Sisters Following Different Paths

Contrasting sisters Martha & Mary, who invited Jesus Christ into their home, are depicted in the Gospel of St.Luke.(10: 38-42). As Martha was working to provide  hospitality (Vita Activa) to Christ, Mary sat at His feet, listening to His words. On Martha complaining about Mary not helping her, Christ told her that Mary has chosen the better path (Vita Contemplativa). This scene is immortalised in Vermeer's "Christ with Martha & Mary", one of his very few paintings on a Biblical theme.

The same theme finds an echo in Dante's "Purgatario" Canto XXVII, where is written:

"Know whosoever may my name demand

That I am Leah, & go moving around

My beauteous hands to make a garland.

To please me in the mirror, here I deck me,

But never does my sister Rachel leave

Her looking glass, & sitteth all day long.

To see her beauteous eyes as eager is she,

As I am to adorn me with my hands,

Her, seeing, & me doing satisfies."

Here, Leah represents the active life, & Rachel, the contemplative life. In the tomb of Pope Julius II, there is a sculpture by Michelangelo, called "Vita Contemplativa." His biographer (& fellow painter) Vasari identifies it as representing Rachel.

Of course, much earlier, these approaches were known to Hinduism as Karma Yoga & Jnana Yoga.

Sympathy, the Erudite Slave

This remarkable tale narrated by Scheherazade to the Sultan is found in the complete edition of 'The Thousand & One Nights" compiled by Dr. J. C. Mardrus/E.Powys Mathers. It was narrated between the 270th night & 287th night.

A rich man, Abu Al-Husn, squandered all his wealth & was distraught. His only remaining female slave, Sympathy, noticed this & suggested to him to take her & offer her to the then Sultan, Haroun Al Rashid, for 10,000 gold coins. If asked about the high price, he could tell that she is learned & can be questioned on any subject.

He did so & the Sultan called all the experts in his court to question her. First the theologians questioned her about the Quran, starting with "how do you know there is God?" She replied "by reason" & proceeded to prove it. After answering all questions, she asked them about the branches of Islam, stipulating that they should give her their gown of honour if they failed. They couldn't & after answering her own question, she took their gown.

Then the physicians questioned her about anatomy & medicine. After answering all their questions, she asked them "what is sweeter than honey?" They could not answer & she answered "the love of children is sweeter than honey" & took away their gowns.

Then she was examined on Astronomy with the same result. She was asked to sing & play musical instruments, which she did entrancingly. Haroun Al Rashid was ecstatic & offered her 10,000 gold coins & asked whether she would like to stay at the palace. She called on Allah to bless the Sultan for this offer, but asked to be allowed to go back with her master. Haroun Al Rashid was delighted with her faithfulness to her master & rewarded her with an additional 5000 gold coins & sent her home, along with the gowns she had won.

This story rebuts the idea of misogyny & points out how even a female slave was honoured & respected for her learning. Also the types of questions & answers reveal the high humanism extant then.

Her treatment can be contrasted with her contemporary Hypatia, a Christian philosopher, mathematician & polymath, who was murdered by a Christian mob.

Alternate Spiritual Reading of "Les Miserables"

Jean Valjean was happy at the convent (working as a gardener) seeing Cosette everyday (as a schoolgirl). He felt that certainly she would become a nun, being surrounded by soft inducements (by other nuns at the convent) to do so. He would grow old & die, & she would also spend the rest of her life there. He felt that Cosette had a right to know the world before renouncing it. To deny her all the joys (doubtful?) of life on the pretext of sparing her the trials (certain!) was to do injustice to her. If later Cosette regretted her vows, she may hate him. So he decided to leave the convent.

It should be noted that the words in the parenthesis above are not in the text. Here it may be recalled that both Moses in his Ten commandments & Jesus Christ (as he told Martha & Mary) put love of God above human love. Jean Valjean, having overlooked this, pulled her onto a worldly life, where as an example of poetic justice, both Cosette & Marius (whose life Jean Valjean saved) were ungrateful (unlike Eppie in "Silas Marner" who even after her marriage did not forsake Silas) & neglected Jean Valjean as he had feared she might do if she had become a nun & thereby probably lost his interest in life, & gradually faded away.

This putting Divine love higher than human love is present in Hinduism also. Bharata disobeyed his mother for God (Rama). Prahlada disobeyed his father Hiranyakashipu for Lord Vishnu. Akka Mahadevi & Mirabai went against the wishes of their husbands for Shiva & Krishna respectively.