The Undone Deed

Did Jesus himself need forgiveness for not knowing what he was doing when he said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” when he was dying a horrific death on the cross? Yes, the Romans ultimately turned out to be the losers even as they were being prayed for by Christ while they were busy killing him, but it immediately opens that hairy debate again: an eye for an eye or turn the other cheek?

Which brings us to Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose — both of whom, interestingly, have huge followings that are not necessarily exclusive. Indeed, this is reflected in the fact that since Independence, government after government has named hundreds of streets and squares as M G roads and Subhash chowks. What’s going on? How come the comfortable ambivalence?

A moment’s reflection would show that in the wild, and especially before we ourselves became sapient hominids, neither an eye extraction process nor a cheek-turning manoeuvre would have had any chance of success. That’s because in feral life, only a fight-or-flight mechanism operates: you brawl to death or run like hell. There’s no question of equitable justice or peace that passeth understanding.

Of course, the Romans didn’t need to be forgiven and neither did Jesus, for, by that time, amassive deposit of civilisation and morality had overwhelmed them that, till today, our ancient evolutionary mechanisms have never completely come to terms with. As a result, people have to struggle to do good or their best in their own way. And along that way, a futile debate still rages.