CELEBRATING DOOMSDAY

I know this article may sound bizzare to some extent but it hits out at a reality that we all have to face one day.

The fact is that we have come into this world only to go away. History speaks of the millions who have come into this world and have gone. So if they did not remain it is certain that we will not too.

So each one of us has this "doomsday" facing him- death, due to any cause, old age, disease, accidents etc. There are about 7 billion people in the world today and each one is marked with death. So there will be 7 billion people leaving the world.

Let us look at the companions, friends and near and dear loved ones who are with us - they are all destined to leave this world as are we.

How is it that even though death is in the midst of us, and every day we read of people leaving the world, that we are not conscious of it?

Maybe if we were more conscious of the approaching separation we would grow to love and appreciate our companions and loved ones even more.

We would be less concerned about material success in the world, about owning houses and cars and wealth and prosperity, acquiring status and renown.

We would be conscious of the things we would want to be remembered for after we have left the world -- and these things would certainly not be houses, cars, plush dwellings, material possessions, six figure salaries, status and power.

We would want to be remembered for the love given and the love received, we would want to be remembered for the help we gave to others in need and for the suffering we could ease in the world.

We would want to be remembered for our Faith in God and the manner in which we had helped make His creation more beautiful and more full of love and peace.

So if celebrating "Doomsday" makes us remember all these things then let us get together on the 21st of December 2012, the purported Doomsday that will not be, and remember what is worth remembering before the world really comes to an end for us.

MY VIEWS ON DOOMSDAY

 Every person in the world has his own views on Doomsday, whether it will come or not, and every person has his own beliefs and logic to back up his views. I respect the views of all while giving my own here.

In my view the concept of a Doomsday is not compatible with the concept of a Loving and Forgiving God.

Granted that man has committed many sins. But would that be reason enough for a Loving God to send down doom upon him as a form of retribution? Another word for retribution is revenge.

And according to me I cannot ascribe the feeling of revenge to a loving God.

Consider a mother who sees her child playing in the mud against her wishes. When she sees him drowning in the mud puddle does she simply let him drown for being disobedient? Or does she rush there to clasp the child to her bosom, mud and all?

So if a mother cannot have it in her heart to allow her child to perish for his "sinfulness", I cannot imagine how a Loving God who is said to be Benevolent and All Merciful, in fact the Source of all Love and Mercy, would wreak havoc upon his children upon earth howsoever sinful.

As far as Science is concerned, it sees no imminent signs of any celestial calamity, which it can usually predict with scientific precision.

Science does postulate however that after billions of years the Universe will cease to expand and then will fall back upon itself in a massive implosion that will set off another fiery big bang explosion which will result in another creation of another Universe.

I know there are many preachers who thrive on the fears of a Doomsday to convert people, and I can see them striding back and forth on the stage with a microphone held close to their mouths calling upon all sinners to repent before brimstone and fire falls upon them from the skies.

As a passenger said to his Taxi Driver who was driving recklessly on the streets of New York:

"You must have scared the hell out of more people than my local minister!"

END OF AN ERA IN THE HIMALAYAS

"And some we loved

The loveliest and the best

Have one by one

Crept silently to rest"

Today I have received news of the passing away of Mrs. Patricia Keelan, my former teacher at Vincent Hill School, a Seventh Day Adventist school in Mussoorie, where I had studied many years ago, and where I remember her as a young lady teacher.

She was now 85 years old and was living all alone in the Himalayas in the house her husband had built. Her husband had passed away a few years ago. She had continued to stay on in the isolation of the hills in a remote area of Mussoorie, a place which was bitterly cold in the winter and wet with the rains in the monsoon seasons.

Her son Bruce is in an affluent position in the US as an Engineer and had asked her to live with him in the relative comfort of America. But she refused to leave the Himalayas and stayed on here bravely all alone.

Many a time she was gravely ill but managed to bounce back to good health. Whenever I found out that she was ill I rushed over to meet her. The last was in November 27th. She had kidney failure but appeared to be doing well.

An American doctor, Dr. Roma Taylor happened to be visiting me at the time and I took her with myself to see Mrs. Keelan. She was as cheerful as could be expected, but then she was always cheerful in all circumstances of life.

( In the attached picture from the left to the right of the picture there are Dr. Taylor, Mrs. Keelan, myself, Priya Nath Mehta)

Once when she had been praising some TV Preacher on the "God" Channel, I said to her:

"Mrs. Keelan! These TV preachers who strut about on the stage with a microphone held in their hands, shouting loudly at their congregations, do not have even an iota of the spirituality which you possess. They move around with a bevy of secretaries, assistants, managers, and cars, and preach the life of humility to the masses calling them sinners and asking them to repent.

"But you are sitting here alone in the Himalayan mountains with no one with you except God. They speak about God, but you have God with you all the time. He has been protecting you all these years. Your life itself has been a miracle!"

She had once fallen down a flight of cement steps and did not have even a scratch, far less any broken bones. What could have been a greater miracle than that! She had kidney failure with practically zero medical aid and always managed to survive!

Whenever I had come to see her she had bounced back into good health again.

But as I left her on the afternoon of November 27, 2012, something in my heart told me that I would not be seeing her again.

There were tears in my eyes as I said to her as I left:

"Mrs. Keelan! Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!"

And that is where she has gone - to God.

MY OLD SCHOOL IN THE HIMALAYAS

Here is a rare picture of my old school, Vincent Hill School in Mussoorie, where Mrs. Keelan was a teacher along with her husband Mr. Keelan.

These are the Himalayan mountains which were so dear to her and which she beheld every day whenever she got up, and these are the hills and valleys into which she has mingled to become a permanent part of them in history.

The Himalayas have this unique characteristic. People who come to live here become a permanent part of them, and appear to mingle into their greatness in the end.

GREATNESS IN SIMPLICITY

When once I said to my Father HH Shri Nathji (1902-1992) the Founder of the World Prayer Day, that I wished that the entire world should come to know of him, this is what he gave in reply:

"This life is short. Let it be spent in the most unassuming manner, possible! Of what use the praises of the world!"

"Any person who desires greatness is proving that he is not great!"

And here is Albert Einstein saying the same thing:

"I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind."