|
I
We gathered
in Daera Din-Panha (Circle of God's Protection) to hold the Lok
Sath. Lok Sath was the moment of our meditation on Truth. We sat
in a circle at the bank of Sindhu River and started our meditation.
The meditation began with mourning and grief. And thus we sang the
'Story of Dead River' composed by the siraiki poet, Sain Ashu Lal.
If
the River dies, my dearest listen,
the eyes die, the heart dies,
the identity of our being and our living dies.
So
the slumber of the blue water dies,
It is not just the pair of swan that dies,
but the entire laughter of the River that dies.
We gazed upon the Sindhu River. Our hearts ached and many of us
sobbed and wept. Our tears purifying our inner self. We awakened
to Truth. All that exists is the River (one whole). There is no
difference. So once again, we gazed upon Sindhu River and found
us within it.
And here was
a union in our suffering. It revealed to us how the desire to gain
more than that is given to us is violent and harmful. It causes
one to gain, the other to loose. One becomes up, the other low.
And in this violence the Circle (of God's Protection) is broken
and we experience sufferings when such differentiation occurs.
Thus Truth
revealed to us as it was revealed to our forefathers thousands years
ago.
He
attains peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter into ocean
which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved.
Lord Krishna
If thou ask Truth,
Listen and impress it upon thy mind.
As an all encompassing ocean is Oneness,
So are all differentiations in form of bubbles.
Khawja Ghulam Farid
Does not the
modern knowledge focus only on bubbles (water-canal- crops) and
forget the Whole (River-Life-Land-Rowed-Kohee-Peoples)? Does not
it aspire to destroy the Whole in order to fulfill its own utilitarian
purposes? While doing so, it remains rigidly binary and puts different
parts in stark opposition to each other and thus inflicts violence
upon our mind, body and living. How can it be helpful in the attainment
of peace and lessening of unnecessary sufferings?
It is to Mind
that we should now turn.
II
'Where
there is truth, there also is knowledge which is true'.
'If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth, you must
reduce yourself to a zero.
Mahatma Gandhi
We invited
you to come to Daera Din Panha (Circle of God's Protection), the
place wherein you would have found true (people) knowledge. You
couldn't come and join us in our meditation on Truth.
This was the
first time we seriously realized that you were not fully free. Indeed,
this clear realization of the little self determination you carried
was not less than a shock to us. Like the coil of a snake, Power
(un-Truth) encircled and controlled you by the force of its magical
armaments (contracts, terms of references, rules, fire walls, plans,
permission). Power decided the terms and conditions of your birth
as well as your existence and thus stripped you of your real human
face. This became especially clear to us when you could not come
to Lok Sath.
At first we
were disappointed and hurt. We looked back and felt distress. What
was the use of all that we had done for last three years? What was
lost and what was gained? We were captured by the recurring thoughts
of the sad and the melancholic.. From this state we understood that
we were entrapped in wrong thinking. Not only had we realized the
purpose of our struggles, that remedy to our grievances lies with
ourselves but the real meaning of our struggles thus shone to us.
This
world and the world transcendental to us always give birth
Each cause is mother and the effect is a child.
When
an effect is born it too becomes cause
So that we have seen extraordinary effects produced so far.
This
play of causes is very primordial
But it needs an enlightened and dutiful gaze to see.
Jalal-ul-Din Roomy
We shouldn't fix our struggles in rigid (binary) causation because
it will continue to move ahead in ever-expanding circle of birth
and re-birth.
We also felt
that it is our duty to help you. Nonetheless, it was not possible
for us to perform this duty unless we did not make ourselves empty
(a zero).
We came and
told you that we were no longer the claimant. We didn't demand anything
from you. We wanted to perform our work (duty).
'Thy
right is to work, but never with its fruits; let not the fruits
of action be thy motive, nor thy attachment be to inaction.
Lord Krishna
We know we
couldn't perform our duty as we should perform it. Therefore, we
beg your forgiveness if you felt odd because of us.
III
You must be
now busy in writing your report on chashma canal project. Should
doubts be preying on your hearts, minds, souls you will find the
following advice very useful in your meditations, perhaps these
furnish as your ontological Terms of Reference:
'I
will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the
self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall
the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may
have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going
to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it?
Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and
destiny? ……….Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away'
One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948
|
