Literary Friends

The late Professor M. Krishnan Nair was perhaps one of those few people whose erudition had no bounds. And of the living, Justice Krishna Iyer is one such.

The profound knowledge and dexterity over language that was/is special to these two cannot be confined into some words.

Professor Krishnan Nair was familiar to all those who would zealously devour his literary reviews and critiques that used to come out every week. I was amazed by the intensity with which he used to read and dissect literary creations, no holds barred. Can a man read with such profligacy? I wondered. So did many. And Professor Krishnan Nair did! A very familiar demure figure on MG Road Thiruvannathapuram, and at the D.C and Current Books , until he became confined to bed and faded away.

There were rude, unkind, tongue in cheek, vulgar comments and opinion that the professor based his reviews on synopsis of the books he critiqued. He did not read as he claimed. And he was a false,haughty literary reviewer and so on. Professor Krishnan Nair ignored these comments,sometimes rubbish has to be dealt as such and left in the confines of the bin.

It is furore and false pride that make these people claim to be scholars in reading a J. Krishnamurthy, a James Joyce, an Osho,  an Albert Camus, a Khalil Gibran and so on.The first name basis with which they refer to these literary giants seems to be funny,impolite and shocking. “Well have you read JK”, will be the intone. And honestly with the very cursory reading I have had of Krishnamurthy it would be embarrassing and unease to comment. As I move on, the glance of derision will follow me. Also I found Krishnamurthy’s video and audio lectures discernible than his books.So, though I have a few books in collection haven't read much.

The pretensions and nature of people who claim to the legacy of thinkers like J. Krishnamurthy was glaringly revealed when I went to a school run by the Krishnamurthy foundation. Just to put forth my point- spirituality if exists in us need not be ostentatiously exhibited or reminded to the world, If true spiritual nature exists in us it tells in the glow of the mind. A well read person has an aura, a halo that can be seen when you are near him. It tells in his gaze, his words. And that is vivid to all. What happened in that school, be it teachers or parents was kind of contrived dazed speech and elevated walking around. They seemed to have the air of zombies. Was Krishnamurthy one such? I felt rubbished.

Then there are people who quote extensively from the classical writers.They may not have read the work, but they capture the catchy parts to flaunt their erudition . It is amazing how they manage to retain awesome memory. And quotes are brought forth during appropriate and inappropriate occasions. They are desperate to convey the message that they are scholars who alone can comment on the literary giants, and great thinkers, men of philosophy and political sciences from whom they think they have bequeathed their philosophy.

 I met this guy who was from Kerala, who also claimed to be an MBA graduate. His English had a deliberate accent - but was pure mallu- english and he seemed to be in desperate mood to convey that he was erudite and a walking encyclopaedia. He claimed to have read poetry. I forced myself and  listened to his monologue. The only poetry he seemed to recite verbatim was “Kunnjunni kavithakal”. What he did not realise was that camouflage is an art that has also to be supplemented by an act as well. To act you need substance, dressing up and attire alone may not help. He began talking about the books he read. He said he was a voracious reader. And he has devoured most of the English writers .I enquired if he liked the books of Graham Green and P.G.Woodehouse. He brushed my question aside and said that he has read world classics; I asked him if he would suggest a few. He said he has read “Hunchback of Notterdam”. I felt like someone slap me in the face. I hurriedly bade him and moved on.

The shallowness of their self can be easily discerned if we care to be in conversation with them for a while. James Joyce, JK ,and the lot would run away in embarrassment.It is apparent that a person has not read a sentence of Hemingway if he is a person who dislikes the wild, and is an armchair explorer.

But why do people fake? What gratuitous pleasure will one achieve if one falsely claim to have read a book of repute? The lie will be seen as soon as the person begins the conversation. Because even if it is rubbish that we have read the dust that catches our persona is there to stay through the life. That is, what I see as the power of literary creation -the power of words, the power of the pen.It is the same with a Enid Blyton,a James Hadley Chase, a Kant, a Neruda,a T. Padmanabhan , a SKP or a Marquez.
Any dispute?

"Justitia"

A month or so ago bloggers flooded the sites with mutual  and reciprocal wishes and accolades on the Independence Day. Back patting, self congratulatory words, jingoistic slogans and so on  flooded the sites. "Mere Bhartah mahan” , so claimed many blogs. Suddenly many of us woke up to believe that we are a proud ,civilised nation and a free democracy.

Today when one switch on any news channel on TV the world’s largest democracy seems to be at war, Preparations are on for a possible war. Security is being beefed up all over the country. Secular credentials of the masses and the country seem to be threatened and security personnel have been deployed at places of worship, and many public monuments.The reason, the free democracy that we are may be grotesquely awakened or jolted by a judgement that a court of law will pronounce in a day. That is the extent and depth of our respect for the judicial process and law of the land. And we still claim to democratic and secular values. Bull shit! Can we be more hypocritical than this?

When we cannot accept the due process of law to which we turned to conclude a dispute what right do we have to claim that we are free? That we are democratic? We are secular? We are civilised nation that respects the law?

Perhaps Winston Churchill though brutal in his observations ,about our credentials was right , that we Indians cannot manage our affairs in a civilised conduct but are meant to be ruled over.

If...

If life followed us, stead of us follow life
and ebb with the tide?

Cease longing and craving for things that are afar.

If we can be happy when dispossessed cause we never owned them to begin with?

Would then ,life be happier than now?

The Word ?

It is in human nature to ignore and wish away what that we feel is not convenient to us, our beliefs and perceived well being. We are well adept in closing our eyes to the many possibilities that life throws up. Our conditioning has much to do with this. Since we are taught to be subservient and comply with the system. Not to ask inconvenient questions. What attracted me to Hollger Kersten’s book “Jesus Lived in India” ,published by Penguin was the audacity of inquisitiveness, a profane trait as seen by many. C has now begun reading the book. The good thing about her, she is not shackled by icons and fear of malediction. I bought the book after seeing it with a woman who claims to be a devout catholic. I was certain that when she told me that she read the book it was a monolithic lie. Because people of her genre are a frightened lot, they cannot but wear blinkers.

Many European travellers to Kashmir have recorded the possibility- of Jesus living in India.
Suppression of truth, search for knowledge and light has always been practised down history. And the author of this book quotes ample conjectures that points to culpability of not only the Church but also of the apostles some of whom may have allegedly misrepresented facts in narrating the life crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus. 

According to the Old Testament Moses led the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, (which they usurped from the Palestinians to become later the modern day Israel). But according to the evidence bared by  Hollger Kersten this Promised Land was not Palestine but the valley of Kashmir.The first set of evidence is that several locales mentioned in the Old Testament carry strong similarities in name and description to places in and near the Kashmir valley. Secondly the native Kashmiri people bear strong resemblances to Jews in physical characteristics. Thirdly the customs of Kashmir is having fascinating similarities to those of the Jews. The book has to be read to understand how a group settled in Kashmir.

Then come the galvanizing parts of Kersten’s disclosures- Jesus spent much of his teen and youth in a Monastery in India, studying Buddhism. He then went back to the Middle East where he preached all the knowledge and wisdom he gathered in the orient. The conjecture cannot be shooed away, because after being born and reared in a faith (Judaism) which literally embraces the dictum, “an eye of an eye, and tooth for a tooth”, Jesus was known to have preached compassion, forgiveness and repentance, traits clearly alien to his people but ascribed to the oriental religion of Buddhism. If not for the influence of alien faith and religion, from where and how did he imbibe these laudable principles and wisdom? Another vital point that the self proclaimed biblical historians could not explain was the whereabouts of Christ from his adolescence to the very late twenties. It is known from the bible and other historical documents that Christ was seen back in Palestine in his thirtieth year.

 Last but not the least, Jesus survived the Crucifixion, not just in Spirit but also in body and then returned to India and continued to spread his message. He finally died in Kashmir in ripe old age.  His tomb exists in Kashmir still. "In the middle of Srinagar's old town stands the building known as 'Roza Bal',which is constructed over the burial place of 'Yuz Azaf',who  the evidence strongly suggest is none other than Jesus". The harrowing period of the crucifiction ,the fascinating rescue and medical care ,escape to safety of the east along with his Essene  disciples are all  well explained with proof and evidence.

While Kersten acknowledges that many Christians may accuse him of fleecing Christianity of its core message that Christ died on the cross to salvage humanity by bearing on him our sins, the author argues that this was not the factual message that came from Christ but from the apostles who gave us their interpretations of Christ’s life and preaching. Jesus on the other hand, preached love, tolerance and harmony! His life in itself conveys that central message. It was Paul who made out Jesus died on the cross to bring salvation to mankind.

Kersten opines that if a DNA test could be conducted on the shroud of Turin that is believed to have been used to drape the body of Christ (later scientifically proved to be hoax) and on the remains in the tomb a conclusive proof for his claims can be found, but that may seldom happen in our times.Kersten argues that the scientific testing on the authenticity of the shroud was questionable.

Through out the book, the  author based his theory on facts, legends, the scriptures including Koran and lot of historical postulations and evidence. When one carefully note the volume of evidence and historical materials that are described and laid bare in the book, these theories cannot be rubbished as that of an apostate.

This book  may be blasphemous for many but for the inquiring  the book is a treat and of much history and why not’s..

This also reminds of a work of fiction by Irving Wallace ’The Word’, where the officialdom moves mountains to stop the revelation of a Bible long lost and found.


The faithful might brand the book iconoclastic perversion, but only that they speaketh with eyes closed.
 

An Excerpt

In a little known letter Albert Einstein wrote, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”. His famous aphorism has been a source of endless debate between believers and non- believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20 th century as their own.

This little known letter written by him may help to settle the argument –or at least provide further fuel to his views. However the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as “childish superstitions”.

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954to philosopher Eric Gutkind.

In the letter he states that, “The word god is for me nothing more than an expression and product of human weakness, the Bible collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this”.Einstine who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel’s second president also rejected the idea that the Jews are God’s favoured people.

“For me the Jewish religion like all other is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have deep affinity have no different quality for me than other human groups. I cannot see anything chosen about them”.

The letter is a handwritten piece; in German.Einstines thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him, It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion.

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

Adapted source -The Guardian

Star Dust

Star dust that we are, insignificant specks.

Insignificant -

in schemes wondrous, that nature has ruled.

For the sun to rise, set and rise again;

for the earth to turn around, for the moon to shine;

for the stars to twinkle, for the clouds to sail;

for the rains to drop, and for the earth to quench!

The rainbow to regal;

and the birds to chirp, in ecstasy and freedom.

for the beasts of the jungle and the little ones of the woods;

and all that small and beautiful!

For the streams to flow into rapids and beyond;

the oceans to churn and for the  fishes too!

for seasons to part, flowers to bloom;

for the trees ,and the mountains that outlived.

Where do we in the scheme of things stand?

Yet, to know what we are, look yonder to the skies,

by night ,and  at the stars up above, wonder

and be aware, star dust we are and insignificant too.

Meaning of Life

What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion. Is there any sense then, you ask, in putting it? I answer, the man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life". (Albert Einstein)

This excerpt is a letter written by Einstein in response to a 19-year-old Rutger's University student, who had written to Einstein of his despair at seeing no visible purpose to life and no help from religion. In responding to this poignant cry for help, Einstein offered no easy solace, and this very fact must have heartened the student and lightened the lonely burden of his doubts.

Here is Einstein's response. 

I was impressed by the earnestness of your struggle to find a purpose for the life of the individual and of mankind as a whole. In my opinion there can be no reasonable answer if the question is put this way.

If we speak of the purpose and goal of an action we mean simply the question: which kind of desire should we fulfill by the action or its consequences or which undesired consequences should be prevented? We can, of course, also speak in a clear way of the goal of an action from the standpoint of a community to which the individual belongs. In such cases the goal of the action has also to do at least indirectly with fulfillment of desires of the individuals which constitute a society.

If you ask for the purpose or goal of society as a whole or of an individual taken as a whole the question loses its meaning. This is, of course, even more so if you ask the purpose or meaning of nature in general. For in those cases it seems quite arbitrary if not unreasonable to assume somebody whose desires are connected with the happenings.

Nevertheless we all feel that it is indeed very reasonable and important to ask ourselves how we should try to conduct our lives. The answer is, in my opinion: satisfaction of the desires and needs of all, as far as this can be achieved, and achievement of harmony and beauty in the human relationships. This presupposes a good deal of conscious thought and of self-education.

It is undeniable that the enlightened Greeks and the old Oriental sages had achieved a higher level in this all-important field than what is alive in our schools and universities.