Sunday Sermon 11th Oct 2009

I am not really religious and I cannot say that I attend church every Sunday either. I beleive that it is more important that you lead a good moral life. Going to church is just something that helps us do that. It is not an essential towards the same.

However one thing is true - I prefer to go to church in India as opposed to the States. For me the whole meaning of going to church is to hear the sermon. It is only this part of the mass that tells you something more than what you can read on your own.

For the four years that I was in the States, it was a rare occurrence that I got to listen to something really meaningful. Something that made you ponder about it the whole day, made you want to live a better life, want to be proactive in doing good deeds.

Last Sunday I went to church with my Mom in Pune. I really liked the sermon and thought that I would share it here.

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There was a disciple who went up to his master and asked him, ''Master I always do my work honestly, I do not harm anyone, I follow all the ten commandments and I am honest. Will I go to heaven?'' The master was busy. He looked up and then ignoring the disciple he went on with his work.

The disciple got a bit upset and said, "Why do you ignore me? I asked you a question. I am honest and do my work well and do not harm anyone. Will I go to heaven?"

The master put his pen down and said, "If this chair and table, and this fan and that tree outside the window can go to heaven, why can't you?"

The disciple was sad and asked. "Why do you compare me with a table and chair?" To this the master replied, "The chair and table do not harm anyone, the fan follows all the adjustments you make to it and the tree honestly provides fruit every year. Hence by your logic, they will all go to heaven, so why not you?"

The teaching here was that we do not sin by deeds when we follow all the commandments laid down by God. However we sin by omission. Just doing the bare essential is not enough. We need to be proactive in doing good to others.

When we are laid to rest at the end of our lives, we should not have people at a loss of words at our eulogy. We do not want them to just say that we were honest and did no harm to anyone. We would want people to talk about and remember how we were good and did good to others.
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