The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Bold indictment

THERE are two extreme views on the issue of human rights in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. While the Pakistani propaganda machine wants the world to believe that a systematic elimination of Kashmiris is going on, the Indian line has been that all reports of human rights violations are figments of the imagination of the enemies of the country. If the former line evokes derision, the latter too does not find too many takers and rather erodes the credibility of the government. To that extent, the alacrity displayed in accepting and making public the “adverse” reports of two enquiry committees by the state government is highly welcome. The three-member inquiry committee headed by Lieut-Gen S. Mukherjee has strongly indicted the Central Reserve Police Force for excessive firing on August 1 during the Pahalgam incident in which 32 persons, including 23 Amarnath pilgrims, were killed. On the other hand, Justice S.R. Pandhian, a former Judge of the Supreme Court, inquiring into the killing of eight civilians at Brakpora on the outskirts of Anantnag, has indicted seven officials and seven jawans of the Jammu and Kashmir police force and the CRPF. The reports are a resounding proof that human rights violations do take place occasionally. But more than that, these comprise a confirmation that the government is not following an ostrich-like policy and is alive to the problem. Some time ago, certain army personnel and officials were similarly hauled over coals. Not only have the inquiries been completed quickly, but also the reports make no whitewashing attempt of any sort. In fact, the indictment is as severe in these as was alleged in many unofficial reports that came in soon after the incidents.

On its part, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has promised quick action. According to the Chief Minister, a case of murder will be filed against the officials found guilty. Justice Pandhian is being requested to inquire into the incidents of the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chhittisinghpora on March 21 and the killing of five civilians at Pathribal on March 26. Both these incidents are connected with the one at Brakpora. Suitable — rather exemplary — punishment to those found guilty will have a cathartic effect on the Kashmiri psyche considering that most of the sullenness there is due to unfair treatment at the hands of the administration. To be fair to the police personnel, it is not as if they were out on a killing spree. The panic reaction displayed by them at Pahalgam was perhaps the result of insurgency fatigue setting in deeply. But that is no justification at all for what they did. Rather, it is indicative of a highly alarming shortcoming. If even those working in a frontline state like Jammu and Kashmir are not mentally prepared to act judiciously in an emergency situation, the preparedness of their brethren in the rest of the country can be well imagined. In any case, any trace of brutality in the face of similar violence by terrorists is highly condemnable because a disciplined force is just not expected to forget its ethics and code of conduct, howsoever grave the provocations might be. Such restraint is pragmatic as well, considering that even the slightest unjustified use of force against the civilians only furthers the militant cause.

The shrinking rupee

TWO unintended actions have dragged down the rupee against the dollar. One was a statement by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the USA last week that the high crude prices would seriously affect the Indian economy. An already nervous currency market read too much into it and the rupee’s steady fall became a rout all of last week. Of course, Mr Sinha reversed his opinion later in New Delhi but the negative sentiment has already become firm. The RBI too contributed to this grim mood. It stoically refused to intervene. Also it bought dollars in the second week of August when there was a healthy inflow of the US currency. Ostensibly, the central bank was merely replenishing its foreign exchange reserves; but the market knew better. The bank was blocking appreciation of the rupee. Earlier the RBI has agreed to buy dollars at Rs 45.60, declaring that rate to be the official benchmark. Ironically, the rupee carried a fractionally higher exchange value at that time. With the RBI looking the other way, all eyes are now fixed on the SBI and its millenium deposit scheme. Between October 21, when it was launched and the end of the month, it has attracted $ 1 billion, far exceeding the expectations. At this rate, the deposit should soar to $ 4 billion and not the $ 2 billion as the SBI has targeted. Of course the money will not reach the market but the deposit will boost the shattered sentiment and partly salvage the pride of the rupee. The two other sources of foreign exchange have gone into hibernation. Exporters have fled the market, hoping to get a higher return on the basis of a weaker rupee. Foreign investors in the stock market are coy, what with the plunge in the share prices. Also, this is the season when they go slow and go on vacation. This year the dollar accrual on this account has been a thin slice of last year — $ 290 million as against $ 2.34 billion.

Like inflation, the rupee depreciation is injurious to the health of the economy. Of course there will be lucky winners too. Importers will have to pay a higher landed cost and only those who make heavy profits can absorb the adverse effect. Those who operate on thin margins, like manufactures of automobiles because of fierce competition, will face a dilemma. Increase the price and lose customers or forget making any profit. A cheaper rupee will stoke inflationary embers. Imports account for 10 per cent of the GDP and the rupee has shed 7.26 per cent of its value this calendar year. The net effect on the escalating price index will be 0.726 per cent. It is a big push as inflation has climbed to 7 per cent and more. Crude prices have already doubled the inflation rate from last year’s 3.5 per cent. If the crude prices stay above $ 30 a barrel, it would be double trouble. Exporters are smiling but they have to wait a while before they can convert the rupee’s woes into profit. Analysts pressed to offer an instant opinion venture to suggest that the REER (real effective exchange rate) of the rupee (calculated by comparing its value with a basket of currencies) is on the high side and the market is aligning to a realistic level. That is expert opinion. The reality is that speculators are busy betting on the rupee-dollar ratio to rake in easy profit. One can double his earnings if he guesses correctly. Right now a lot of people are doing just that. Any currency doctor will diagnose this to be cause of the rupee’s acute illness.

Taking care of roads

SINCE roads constitute the crucial lifeline for any economy, the Union Cabinet has done well by deciding to create a proper mechanism not only for the maintenance and development of this infrastructure but also to prevent the frittering away of the funds earmarked for the purpose. The mechanism will be born after the government promulgates an Ordinance, as agreed upon, to set up what it calls the Central Road Reserve Fund (CRRF) by using a cess imposed on the sale of petrol and diesel. The cess, as has been estimated, will generate at least Rs 6000 crore on an annual basis. It has been finalised that 50 per cent of the cess on diesel will be set aside for the development of roads in the rural areas. This is a laudable idea as most of India's villages are without proper roads. Wherever roads exist, their condition is deplorable. A better road network is a must for enabling growers to get remunerative prices for their produce by taking them to the mandis in the urban areas.

The condition of urban roads is no better whereas it is the moral obligation of the government to provide this basic facility to the taxpayers. More than this, we cannot change our profile from a developing economy to a developed one by 2020 as envisioned unless there are good and widespread networks of roads — highways and expressways included. There is need for huge funds which will come obviously from non-governmental sources. Under the National Highway Development Project, it has been decided to upgrade 13,252 km of national highways linking the four metropolitan cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai — with each other and Kashmir with Kanyakumari. This is not an easy task and requires as much as Rs 58,000 crore. Almost the entire amount has to come from market borrowings and multilateral agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The proceeds from the cess on diesel and petrol will help as a collateral for raising the required finances. But the experience with cess proceeds for the development of marketing and research facilities in the oil sector has been quite depressing. The estimated funds do not come as easily as expected for the intended purpose. Some special arrangement has to be made to ensure that road projects are not starved of funds. Road development and maintenance must be given the kind of seriousness it deserves.

APPROACH OF RSS & BJP
Contradiction and confusion
by M.S.N. Menon

THE churning of India continues. There is no end to it in sight. First, it was the Hindu-Muslim problem; now it is high caste-low caste conflict. There is much to be angry about in Indian history. Caste — that was the first tragedy. Foreign rule for a thousand years — the second. Much has been distorted and much has been destroyed. And we have added much to the confusion by our own acrimonious partisanship.

RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan is an angry man. (Who is not?) He does not like much of what has happened in this country. But there is no way to undo them. All that we can do is to shape the future. But this calls for pragmatism, which does not come easily to men of his bent.

And yet the RSS has travelled a great distance. It is no more the sole voice of the Brahmin lobby. It has given up the cry of Akhand Bharat. It finds in Gandhiji a more enduring and respectable icon. And, of late, it has discovered that the capitalist model of development, which has marginalised the poor, is not suitable for India.

Gandhiji said this years ago. He rejected the entire Western civilisation. But no one cared to listen to him. Nehru rushed to embrace socialism and the Jana Sangh rushed to embrace American capitalism. They did not even care to listen to the wise men of the West. I mean Galbraith and Gunnar Myrdal, who had warned the poor countries not to imitate the West.

Capitalism has no doubt changed, but for the worse. Today, the “Wealth of Nations” is not made in fields and factories, but in the capital market. There are 4000 hedge funds (used for gambling) in the USA with over $ 400 billion of investment money. This is capitalism for you. There is no place in this casino capitalism for the poor.

Money is what dominates the economic world. And, of money, Keynes had said: “Money is essentially a destabilising factor and has to be reined in for economic stability.” Did anyone listen? No. Mexico and South-East Asia paid heavily for it.

Dr Radhakrishnan says: “The transition we have to effect today, if we are to survive, is a moral and spiritual revolution, which should embrace the whole world”. But the West has purged ethics from economics and globalisation seeks to free economics from politics.

The RSS has been slow to learn. Men like Balraj Madhok wanted India to give up nonalignment (the only way India could have shown a mind of its own), embrace America and be a camp follower. It never occurred to him that India could have a mission of its own in the world.

One cannot forget that the Jana Sangh was not only in favour of capitalism, but had the Swatantra Party — a party of princes, zamindars and industrialists — as its partner.

But enough. The point I want to make is this: we have been helpless victims of our ignorance and whimsical leaders. With what result?

The RSS is said to be a cultural organisation. Yet its symbol is a latti! It has neither produced a polymath of great authority, nor a crop of cultural leaders.

The concerns of the RSS are civilisational. It is as it should be. Yet there are many in the RSS and allied organisations who are ready to place India at the service of America and the West!

Today the RSS chief calls for a Swadeshi form of development. He wants to introduce Gandhian concepts. Yet, just 10 years ago the BJP supported Mr Rao’s liberalisation and globalisation policies. Surely, the BJP had no idea then that Swadeshi comes from a larger philosophic and social vision? Swadeshi is economics plus ethics. Capitalism is just economics. No wonder, the Sangh Parivar is most confused about economic matters.

Globalisation is American national interest disguised in the rhetoric of free trade. Of globalisation, this is what Samuel Huntington has said: “The West, in effect, is using international institutions, military power and economic resources to run the world in ways that will maintain Western dominance, protect Western interests and promote Western political and economic values.

Is that why the BJP is enthusiastic about globalisation? Or is it because a powerful section of its supporters is trying to palm off what is of private interest as public interests? Alas, the private media supports this huge hoax because it is one of the principal beneficiaries of globalisation.

The RSS is committed to nationalism. Yet it does not seem to know the difference between patriotism and nationalism. All Indians must be patriotic. But not all Indians can be nationalists. I consider an understanding of this has become very urgent.

And, finally, although the RSS has great faith in the latti, if has not in its ranks one military strategist to guide its defence policy.

Rather a severe indictment? Yes, but it is necessary to point out these contradictions and confusions to stimulate some soul-searching in the RSS and the BJP. As the only nationalist party in this country (which is why I have some sympathy for it), the Sangh Parivar should first learn how to shoulder the enormous responsibility history has thrown on it to guide the destiny of this great country.

Men, being what they are, need constant correction. More so, in the field of politics and economics. That is why we have an Upper House. If the RSS acts like an Upper House to the BJP, what is wrong with it?

But this is not to say that the RSS has been a source of much wisdom to the BJP. Far from it. Yet is a check on the wild and ignorant men of the BJP. The wisdom to guide this country cannot come from the parade ground — from the Shakha. That is a place where obedient soldiers are made.

The RSS is in a hurry to remove the encrustations of the past. It is here that that we should sound a word of grave warning, for we do not think that it has the intellectual competence to take up this task. What India is, is the final outcome of much thinking and experience. We should not tamper with its basic structure. Let us not try to clone civilisations.

I hold freedom as the first principle which has guided our civilisation — freedom to think and express. It is freedom which led to diversity, and diversity led to both tolerance and the richness of our civilisation. We should do nothing to tamper with this structure. It has done the greatest good to us.

Of Hinduism, Dr Radhakrishnan has said that it is a process, not a result; a growing tradition, not a fixed revelation. The Hindu civilisation is thus a quest. Let it remain so. We should not try to close this quest. Nor peg it at a point of history. That will prevent the growth of a higher mode of consciousness.

Equally sacred to us is the principle of Swadeshi. This is not to say that an inter-dependent world is irrelevant to us. For us Swadeshi should be the organising principle of our economic life. It alone can foster excellence in every field.

Is there, then, a conflict between the objectives of artha and dharma? There is none. The BJP is concerned with artha, the production of wealth. The RSS is concerned with dharma, the higher concerns of our country. They complement each other.

In the news
Rebel with a difference

MR Jitendra Prasada, who has dared to challenge Mrs Sonia Gandhi for the post of Congress President, hardly fits in the image of a rebel. For, till the other day he was very much a part of the loyal team. It is an open secret that he decided to don the rebel’s mantle after he was removed as President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. Though he must know that he stands little chance of winning against his formidable rival, what exactly he wants to achieve by his new-found urge for intra-party democracy will remain a matter of speculation, at least till the election is over. As had been the tactic with the rebels of the past, so is with Mr Prasada, the latest member of the rarified tribe in the 115-year-old Indian National Congress. He has cleverly avoided attacking the leader directly. All he says is that his battle is “with the coterie surrounding the party leadership.”

In his campaign for democracy within the party, Mr Prasada has found inspiration from the late Rajesh Pilot and Sitaram Kesri, who died only the other day. One wonders if the “rebel with a cause” remembers which side he was when Pilot took on Kesri for the party president’s post. Whether he finally decides to withdraw his candidature or go the whole hog, Mr Prasada is sure to give the Congress “credit” for the ever-illusory intra-party democracy. In a position of “heads I win, tails you lose”, party bosses will gleefully claim: “Look, we are after all a democratic party.”

Lady of “Small Things”

ONE may not exactly remember when and why Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy decided to join the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) bandwagon. But it can be safely said that the urge for any celebrity to stay in the limelight is irresistible. Did she think that she was going out of the limelight after the euphoria died down over her prize winning novel, “The God of Small Things”? Ms Roy, no doubt, made sure that she stayed in the news, Booker Prize or no Booker Prize. She was arrested along with hundreds of NBA activists in January this year for forcefully entering the prohibited Maheshwar hydel power project site in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, with the glamour attached to the world of literature, Ms Roy may have stolen the thunder from the sober, senior NBA activist, Ms Medha Patkar.

Ms Roy’s outburst against the Supreme Court after its verdict, clearing the Narmada valley project, was amazing for its intemperance. “If the judiciary cannot give justice, let us declare ourselves a banana republic,” fumed the celebrated novelist. NBA activists are not exactly humoured. It can only jeopardise the NBA’s review petition against the judgement, they fear. Ms Roy sure knows how to draw her characters. Will someone teach her where to draw the line?

Jogi of Chhattisgarh

IT was a difficult race. There were any number of hurdles in the way. Yet Mr Ajit Jogi has finally won it, defeating stalwarts like the Shukla brothers — Mr Shyama Charan Shukla and Mr Vidya Charan Shukla. This is not to say that the first Chief Minister of the newly created state of Chhattisgarh has a support base bigger than that of his vanquished challengers. This tribal engineer-turned-bureaucrat-turned-politician is a great manoeuvrer. Born in a village — Jogi Dongri — in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, he has been a PR man of the Nehru-Gandhi family ever since he embraced politics at the behest of Rajiv Gandhi. His unquestionable loyalty to 10 Janpath has paid him rich dividends. He could not ask for more.

When Mr Jogi, then an IAS officer, mesmerised the young Congress supremo, now no more in our midst, resulting in his induction in politics, Rajiv Gandhi had assigned him a task. It related to Chhattisgarh’s 42 per cent population of tribals. Mr Jogi was asked to formulate a programme for the uplift of the poor people of the mineral-rich area of the undivided state of Madhya Pradesh. Today the dynamic Congress leader is not there to tell Mr Jogi to implement the grand plan to transform the lives of the tribals of Chhattisgarh. But destiny has placed the tribal leader in an ideal position and he can use it to translate that noble idea into a reality. Will Mr Jogi begin working on that project as his top priority?

What is DTH?

DIRECT to Home (DTH) is basically the transmission of usually encoded TV and audio signals via a satellite. These signals are encoded because the broadcasting companies charge a fee to let the user receive their programmes. DTH is used to get television broadcasts directly to the user’s set, bypassing the cable service. The exact modalities of how DTH will be made available to consumers remains unclear. DTH telecast is not something new for India. We were one of the first few countries to implement DTH in a primitive form through our SITE (Satellite Instructional Technology Experiment) programme (1975-76), that was primarily intended to experiment with television through satellite communication to broadcast special programmes to six rural clusters including 2,400 villages. This project ran on the first generation of satellite services called C-band and required a large satellite dish antenna similar to the ones that mushroomed all over the country in the early nineties.

The digital broadcast satellite (DBS) is a newer and more advanced method of DTH satellite distribution. Since it operates with more power, its signal can be received with a smaller dish antenna (usually 18 to 36 inches in diameter) and is, therefore, more affordable. It is this satellite service that Star TV, Zee TV and others want to introduce in India. DBS systems are earth-orbiting satellites that receive signals sent by the programmers. If you are within the satellite’s swath, your personal 18-inch dish antenna brings the signal into a set-top box decoder, which translates it into an analogue signal for a high grade TV picture and CD-quality audio. You need the decoder because the signals are scrambled and you have to pay the programme provider for their services.

The advantage of DTH is that it will give more channels and greater clarity. Other than entertainment, DTH potential includes education and training applications, as was shown by the SITE experiment. Of course, the virtual monopoly that the cable operators now enjoy will be challenged and they will also have to provide better service. The consumer will be the king, provided the king is rich enough to play with the new toy. Elsewhere, DTH and cable TV are co-existing. What happens in India will depend on how the king consumer here behaves.

Of Life Sublime
Jesus on the Cross
by V. N. Datta

THERE is probably no event in world history which had such a profound impact on humankind as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ which occurred on a Friday round about AD 30, when the sky was overcast. The crucifixion was perhaps the cruellest and the most painful form of execution ever devised. Christ was then in his 35th year. His eyes were bright, his face oval-like, his complexion olive-tinted, his beard slightly forked, his steps brisk, and his posture a little stooping. He was a lonely man forsaken by his own disciples whom he had instructed in preaching his gospel of love, compassion and piety.

The Roman historian, Tacitus (A.D. 56 to 117), the first philosophic historian summed up in his Annals the historical fact of Christ's crucifixion succinctly. "The originator of this name (Christians) Christ was put to death in the reign of Tiberius by the proculator Pontinus Pilate". Christ knew that his end was near, and that one of his disciples would betray him. He also knew that his most ardent disciple Simon Peter would deny him and he told Peter so, but he swore his unflinching loyalty to him.

Christ went to a place called Gethsemane and his disciples Peter, James and John followed him. Christ said, "My soul is sorrowful". Christ then fell on the ground saying, 'The hour is come!' Accompanied by Iscariot Judas and temple guards, the Roman legionaries wearing their breast plates and togas arrived with swords and staves. Judas, the paid renegade, told the soldiers, 'Whomsoever I kiss, that is Christ'. To earn his 30 pieces of silver, Judas kissed Christ's hand, and betrayed him to the Sanhedrin gang. It was indeed a 'terrible' kiss that Judas planted on Christ's hand. The soldiers laid their hands on Christ and took him away. Christ's disciples fled in fear, and he was left alone.

Christ was produced before the Chief Priest, Caiaphas. Some false witnesses accused him of destroying their temple and declaring himself the Messiah. The Chief Priest asked him, "Whether thou be Christ, the son of God?" Christ replied, 'Thou hast said'. Then he added, "Hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." This reply was sufficient to condemn him for sedition and blasphemy. Christ was sentenced to death, though the Chief Priest had no such authority. At this, the howling mob spat on Christ and gave him blows. While Christ was dragged by the soldiers, the Chief Priest's maid asked Peter whether he too was Christ's follower. Peter said, "I neither know nor understand what thou sayest". Peter remembered Christ's words that he would deny him thrice before the cock crows.

The Chief Priest's sentence had to be approved by the Roman authorities. The soldiers followed the overexcited mob, and took him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judas (Palestine). Pilate held two trials for Christ, but found no fault in him. A frenzied mob stood outside his palace. Pilate felt exasperated. He knew that Christ was innocent, but was finding it difficult to appease the multitude that clamoured for his blood.

Pilate sat on the marble chair. A large crowd assembled which included the scribes, Pharisees, and priests as well as miscellaneous hangers-on who usually enjoy watching a street brawl. The accusers entreated that Pilate who go-verned them must respect their religious scruples. The multitude shouted that Christ was insulting their religion by claiming to be the son of God and the king of the Jews. They asserted that Christ was a threat to the peace of Rome, and that his influence was the greatest among the 'troublesome people of Galilee'. Christ stood silent with blood spattered on his clothes, and spittle and filth and bruises marked on his face.

In matters of religion, the Romans were not a persecuting people though they were a bit suspicious of Christ forming a secret society. Pilate asked Christ, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" Christ replied, "Thou sayest I am a king. To this end was I born and for this came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hearth my voice!" Pilate muttered, "What is truth" and would not wait for an answer, as Francis Bacon wrote later.

The people had taken the law in their hands. Pilate tried to wriggle out by saying, "Judge him according to your law" and dispatched Christ to the Gallean judge, Harod, who had come to Jerusalam for the Passover, the most important festival of the Jews. Harod was known for loving none, and being loved by none. He asked Christ about his doctrine. Christ seemed to ignore the entire assembly. The multitude shouted that Christ was denigrating the authority of Harod. The people mocked Christ, threw a white sheet round him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate.

Pilate's strategy had failed. The ball was now in his court. He had wanted to release Christ but in vain. He thought of another device. On the festival of Passover, as was the custom, a prisoner was to be set at liberty. A notorious criminal and a dacoit Barabbas lay in prison. Pilate asked the mob whom should he release, Barabbas or Christ. The crowd insisted on Barabbas's release, and demanded a gladiator's death for Christ. Meanwhile, Pilate's wife, Claudia Procula, sent a note warning her husband against being a party to Christ's crucifixion. Pilate respected Christ, and Christ too showed deference to Pilate. The crowd got restive and petulant, and shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him. If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend." The crowd demanded that Christ should die not as a blas-phemer but as a malefactor.

The noisy multi-tude accused Christ of "pervert-ing our nation, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, abjuring the Mosaic Law and claiming that he is Christ, the king!" Pilate asked Christ, "Are you the king of the Jews? Christ replied, "Thou sayest so." At this people yelled "Crucify him, crucify him". Pilate asked further, "Shall I crucify your king?" This infuriated the mob. The Chief Priest shouted, "We have no king but Caesar". Pilate was cowed by the turbulent crowd. Christ had not witness on his side, no counsel to defend him, and no friend to support him.

Ultimately, Pilate gave in, and awarded the punishment which the accusers had asked for. The Roman soldiers stripped Christ, attired him into a scarlet robe, put a reed in his right hand for a sceptre, and crowned him with a crown of thorns. The crowd jeered and mocked at him, and shouted, "King of the Jews". Some people smote his head with a rod, and spat on him. In Christ's defence some one drew a sword but Christ disallowed him saying that they that take sword shall perish by the sword.

Thereafter Christ was taken to a place called Golgotha and put on a cross in the middle with two robbers on either side — the nails and the lance pierced his hands, his feet and side; and his head lay lolling. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightaway came out blood and water. The crowd comprised the Roman soldiers, a few of Caiaphas's men, Christ's mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and others. Those who passed by railed at him saying, "Thou destroyed the temple and buildest in three days. Save thyself and come down the Cross!" The Chief Priest said that "he who saved others can't save himself" and those who were going to be crucified also reproached him. Before he died, Christ was heard to cry out, "Eloi Eloi lama Sabachthasu" which is interpreted as "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

This was, indeed, a cry of despair. This text the Christians have always found difficult to explain. The Gnostics considered it unworthy of the divine son of God. Does it mean Christ's denial of God or his spiritual death. Or was it what D.H. Lawrence wrote that Christ trusted God, but God let him down. To put it differently, was virtue vanquished by duplicity, arbitrary power and mob hysteria? I put this question to Mother Teresa who said that this cry makes Christ the worthy son of God who took away the sins of the world and offered himself for the sacrifice. In the life of Christ it is the very defeat that brings victory, and the helplessness that is the source of infinite power.

Enoch Powell, a Conservative leader and classical scholar, suggested in his study 'The Evolution of the Gospel' that Christ did not die on the Cross but was stoned to death for blasphemy by the Jewish authority. He argues that this view was replaced in the Gospels with a "trial and execution by the Romans as putative king of the Jews". His analysis rests on the argument that Matthew and not Mark was the first of the four Gospels to be written.

Powell's views about Christ's death have provoked fierce controversy among theologians in England. Such a change in the Christian story is calculated to threaten the credibility of the Gospels. Dr John Baker, Bishop of Salisbury, said, "There is no mention in any of the documents of Jesus being stoned." Powell has ignored Tacitus's laconic comments on the crucifixion. Josephus, the first century Jewish priest and historian, also records that "Pilate, upon hearing Jesus accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified".

Quite a number of reputed classical scholars in England maintain that the Gospels written could not have fabricated such a central issue like the crucifixion. Dr Peter Jones, an expert on Christian theology, has argued that to allow the Jews to stone Jesus to death would be to invite them to bypass Roman authority, which was unlikely. Furthermore, the Gospels ring with anti-Jewish propaganda but on Jesus's involvement in crucifixion there is absolutely no evidence.

It is heartening, indeed, the debate on the crucifixion in Britain is not considered outrageous or threatening but is seen as an opportunity to explore this most sensitive theme from a larger perspective. It would be all to the good if we too in this country subject our religious texts to critical analysis. Such a venture might illuminate the past and give us insight into beliefs, articles of faith and other emotional drives that impel men to their quest for spiritual bliss.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Never waste your energy in useless pursuits. Too much talking and gossiping, aimless wandering, habit of worrying, losing your temper frequently - all these drain away your energy.... Value character more than anything else. ...'Your life and conduct must be the cause of happiness in other people. Adopt certain virtues and principles and stick to them in all your activities of life.... Always have a great ideal before your mind. Think of it at all times... Then your mind will never be idle or vacant. This is important, because right thinking is the key to noble living.

—Swami Chidananda, Guide Lines to Illumination

***

What exactly is your duty? Let me summarise it for you. First, tend your parents with love and reverence and gratitude. Second, speak the truth and act virtuously. Third, whenever you have a few moments to spare, repeat the name of the Lord, with the form in your mind. Fourth, never indulge in talking ill of others or try to discover faults in others. And, finally, do not cause pain to others, in any form.

—Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sadhana —The Inward Path, 65

***

When you try to discover faults or blemishes in others, you are inviting blame or faults to yourselves..... Remember it always that when sending out thoughts of jealousy and envy, of criticism, of fault-finding, or thoughts smacking of jealousy and hatred, you are courting the very same thoughts yourself. Whenever you are discovering the mote in your brother's eye, you are putting the beam in your own.

—Swami Ramatirtha, In Woods of God Realisation, Vol. II, Lecture XI

***

The sensual pleasures are shortlived and fleeting and they leave behind a trail of sorrow.

The mind refuses to leave the sensual pleasures until it tastes something better.

Saints come to wean us away from sensual pleasures.

—Maharaj Charan Singh, Words Eternal