Each person, a light

This illuminated outline on a map of India, was formed by placing the burning candles in an earthen pot  by the graduates of medicine at the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Science, during the Baccalaureate service, held last month. 

Each candle when it was placed on the floor was already casting its reflection on the floor which was an immediate feed back to to the graduates of how their life of service is already a source of enlightenment to others. The flame of the candles was pointing to different directions, while burning, which announced the different roles each graduate would play as ambassadors of healing in a globalised world.

In a metaphorical sense, the earthen pot represents the temporal or the existential and the light represents the eternal or the transcendent realities of life. The temporal would fade away and the eternal would last.

One of the common  comments, I hear about doctors in the general, is that they are drawn by the lure of fame, wealth, visibility, position, etc. They are frenziedly filling their earthen pot and their light has become dim for sight or has already burnt out. 

A chorus we often sing for children is, 'This little light of mine, I a'm going to let it shine, let it shine ..'      I wondered how these graduates would let their lights shine, in a world of seductions, enticements, temptations for resorting to short cuts to success.

Jesus of Nazareth referred to the light, in his discourse on the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in the gospel of St. Mathew(the New testament of the Bible) chapter 5.verses 14 to 16:

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp ad put it under the peck-measure but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven".

A business executive of Neuro-imaging service, brought me three weeks back, a packet of money as commission for the MRI of brain I ordered for children. When I refused to accept it, he remarked, 'how is that you refuse it when other doctors insist on it!'. The subsequent conversation confirmed to me that there is some truth in the perception that doctors are becoming materially addictive or prosperous driven.

Two medical students who dropped in yesterday for a conversation asked me, 'how can we stay focussed on caring for others, when practice of medicine is becoming all about personal success and wealth creation?'  

That to me was an affirmation that, God of love is at work in human hearts. Their lights would shine forth in the future!

The eternal needs the temporal for its expression. Even doctors need enough of material well being for their lights to shine forth! But the question, is the temporal replacing the eternal!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)