Liberal – willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas
Dear PK,
Of all the titles that a humble earthling like me could bestow upon you, the word ‘Liberal’ probably suits you the best. I guess you will like it too. Forgive me if I am wrong for this is the impression I got after I watched three hour footage of your journey through my country compiled by a certain gentleman called ‘Raj Kumar Hirani.’
I must say you were quite critical of my country and my people. I am not as piqued as many others around me – Just have a couple of points I would like to make.
First, even though you portrayed you were open to new ideas it felt like you jumped into conclusions far too soon. If you wanted to understand what faith really meant you should have done more research and been open to a few more experiences. I wonder that you visited all these places but never came across The Bhagvad Gita’s subtle knowledge that would have brought instant perspective on your loss. You did visit Kashi the town where timeless wisdom flows but the knowledge left you untouched. I guess you even visited the art of living ashram but were not lucky enough to sit down in one of the meditation sessions to find some inner peace. Ah well!
Second, I saw you were visibly upset about the whole religious money making business. I regret to inform you that on your brief yet eventful sojourn through my country you very deliberately missed on some of the most important bits.
I wish I had accompanied you instead of Jagat Janani (little does she know) I would have taken you to the many schools that Vivekanada kendra runs in remote corners that are not convenient enough for Anushka and you to visit. I would have taken you to the kitchens of Akshay Patra that cook meals for 10,000 schools everyday. We would have silently listened to the chants of Gurbani in the majestic Harminder Sahib and had langar alongside another 100,000 souls. We would have gone to the meet the many prisoners that Art of Living courses have transformed.
But I guess you never had time for all this. I guess you were in a mad rush to get somewhere – to go back to your planet – to prove a point.
So you did not get time to explore your Self. Maybe in another lifetime you will be lucky enough to find a Guru (which literally translates into the element that takes you from Darkness (Gu) to Light (Ru))
Maybe in that lifetime you will be at peace with losses and gains – big or small. Maybe then you will try to find the silence within before constructing a lengthy one sided critique. I hope you realise your work has closed the doors of faith and sincere self inquiry for many liberal intellectuals like yourself.
Good Luck my dear Friend.
With Love,
A humble Earthling
P.S: I have nothing against the three hours of footage that you compiled which is now being sold in your name – ‘PK’. We call this footage ‘Movies’ on our planet. I regret to inform you that I won’t recommend it to friends for I don’t want them to listen to you ramble on a subject that you have ‘liberally’ (pun intentionally intended) forgotten to both research and experience.