Editor,
Mother Teresa’s greatest miracle was her life itself. The woman the world came to know as Mother Teresa of Calcutta was called a lot of things in her lifetime. The life of Mother Teresa has to be understood not in her achievements nor in her being beatified and raised to sainthood by “other humans” but her great life sacrifices and determination to serve the poorest of the poor have to be carried forward by the whole society. Mother is known throughout the world for her works of mercy, recognised by Christians and non-Christians alike. She crossed all barriers like caste, race, gender, ethnic, religious and cultural and turned into and remained the mother of the whole civilization. To love one’s neighbour was to love God — this was the key, not the size of her mission or the power others perceived in her. She taught herself to beg, the ultimate humiliation for one whose life had not been luxurious but it had been secure. Mother Teresa undertook her work with great love and commitment. She provided dignity and respect to those who had been defeated by life. She was a messiah of the poor and a pillar of support for the weak and suffering. Every citizen of India will take pride in the recognition being accorded to Mother Teresa for her service to humanity and God through this Canonisation. In the history of sainthood and that of Christianity, she is the first saint of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, non-religious and of course for Christians. Motivated and animated by her belief in God. Mother is really lovely as her life itself was truly a miracle and blessed are many of us who have lived during her lifetime. A beacon of hope she felt for the hapless around the world. Lastly, I would like to quote from Mother Teresa who used to say “If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of ‘darkness’. I will continuously be absent from heaven to light the life of those in darkness on earth.”
Yours etc.,
Vinod C. Dixit
Ahmedabad – 15
Our apathy towards the deprived
Editor,
Pope Francis has denounced indifference to hunger, exploitation and other sufferings as “a grave sin, modern sin and a sin of today” before Mother Teresa’s canonisation. While there is no doubt about in the Pope’s exhortation such indifference cannot be viewed as something new. In fact, Tagore criticized our indifference to human sufferings in his song, “Oh, what a spring!” (“aaha, aaji e basante”). Indeed, in the nineteenth century. Tagore wrote, “Let those who are enjoying, enjoy themselves / Let them enjoy the enjoyable spring to its last / Those happy guys must not see/ The teardrop of a poor girl. / They pretend not to see, / They pretend not to understand, / They turn their heads. /”. Then, Bob Dylan did a Tagore by exposing our hypocrisy and callous indifference to human sufferings in his famous song, “Blowin’ in the wind” in the twentieth century. The song said, “Yes, how many times can a man turn his head / Pretending he just doesn’t see? / The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind / The answer is blowin’ in the wind”. So, we see that this human callousness is not a modern phenomenon but our chronic disease for centuries.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata