Mailbag

Much ado about nothing

Sir,

Please refer: "Pope dispels all doubts by Mr Arun Shourie." (Daily Excelsior November 19). Discipleship is a well understood expressed in India. All religious leaders, ancient and modern, attracted and attract disciples. In fact the religious maturity of a person is to be gauged by the fact if she/he can draw disciples. If Christians also do the same in view of the command of their leader Lord Jesus Christ: "Go ye and make disciples from all nations" what is wrong therein-I dare ask?

Jesus Christ is the sign of communion, not of division and dissipation. Our Faith in Jesus Christ as the fullest revelation of God possible for human beings (Redemption Missio 6) is not so much a claim to be made at the expense of other religions but a mission, a commitment to live that revelation in our personal life. Thus our faith in the centrality of Jesus Christ should not drive us to condemn others out of a sense of superiority but must move us to lose ourselves in service, to remind them (and ourselves) of the Divine Presence among human beings, to become conscious of the "God who dwells among us" (Jn.1:14) This type of mission is neither offensive nor distasteful to others. Our commitment to Lord Jesus Christ does not involve that we save Him from other religions or other Saviours. Mr Arun Shourie is advised to bear in his mind that our Lord Jesus Christ will take care of Himself!

Running across Mr Shourie's write-up I can safely infer that the learned scribe is yet to understand as to what the Christian Faith connotes. The Christian Faith says that the word that was from the beginning and created all things, and enlightens all human beings coming into the world became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14). This faith tells us that all religious values have a common source, which Christian tradition names Logos/Christ. The Christian is called to make Jesus Christ the Centre of her/her life by following His life and thereby making God's love present for the people of our space and time that they may be converted to this divine presence.

For the kind information of Mr Arun Shourie I may further say that in the Indian religious scene there are two leading factors: On the one hand there is the sense of Mystery. On the other hand there is also the rejection of an exclusive claim of any religious tradition as far as ultimate truths are concerned. The sense of Mystery is the ontological basis of tolerance. Our Christology has sufficient theological elbow-room for Christians to live with followers of other faiths without sacrificing the authentic New Testament evidence. History has proved it.

A Christology that is blind to the sufferings of the Indian masses can not be faithful to Jesus Christ of the Bible. In the midst of the struggles of millions of India to recover their identity and dignity, Our Christology will be characterised by its propetic role that will offer hope for the hopeless, that will be a source of courage for the present and inspiration for the future. The poor do not care for write-ups however well written and nice they might appear when survival itself is a luxury to them!

Let therefore, Mr Arun Shourie have no misgivings about Holy Father Pope John Paul II's statement.

Yours etc.....
Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar
Jammu-Kashmir

Give full details

Sir,

I invite your kind attention to the letter published, in reply to my letter, in your paper dated 25-x-99. Again the author of the article Mr DC Sharma is giving wrong information. The only authentic work done on Dattu was by Prof Gouri Shanker and Cultural Academy has published the work under the title Kavi Dutt Granthavali. I would request the learned author to please read page VI of the book and find out the truth. I am quoting a line, "Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu (1735-1781 AD) was the patron of Datt, "writing wrong and repeating it time and again will not prove it right. Again he gives the plea that some typographic mistakes occured but the reader does not know it.

He ommited a very important phase of Hindi language i.e. Veergatha Kaal which formed the foundation of Hindi literature and justifies it on account of oral tradition. I wonder if he knows that thousands of books have been written on Veergathas. Vedas reached us through verbal traditions that does not mean we would leave them. Again there is a funny statement that in a article such details could not be given. I wonder if such detail can be covered in a letter why not in an article wherein he had offered half cooked broth that too without proper ingredients. I still stress that one should not touch such subjects of which one knows, scanty. Therefore, it is implored that while writing give full details factual position.

With reference to his article published in your paper of 24th Oct. He may add that Jagir of Basohli, after the death of Pt Jalla was bestowed upon Mangla by Bibi Chand Kour. Mangla visited Basohli and remained there for a while and returned Lahore to assist Bibi Chand Kour in important political matters.

Yours etc.....
Tirath Singh Jamwal
near Janaki Mandir, Patoli

Tough task

Sir,

This is with reference to the letter "Bright prospect" published on 12-11-99. The writer is absolutely right in his views but I am not confident about bright prospect of the Indian cricket team under the two experienced cricketers of the millennium. Kapil is an experienced cricketer but not an experienced coach. To beat a team like New Zealand in friendly and condusive conditions doesn't mean 'Bright Prospect'. The real test would start right from the Australian tour of India where they will meet to the world's most professional team. As our past experience reveals, our performance abroad is not priaseworthy. Hostile climate and pitch conditions will pose problems to the Indian players.

No doubt, Tendulkar is the most attractive and genius in any kind of pitch of the Globe, but it requires team work to make a win. Tour of Australia is really tough and hard. Whether Tendulkar and company will return victorious. It is extremely tought to explain before Australian tour.

Majority of the Indians are looking impatiently to the forthcoming tour to Australia.

Let us pray to Almighty that writer's remarks prove positive and in favour of Indian cricket.

Yours etc.....
Gopal Verma
Kot Punnu