24 Sep “Silence Punished” from Sermons in the Stroms
In our day-to-day life, we very often see someone or the other slyly wronging someone, designing harm and committing such offences. as : – pilfering, picking pockets, picking locks, cheating, cutting the pigtail of women, someone detraining with another’s luggage, someone emptying other’s tiffin box, someone planning a murder, a hold-up, robbery, someone behaving unjustly or many other such acts of social evil.
On all such occasions, a vast many of us remain indifferent; viewing them all in a ‘WHAT’S IT TO ME’ attitude. Is this proper? Would we like others to act that much indifferently were we ourselves the likely victims to such outrageous acts? In this interdependent life, it is our moral and social duty to promptly check such vile deeds of indiscipline elements by bringing them to the – immediate notice of the selected victims or to the authorities without any fear or favor. For, otherwise, we would not only taint our souls with the stigma of silent connivance, encouraging the mischief-minded and promoting crime but also bring upon our unaware brethren many miseries. That aside, there’s also the great risk of our having to pay the penalty for the offences of others should we be caught silently sleeping over what we witnessed.
In the following narration you will see how much I suffered over a similar lapse of mine.
I was once bound for
The train started and began to gain speed. A little later, one of the passengers who was seated facing me, rose and placed an empty pot in the vacant space in the upper rack, on the head side of the gentleman who was lying on it.
While the train was nearing Lakhtar, the passenger who was lying on the upper rack stealthily removed the pot and covered a sheet over himself. His intention was plain. As said earlier, the compartment was over-crowded and to go to the occupied lavatory from the farthest end of that long bogie was almost impossible. As such, no more able to control the urge to urinate, the said passenger hit upon the master plan of making use of the pot. After urinating in it, he placed it where it was.
I had been seeing him do all this: when he noticed me doing so, through the language of the eye he entreated me to keep quiet. In view of the tight circumstances which compelled him to take that undesirable step, I chose to remain silent.
At Surrendranagar station this gentleman got down majestically and I occupied the upper rack. The first thing that I did on getting on to the rack was to remove that stinking urine pot and place it on the opposite rack. The owner of that pot saw me transferring it and he did not object.
Not knowing to what use his pot was put to, when the owner gentleman took it with a light hand, the urine in it spilled on him and on others who were seated below. As he had seen me removing the pot and taking me for the one who must have urinated in it, with both his hefty hands he forcefully pulled me down temper fully shouting ‘You villain–thinking what did you urinate in my pot?’ One intelligent fellow among the passengers suggested that the urine should be drained into my mouth. I came crashing down and sustained severe sprain in the neck and a slight one on my right hand.
When I politely informed them that it was the mischief of the passenger who was previously on the rack and who subsequently got down at Surendranagar; and also asked them to reflect on the fact that as I removed the pot from the rack immediately on my getting on to it, I couldn’t have had time to make use of it to urinate, the owner, and his wife simply counter-questioned me as to why I, did not inform them then and there.
Faced with that poser, I could tell them nothing and felt that I had certainly erred in as much as I had not brought that matter to their knowledge at once.
Certain lessons of life are too very expensive and I paid a heavy price to learn that:- not only the commission of an offence is punishable but that SILENT SEEING IS ALSO RIGOROUSLY PUNISHED
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