The recent revelation of letters of Mother Teresa may have raised questions about her canonisation, but it has increased my respect towards her manyfold. She had "doubt" about God from the very moment she came to Kolkata and yet could devote her entire life for the cause of the underprivileged... what a courageous woman !!
Last year I was associated with the Mother House in Kolkata for a very bried period.. And I still remember when I first stepped inside, I could feel a thrill down my spine... just the thought that she had walked and talked there.. it may sound cliched but I really felt I was so close to her. The senior sister asked me what I would like to do and on knowing my desire, she gave me the address of a small school for the street children, run by the nuns..
I had taught there only for a month or so. It was definitely an enriching experience but what troubled me a lot was the fact that there was not a single volunteer from Kolkata, leave alone from other parts of India. I only met foreigners who came and taught the kids, inspite of the huge language barrier.
We talk so much about our reverence for Mother Teresa, but how much do we actually do to contribute to her cause??.. and I include myself as well..
4 comments:
I concur with your opinion..Mother Teresa was a living saint!
you said it !
That is amazing that you could do it, even if only for a short time. And yes, she has done a lot for the poor in Kolkata. There is no doubt about her stature in terms of humanitarian aid.
I think though, that religion and spirituality best be left out of it, the article in news is about the hypocrisy of her statements, which she made since she needed to keep the masses believeing in her closeness to and the conversations with God she said she had, but actually she had doubts about his very existence and said that she lived in a state of spiritual darkness. The point being proved is that just because a person pretends to be very close to God, he or she isnt.
Mother or not, saint or not, to me, she will always be up there, an icon.
and I totally understnad what you mean by that thrill down the spine. The other day a man was telling me that when he met Clinton in the Oval office, he had chills and tingles running up and down his spine and had such a rush, that he was sure God was perosnally present in the President. Its our own anticipation mostly of how high we hold a figure because of their projected authority.
yes madhu, it is entirely our own perception of someone or something which sends the thrill..
Post a Comment