The beginning of a good life – By Ron Persaud
I recently celebrated a birthday – a significant one!
I decided to leave the routine of working for someone else – to someone else! I have all the house I will ever need, all the car that I can ever drive and enough income to provide for my other needs; which I have always managed to downsize when necessary. This was learned from an uncle, a tailor, who would often say, “cut your jacket according to your cloth”.
Shakespeare identified Seven ages of life and Hinduism Only Four. In either case, I feel that I have embarked on that “las’ lap”.
So, for the rest of my life I will focus on two things – my physical and my spiritual, well being.
For more than 50 years, I awoke early (very early) – with a place to go to … and a time to get there. Work was at the center-stage of my life; and often the excuse for a lifestyle that was once described as “dissolute”! I am not fanatically religious but I had a top-class and broad-based education thanks to Carmelite nuns and Jesuit priests. I talk to God in the manner of Teyve in Fiddler on the Roof – and often I have promised to return to the Roman Catholic path when times are more conducive. Well, He has called my bluff. I stuck my neck out and He pulled it a bit farther and tied a red bow around it. I am finally out of excuses.
Old habits die hard. I awake, on my own, and have a couple of hours to do as I please; because even my wife is still asleep! Do you remember the Guyanese adaptation, “earlier than bird wife”? No matter how early bird woke up, his wife had to be up earlier – ‘to mek tea’.
One of my birthday gifts was a “tablet” and I thought that I would explore its potential. And then I had an idea that I can modestly describe as brilliant!!! With my “tablet”, I will pray the Rosary every day. Note the expanded role of the tablet; it helps both my mental and spiritual well being. I will get around to the physical well being later.
The Rosary is the earliest prayer in my memory. My mother was a converted Catholic and she prayed the rosary every night. At first my younger sister and I were a captive audience. My father left “these things” to my mother; while he concentrated on making an honest living and solving the daily crossword puzzle – not always in the same order. At first I was only ‘present’. But almost surreptitiously the words of the ‘Hail Mary’ got strung together in my head to make sense and I was participating. After that, there was the problem of inattention. Sometimes my mother would intervene – sternly, “Three more beads!!” as I had jumped ahead to the ‘Glory Be’. We prayed the Rosary regularly in primary school (Carmelite Nuns) and occasionally in college (Jesuit Priests). In the group environment it was easy to keep on track.
When I entered the work force, the habit was persistent in the backdrop of my thoughts; but not always anywhere near center stage. To my shame, I sometimes used the Rosary as a sleep aid.
All that is behind me now. I pull up the Rosary on YouTube, listen on the headphones, and follow the words scrolling across the screen.
How great! Technology & Art!
And then something else crept in.
I cannot recapture the Faith I once had.
Home! Church! School! How well they instilled the essentials of a good and wholesome life, how (almost miraculously!) they lifted my soul out of a slum environment into the stratosphere of ideals. And then I started to work; in a seemingly unkind, uncaring world.
Living has polluted my Faith; rather like how the lights in a metropolis prevent us from seeing the star-studded night sky beyond. I have skated on thin ice! I have done things that I do not wish to see in tomorrow’s headlines! We will not talk about “Statute of Limitations”. Seriously, I am not talking about major law-breaking actions. It has been more like up-selling a service or adding-on to a product to exact as much income as possible regardless of necessity; like purchasing a rake to complete a job in an emergency; and then barefacedly returning the tool for a full refund, after the job is done.
I keep a vision to motivate my behavior. I see myself at a formidable Pearly Gate and the Gatekeeper is questioning my credentials for entry. Each time I start an answer with, “My Boss / Friend / made me …” He would interrupt, “I do not see them here.” I have attended a Muslim funeral; and I was impressed by the niche in the grave to accommodate the “Accounting Angel” who will visit and review the life of the deceased. I am as certain of the accounting after death as anything in my life.
Now, as I watch and listen to this YouTube video by Regina Nathan <click here), singing “Hail Queen of Heaven”, I wonder where is that nine year old who lustily and confidently sang:
“Thrown on life’s surge, we claim thy care,
save us from peril and from woe…”
Comments
Ron, all the best as you begin a new stage in your life!
Every morning, I read the Church’s daily readings on the USCCB website. You can check it out at the following link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051916.cfm
Thanks, Rosaliene, for a relevant resource. The site is now a “Favorite”.
Rosary and prayer beads history.
Since I notice a reference is made to Hinduism, I’ll let you in to another secret about Hinduism: on the history and origin of the Rosary and prayer beads, in general, (Hindus call it a Mala – Sanskrit: Maalaa – popularly known as a garland)
Quote:
“prayer beads originated with the Hindu faith.
Using beads for devotions dates to the 8th century BC
in the cult of Shiva. In India sandstone sculptures,
statues ca 185 BC, show Hindus with prayer beads.
The names of Hindu gods and prayers are repeated
on stringed beads, called mala, separated by larger
or different colored beads.”
-A HISTORY OF PRAYING ON BEADS
Patricia A. Dilley
“Hindu converts kept their traditional use of
prayer beads. Buddhist monks always carry a strand
of prayer beads, or rosary, usually of 108 beads.”
-A HISTORY OF PRAYING ON BEADS
Patricia A. Dilley
or, if you prefer Wikipedia:
Prayer beads may have their origins in the Eastern religions in India in the 3rd century BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Rosary
Later, I’ll tell you the significance of number 108. Also, there are many other Hindu origins of the Christian/Abrahamic faiths. But those I’ll leave for other times.
Veda Nath Mohabir.
The references to Shakespeare and Hinduism were purely to identify two “goal posts” within which I could frame my thoughts – nothing more; nothing less.
The statement, “God made me, in His own image and likeness; to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him in the next”…. contains the cardinal convictions of my Faith. It enables me to face down the unknown rather than fear it.
And all the rest is distraction!
As has been mentioned before, a knowledgeable Hindu has no problem recognising Christianity as some sort of offshoot.
Is all this just coincidence? http://www.near-death.com/reincarnation/jesus/krishna.html
We have gone through all this before on GOL. It is evident in World History that cultures borrow from each other. The new takes from the old. We can be absolutely sure of NOTHING. It is a matter of what we choose or are told to believe as a matter of tradition.
Demerwater:
Your article of faith is fine with me. But to dogmatically assert ‘all the rest is distraction’ means my faith (Hinduism) is of lesser or with no redeeming qualities.
This is the same thinking that has led to the two major Abrahamic faiths oppressing and slaughtering people around the world, especially in India.
Hinduism was/is regarded as “distraction” – paganism, polytheism, idolatry and ‘vile’. But then again, the early church father, Augustine, and in the 16th C. the Church regarded scientific findings as the ‘work of the devil’.
An analogy will suffice: In a nutshell, NOW these two largest Abrahamic faith are still in the realm of Newtonian Physics whereas, Hinduism (and outgrowth, Buddhism) is the earlier forerunner of Relativity Theory and Quantuum Mechanics. Check out the 70’s best seller, Tao of Physics.
Secondly, I wanted to point out that practitioners of your faith use a device – the rosary, earlier known as the Hindu/Buddhist, Mala – without giving credit where it is due. Plagiarism , at its best!
Veda Nath Mohabir
The preceding post named me; so I infer that some sort of response is expected.
My Faith is deeply personal. Whether or not it is fine with any other person is none of my business.
My statement, “So, for the rest of my life I will focus on two things – my physical and my spiritual, well being.” – was a distillation of many years of influence, by precept and example of a Hindu extended family; many conversations with Pandit Dabi Prashad (Louisiana, Leguan); the tutelage of Jesuit Priests at ‘Saints’ and, further on, the writings of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Dr. A P Brahmam of GUYSUCO taught me all that I need to know to about taking care of the ‘Temple’ of my body.
It was a more a “Mission Statement” than anything else; for me at this stage of my life.
And yes, anything that that is not germane to the mission – is a distraction!
For the record, Dr. Chopra is a bit too abstruse for my simple mind. I can follow Jay Lakhani.
I have expressed my thoughts on history; and likened it to baggage.
I prefer to peer around the next corner. For example, I would rather follow the Pope’s efforts at revising Catholic Doctrine in areas of inequality, contraception and things like that; rather than contemplate the lessons of people who have played their part on the stage of life … and exited; some of them centuries ago.
My thoughts on plagiarism? It is an artificial ploy.
I cannot think of anyone who has come up with an original insightful idea in the last hundred years. We all learn from the thoughts and writings of someone else.
Quote: “my…tutelage of Jesuit Priests at ‘Saints”.
Interesting you mentioned “Saints” tutelage. GuyanaOnline had a collection of articles on the Saint Stanislaus’ blog, with numerous articles intended to show Hinduism as a ‘johnny-come-lately’ – British invented Hinduism in the 18th C. This shows the continuing assault by the Catholic Church on Hinduism, yet the same Church (and other faiths) copies the millennia old Hindu mala, reincarnated as the rosary, and you make the weak excuse: “We all learn from the thoughts and writings of someone else.” “https://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/the-british-and-the-development-of-hinduism-various-articles/
Quote: “I cannot think of anyone who has come up with an original insightful idea in the last hundred years. “
This type of ‘thinking’ can only come from someone steeped in the apocalyptic millenarianism of the Abrahamic faiths. On the other hand, implicit in the Reincarnation eschatology of Hinduism is that one life is insufficient to appreciate the stupendous wonders of the developing/expanding Cosmos (both macro and micro). Life is always offering up more unique developments to keep man interested, challenged and renewed. Just look at computer technology, or modern physics as examples.
But here is a more interesting case within the ‘last one hundred years’. Ever heard of SRINIVAS RAMANUJAN ? He was/is the most talked about mathematician, all self- taught. Furthermore, he (and his family) credited his unique, enigmatic and immense ‘number theory’ math talent to a family GODDESS, Nama Giri (which your Church pooh poohs). To this day, mathematicians are still trying to decipher his pronouncements impacting modern science Here are a couple of trailers and a longer video. There is also a recent movie on his life and talents: “the Man who knew Infinity”.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=srivas+ramanujan&view=detail&mid=F6B4CED80259B4C90322F6B4CED80259B4C90322&FORM=VIRE
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=srivas+ramanujan&view=detail&mid=F5F2FDFB2FEF8B7C1F4DF5F2FDFB2FEF8B7C1F4D&FORM=VIRE
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=srivas+ramanujan&view=detail&mid=B041AAF2F1C7E789EC75B041AAF2F1C7E789EC75&FORM=VIRE
Veda Nath Mohabir
Veda, one of us is on the AM waveband and the other is on FM. Or, if I may use another illustration, one of us would be the “Pure Mathematician”; the other would be the “Applied Mathematician”.
Allow me to ‘stake out my ground’.
By default my parents and their four children were born Hindus. (I credit you with enough intelligence to fully comprehend that statement). My mother converted to Catholicism; and let me put that in context. Louisiana was a small village in Leguan. My maternal grandparents were prominent villagers, moreso because their eldest son was the Pandit.
I leave you to imagine, if your life experiences will allow it, the chagrin that fell upon the whole extended family. My mother was almost ‘ostracized’.
So we, the children went to a Catholic primary school. The Parish priest would visit weekly. So would Seventh Day Adventists (less frequently) and Jordanites (rarely).
The only Pandit who visited was my uncle. He and my father would have serious and uplifting conversations; and I would be listening intently, while pretending to do homework.
At school we were punished; kneeling on the floor; sometimes with arms upraised. For major transgressions we were caned – in the palm or ‘benched’ in that other place. My grandfather, that prominent villager, that stalwart supporter of the “Mattyah”, would beat his grandsons with whatever was handy – ‘leather’, rope, stick etc. I state all this with no rancor. He has been dead and gone many years now; and time is a great healer of all wounds – physical and mental.
I attended “Saints” on a scholarship from the church / school itself. It was left to guys like Richard Ishmael, Cheeks and Alleyne, to offer opportunities of a secondary education to children who had little hope of it.
‘Dave Martin and the Tradewinds’ produced a philosophical calypso (they are either topical or philosophical) titled “Who to blame?” One line of the refrain is, “‘Not I!’ said the Minister, ‘I was talking to God'”. My imagery of that thought is always a Pandit-like figure in deep meditation.
Years later, in Trinidad, I was to learn of Bhadase Sagan Maraj and ‘Maha Sabha schools’. And all I could associate the “B. G. Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha” with, was infighting for leadership by a group of egocentrics parading as leaders of the Hindu Faith.
In more recent times, I read of the “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” – a Catholic Nun associated charitable work among the lowest caste in India – and Indian, by naturalization only!
Okay Veda, tell me about all those Indians who did comparable work.
You might yet point me in a direction that I missed.
The issues are not about who does more/better charitable work. I have already dealt with the issues in earlier posts. Also, Hindus don’t go about publishing their charitable (SEVA) work. “Nishkam Karma” or selfless work (work without the expectation of gain) is the core tenet of Karma Yoga leadind to ‘Liberation from Samsara’ or attainment of Moksha/Nirvana, as set out by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.
Here’s unflattering info on Mother Theresa, whose central objective was to save souls (in the Catholic/Christian tradition) of the poor, telling them to be contented with their lot (as Jesus was like a mendicant). She even disclosed that she had lost her faith. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teresa
Veda Nath Mohabir
Ron,
thanks for these lovely memries of growing up in Guyana. I’d love to be able to contact you and Rita, as wells learning about what Debbie is doing now. Please contact me at sylviabarrow@hotmail.com