The much harassed God!

The Much Harassed God

When someone of the calibre of Robert Browning says in his Pippa Passes,
“God's in his Heaven -
All's right with the world!”
we tend to accept the statement without a word of protest. If there is any disagreement with this view, it is just shown by raising the eyebrow a fraction of a millimeter. I had the pleasure of reading Pippa Passes at a very young age and I accepted the above statement with pursed lips in the manner of Walter Matthau and never gave it a thought afterwards. I do remember engaging my teacher in a bitter argument about this at the material time with questions like whether God was in His Heaven because all was right with the world or whether all was right with the world because God confined Himself to Heaven. The exasperated teacher told me that if I confined myself to my house, all would be right with my school!

I am an ardent fan of the Italian writer Giovonni Guareschi. I read and re-read his Don Camillo series so many times and yet never get bored. Don Camillo is a catholic priest in a small Italian town and Peppone, a communist, is the Mayor of the town. The Mayor professes himself to be an atheist to the core. The entire set of books deal with the tempestuous relationship between the two men. Both are arch rivals but the undercurrent of their love and respect for each other is highly palpable. Don Camillo has a habit of sharing his views with Jesus Christ every day and Christ deals with him candidly chiding him, encouraging him, motivating him and always in such a manner as the occasion demands. Every time I read one of these books, I too long for an informal chat with my favourite Deity but know that it is only a pipe dream.

One day, after my customary three rounds in my favourite beach, I sat down in a quiet corner for a few minutes of meditation. When I opened my eyes, I saw someone looking much harassed walking towards me. I knew by my famous instinct that he was coming to me for a touch and immediately started thinking of all the excuses that I could offer him. As he came closer, I was struck by his disheveled hair, sunken eyes and a highly creased forehead. For no apparent reason, I felt a great pity for him and having decided to give him a rupee I started groping into my pockets. He sat next to me and implored me not to embarrass him with any alms for he was not a beggar! When I heard his next word, you could have struck me down with a feather! He said He was God and had come to share with me His agony! When I regained my composure, I asked Him ‘Why me?’ like Damien Thorn exclaimed in Omen Part 2 after seeing the ‘666’ mark on his scalp that confirmed his role as Antichrist!

The harassed looking person just about managed a smile and answered that He was aware of my desire to have a chat with God like Don Camillo. He also knew of my reactions to Robert Browning’s Pippa Passes and concluded that I would be the best person to unburden! As I continued looking at Him with open mouth, He said that people had a feeling that God was having a whale of a time in the Heaven singing and watching dances but unfortunately it was not the case. He further said that He received on an average a billion requests everyday. Dealing with such numbers was no problem but for the fact that those requests were contradictory. If half a billion wanted something or other, the other half a billion pleaded that those requests should not be granted!

Warming to His subject, He started reeling out statistics about some 20000 plus two students offering Him a bribe for coming out successful in the examinations without touching their books even once. One deputy Chairman of an institution came before Him and just as He was expecting him to offer his prayers for the recovery of his ailing chairman, he told Him that he should become chairman if the ailing man died! He stunned me by saying that many people came to Him praying for successful implementation of some sinister plan or other.

He said that people like Robert Browning painted a rosy picture of Heaven but He confided that Heaven was getting hotter than Hell! He quoted the further lines of Pippa Passes,
The hill-side's dew-pearled
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
and bade me to tell Him if I ever found such a place! He said “Look at the place where I stand in this temple. It is full of cockroaches and has a permanent stink but you guys have made your portion very comfortable with air-conditioning and whatnot!”
The tête-à-tête with God left me shattered and when I prostrated before Him, it was with a heavy heart!

 

Dear Aruna
God is very generous. He is known for taking three steps towards us for each step we take towards Him. If we stand before Him without any specific agenda or request, He starts talking to us.
I felt heavy at heart looking at the problems we are giving Him all the time. Most of the people go to Temples for appeasement of some desire or other but not for seeking just His Grace. People even make illegal and wrongful appeals to Him without feeling any shame. These are the reasons that make me feel heavy at heart.
Sri

 

Dear Sathya
I am sure you remember that famous scene from the film 'Vanjikkottai Vaaliban'. When Vyjayanthimala challenges Padmini in dancing, Veerappa rubs his hands in glee and shouts 'Sabash! Sariyana potti!' Instead of Veerappa, if Padmini says that to vyjayanthi, how will it be?! I am in such a situation now after reading your FB! "sabash sariyana potti, Sathya'!

What I liked in your verse was the undercurrent of humour throughout. Yes. Such a thing happens in every house and the question of the Almighty 'What have I done to deserve this near jail position' is fully justified. Except on important festival days, we never bother to wipe these pictures even once a week and the Pooja room becomes the abode of lizards, cockroaches and ants. The presence of Divinity is of course estabished by the fact that all these insects live in harmony in the Pooja room and all the combats take place only in other rooms!

A great poem Sathya:bowdown
Sri