This essay is based on a conversation with my friend Pramod-Menon who teaches English at Kodai International School at Kodaikanal TamilNadu India ~ I think I should first introduce Pramod and Kodaikanal ~
Pramod was a legendary child who had read “The Complete Collected Works Of Shakespeare” before he was 12 or 13 years age ~ I think that says enough ~ A biblophile of the highest order ~ I can only vaguely guess the vast erudition my friend must have accumulated in his Life ~ Pramod is now 50 years old ~ Educated at St. Stephens Delhi and Kerala University he later went on to do a PhD in Wisconsin under the illustrious scholar Prof. Ihab Hasan ~ He dropped out of academics just when all was about to be over, took up teaching in Public Schools and landed up in Kodai International School ~ We were friends from college days ~ I used to beam with Infinite-Apocalyptic Mania and we have had very interesting conversational sessions ~ The Pundit with. The Lunatic so to say!!
Kodaikanal is a hill-station resort developed by the British Rulers in India during the colonial days to spend their terrible Dravidian Summers in a cool location ~ It is a beautiful misty town encased in the Western Ghats ~ a lake, an extraordinary assortment of flora and fauna, a botanical garden and innumerable public schools for the rich and hotels for the tourists ~ that is the general landscape ~
A few years ago I visited Kodaikanal on a holiday with my parents ~ I went to meet my friend at his quarters ~ We were meeting after many years and were talking randomly as always ~ Derrida to Nietzsche, Upanishads to Patanljali to deconstruction ~ I was singing bits of Raagas elucidating and so on ~ In between in one of the silences my friend said, “A very bright student asked me a question ~ ‘If as You Say God Is Omnipresent Omnipotent Omniscient, why do you ask people to refrain from certain deeds declared Evil ~ All That Is God Too’” ~ I said “superb question very genuine” ~ I had pondered on this indefinitely for many years and knew clearly why one refrained from evil but could find no instant answer that was satisfactory ~ I said good-night and soon parted from my friend ~ Next day I told him "I will answer the student’s great question" and said, “Every moment God Is Infinitely Crucified By Human Ignorance ~ When You Do Evil To Another You Crucify God More ~ Pierce A new nail right into one of His Infinite Eyes ~ When You Do a Little Good or Attempt to do it You soothe God a little ~ You sponge the blood gently out of one of His Infinite Wounds Inflicted by Ignorance [Evil] ~ The Choice is clearly Your Own ~ Further When God Finally Arrives At The Apocalypse He will Surely Forgive You For All The Nails You Pierced On Him ~ But whether You will be able to get rid of the immense Guilt you have accumulated in front Of God’s Love is an open question that closes this parable”
I guess my friend must have told this to his student ~
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Note ~ This is a recollection and not a literal reproduction ~