The above painting is the Isenheim
Altarpiece, created
in 1515 by Matthias Grünewald, a German Renaissance painter.
Good Friday is a poignant occasion to give some
thought to persecution and suffering.
Though the killing of Socrates several years before
Christ is one of the most painful moments in human memory, the crucification of
Christ continues to torment the human psyche by the sheer exhibition of cruelty
and injustice to a person who taught his disciples passivism - to be meek like
the lamb.
And till date, even in very insignificant places and
instances, people still get crucified, though not necessary physically, but in
many other forms. The suffering they
endure is all the same real.
The war that Socrates or Christ waged against the
establishment, the need for them to ask people to ask questions, to realize the
truth, etc, continue. The reaction of
the establishment also continues in different degrees according to the
situation.
Everyone on such a path comes to realize that first
they will have to cry out, “Why did thee forsake me”, to come to realize the
real drama being played out and only thereafter they will be able to make the
grand statement, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
It is not necessary that one should oneself go through
the turmoil, to understand the pain and the process of reinventing or resurrecting.
One can feel it if associated with it with real
empathy.
There are instances of Sisters bleeding like Christ on
the Cross. Paramahansa Yogananda speaks about meeting Sister Terese, who is one
such person and the other being Sister Elena Aiello whose beautification was
done in 2011.
There might be skeptics who could question these incidents
wherein the condition is known as the Stigmata.
However, the saivaites strongly believe that Lord Siva
came to work for an old lady who had absolute faith in him and when the Pandya
King inflicted some thrashes on the worker who was the manifestation of the Lord, it
was felt by all and the marks were seen on all beings.
The Vaishnavites also tell several stories where the
punishment inflicted on the bakthas of Vishnu or Krishna were seen on the
deities themselves.
In the century that went by, we have come across the
episode where Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was seen intently meditating on a
bull that was very far away and when the owner of the bull gave it a whipping,
Sri Ramakrishna smarted in pain and on his back there was a reddish mark
showing a whip lash. It was called a psychic
wound.
We also come across another instance when an Americal
journalist Vincent Shean is said to have experienced such a psychic wound when
he was in the spot when Gandhi ji was shot dead, though he was not anywhere
near where any real bullet particles could have pierced. He himself narrates it in his book, Lead
Kindly Light.
Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, the world renowned Indian born
Neuroscientist states in his book, The Tell-Tale Brain that there are ‘mirror
neurons’ in the brain that are capable of getting the experience of another
body. He says that it is these neurons
that enable culture to build based on experience and empathy and this is the
greatest possibility by which evolution takes place. However, in order to block all such
experience from being mixed up as one’s own or other’s, there are certain cells
in the skin.
There is a misconception that those who empathize with
the pain and suffering of others are communists. No, they are only human beings. Others, perhaps are thick skinned.
On this Good Friday, let us mediate on the millions of
sufferings still being faced by multitudes around the globe, day in and day
out, absolutely for no fault of theirs and even for being right and earnest.
For their betterment, let us await for the resurrection of the spirit.
