shall it suffice to offer floral tributes before Tarishi's image and shed a few emotional drops in much the same way as we shed after 26/11 or is a greater commitment to the cause of eradicating archaic absolutism from the planet an imperative now? When shall we wake up? When a suicide bomber has careered us to the other world or when there is life left in us yet to take affirmative action to tackle this global menace? Educate yourself about this global threat to civilisation. Read, reason, reflect and reject irrationality, dogma and absolutism. Tarishi, my child, those ruddy drops from your innocent form shall not go down the cosmic drain. They shall transfuse into the hearts of heroic souls like Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain who did not forsake you in your hour of death but bore the horror of it all, manfully, valiantly and, why, spiritually too, and out of your sacrifice of your dear life, so very dear to all of us who mourn today the loss of the pulsations of your spirit, shall be born heroes like your friend in finality who will purge the earth of such barbarism that snuffed the life out of you.
     

A RETURN TO ROOTS

Bangladesh is reeling under the Dhaka Terror Attack. Over the last three years this country, which won its independence in 1971 on the basis of the language movement (Bhasha Andolon), has been suffering from extreme Islamic violence. Rabindranath Tagore played a seminal role in inspiring the Bangladeshis to liberation with his inspirational writing although the poet was no more then in earthly coil. Today, when the Bengali people out there are enduring the terrible fate of cultural degradation whose noxious symptom is Islamic fanaticism which has literally held liberal thinking to ransom and reduced civic life to a travesty of what democracy aspires it to be, once more may the voice of Bangladesh seek utterance in the works of Tagore! So also the great revolutionary poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam whose vigorous poetry and fervent music sent the Bengali youth to the jaws of death to snatch for their motherland freedom. May the leonine patriot-poet once more invigorate the hearts and minds of millions of Bangladeshis with sublime love for their motherland and unity of spirit among citizens so that an integrated nation may overcome the challenges of the times and emerge triumphant to uphold the banner of democracy, freedom and civilisation! Taslima Nasreen, that fearless crusader for truth and justice, whose supreme sincerity of spirit does not allow her to be an apologist for extreme Islam but who, despite enduring personal persecution at the hands of the Bangladesh government leading to her banishment from her motherland, continues to expose the fault-lines in her home-society, may her countrymen restore her to her habitat and may they have the sanity to lend her a sympathetic ear! In so doing will Bangladesh be on track once more and instead of senselessly pursuing her ruin through divisive sectarian politics, she should emphasise the original principles of her national life which gave her a distinctive character in the world of Muslim-majority nations, a secular nation built on the basis of supreme love for the Bengali language which then defined her status and must define her status even today when the meter seems to have been lost in the melee of the rabblement. Jai Bangla!

THE CLOCK TICKS, 90 DAYS TO GO

Mark, the centenary is at our doorstep. He was born on October 4, 1916. What a momentous occasion this is, especially for us who are the initiated disciples of this great spiritual master who will turn 100 years old on October 16, 2016, barely three months away from this day. We ought to make it a grand occasion with celebrations in line with his philosophy of life which was dedicated to the service of suffering humanity. Ought we not to imbibe his spirit and as worthy disciples and followers tread in his footsteps in doing humanitarian work? Such an obeisance will be most befitting.

The first and foremost thing for us to do is to adhere to our spiritual practices on a  disciplined basis. Our spiritual lives strengthened, we will be forces potent to spread peace in a world ravaged by hatred, violence and war. Second, we ought to know the substance of our scriptures well and ought to make provisions in our daily lives for a systematic study of our spiritual texts. We may begin with The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Thereafter, we may move on to the study of the Bhagavad Geeta and the ten principal Upanishads. These are all readily available at Ramakrishna Mission Centres. Third, we must make it a point to save some money on a regular basis and contribute the same to the various welfare projects of  the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Fourth, we must try to visit the different centres of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission so that we may be in touch with the pulse of the movement. Fifth, we must go out of our way to assist the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission with whatever help we can by way of volunteering our services. Sixth, we should read the life-stories of the great sages and saints of the Ramakrishna Order beginning with the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and keep reflecting on them so that our lives also catch the colour of the ochre, the colour of renunciation, the hue of the rising sun of knowledge.

Jai Gurudev! Jai Ramakrishna!

CONDOLENCES, JOHN

My condolences, John. May Sri Ramakrishna lead her unto His blissful abode and may He keep you in His care! We gratefully remember how you had helped us in our collection of funds for the Mobile Medical Van Project of Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur with your gracious contributions from afar America. The project has come to a successful completion and awaits its formal operational commencement. No good work ever goes in vain. Your wife was luminous and continues to abide in her luminosity. Bodies come and bodies go but the personality behind whose embodiment they are, that essential one never wanes with the dispersal of the elements that go to compose its earthly raiment. At a time of personal loss of this order when the mind full of old associations is rent apart, when memories awake from the depth of yesteryears and rush on to the shore of consciousness, at such an hour of even-tide when the boat doth set sail for a distant repose, the soul clears to reveal a life eternal and the sorrow of separation is redeemed in a sublime understanding of the true nature of things. My friend, may such a light dawn on you at this hour of reckoning and earthly association transcend territory unto the purified plane where all is one and integrated in the Lord! The dual tug of life leaves not a moment for reflection save when the sudden truth of transience strikes hard and one is left to ponder the deeper reality which holds and never fractures like the ephemeral dreams of life. So, my friend, grieve not when you know for certain that the wheel of life ever moves unto its final station where life itself is transcended and the Self revealed to have been its eternal status. Your wife is the imperishable Self, the radiant, blissful source of life. How can she ever cease to be when time itself springs from her being? She is where she was and will ever be, right in the core of your consciousness which is universal consciousness too. Existence she is, how may she ever non-existent be? Your love and your light will bestrew blossoms in her way towards the source of her being and blissful she will fill up with the fragrance of eternal life. My commiserations and my wishes for you and all the bereft ones she leaves behind as she proceeds along the radial line of her unfolding consciousness. May Sri Ramakrishna preserve you all at this moment of inconsolable grief is my earnest prayer unto Him!

BARBARISM IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh ought to pursue her language movement (Bhasha Andolon) instead of the religious one for in it lies her redemption. Jai Bangla!

Basic scriptural tenets remaining exclusive and fanatical, it is but natural that extreme adherents of such will resort to literal pursuit of precepts. Time for fundamental change if fundamentalist barbarism is to be ended.

The problem with extreme religious dualism is that it awakens the meaner, the vicious, the violent elements of man which sooner or later can only perpetrate terror, especially, if backed by scriptural sanction. Today's global terrorism is not a novel phenomenon but is the revised edition of the long history of fundamentalist violence.

Right from its inception violence has been the dominant note of this fundamental faith which has rained terror on infidels and forcibly converted victims the world over. If, today, things are what they are, is it cause for wonder? Has it not been said : 'Yatha purvavat, tatha param' (As in the past, so in the future)?

Intolerance is basic to extreme dualism, exclusiveness is its very breath. Arbitrary pronouncements, archaic reactions and authoritarian principles are in the very fabric of this faith that deny its adherents the choice to rationalise and reject honourably its tenets and so, become fearless apostates. Instead, the one that dares dismiss the dogma as unworthy of acceptance through a refusal to submit one's faculties, runs into retrograde elements rife within the fold with its obvious consequences as is so much evident the world over.  

The horrific pictures released by the perpetrators of barbarism leaves one shuddering not with fear but with abhorrence at the depth of evil that goes by the name of this extreme culture of tribal origin. To what levels man may sink under indoctrination of a noxious kind is now being freshly revealed but is not a phenomenon new. It has a tradition in history when brutality spread through the world in the name of religion and everything that stood in the way of conquest for the Lord was swept aside and the human soul was sacrificed in much the same way as today when sanity seems to have have lost in the wake of primeval ignorance.