Recently I read a book "The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice" by Christopher Hitchens. The book makes very controversial allegations about Mother Teresa and her NGO. While I was writing this, another report came in the media about the study conducted by Canadian researchers who called Mother Teresa "anything but a saint." While reading all this news it reminded me few discussions that I had with my dad about Mother Teresa. He never accepted that she was just a social worker and even today, he argues that her real intention behind doing all this social work was to convert people to her faith (Christianity). I never agreed with his logic and still don't believe that it was the only reason she was involved in humanitarian work but there is enough scope to conclude that this might have been one of the reasons why she was so passionate about this work. I might be wrong but all these reports and the book by Hitchens point towards this direction.
Her work in Kolkata (Calcutta) is phenomenal. The work she did for leprosy patients, homeless, poor, and sick people is really admirable. Her work provided shelter and food to millions of people who otherwise would have died a very miserable death. She gave them shelter, food, education, and a place to die for sick people. I personally have huge respect for her and her social work. It's not that easy to dedicate one's entire life to social work. But at the same time, there is another side of this story where one can see she accepted donations from people with very questionable backgrounds. Not only she accepted donations from such people but she also tried to defend a few of them when they asked for her support. She also criticized abortion from whatever platform she could (including in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech). It seems she glorified suffering because she thought that's the closest one can get to God. There are allegations that people in her clinic got the treatment but not the proper treatment which could help them to cure in spite of the availability of money and resources.
As far as her social work is concerned there are many people who have done similar or even more work in the same area but for some reason, they didn't get as much recognition as she got all over the world. Maybe being associated with Christianity (which is the most popular religion on our planet) and the church gave her an extra advantage. One such person who immediately comes to my mind who has done monumental work in the same area is the late Mr. Baba Amte. I don't think anyone in India needs any introduction about this man. He fought against all odds and dedicated his entire life not only to serving leprosy patients, sick and poor but at the same time helped them to earn self-respect and dignity and taught them self-reliance. He did all this just to serve those people, not to serve any God or propagate the values of any particular religion. That's why his work is unique and stands out for me. I have huge respect for this man and his dedication towards reforming the mindset of society. I am not trying to compare him with Mother Teresa but just trying to present two very similar cases where two people who did more or less similar work with similar impact on society but one got preferential treatment just because of her religious affiliation and her work gets highlighted more.
Whether Mother Teresa was a saint or not doesn't matter to me. I don't believe in miracles so I don't even care about the miracle attributed to her. But her one-sided views about abortion, her love for poverty just because it gave her an opportunity to serve her God and her association with some people with questionable backgrounds always puzzled me. I personally know people who lived in some hostels run by her NGO, they all were thankful that they got a place to stay and food to eat but at the same time, they had to follow a strict Christian code of conduct (like no bindi on the forehead which is one of the typical tradition followed by Hindu women) which I think is a bit too extreme. You can not take the freedom of people away in exchange for help, food, or medical treatment offered to them. You should not coerce people directly or indirectly to the religious path in which you believe. This clearly puts a question mark on a person's intentions behind helping them. I have huge respect for her social work but if whatever is written in these books or articles is true then it's another example of what too much focus on religion can do to even to people with very good intentions.
As far as her social work is concerned there are many people who have done similar or even more work in the same area but for some reason, they didn't get as much recognition as she got all over the world. Maybe being associated with Christianity (which is the most popular religion on our planet) and the church gave her an extra advantage. One such person who immediately comes to my mind who has done monumental work in the same area is the late Mr. Baba Amte. I don't think anyone in India needs any introduction about this man. He fought against all odds and dedicated his entire life not only to serving leprosy patients, sick and poor but at the same time helped them to earn self-respect and dignity and taught them self-reliance. He did all this just to serve those people, not to serve any God or propagate the values of any particular religion. That's why his work is unique and stands out for me. I have huge respect for this man and his dedication towards reforming the mindset of society. I am not trying to compare him with Mother Teresa but just trying to present two very similar cases where two people who did more or less similar work with similar impact on society but one got preferential treatment just because of her religious affiliation and her work gets highlighted more.
Whether Mother Teresa was a saint or not doesn't matter to me. I don't believe in miracles so I don't even care about the miracle attributed to her. But her one-sided views about abortion, her love for poverty just because it gave her an opportunity to serve her God and her association with some people with questionable backgrounds always puzzled me. I personally know people who lived in some hostels run by her NGO, they all were thankful that they got a place to stay and food to eat but at the same time, they had to follow a strict Christian code of conduct (like no bindi on the forehead which is one of the typical tradition followed by Hindu women) which I think is a bit too extreme. You can not take the freedom of people away in exchange for help, food, or medical treatment offered to them. You should not coerce people directly or indirectly to the religious path in which you believe. This clearly puts a question mark on a person's intentions behind helping them. I have huge respect for her social work but if whatever is written in these books or articles is true then it's another example of what too much focus on religion can do to even to people with very good intentions.
Thanks for reading and please share your views about this topic.
Links:
1. http://www.motherteresa.org/
2. The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
3. Mommie Dearest- Christopher Hitchens
4. Mother Teresa on Trial-Daniel Scott Lintott
5. Was Mother Teresa not so saintly after all?
6. Mother Teresa Humanitarian Image A 'Myth,' New Study Says
7. The mystery of Mother Teresa-Navin Chawla
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Amte
9. Maharogi Sewa Samiti
10. Anandwan- Forest of Joy
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
No comments:
Post a Comment