Rome, 27th Nov 2011. I'm standing in one of the greatest cathedrals of the world, St Peters. The holy place for over 30% of worlds population. I'm standing in the midst of some of most spectacular pieces of art by masters like Michelangelo, Bernini etc. Hundreds of statues of saints and holy men, all around me, glaring down at me. I should have been absorbed by the sanctity of the place. I should have been amazed at the masterpieces of art and architecture. I should have been carried away into a peaceful trance by the melodious music of the organ. Why am I not feeling anything of these.
I had been to few of the holiest places, most scenic places, darkest places of Europe, in the last 2-3 months of my exchange program. Darkest places like Sachsenhausen where the Nazis and Communists slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocents. The indifference to pain, pleasure or joy of the place has been puzzling me over the past few weeks. It is more of the scruples from the inside that is taking over the emotions of the exterior senses.
In the recent few years of my life, after I started differentiating between the good and the bad of the world, I came across many people/institutions which are on both sides of the wall. Through movies, books and travel, I came to know about many Mahatmas of the world, who with their uncompromising determination have changes the world in a way or the other. On the other end of the spectrum are cruel and brutal crimes committed by people, corruption, scandals, riots etc etc. Amazingly, only few of those poor souls have ever confessed or repented. Why.
As said by Mahatma Gandhi, "In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place." Beginning from the Magna-carta, the first ever document of modern law, to the most recent laws, conscience is one thing, which every human has to face one day or the other. "There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other court"; an other master quote by the Mahatma. Our conscience could be the supreme power inside us which could work wonders by taking us to greater heights, and it can also lead us into lonely and depressed phases of our lives.
How wonderful it is to have a clean conscience through out our lives; the wonders it can make with our lives, the peace it can bring into our lives, the beauty it can add to our lives...
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