That primary particle of creation,
that Boson, that “God Particle”, still seems to elude the nuclear scientists
and astro-physicists at the Cern laboratory in Switzerland. There is another P that seems to elude humanity;
despite, or maybe because of, our pursuit of other P’s.
A macro-economist may refer to three
P’s – Purchasing Power Parity. The
Government seems to think that another set of three P’s will change everything
– Private Public Partnership. Marketing
gurus have their own three P’s – Price, Product, Placement. The aam aadmi
also has his three P’s - Prosperity, Power, Position. In these relentless pursuits, there is one P
that is as elusive as that God particle – PEACE.
Christmas is around the corner. It heralds Peace. Unfortunately, the P has often been replaced
by C, which stands for Cakes, Cards, Claus and Celebrations. C often tends to overshadow P. In the English alphabet P no doubt comes
after C. But for those who believe in
another C - The Christ, P for Peace comes first. All the other P’s and C’s must follow.
Most of us are familiar with the first Christmas episode,
when Jesus Christ was born in a cattle shed in Bethlehem, over 2000 years
ago. In Christmas tableaux there has
been the familiar sight of three Wise Men from the East (erroneously referred
to as Kings) who come bearing gifts for the newborn “Prince of Peace”. They are
often referred to as the Magi.
There is a popular, though apocryphal,
story of the Fourth Magi. He had no
“gift” to offer, so the other Magi left him behind. But he kept following the other three
companions. By the time he arrived in
Bethlehem it was too late, as Mary and Joseph had fled with the baby Jesus to
Egypt, to escape the wrath of Herod, the local King of the Jews.
In Egypt he searched high and low for
the Promised One. No one had heard of him.
But he found many poor and destitute people in that land, so he helped
them as best he could. After 30 years of searching and serving he heard that
Jesus had returned to Nazareth, and begun proclaiming a new gospel (good
tidings) of love, forgiveness, service and peace. The Fourth Magi hastily left
Egypt for Nazareth in Galilee. There he
found many deaf, blind and lepers who had been healed by Jesus. He stopped to bandage the wounds of a leper
who had not encountered Jesus.
By then Jesus had entered Jerusalem
riding on a lowly donkey on the Sunday before Holy Friday (erroneously referred
to as Good Friday). When he entered,
Jesus was greeted with shouts of “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest
heavens.” The proclamation was similar
to the angelic one at his birth. The
same crowd that glorified Jesus on Palm Sunday, five days later crucified him. He died on the cross, was buried, rose from
the dead on the third day (Easter Sunday) and a few days later was taken up to
his Heavenly Father.
The Fourth Magi never made it in time to Jerusalem, as
there were too many “obstacles” in the way; people who needed his help. He was helpless and forlorn in Jerusalem, his
life “wasted”, his search futile. He
decided to head back to the orient from where he had ventured forth. He was asleep in his tent, just before dawn,
when the tent suddenly seemed suffused with a gentle light. Was it the rising sun, the dawn of a new day?
Then he heard a voice saying to him “Welcome.
You found me every time you ministered to somebody in need. You did not need my darshan (vision)
for your good deeds were a pradarshan (manifestation) of what I came to
give to the world”. The man was astounded.
It was indeed a new dawn, a day in which the sun would never set again.
He looked around him and saw many
people running after all kinds of P’s and C’s.
In latter days he even found many people hooked to PCs (either Personal
Computers or Priyanka Chopra)! But he had found his precious pearl, the elusive
particle, the P for Peace. In his
farewell discourse to his disciples Jesus had said, “I give you my Peace, the
Peace that the world can’t give”.
This Christmas may we find that
elusive Peace that surpasses human understanding, and suffuses our being. Like the Fourth Magi, we will find it at
every stage and day of our lives; whenever we stop to help somebody in
need. SHALOM – SHANTI – SALAAM - PEACE.
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