![PURPOSE OF PENANCE: When the day of reckoning comes, we need to have more good than evil in our kitty.](http://media.assettype.com/gomantaktimes%2F2024-03%2Ff0a20ba6-5928-4415-a6ba-e066ccd0f9ae%2FImp_template_for_GT____2024_03_26T140318_849.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Catholics are in the midst of Holy Week, and Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan. Holy, in simple terms, should mean 'aiming to be better than good'. But, we are at a time when being good is, itself, difficult.
Instead of moving forward and improving, we are willingly going backwards and choosing a position that is neither favourable nor unfavourable. In doing so, we are making ourselves insignificant, not only to the essence of 'holiness', but also to our own family members.
Soon, the period of introspection will end, and, slowly, the old road that made us repent during Lent will open up once again, and, equally slowly, we will opt to take the same road which during the period of Lent, looked so bad or undesirable.
The road used, in the past, was one made through nature, wherein community living was the core. The new old road, or rather the one seen by many during Lent, is the one devoid of nature, but covered by money.
We all know it, and yet we opt not to be different, because being different, without money, is not the accepted social norm today.
As is commonly said, 'M' is the new pill. Not a blue one or a white one, but one that strips everyone following it, or trying to follow it, of all dignity. Yet, the followers are many. Not for the man, but for his money.
We all know it, and yet we opt not to be different, because being different, without money, is not the accepted social norm today.
And, being part of the norm is being part of the cubicle of drudgery, which most of us are unaware of.
We were told that there will come a day when we will be judged. That day is not destined, but after death will come the questioning, and we will do the answering.
Therefore, it is important to excel in order to prevent stumbling or becoming restless.
We were told that there will come a day when we will be judged. That day is not destined, but after death, will come the questioning, and we will do the answering.
Was this our destined part? Difficult to say, but one thing is sure, many years back, William Wordsworth wrote:
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees!
Let’s start looking forward, giving religion the back seat, and power to creation, and just step back to religion to the story of life after death. Imagine being at the gates of Heaven, where we will have to give an account of our lives.
And, we go on …., "I did this for this, I did this for that"
….and the story goes on with the narration of good over evil. After rolling in so much muck, do we believe that the bad will hide itself?
Let’s start looking forward, giving religion the back seat, and power to creation, and just step back to religion to the story of life after death.
Karma, they say, is the story of the bad one does to others that will strike back. But, in today’s world, it appears to be part of an Aesop’s Fable because we keep doing bad, caring little for what will come back.
It doesn’t matter because the Creator must be on a break.
Bad can be seen through the sores in the eyes of the evil-doer; and good through the positive energy. Little positivity could be felt during this time of the year because the majority festered in sores.
Saying 'sorry', and not repeating the offence, or at least trying not to repeat it, is one thing. Saying sorry and repeating the offence again with impunity is another. And, this is where we fail, most times.
Bluntly, the Father of Good is not blind, or for that matter, looking the other way all the time.
There will reach a point where we wouldn’t be cared for, and that will hurt, because it could well be the point when it will be too late, or too slow to seek the good again.