Upon reading Pravin Sabnis' recent post "what's your religion?", I would like to point towards -- Dharma Prachar by Tagore bracketed with my thoughts on the topic of alienation. The thoughts and reading of Tagore began after encountering a post on Goanet: Goanet Digest, Vol 2, Issue 728, 2007, on C Fernandes' Remembering the legacy of Froilano De Mello, which mentioned, "His interests included the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. In 1946 he published O Cantico da Vida na Poesia Tagoreana." _________________________________________________________________
Upon reading the information above, I moved to take a closer look at Rabiji; and would like to draw attention to a poem by Tagore, as a reasonable point of refraction into some of the threads related to fundamentalism over the past couple of years— having resulted in anguishes due to various perceptions, over the past some months. On 24 December 1890, just shy of his thirtieth birthday, Manashi (The Lady of the Mind), a collection of Tagore's poetry saw publication. One poem in the collection, Dharma Prachar (Mission-Work) is about an incident reported in 1888, in which an Salvation Army* preacher was assaulted by Bengali Hindu revivalists. Aside from not having any sympathy for the assailants, Tagore also had little sympathy for Christian missionaries as a lot. The poem Dhrama Prachar, gives a glimpse of one rhetorical instance employed to exhort towards "violence" — while maintaining an objective analysis of the assailant mind, and yet giving it voice. Please note that I am not saying the Hindu mind. This is because, minds which cause anguish to others due to an/any ideological reinforcing through beliefs rooted in body, mind, and spirit — have much in common, whatever, their religious underpinnings. To precisely mean that, virulent notions can sprout in any mind or in any 'herd' of minds. The piece below could very well have had Christians as the antagonists, in which case one would be babbling out about being part of the Holy Roman empire or following the encyclical of the Patriarch, or perhaps even something of the sternest aspect in scripture, as a justification. Reference: Rabindranath Tagore: The myriad-minded man, by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, Bloomsbury paperback 1997. Original edition 1995. Listen, Brother Bishu! Outside -'Victory to Jesu!' Can you bear to hear that name, Scions of Aryans you! Vishnu, Shiva, every god All will soon be under trod. If India worships Jesu, Hindu texts will lie unread. Brother, I hear that every mage Every Indian saint and sage, Vishnu, Harit, Narad, Atri Weeps and dies in rage. Where's our mighty karma? Where the eternal dharma? 'Look out Shibu, look out Haru, look out Nani, look out Charu, its no time to watch the fun - Save your skins, hurry hurry!' 'Police are coming, batons raised, Run like the streak of flame! Blessed be the Aryan faith! Blessed be Bengal's sacred name!' Tagore's portrayal of the mind laboring under zealotry can apply to any group -- including Christians and among Christians with barely a constraint on the violence (no deaths as yet), as seen for instance against the Believers in Goa. To reiterate, against those of any persuasion who feel besieged. This usually happens to the rank and file in any cause or belief system, as the leaders scheme at control while often distributing largess. This is similar to accounts of varied Christian denominations distributing aid with not with the most altruistic of intentions? But the beginnings of zealotry more often than not, are a myriad of beginnings which lie buried in many pasts. In our India, one of many beginnings that has been accepted stretches way back to the marauders, or should we be saying, the adventurers from Ghazni — the advent of our sporadic horrors, reaching down the centuries to Naokhali and onwards to another present; while continuing to unsettle us as a nation state; and the many as inadvertent nationalists seeking identity and strength as a nation. Ours is a complex country in which concessions to various groups have caused anguish in almost every other community, both at the religious and at a secular level. For instance, I do not know of other country that have different justice systems for various communities. The Shah Bano case is one which comes to mind! Even Gandhi has weighed in on Christianity, but there is little concordance among Christians (to mean, largely in Indian) to MKG's thoughts. One only has to read MKG's reflections on the Sermon on the Mount, to get a sense of what he saw being passed off and practiced as Christianity. Gandhi said, "If then I had to face only the Sermon on the Mount and my own interpretation of it, I should not hesitate to say, 'Oh, yes, I am a Christian.' But I can tell you that, in my humble opinion, much of what passes as Christianity is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount." (Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras, by Diana L Eck). He also said, "... I am speaking of the Christian belief, of Christianity as it is understood in the west." MKG also could not accept a mysterious attribution (as in "so it came to pass") to the Death on the cross. Basically he did not relate to this portion of dogma. I do not wish to dwell on MKGs notion of Christian dogmatics; aside from suggesting that such a response must be respected in a secular tradition; which incidentally I believe many of us do — respect. There is no point, other than creating fractures by positing questions that have very little to do with a desire and willingness to know; as also, parsing questions that are distinctly cloaked in incorrigible candied cleverness. Kednaim zanteanchem, ani kednaim nenteanchem aicounc zai. Occasionally listen to those experienced through age (older person(s)), and likewise the innocent(s) (the young child). And if it is interrogative thrusts that gives one balance, then it is essential to lay reasonable foundations, before, as well as towards launching ones thoughts. This is a basic quality for functioning in a secular framework. These interactions on Goanet contribute towards a qualitative understanding of the kind of community we wish for — by living in the midst of deep or not really deep religiosity as well as by being exposed to the various cultural armatures of individual beings. The reality is indeed that via Goanet, questions and issues are raised in a virtual environment, but the impetus generated is what one may take into the real world; shaping social space, to hopefully suit our egalitarian impulses -- if any. Every contribution is based on ones own private as well as a public aristocracy of being; this is unquestionable. Goanet is but a forum, though which we may conduct a progressive polylogy rather than engaging in a constancy of interruptions. One cannot beat out answers; yet we must strive to make connections, and relationships — conjectures based on what is presented, shared, argued and learned in the finest tradition — perhaps an Upanishadic one, of course excluding the (Upah)voir and the khala) tradition; ditto to those of a preference towards Socratic engagement. In a sense — approaching Goanet as an open society — connected to the larger society within which we apparently thrive in; and yet find it relentlessly beyond ones corporeal and mental being to accede the same joys to those in the land of our birth. venantius j pinto * a group of Christians (Salvation Army) with churches in places like Nagercoil (Nagerkovil), Tamilnadu, In 2002, I was a best man to a friend who got married in Nagercoil.