HVK Archives: On the forgiving trail (Letter)
On the forgiving trail (Letter) - The Asian Age
D. K. Saraf
()
July 4, 1996
Title: On the forgiving trail (Letter)
Author: D. K. Saraf
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: July 4, 1996
Sir, This refers to Mr Z. Kittler's letter, Mother not so
Saintly, I fully support Mr Kitler's disapproval of Mother
Teresa who, instead of refuting the charges, perpetually prays
for those who criticise her.
This reminds me of an incident that occurred two years ago. I
had organised the distribution of artificial limbs to 1,000 poor
villagers at a function which was attended by Mr Somnath
Chatterjee, MP and Ms Kamal Basu, the chief minister's wife.
Mother agreed to preside over the function.
On the day of the function, at 4 pm, she sent a message that she
won be able to attend the function on account of her illness.
The news disappointed me and the villagers who were eagerly
looking forward to have a limpse of the saint. But next
morning, much to my shock and disbelief. I learnt from a
newspaper report that Mother had left for Delhi to receive an
award to be presented to her by the government of India. I cold
not help writing a letter to Mother in which I stated that since
a thousand poor and handicapped villagers came to receive not
only artificial limbs but also her blessings, she should not
have changed her programme on pretext of illness. I also humbly
added that for a lesser mortal like me, a government award
meant a lot but she was too great to attach so much importance
to it. In fact, I believed that she was above all kinds of
material awards.
Mother's reply was prompt. She said she forgave me and promised
to pray for me to the Almighty.
In my letter, I had uttered a simple truth and all I wanted to
know was why she preferred receiving an award rather than giving
her blessings to the poor, hapless villagers. All I got in
return was an assurance of being forgiven. For the last two
years I have been asking myself a question: What did Mother
forgive me for?
(D. K. Saraf, Secretary, Anandalok Hospital, Salt Lake,
Calcutta)
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