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the-south-asian.com May/June 2003 |
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May/June 2003 The
Flourishing Fake Art Pico
Iyer - a global Sarla
Thakral - India's 1st Technology Pakistan's
IT Markets
'Tehri
Lakeer' by Ismat 'Romance
of Mango' by
'Ittar'
- the oldest shop Real Issues The
Real Hindutva vs
Lehngas - a limited collection Books
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The Plague of our times by Gautam Mohammad
"……..The plague bacillus never dies or vanishes entirely... it can remain dormant for dozens of years in furniture or clothing... it waits patiently in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, handkerchiefs and old papers, and... perhaps the day will come when, for the instruction or misfortune of mankind, the plague will rouse its rats and send them to die in some well-contented city." [ closing paragraph from Albert Camus 1947 published novel "The Plague" (La Peste) ] In our time, the plague has visited not just Europe in the two great wars, but has resurfaced in the form of religious intolerance , the variety being better known as religious fundamentalism . In the south Asian sub-continent, this viral species visited us in the partition of 1947. More recently it erupted again in the Balkans , Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia. Once again it is stalking the lands of Middle –East in Palestine and in Israel. In India it has prompted Khushwant Singh to warn us about it by writing a recent book called " The End of India" – more specifically he means secular India . Within Pakistan the plague bacillus has visited the home of Sunni-Shia and Ahmadi Muslims , the minority communities in Karachi. As writers we need to target and invoke the conscience of the new generations . Each generation forgets world history. We need to recognize our shameful acts . Marx once wrote ..Shame is a revolutionary emotion and national shame is the foster –mother of revolution . As William Faulkner said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "......I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail. …" [William Faulkner – 1950 – Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden] To this end the writer and the poet in the Indian Prime-Minister has opened the dialogue with Pakistan and a 12 member Parliamentary delegation from Pakistan crossed the border at Wagah and were garlanded and warmly welcomed by their counterparts in India . In his own time Buddha walked in the now state of Bihar - the idea behind Buddha’s begging bowl was to beg for the Dharma [ the duty] . In the midst of the city he begged from door to door according to rule. In the city, with complete attention, holding his empty bowl he begged from door to door according to rule. Totally open, he received whatever was given. With complete trust he held out his bowl to receive what was given, he ran from nothing, feared nothing, accepted whatever was given without question, according to rule. They say in Japan monks still go out begging according to this ancient tradition. This is the practice of one who begs for the Dharma. Walk up to the door of every new experience and accept what is given with an empty bowl - an insult, a demand, a compliment, sickness, health, joy, sorrow. According to rule, this is the simple practice given by the Tathagatha. Moment after moment... Time after time... raise the thought of enlightenment, and cutting off the root of attachment receive what is given with an empty bowl. Approach every door empty-handed. When the telephone rings simply pick up the receiver and say hello - with an empty bowl receive the message. This was the Buddha's practice. The whole of this Sutra is contained in a single ring of the telephone if I can just hear it with empty ears. This done, he returned to his retreat and took his meal. We never come back empty handed. The Dharma is abundance. There is always enough to chew on. The Buddha's teachings of the Good Law are right here now. We don't need an exotic setting to find them. Having filled your bowl return to your retreat. Go deep within yourself and take your meal. Chew it up. Chew it to the bone. Suck out the marrow. Savor it. Become one with it, incorporate it into your sinews, your pores, your hair follicles. No separation. Become one with the Dharma. When he had finished he put away his robe and begging bowl, washed his feet, arranged his seat, and sat down. In another passage in this sutra, the Buddha says: My teaching of the Good Law is to be likened unto a raft. The Buddha teaching must be relinquished. Don't carry around leftovers in your bowl. They spoil the next meal. Let go of yesterday's insult, yesterday's praise, yesterday's understanding, yesterday's dream of enlightenment. They are all dead things. Wash your feet -- remove the last traces of this meal, the dust of your travels. Then sit down ready to start all over again. Just pay attention to this moment. this is the play, the whole drama is taking place before you very eyes right now. Just look! Power & Load Shedding All power corrupts – Franz Kafka understood this well and wrote about it in his novels . Here the plague comes from a strange strain of fascist and ultra-right wing fundamentalist rats. In the NWFP province where the MMA party is in power, it took the opposition to show the MMA , pictures of Mr.Jinnah on the walls of the assembly building dressed in western clothes , before the motion to make shalwar-kameez a compulsory student dress in government schools , was defeated . In the days of the Roman Empire when the Roman Emperor drove in his golden chariot for a triumphal march into Rome , Fellini the Italian Film director , shows in the movie "Satyricon" [ famous for depicting the Roman society’s decadence] , how the Roman Emperor was being constantly whispered in his ears by a small dwarf , saying " Man is mortal , man is mortal …" in a desperate attempt to save the lives of the prisoners which the Roman emperor had marching behind him , probably to be thrown into the coliseum as gladiators and fight to their gory deaths. In our day and age, the Emperor dressed is a pilot suit and helmet lands his chariot on the deck of the Navy Aircraft Carrier, minus the dwarf whispering words of wisdom in his ear . In fact he can barely hear anything amidst the noise of the jets. ***** |
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