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Now I can’t take it anymore. I want to resolve this today, once and for all. I want to get out of this vicious circle. I can’t stand this life even for an hour more. I have decided to take refuge with my father. Today, there is an intercommunity feast here. My husband is not only participating in it, he is also one of the main organizers. It is the result of his hard work and inspiration that this heretic atrocity is being perpetrated. People of all castes are sitting together and eating. I have heard that even Muslims are eating along with the others. O! Why don’t the heavens fall? Won’t God take on an avatar and come down to earth to protect our faith? Can one imagine a greater distortion of the faith? The Brahmins eat only what their closest kin cook; they do not even eat what other Brahmins have cooked. This great community has reached such a state of decadence that Brahmins now do not hesitate to eat with Kayasthas and Muslims. On the contrary, they see this as a sign of communal pride and unity.Husband
When will that auspicious hour arrive when the women of our country will be educated and help us men unite the nation? When will this religious parochialism disappear? For how long will we remain trapped in the wiles of the Brahmins? For how long will marriages remain captive to family prestige? When will our people understand that in a marriage, compatibility matters more than family lineage? Had this been so, I wouldn’t be Vrinda’s husband, nor she my wife. There is a world of difference between our thoughts. She doesn’t often express herself openly, but I am sure she simply detests my liberalism. Sometimes I feel she does not even want to touch me. It’s not her fault; rather it is the fault of our parents who have placed us in this oppressive situation. Nevertheless, I’m happy that Vrinda has confidence in herself. Even in difficult circumstances, she clings to her ideas firmly, even if her ideas happen to be wrong.
Yesterday, Vrinda had an outburst. A number of my friends had suggested an intercommunity feast. After many days of debates and discussions, some of them finally organized the lunch. There were only four Brahmins apart from me; the rest were Kayastha or from other castes. This magnanimity was unbearable for Vrinda. When I returned from the lunch, she looked very upset as though someone had hurt her deeply. Looking at me with hurtful eyes, she said, ‘The gates of heaven must have opened now for you!’
These rude words pierced my heart like an arrow. I said harshly, ‘Only those who are lazy or lifeless worry about heaven and hell. My heaven and hell are right here in this world. I want to achieve something here before I leave it.’
‘Thank God for your manly courage and endeavour! I am sure from today peace and joy will reign in the world! You have redeemed the whole world! It cannot expect better than this!’
I said irritably, ‘If God hasn’t endowed you with the ability to understand things, how can I make you understand them? Even a stupid person can understand the harm that discrimination has done to our country. There cannot be any doubt that eliminating this will benefit our nation. Of course, it’s a different matter that there are those who do understand these things, but choose to ignore them.’
‘Can’t this mutual love be born without eating together?’
I thought it was futile to continue this argument. I felt I should take recourse to a principle that was beyond debate. Vrinda was very devout and I decided to defeat her on her own ground. We men do not have much regard for religious beliefs. I said gravely, ‘It is certainly difficult, if not impossible. But just think how unjust we are to our own fellow beings—we who are the children of the same Creator hate each other. We are so caught up with who is superior and who is inferior. The whole world is a manifestation of that one mighty God. It is the same Divine Light which shines on all of us. It is only this physical form that has separated us from each other. We are blinded by our own self-interest. In reality, we are all one. Just as the sun’s light does not become different when it falls on different houses, in the same way, God’s spirit does not become different when it mingles in different human beings. Doesn’t the light of the sun fall on the huts of the poor? I’ll say it falls more abundantly on them.’
This shower of wisdom drenched Vrinda’s dry heart. She listened to me with attention. When I was done, she looked at me with devotion and began to cry.
The hearts of human beings are like iron pillars. It is difficult to erase the marks on them. But we can heat them up and then leave new marks. The marks of family prestige and national pride were removed from Vrinda’s mind. In their place were imprinted the marks of the universal soul.Wife
The words of my venerable
