On the forgiving trail - a letter - The Asian Age

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Title : On the forgiving trail
Author : D. K. Saraf - a letter
Publication : The Asian Age
Date : July 5, 1996

Sir, This refers to Mr Z. Kittler's letter, Mother not so
Saintly. I fully support Mr Kitler's disapproval of
Mother Teresa who, instead of refuting the charges,
perpetually prays for those who criticise her.

This reminds me of an incident that occurred two years
ago. I had organised the distribution of artificial limbs
to 1,000 poor villagers at a function which was attended
by Mr Somnath Chatterjee, MP and Ms Kamala Basu, the
chief minister's wife. Mother agreed to preside over the
function.

On the day of the function, at 4 pm, she sent a message
that she won't be able to attend the function on account
of her illness. The news disappointed me and the
villagers who were eagerly looking forward to have a
"glimpse" of the saint. But next morning, much to my
shock and disbelief, Learnt from a newspaper report that
Mother had left for Delhi to receive an award to be
presented to her by the government of India. I could not
help writing a letter to Mother in which I stated that
since a thousand poor and handicapped villagers came to
receive not only artificial limbs but also her blessings,
she should not have changed her programme on pretext of
illness. I also humbly added that for.a lesser mortal
like me, a government award meant a lot but she was too
great to attach so much importance to it. In fact, I
believed that she was above all kinds of material awards.

Mother's reply was prompt. She said she forgave me and
promised to pray for me to the Almighty.

In my letter, I had uttered a simple truth and all I
wanted to know was why she preferred receiving an aware@
rather than giving her blessings to the poor, hapless
villagers. All I got in return was an assurance of being
forgiven. For the last two years I have been asking
myself a question: What did Mother forgive me for?

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