Article by S.Ramakrishnan. Translated from Tamil by Lakshmanan
Like every coin has two sides, some question(s) have two faces. One is direct impact of question asked, whereas other is sadness behind the person who asks this question.
If you consider above question as a just person asking for his meal to other, it indirectly shows caring attitude of one over other. If you open this question, there are two answers. One Difficulty in sharing food and second – caring towards to next person (neighbor or society) is reduced. The question lies in-between these two answers. Sharing of one meal is difficult in present day situation.
Before inviting known or unknown person to home for lunch or dinner, lot of question and apprehensions arises in mind. Because of my friend compulsion I dropped to his home for lunch. ‘Why did you invite your friend to our home for lunch’ his wife asked my friend and this become reason for their fight on that night.
If the person is friend we can share a coffee, if he is unknown just discussion is alone possible. If the person is well unknown and surprisingly came to our home during lunch session, we can cleverly take him to nearest hotel and fed him is the only solution. This is the present day situation. Family becomes cotton soaked in the water. The humanity (cotton) is reduced its volume. Why is this so?
For sharing a food we not only require an adequate food but also mind. Like the cotton our mind is also contracted. Have anyone shared your food with unknown person on any account? Have we ever thought of a hungry of a beggar or orphans in platforms and temple?.
The baby cries for the food by weeping. We respect these and provide a food to appease the hungry. But age-old people will not express their hungry through words. No language to express. The greatest crime in this world is neglecting one’s hungry.
The happiness or sadness of any family invariably starts at food. We can call Sunday as day for food. After busy schedules on weekdays – Sunday is marked for having good food with satisfaction. If food is not satisfactory on that day temper and restlessness will not stop with that day, it spills over a week.
Famous poet writes ‘One can conquer hungry by food or conquer food by hungry’. This poem is a true paradox. The list of people got insulted on having food always contains our name.
The college days were difficult days in my life. I was put up in my relative house. I traveled to college from their house. They never bothered about my hungry. Always my portion of food was kept in corner of kitchen. I never got full meal in a day. Even if I ask for more, no one responded me. When I opened books for studies hungry burns as fire. Depending on others for food is worst thing in this world. Fortunately if they were relatives we cannot able to say outside also. Even now it pains me. Like the mole in the body it never disappears.
One side people insult by providing food; other community says ‘I can’t provide you food, if you want I will give you money, go and eat in hotel’ said to parents. The younger generations not interested/willing to taking care of their parents at the old age. Their life becomes miserable at old age for handful of food.
Once upon a time there was Chinese ruler, he won the battle and gets crown on the auspicious day. The entire palace was festooned with decorations and people were celebrated with joy and happiness. The walls were painted and decorated. A lizard lives behind the art, doesn’t know where to relocate and finally it moves to the underneath of the huge cot kept in the room. The carpenter who came to decorate the cot unknowingly plugged the nail on cot leg along with the lizard’s tail. The lizard cannot move because of peg on its nail. It suffered with pain and hungry.
After few months, when the King commanded to change the bedspread of cot, unfortunately the Queen noticed the lean lizard surviving with nail pitched in its body. She was surprised on seeing this and brought notice of King. King dismayed on the sight. When he tried to find the reason of lizard survival, he noticed that another lizard from wall carries the prey (food) for this lizard. He realized that caring ness and affection of the creature.
From this story, even the creature like lizard trying to save life of other by providing food is natural deed. But human beings never cared about others hungry or feelings, always trying to dominate others and running behind physical pleasures.
On life’s battle every one directly or indirectly dependent on other and living by helping others is law of nature. This caring ness and affection to the fellow beings are basic characters of human being. But today we are not only neglecting others hungry but also caring on fellow human being.
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Millions of Questions.
Article by S.Ramakrishnan. Translated from Tamil by Lakshmanan
Everyday, every one of us asking this question to thyself “why people are not realizing deceiving or cheating is a sin?” Every time, when this question arises in mind only location differs. Either it may be a shop, theatre, hotel or house but question remains unanswered.
Sometime, this question itself transform into a virus in mind and brings pain. Today, embezzling a millions of rupees viewed as act of intelligence in a society than as a fraud.
Deception has a long history. From great empire to common man, everyone has their own share. The speech is the major weapon used in deception. Always deceivers are glib-tongued. A victim falls as a prey by the believing/accepting their words as true. They mastered the art of using words very effectively.
An ordinary man doesn’t bother, when politician or others misappropriate huge amount of money. He is much concerned with his individual loss than for a social cause. Why this attitude? How did this cultivated? is another sub question? Every individual has diary inside his mind, which secretly records microscopic details of incident happened to him in the past. Whenever he goes to public place or tourist spot, he automatically reads the dairy several times. He keeps cross checking the people and situation against past happenings.
When I was small boy, mother said “Shopkeeper deceived me because am a small kid”. This phrase was uttered by the father, when mother comes from shopping. The grandfather has used the same sentence when my father returns from the market. Only time frame is changed, but scene remains constant. Now my child will be in the place of mine.
During childhood days, I believed there were two types of people, one who is deceiving and other who deceived. But now, both the images dissolved into one, only the circumstance decides who is the former and who is the later.
A small story goes like this “There was son and father lived in a small town. Father was honest and upright. Son leads his life through cheating and deceiving ways. His father tried his best ways to correct his son. But he failed. One fine day, father said his son ‘Dear son, whenever you deceive a person, I will fix one nail in the door. At least on seeing this you have to change.’ But his son, never cared for anything. He went on his own ways. Several years passed.
One day, his son noticed thousands of nails in his door. He started worrying about himself and realized all his sins. He came to his father and confessed that he won’t indulge in bad activities hereafter. Father replied ‘ Son! am happy that you have realized your mistake. You should not merely stop your activity; in turn start doing good things to people around you. On doing every good thing, I will unplug one nail from the door.
His son started doing good things to community. Some months passed, but nails have not been reduced. He couldn’t do good things as fast as bad things. At end of every day he counts the nails in the door. He feels pain in his heart. Years passed like this. Son and father grew old. One fine day, father hears about his son good deeds to the community and at last he removes the final nail from the door. Son came to his father and asks ‘Dad, now I become good person, right?” Father commands his son to go and look at the door carefully. He informs that all the nails have been removed.
Father replies ‘ Son, door was good at the beginning, but I nailed whenever you did a mistake, but later it was removed one by one because of your good doings. But pores due to nail were remains. Like this, your sins have been forgiven. But the effects due to sins committed remains, as these pores in the door’.
Now that door resembles as his conscience to the son. Like this story, whenever we deceive or cheat other, nail was secretly plugged in our door. But it is not visible to our naked eye. The question is like a sword hanging on the rope whether our head will be spared or not, is depends upon the answer to this question.