Author: The Colonel
Publication: The Week
Dated: January 31, 2007
Introduction: As officers, we always respected
the religions of the troops we commanded
When I was working with a publication
group, I visited the famous Sabarimala temple in connection with the
release of a book on this temple. The chief priest of the temple was very
courteous and allowed me to go as far as a Christian like me was permitted.
I took up a vantage position and stood respectfully
watching the pilgrims go past to pay their respect to the deity. The
queue was beyond five miles. The devout and intense faces of the pilgrims
as they were almost pushed past the deity will always remain deeply etched
in my memory for all times to come.
As the deity was located in a niche in depth,
the pilgrims could see the deity only when one is right in front for a split
second. Few who missed sighting the deity in the melee attributed their disappointment
to their improper fast, and resolved to come back the next year.
A fanatical Christian friend remarked to me
that I had broken the First Commandment by being reverential to the deity.
I told him that as an ex-Army officer, I am exempted from this sin!
As officers, we always respected the religions
of the troops we commanded and often went to their temples, mosques and gurdwaras.
Prior to this Sabarimala trip, I was a casual Christian who often attended
church services, standing outside or at best occupying the last pews. But
seeing the deep faith of my Hindu brethren as seen by their body language
of folded hands and intense looks, I too became a changed man, a better Christian.
I made a decision then and there that henceforth I would attend church with
proper respect.
The very next week there was a wedding in
the family. My relations expected me to be outside the church as usual regaling
them with bawdy army humour free of cost. Instead I was kneeling inside the
church with folded hands and closed eyes in a pose of deep meditation. I had
taken the first hesitant step to be a good Christian.
At the wedding reception, my young niece Sangeeta
who had watched my unusual exercise in piety questioned me on my metamorphosis.
I related my Sabarimala experience to her at my anecdotal best in the presence
of her mother and her grandmother. My witnessing had a dramatic effect; Sangeeta
was almost in tears and her grandmother remarked that Sangeeta would never
forget this incident in her life.
The recent trip of Pope Benedict to Turkey
stands for all that is best in secularism. The Pope agreed to an unscheduled
visit to the famed Blue Mosque at Istanbul at the invitation of the maulvi.
The Blue Mosque had always been a bone of contention between Christians and
Muslims as it was earlier a Christian Church, Hagia Sophia, one of world's
marvels of engineering. At the mosque the maulvi prayed. The Pope stood by
reverently and also prayed. After the visit he remarked. "After all,
we worship the same God". It was indeed a most beautiful statement.
Had his predecessor realized the beauty of
secularism 1224, the Fourth Crusade would not have taken off. And Constantinople
would not have been sacked with the massacre of hundreds of Muslims and fel1ow
Christians aggravating the East-West schism of 1054 in Christianity.
