----- Forwarded Message -----
THE BESCHRISTMAS I CHERISH FOR EVER
( An edited version of my article published a few years back)
1972
In December 1972, I was serving in the Artillery Centre Hyderabad. I was the Administrative Officer. I was also to look after the Regimental Bands. Havildar Dawson was with the Pipers as the drummer. He took initiative to start a Jazz Band with his colleagues Gunner Jayachandran and a few more. It became a great success, with liberal aid from the Centre. Dawson attributed his success to me and the Centre Commandant, for our personal encouragement.
In December 1972, I was serving in the Artillery Centre Hyderabad. I was the Administrative Officer. I was also to look after the Regimental Bands. Havildar Dawson was with the Pipers as the drummer. He took initiative to start a Jazz Band with his colleagues Gunner Jayachandran and a few more. It became a great success, with liberal aid from the Centre. Dawson attributed his success to me and the Centre Commandant, for our personal encouragement.
In the fourth week of December, he invited me to attend the function of Christmas, in our Centre Church . "Sir, no big functions are held there, since the serving Christians patronise various other Churches in the City. We must break the trend". To add importance to the occasion, he said that Reverend Samuel Doraiappa had kindly agreed to lead the Prayers on that night. I had read some articles written by the Reverend, both in Tamil and English. I was quite impressed with his command over the languages.
On 24 December at about 11 PM I entered the Church. Dawson had made special seating arrangement for the non Christian invitees, on a side but elevated gallery, from where we could comfortably watch the proceedings as well as the congregation. There were more than 400 devotees, mainly from the Christian Soldiers and members of their families. There were also some civilian staff who were working in the Centre. Dawson was right. There were hardly any Christian Officers. Presumably, they would have gone to the town to some of the Churches they patronised.
Rev Doraiappa started his prayers. Surprisingly, he started the show with an appeal to all the members of the congregation, to rise and observe two minutes silence in memory and honour of the fallen soldiers of the War, which we had fought the previous year. After this, when the congregation settled down, he made the following introduction, in Hindi, English and Tamil alternating the tongues in a versatile way, cogently and with clarity. The essence of which, I, from my memory give below:-
"My dear brothers and sisters, you may have been surprised as to the relevance of observing two minutes silence on a day of rejoicing, like today. I can assure you that we have not committed any sin. Jesus would have really appreciated our gesture. When we rejoice, let us not forget the poor souls who could not be with us today, to celebrate this Great Day. After all they sacrificed their day last year, so that we could celebrate our today, this year"
The impact was so profound that I could watch the ladies wiping their tears with their pallus and the gents were frantically searching for their hankies.
After mid night when the prayers were over, Rev Doraiappa was taken to a side room for hot coffee and biscuits. Dawson had personally requested me to give him company. Over a cup of coffee, the Rev spoke to me in a cordial and warm manner, which we normally associate with the honoured persons of great culture and wisdom. He had no hesitation in addressing me as 'Sir', though I would have been at least 30 years younger to him. He said,
" Sir, Dawson had told me about you. I am very glad that you could attend the big day."
" Sir, Dawson had told me about you. I am very glad that you could attend the big day."
I replied that it was a big day for all of us. I continued, " I was moved by your introduction, Sir ! I could see the entire congregation was also really moved by the spirit of your appeal" .
The Reverend was in his elements by then. He continued,
" No religion can exist and thrive without getting attached to the land in which its people live and work. Basically we are all Indians. The greatness of our country is that any one can believe and practice the faith he wishes to. I am here today, not to propagate my faith. Only to celebrate the birth of our Jesus Christ. He lived, served, taught and died for our sake. For the sake of we human beings. In short, he sacrificed his life to redeem us from our sins. Like many of your own Avatars had done before him. You Hindus believe in Athma, Jevathma and Paramathma. We Christians also believe in Trinity of Father being unbegotten, the Son being begotten and the Holy Spirit proceeding from Father and from the Son. Regardless of these differences, the three persons are eternal and omnipotent. This can be interpreted as Father- the God, the Son – His word, the Holy spirit- His Wisdom. This word, Trinity, is not found in Bible. But, developed in the Third Century by the theologians to facilitate better comprehension. Like, the Adhi Sankara and Ramanuja gave the interpretation of Body, Athma and their relationship with the Paramathma. If you analyse deeply they were also preaching the concept of monotheism, though for the outsiders it may look like polytheism because of the various idols the Hindus worship. In every religion, the Churches, Temples , Prayers or the Ceremonies attached to them are not the way to salvation. Only pure thoughts and noble deeds are the way to Salvation. The Holy Bible is emphatic on this. So, is your Gita, which is reputed to be at least 3,000 years preceding it."
" No religion can exist and thrive without getting attached to the land in which its people live and work. Basically we are all Indians. The greatness of our country is that any one can believe and practice the faith he wishes to. I am here today, not to propagate my faith. Only to celebrate the birth of our Jesus Christ. He lived, served, taught and died for our sake. For the sake of we human beings. In short, he sacrificed his life to redeem us from our sins. Like many of your own Avatars had done before him. You Hindus believe in Athma, Jevathma and Paramathma. We Christians also believe in Trinity of Father being unbegotten, the Son being begotten and the Holy Spirit proceeding from Father and from the Son. Regardless of these differences, the three persons are eternal and omnipotent. This can be interpreted as Father- the God, the Son – His word, the Holy spirit- His Wisdom. This word, Trinity, is not found in Bible. But, developed in the Third Century by the theologians to facilitate better comprehension. Like, the Adhi Sankara and Ramanuja gave the interpretation of Body, Athma and their relationship with the Paramathma. If you analyse deeply they were also preaching the concept of monotheism, though for the outsiders it may look like polytheism because of the various idols the Hindus worship. In every religion, the Churches, Temples , Prayers or the Ceremonies attached to them are not the way to salvation. Only pure thoughts and noble deeds are the way to Salvation. The Holy Bible is emphatic on this. So, is your Gita, which is reputed to be at least 3,000 years preceding it."
By now, I realized that I was talking to a man of great wisdom. Not even talking, but listening to an extra ordinary man. I was dumb founded, not because I did not know much about Christianity, which was quite acceptable. But because of the utter lack of knowledge about my own faith.
This lack of knowledge had helped in calling myself, or, to be precise, branding myself as a Secularist. After my retirement in 1992, I started realizing that a real Secularist is the one akin to Rev Doraiappa. Have full faith in your own Religion but respect every other Religion. Now, I feel that I am really Secular, not because I wrote about other Religions, but am able to comprehend the niceties of my own Religion, spoken by others like Rev Doraiappa. He was from the type of people who practice Secularism at heart, even though they preach for some other Religion.
End Piece.
I met the Commandant after a couple of days at an Inter Battery Foot Ball Tournament. During the Tea Break, he inquired about the Christmas Celebration in our own Church. He, in a lighter vein, remarked that by now Raman would have learnt all about Christianity. To which I replied, "Sir, on the contrary I had learnt a few things about my own Religion".
Merry Christmas to all !!
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Posted by: mahesh khorana <emmkaykhorana@yahoo.co.in>
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