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| Mother Teresa |
Saints are revered in most religions.
A saint can be defined as a holy person in
the eyes of the people who have faith. They are considered
as the source of absolute truth. They are also source
of exemplary qualities such as compassion, love, justice and honesty
among many others.
A while back I wrote a post on the
public figure. I see God as a public figure whose life and actions are
scrutinized by each and every living being on Earth (and perhaps on other
planets where intelligent life exists). It isn't easy being God, perhaps He shares
my sentiments.
However for a mere mortal like me it
is difficult to "see" God. So the faith is a bit of a far-fetched idea
for me. I end up in a recursive loop - to see Him I need faith but for faith I
need to see Him! Besides it is easy to forget someone
who apparently is never seen & insists on helping with
an invisible hand.
These days there are a lot of TV
shows which portray Ganesha or Hanumana as a friend for a kid. Somehow the
children are ready to believe in the existence of a divinity. However for a
science graduate like me it is easy to believe in the existence of a alien life
on another planet than the possible existence of a divinity.
Oh! I forgot I was talking about
saints. These divine beings in seemingly human form are in front of me. I can
see them and a strange emotion seems to heighten within me when I'm in their
proximity. In Dev Anand's movie Guide the character says "जिस
आदमी के दर्शन
से परमात्मा
में भक्ति
जागे वोह महात्मा कहलाता है".
Who is your saint? The definition of a saint is your own; whether
it is Tulsidas, Tukaram, Guru Nanak, Gautam Buddha, Mother Teresa or
Mansur Al-Hallaj. I leave that up to you. Some use the immortal
moments from the mortal lives of Jobs, Manjunath or Gandhi as a lighthouse
of truth.
In any case these people have displayed extraordinary qualities in
the toughest of situations. The quality that seems to bind all these
personalities together is humility. Mother Teresa once said, "If you're humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you
are".
A Buddhist monk in Lamayuru said to me, "I bow to everything, good or bad. Good because it is good. And to humbly refuse the bad". These words create a wonderful energy even today, almost couple of months since I spoke to the monk in Ladakh. So humility, ahoy!
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa
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