An
old friend of mine underwent angioplasty recently and I decided to visit him
today. I asked Maggie to join me since she knew him and more since I loved
company for the hour-long drive. The friend is a Catholic priest who was a
classmate of mine for 6 years in the seminary. Let me call him S.
Our conversation happened to graze religion
and I mentioned that I was no church-goer. Maggie thought that the priest would
find that scandalous. On the contrary, S asked, “What’s the use of going to church
if that doesn’t make one a good person? I know a lot of people who attend
church as a mere duty. If you are a good person doing good to others, it hardly
matters whether you go to church or not.”
“He has his own spirituality. He meditates.”
Maggie offered.
“What more do you want?” S asked. “God is
not the private property of the church.”
Maggie was neither shocked nor scandalised. Living
with me had made her familiar with similar, if not much more radical, views. I didn’t mention, however, that my
meditations didn’t require even a god. My morality and my goodness (however
whatever little that is) are founded on the pure logic that goodness is the foundation
of healthy living.
I recalled how a student of mine resorted to
a small trick last year to get me along with Maggie to pray in the school’s
prayer room during the lunch break. “Would you do something for me during the
lunch break?” She had asked me. “Please,” she pleaded. “Why not?” I said
without realising what she was up to. However, when she got Maggie to the
prayer room I refused to accompany her because I had been assigned a duty by
the coordinator. The student wouldn’t believe that I couldn’t take a minute off
from that duty for her sake. She felt hurt more because I broke my promise to
her than because I refused to join her in prayer. A few months later, however,
she told a friend of hers that it didn’t matter whether I prayed or not because
I was a good human being.
“That’s all what matters,” said S. “And
people always see through what you are whether you go to church or not.”
Maggie understood that my friends, very few as
they are, are indeed a different breed of people.
It is easy to go to any temple or church or masjid or mausoleum and say prayers. Being good is an unattainable pinnacle for both believers and disbelievers. Most of the disbelievers are ideal and strive to be good. They are indeed spiritual.
ReplyDeleteI have also noticed that non-believers tend to be better at heart. Probably, they think and act unlike believers who do what they like assuming the confessional or the Ganga or something like that will wash away their sins.
Deleteinteresting story telling
ReplyDeleteI so agree that going to temples or churches or mosques doesnt make one spiritual or a good human being. Being true to ones work and self does. Work is worship. Clear conscious is the only mirror where one should see the reflection and not in the eyes of the others.
ReplyDeleteA heartwarming story.
Thank you for joining me here and endorsing my views on this topic. I too take work as worship. I too believe in keeping the conscience clear.
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