Christmas!

Chinnappa Anna, our neighbour at farm hill, is a progressive farmer. He has also been of immense help to us since the beginning days. I remember the very early days when we did not have anything at the place, and the 2-3 of us who came to stay here used to go get a bucket or two of water from his place to see us through a day.

Anyway, chinnappa also officiates at the local church as a pastor. The other day, he came to farm hill along with a group, singing Christmas carols. Srikar got inspired and sang ‘silent night’. And got invited to sing in the church.

So this morning we went and the lad belted out ‘three kings in the orient’, ‘deck the halls’ and ‘silent night’, closing with ‘jingle bells’. The songs were well received.

In the prayer that followed, the congregation started singing a Tamil song which broadly meant, ‘O God that resides in all of us, please lead me to salvation’. The pastor chose to share words that broadly paraphrased Mathew 16:24:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

And that reminded me of Bhagavadgita 18:66 सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज | अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुच: || (Abandon all varieties of dharmas and simply surrender unto Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.)

Merry Christmas!