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Domnic Fernandes continues (Part III) his reminiscence of
Mapusa of the 1950s
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426
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Thought of sharing this information .
Monday, April 10, 2006
Jesus Christ!
The television connection at home was down over the weekend, as were a few
other electronic items, which made life very very different. I desist from
saying 'difficult', for this is how things were once upon a time not so long
ago, before technology carpet-bombed our homes, and minds.
Not an avid TV watcher, except for the late-night, male-specific zombie act
with the remote control, I wasn't too bothered. But on learning that
National Geographic was telecasting its documentary on the Gospel of Judas
on Sunday night, I decided to have myself invited for drinks by a friend,
and thus ended up catching the rivetting drama.
This piece had been simmering since the news of the Gospel of Judas broke on
Thursday-Friday, and although my favourite Sunday columnist Vir Sanghvi has
quite taken the wind out of the sails I was planning to use, let me share my
thoughts on the matter.
There's a lot one can dislike about the West, but at the same time there's
much more one can like about it.
Conversely, there's such a lot one can love about India, and at the same
time there's so much one can dislike about it.
Without doubt, for me the whole Gospel of Judas episode reaffirms my belief
in the liberal nature of Western civilisation. Make no mistake, the latest
Gospel strikes at the very core of Christiandom as we know it. Yet, there
are no protests, no opposition, no cries of 'Christianity in danger' or any
such thing. It's possible that many among the experts who worked on
authenticating the gospel were practicing/believing Christians. Yet, when it
came to lending science's cachet to the documents, there was no holding
back.
Has the religion weakened one bit? On the contrary, I think the faith has
gained from the whole episode. Sure, everyone knows how organised religions
work, so there's no surprise at how the gospel was sought to be suppressed
in the early days of Christianity. Suppression of inconvenient texts,
opinions, after all, is the stape of all faiths. We see it all the time
around us.
I maybe wrong, but for the life of me I cannot imagine such a scenario in
India, like new evidence presenting our epics in a new light and the country
going about its usual business. Once upon a time, maybe, but now? No way. We
were the original liberal civilisation, yet today we have let dogma take
over and stultify everything. Before you start throwing stones, abuse etc my
way, let me add that my faith is firm, and needs no certification or
affirmation from a bunch of lunatics.
While I was mulling over the Gospel of Judas, another news report in a
morninger today caught my eye. That was about the central government
readying to throw the book at artist M F Husain for offending sentiments
with some of his paintings. Regular readers of this blog know my views on
that artificial controversy so I will not waste time repeating it. But the
contrast between the two cultures has never been starker in my mind than
when I read this report.
What struck me the most as I read about and watched the Judas gospel was the
language that was attributed to Jesus Christ:
'...You will sacrifice the man that clothes me...' Jesus is said to have
told Judas. For us in India, this is familiar language, and harks back to
the Vedanta and so many of our mystics who deride the physical body as an
impediment after realising their self. I will not get into the argument
whether Jesus visited India and picked up eastern spirituality, as suggested
by a school of thought, but restrict myself to observing that the land from
which such liberalism sprung seems to have lost its course.
Which is the real tragedy.
so believes Saisuresh Sivaswamy
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