The All seeing Blind

King
Solomon's servant came breathlessly into the court, “Please! Let me borrow
your fastest horse!” he said to the King. “I must be in a town ten
miles south of here by nightfall!”

“Why?”
asked King Solomon.

“Because,”
said his shuddering servant, “I just met Death in the garden! Death looked
me in the face! I know for certain I'm to be taken and I don't want to be
around when Death comes to claim me!”

“Very
well,” said King Solomon. “My fastest horse has hoofs like wings.
Take him.” Then Solomon walked into the garden. He saw Death sitting there
with a perplexed look on its face. “What's wrong?” asked King
Solomon.

Death
replied, “Tonight I'm supposed to claim the life of your servant whom I
just now saw in your garden. But I'm supposed to claim him in a town ten miles
south of here! Unless he had a horse with hooves like wings, I don't see how he
could get there by nightfall . . .” 

According
to the latest report from the International Labor Organization (ILO), still
there are more than 215 million children working. More than half of them – 115
million – are employed in activities that the ILO describes as dangerous. The
worst situations are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, where one child out of four
is obliged to work, often in dangerous situations.

Juan
Somavia, Director-General of ILO says: “New and large-scale efforts are needed.
The situation calls for a re-energized campaign against child labor. We must
scale up action and move into a higher gear.”

Child labor
and poverty are inevitably bound together.  But if we continue to use
child labor to overcome poverty, we will always have both poverty and child
labor existing side by side. Childhood is meant to study and play and have
fun, but 215 million unfortunate ones of a lesser God instead spend their
childhood begging on streets or working in fields, homes, factories and
workshops, often in hazardous conditions. Recently, a child who worked as a
domestic helper in a judge’s home displayed on the visual media the burn marks
all over her body which she received as punishment over several months. Such
physical and mental torture is not uncommon. It really breaks any one's heart
to see a child with injury marks, sweat and grime, looking pale, exhausted and
famished because he or she had to work for several hours without any rest and
legal protection.

Sultana,
a twelve-year garment factory worker from Bangladesh asks: “Why do we have to
pay the price of poverty? We didn't create poverty, adults did.” No one can
pretend not to hear the cry of the 11-year-old street child, Basu, from Nepal
during a world-wide march in Thailand: “We want to study and learn, not beg on
the streets. During this march I learnt that I, too, am a real person. Now I
want to become an engineer.” Children are one third of our population and all
of our future.  They need opportunities for education, recreation,
fun, companionship, freedom and enjoyment. Is anyone in positions of
authority hearing this cry?

                        ‘A man without a
dream and a nation without a vision shall perish’. This is a Jewish proverb
that has great relevance to India today. Independent India does not have a
vision that can include and inspire all her citizens. At the same time, there
are many divisive visions and destructive tendencies that are raising their
heads in India today. Political parties, religious communities, and caste-based
organizations are promoting their own visions and agendas. This tendency is
threatening the unity and integrity of our country. As a result, the nation is
faced with the grave danger of disintegration.

Divisive
visions can be challenged and overcome only by inclusive visions. ‘He drew a
small circle and kept me out’; I drew a large circle and brought him in’ is a
Chinese saying that has much practical wisdom in it. Also, our inclusive vision
f a great new India needs to have its’ roots deep in our own noble cultural
traditions and spiritual values. Just as a large tree has to have its roots
deep in the soil where it is planted, a great new India also needs to have its
roots deep in its own cultural traditions and spiritual values.

………The
concept of ‘Dharma’ is India’s greatest contribution to human thought. Dharma
comes from the Sanskrit word ‘dhr’
which means to hold together, to integrate, to unite. Dharma is that which
holds together, that which integrates, that which unites. Dharma promotes unity
and harmony in the world and in our own lives. Love is the basis of this unity,
and peace is its frit. Hence, Dharma is an integral concept meaning
love-unity-peace. Dharma Bharathi means a Mother India of love, unity and
peace……

……..Dharma
Bharathi will be an India of inter-religious harmony with an ‘Islamic body’ of
prayerfulness and fellowship, with a ‘Hindu-Bhai mind’ of universal vision and
unity in diversity, with a Sikh- Buddhist- Jain heart’ of courage, compassion
and non-violence, with a ‘Parsi intellect’ of ingenuity and enterprise, with a
‘Christian spirit’ of  forgiveness and
self-sacrificing love….”

 150 years ago in Tankara town of Saurashtra there lived a
wealthy Brahmin, Karshanji Lalji Tiwari by name.  Karshanji was a good and just man. He was
generous in his dealings. He had faith in religious practices that had come
down from times immemorial. In 1824, Dayaram was born to him. It was this child
who later became famous Maharshi Dayananda Saraswathi.

 Karshanji wished that his son should follow his footsteps
by becoming a devotee of Shiva. On one Shivrathri, all the devotees gathered in
the temple to keep awake all night and worship Lord Shiva. Dayaram too went
with his father. By midnight, one by one the worshippers fell asleep. But
Dayaram was determined not to break the rule of the Shivarathri worship, so he
sat gazing at the Shivalinga.

      
It was midnight. Near the Shivalinga a sacred lamp was
burning dimly. Just then, some mice appeared from nowhere. They ate the
preparations which had been placed before the Shivalinga as an offering, and
danced fearlessly on the Shivalinga. Dayaram gazed in amazement. What is this?
Shivalinga kept quiet when the mice moved about on it? The boy's mind was confused.
Without knowing what to do, he gently touched and awakened his father and said,
“Father, was this the great God about whom you told me? Or is this linga
some other substance?”

Irritated, his father cried, “What? If you talk like
an atheist, you will lose your power of speech. Beyond doubt this Shivalinga is
the Great Shiva.”

   The boy again said softly, “Certainly not, father. The
Shiva you speak of is the Life-Force itself. But this Shivalinga is motionless
matter.” This answer increased the father's anger. But what his son said was logical.
The conversation went on.

 Father : Son, what you say is true. This is an idol, and
not Shiva.

Dayaram: Then why should we worship this idol instead of
Shiva?

 Father: My son, in this age of man's history, in Kaliyuga
(Dark Age), Lord Shiva cannot be seen by human beings in His real form. So, if
we worship Him with the belief that Shiva resides in the idol, He will be
pleased to give us Moksha (salvation).

 Dayaram: In that case, we can also assume we have worshipped
Him. Why worship the idol?

 Karshanji found no answer to this question. But the mind of
the child was perplexed. Interestingly, Dayaram later became one of the exemplary
worshippers of Shivalinga. He is said to have experienced the idol power for
himself.

‘Today we mourn the
passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many
years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long
ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated
such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;

– Why the early bird
gets the worm;

– Life isn't always
fair;

– and Maybe it was my
fault.

Common Sense lived by
simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and
reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to
deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set
in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for
kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after
lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened
his condition.

Common Sense lost
ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves
had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even
further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun
lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student
became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to
live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment
than their victims.

Common Sense took a
beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and
the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to
live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.
She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his
wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his
4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and
I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was
gone.

Humanity is
constantly evolving. It has come a long way from where it was to where it is
now. It has gone through the evils of slavery, colonialism, monarchy,
dictatorships, authoritarian and hierarchical structures. It has gone through a
long traumatic period of racism, apartheid system, caste discriminations,
sexism, wars, holocaust, ethnic cleansing. It has suffered from many evils. It
still suffers from many evils of the past. Because persons are not conscious of
who they really are, i.e.,  sovereign
beings with inalienable rights, they still tolerate or put up with, for
instance, monarchy, infallibility, inhuman customs such as genital mutilations
and inhuman religious practices that violate human rights. Death penalty or
bodily mutilations for crimes need to go. Abortion for family planning or
unplanned pregnancy, cosmetic surgery for youthful looks reduction or
enhancement of busts or breasts has no place in a holistic world-view. Looking
at these and many other matters of lesser importance not mentioned here, humanity
has still a very long way to go from where it is to where it is destined to be.

Humans are
created equal and unique, and as such no one is subject to anyone. Yet we
subject ourselves voluntarily to one another for a reason or for a period in
the prevailing circumstances.  No one
grudges if one subjects oneself to another, for instance, in surgery or in a
job situation. These functional subjections voluntarily made do not alter the
sovereign nature of a person. These are limitations due to an imperfect world
or present dispensation we live in. Yet it must be categorically said that this
world with all its draw-backs is infinitely better than it ever has been in the
past. Persons or nations cannot any more contemplate or perpetrate evil and
criminal acts with impunity and without consequences as in the near past. That
the world is better than it ever has been is mentioned here to counter the
arguments of fundamentalist and fanatic religious persons who see rapture
around due to what they call signs of the last days  of the world on account of moral depravity.
Moral depravity of the past cannot be compared to that in the present. Current
evils often are begotten from unjust and inhuman policies of the past still continuing.
There is an evil reaction in the present to an evil action in the past.
Leveling-up means all persons are on the same level as human beings. No one is
above or below.  That way we do not need
to put anybody down or up. Either we bow to all or we bow to none. That does
not mean that we do not either appreciate and acknowledge the good points and
accomplishments of good persons or deprecate and take note of the crimes of bad
people.

History is a
great leveler. We have bad and good people from all strata of society. I am
going to cite a few examples from history. Alexander VI, “the most notorious
pope in all of history… was marked by nepotism, greed, and unbridled
sensuality”. He “lived an openly promiscuous life, fathering several
children”.  Henry VIII, the English king
who established the Anglican Church after splitting from Rome for not getting
his much-sought divorce, executed four of his six wives, slept also with the
mother of one of his wives, and worst of all, executed (St.) Thomas More,
perhaps the most moral person in the English realm then, for following his
conscience. Emperor Aurangzeb, imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan (who himself
killed his two brothers to become emperor) and ordered his brother, DaraShikoh,
the designated emperor and the favorite son of Shah Jahan, executed. Aurangzeb
got his brother’s head brought on a dish; he threw Dara’s head on the ground
and gave three thrusts in the face with his sword mocking him. He then ordered
the head to be delivered to Shah Jahan while seated at table in his prison. In
recent history we have Adolf Hitler, one of the worst criminals, who killed
about 6 million Jews and a host of others for his insane ideology. Why look
into history? Let us come to the current situation. The article – IPL parties:
the inside story – in Hindustan Times of May 14, 2010, speaks of “free endless
cigarettes, flowing booze, occasionally drugs, and always women, willing and
uninhibited women everywhere. The boys lapped it up, and would party right
through.” These cricket players are the idols of today’s youth. On the other
hand we have shining examples of Socrates, Buddha, Jesus Christ, a carpenter’s
son, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and countless others. What does all this
say? Human nature is the same everywhere. We are all one. Our choices make us
who we are: not power, not wealth. Fighting against vicious racism and
discrimination, Martin Luther King stated that it is not the color of our skin
but the content of our character that determines who we are. We have every
reason to level up with everyone in the world.

A Sportsman went out once into a wood to
shoot, and met a snipe. “Dear friend,” said the snipe, “don't shoot
my children?”

“How shall I know your
children?” asked the sportsman; “what are they like?”

“Oh!” said the snipe,
“mine are the prettiest children in all the wood.”

“Very well,” said the
sportsman, “I won't shoot them; don't be afraid.”

But for all that, when he came back,
there he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.

“Oh! oh!” said the snipe,
“why did you shoot my children after all?”

“What, these children!”
said the sportsman; “why, I shot the ugliest I could find!”

“Poor them!” said the
snipe; “don't you know that each one thinks his own children are the
prettiest in the world?” 

A recent report says that communist China is reeling under a spate of copy-cat attacks on children in schools, causing much anxiety to everyone. Some blame it on
the rapid social changes and the resulting unemployment. Others blame it on eroding family foundation and value system. Yet others attribute it to the denial of the presence of God from the lives of people which lead them to a state of vacuum, hopelessness, disillusionment and arrogance. This problem is not peculiar to China alone. Replacing religion with atheism is the fashion of the secular age. A California congressman is cheered for
announcing that he is an atheist. A book by noted journalist Christopher Hitchens is titled 'God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.' In an essay titled, 'Do we Really Need Religion', Dr A Herbert Gray says: “And thousands have found it. Thousands have discovered a secret whereby their strength is renewed from year to year, so that life takes on more meaning and more interest every
season. Thousands go about with the signs of a deep inward peace in their very eyes.
There is no inward ferment in their beings. They have found some secret of reconcili-
ation with the world, with life, with other people and with themselves. And they have found all that because they have found the secret of reconciliation with God.
“Nor do they despise life because they have found God. On the contrary all things seem to turn good to them. The sunshine is more brilliant, flowers are more lovely, people are more attractive, wit is keener, love itself is more wonderful, once they have
learnt to experience all these things against the background of God. They do not have a religious life and another life. They have one harmonious and deeply happy life filled
with the sense of His presence.”

Vasudeva was then
eleven years old. One early morning, he came to Udupi. There lived a famous
saint, Achyutaprajna, and the boy became his disciple. Nadillaya, his father,
came looking for his son but Vasudeva told him: “I have to fulfill the mission
of my life. Leave me alone. I am going to become a ‘Sannyasi’.”

Two other sons born
to the Nadillaya couple had died very young. What should the old father do when
the only surviving son says that he wants to become a monk? But the boy was
determined. The father prostrated before him and begged: “Don’t throw us
on the streets by taking to ‘Sannyasa’:

“Vasudeva
answered: “It is wrong for a father to prostrate before his son who is not
a ‘sannyasi’. Now that you have bowed to me, it means that you have accepted me
as a monk.” And he answered all his father’s arguments.

Nadillaya then tried
to make one last effort. “I may agree but how can you convince your
mother?”, “Leave it to me”, the boy replied.

 The father
returned home and forewarned his wife: “At any rate, do not agree for his
taking to ‘sannyasa’.”

But Vasudeva had
already decided on the mode of approach to his mother. “If you want your
son to be before you, agree to my becoming a monk. Otherwise you will never see
me again.” His mother had to agree. She was only worried that there would
not be a son to look after them in old age. Vasudeva had a ready reply to that
also. He said: “All right, I will not take to ‘sannyasa’ till another son
is born to you.”

Vedavati gave birth
to a son the following year and Vasudeva went on his way to become
Madhwacharya. His brother served his parents till their end, then took
sannyasa’ from the Acharya himself. He later came to be renowned as
Vishnutirtha. He also was a great monk, who lived only on fruits and leaves. 

Socrates
announced to the general public that he was going to tell an interesting
story.  People who heard this announcement came eagerly to listen to his
story.

   He
began, “There was a merchant who had a lot of merchandise to sell. He decided
to go into another city so that he could get some extra profit from the
business. So he packed his goods and took it on his shoulders and left. He had
to climb a big mountain to reach the other city. While he was walking, he found
another man with a donkey, also heading to the same city to which he was going.
They walked together and talked to each other and became friends. Then the merchant
asked the other man to rent his donkey to hold his merchandise till they reach
the city. The man agreed for a certain amount of money.”

At this
point Socrates found that more people were gathering around him to listen to
the story; some came even forgetting their duties. People, who used to come,
listen and leave within a few minutes, also forgot their business and stayed
back. Then he continued his story:

“The
merchant placed his merchandise upon the donkey and they started out in the
morning. As the day progressed, it became very hard for them to climb the
mountain. They became very tired. As soon as the sun came on top of their head
they decided to take rest.”

Socrates
found that the people gathered around him eagerly listened to his story. He
continued:

“Under
the shade of that donkey there was space for only one person. The owner of the
donkey told the other man that the shade of the donkey solely belonged to him
as he was the owner of the donkey. But the merchant wanted to sit and take rest
so he disagreed with the argument of the owner of the donkey saying that right
now he has hired the donkey so the shade of the donkey solely belonged to him.
But the owner said that he let out only the donkey, not the shade. But the
merchant said that when he hired the donkey, the shade also became his. Both
the men fell into a fierce argument for the shade of the donkey. Both argued
that it belonged to them legally.”

By this
time there were a large number of people around Socrates. He climbed down from
the stone on which he was standing and walked away. People followed him
requesting to complete the story. He paid no attention to them and continued
walking. People were following him and requesting him to complete the story all
the more. They pressed him hard for the end of the story, so he stopped walking
and turned around and said. “I talked to you about great and serious things
like life and after life. But you never paid any attention. But when I started
telling about an imaginative story of a donkey and its shade you are very eager
to listen and want to know the end of the story. You are paying more attention
to silly things and ignoring the important things in life. It is better for you
to look for important things of life; do not run after silly things like stories.
Do some important things everyday and pursue it.”

  Through
the hundreds of stories, Indian Thoughts has published, what we intend is
revisiting those profound concepts of happy and successful life. Unless one agrees
to go into the core and drink the moral extract of these stories, the entire
effort will turn just a silly entertainment.