By Aristotle Lyngdoh
One writer described tolerance as the ability to take suffering and withstand any undesirable situation. Tolerance is also a key principle of every religion. Another scholar defined religion as human effort and strategy to satisfy and please his Maker or Creator and therefore tolerance is very much the tenet of that effort. Religion is the personal matter of a person and the same principle should also apply while propagating any religious beliefs. In this competitive world, tolerance helps a person to endure odd situations before achieving the desired objective. I thought to myself the kind of greetings I should convey in this season and the appropriate one is to recall the contributions of the few historical personalities who were born to detest intolerance and made the world fit for everyone to live in, but more is needed to do in order to complement their efforts. Today religious sectarianism is more political and power-oriented.
From Abraham Lincoln to Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Mother Teresa to Nelson Mandela, Abdul Kalam and many others, all of them have one thing in common that is their clear understanding on the equality of all persons irrespective of colour, race and background. Based on this fundamental truth of equality, complete freedom and deliverance from all types of oppression is indispensable so that a person or community can further acquire for themselves ways and means to develop and prosper in order to shape their own destiny. And for this reason, throughout their lives, they fought, propagated and lived by confronting the people, the society and the Government as well. Besides, they also fully acknowledge and recognize the inseparable freedom of the spirit of human beings which guides them to conduct themselves in relation to their physical needs as well as spiritual, mental or intellectual and social needs. Understanding this reality, intolerance is completely not within their vocabulary that they would even dare to think about it.
The world we live in both past and present is not free from oppression, clashes or attempts to dominate or enslave one over another. Intolerance occurs not only in the realm of religion but everyday everywhere in the work place, the streets especially when strangers park their vehicles close to our homes within the community or religious organizations. The tendency to express aversion towards someone by someone is very common especially when a particular community or group is in a dominant position. Most often, our nature as human beings reveals that we cannot tolerate to see others prospering or achieving something good in life. Rather we desire to be on top of others even if we don’t openly express such angst. This is the corruptible nature of the human race and in my opinion we need not be afraid but face them naturally as they are.
The fact is that when The Darwin’s theory of evolution has failed, whereas the Khasi philosophy that The Hynñiewtrep originated from heaven but stuck on earth entrapped in deception somehow is closer to what the Bible described. The first man Adam had sinned and falled short of the glory of God. Then this human race that all of us belong to is undoubtedly a fallen race and is not free from jealousy, hatred, intolerance, etc. But history has its place and there are people who created history by their efforts and acts of goodwill to detest all these form of injustices.
When this issue of intolerance erupted, it reminded me of a small booklet I read few years back which contained the speeches of Rev. JJM Nichols Roy at the conclave of religious leaders in 1952 organised by the Ramakrishna Mission at Calcutta. At this gathering, he explained the three aspects of the Spirit of Christ. First is the Spirit that helps Christ to do miracles, heal the sick, forgive sinners and set people free from bondage and oppression. Second, the Spirit that raised Jesus from the death and third, the Spirit that makes people believe that Jesus is God Himself.
History has so much to tell and teach us about events and occasions that built and united societies. It is a source where we can understand our origin and background. In the same way God too as eternal Creator plays His part in every episode in order to shape His own purpose. The state of affairs of the nation at the time when Jesus was born was in complete crisis both social and political. The Jewish state which was under the control of the Roman Empire was unstable. On the one hand, there was a puppet government ruled by Herod and alongside, there was a group of rebels or revolutionary outlaws led by Barrabas who was later captured by the Romans. In the social and religious affairs, the so called Pharisees and Sadducees specialized in the interpretation of the laws of the prophets and of Moses. They considered themselves as the intellectual class whose views and thoughts should be accepted by everyone in the society. They enforced what they believed and never tolerated those who opposed their way of life. From generation to generation people were expecting and anticipating freedom and liberty to choose their own destiny.
In those days health was not a state subject and beyond the purview and responsibility of governance. Sick people are often left to themselves and to the mercy of their own fates. Most of the times, they were regarded as a punishment because of their own wickedness or past transgressions and were ostracized. On the contrary, we learn that Jesus during His earthly ministry went around doing good things, healing all kind of sicknesses and oppressions, He touched the untouchables and lived among the rejected of the society. He looked for sinners, out-castes and gave them new hope in life and His primary objective was to eradicate hatred and the corruptible nature from this world and offered His own life as a sacrifice for that.
Toward the close of 4 B.C and in the beginning of the 1st A.D, something happened that evoked the furore of the royal administration turning the entire state into a tragedy. When the enquiry on the birth of the new born King reached the court of King Herod, all hell broke loose. King Herod was totally perturbed and became violent. The fear of losing his identity, position and privilege enraged him. Fearing that he would be upstaged, he turned his anger and intolerance towards children and executed all those below two years of age.
There was a deliberate attempt to stop the mission that Jesus intended to accomplish right from His early days but as promised no one could take away His life until He Himself gave it up which happened at the cross at Calvary and there He established a perfect mechanism for reconciliation. King Herod failed to differentiate between the political king and this spiritual King who conquered the hearts of men with love and forgiveness whereas the wise men understood the futuristic mission of this new born child. Later on His disciples and those who were with Him and witnessed with their own eyes, fearlessly carried the same mission across the world. One of them, Thomas died in South India. Therefore, Christianity in India is not only a western gospel of recent century, but dates back to 2000 years and more.
Those who think that their objectives have been achieved by imposing certain conditions and restrictions over others leading to numbers of unexpected incidences, are wrong. They are doing more harm upon themselves and their masters. The Gujarat riots of 2002 are a lesson, which the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee linked the NDA’s defeat in the 2004 General Election. Therefore, the present NDA regime, however effective and serious it might be, should take note of it because there are millions more Indian people who do not wish India to be divided along any sectarian line but are happy enough to co-exist with multiplicity of cultures and beliefs.
The world we live in belongs to us and collectively we should show no tolerance against the destruction of our environment. The Supreme Court has done the right thing by controlling the sale of diesel vehicles over 2000cc designed for the rich to pollute the environment making it hard for the poor to survive. It is high time that we revive at any cost the green ecology symbolized in the green and shining trees.