Filter Coffee #109

On Lead, Kindly Light

FC #108 on ‘Accommodation Strategy’ resonated with many readers.

Shereyar Vakil says:  “Dear Pras, during my corporate days, I had the opportunity to negotiate with Japanese clients many times regarding the transfer of technology. I found that they adopted two techniques. Firstly, they used a time deadline technique, wherein they would carry on the negotiation until it was time for our return flight. Rather than returning empty-handed, we would give in to their tough demand. Secondly, if we had 10 points to discuss they would give in to six or seven points which they felt were unimportant and get in return what they considered important for them, making it seem as a 'win-win’ accommodation.”

Shahji Jacob says: “Thank you for drawing our attention to the distinction between negotiations and bargaining. The difference is now strikingly clear to me — thanks for making it so.”

Satish Parthasarathy says: “Dear Sir, thanks for sharing insight on so many topics like data privacy, black swan, governance, and accommodation strategy. I have not sipped all of your filter coffee, but some of them interest me because of my profession. Many of the topics you have covered were 1st time for me, which created awareness and also put a smile on my face. Please continue to share your thoughts.”

🔦 Lead, Kindly Light

Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom is a hymn written in 1833 by Saint John Henry Newman, and was first published in the British Magazine in 1834. According to Wiki, as a young priest, Newman became sick while in Italy and was unable to travel for almost three weeks. In his own words:

“Before starting from my inn, I sat down on my bed and began to sob bitterly. My servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only answer, ‘I have a work to do in England.’ I was aching to get home, yet for want of a vessel, I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last, I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, Lead, Kindly Light.”

The Lyrics make a very poignant reading:

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home —

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene — one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou

Shouldst lead me on:

I loved to choose and see my path, but now

Lead thou me on!

I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still

Will lead me on;

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till**

The night is gone;

And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

**over the open land, marshland, over the cliff, and flood

You can listen to the poem’s rendition by a choir here 🔗ARUNDEL CATHEDRAL-LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT

This poem was one of the poems that I read as part of my High School curriculum. I had a British teacher, Mr. Mitchell, who was perhaps one of the best English teachers of those times. He taught us this poem not as a biblical hymn, but as a source of inspiration and hope when in a state of quandary. I remember him imparting to us the essence of each verse. If I recollect, albeit imperfectly, the first verse is about leading a man who has lost his way, the second verse is about steering someone gone astray onto the path of righteousness and the third verse is about overcoming all the obstacles on the way to enlightenment, symbolised by the angels.

All of us go through moments of despondency when we feel helpless and directionless. We look for help and guidance, which may come to us from an unknown source in the most unexpected manner.  It is said in the ancient scriptures that in the era we live in, God presents himself in human form. This is verily believable as there have been innumerable instances of human beings extending a helping hand, providing succour, and extricating someone from misery. It is also said that the person who gets to help another is the ‘chosen one’ as he was inspired by a divine force to reach out to the distressed in a manner that we lesser mortals cannot fathom.

The title of the poem has an excellent Sanskrit equivalent:

तमसो मा ज्योतिर् गमय — tamaso ma jyotirgamaya — From darkness, lead me to light.

Considering that this prayer is part of our ancient scripture ‘Brihadaranyaka Upanishad’, I am tempted to wonder if Saint Newman was inspired by this, way back in 1833, when he wrote ‘Lead Kindly Light’:) 

The title of the poem and the Sanskrit prayer are synonymous — to be led from ignorance to enlightenment or from darkness to light. 

Darkness could mean any of these — ignorance, unawareness, misguidance, helplessness, bereavement, separation, and so on. Light dispels darkness. Light comes in different forms. It comes in the form of knowledge dispelling ignorance, education leading to awareness, a mentor providing guidance, a benefactor offering help, and light in the form of time as the healer of the pains of bereavement and separation.

There is a school of thought that the prayer ‘tamaso ma jyotirgamaya’ is not a prayer for the material things of the world. It is not a prayer for food, shelter, health, partnership, riches, success, fame, glory, or even for heaven. One who invokes this mantra for material pleasures should realize that such pleasures will forever leave him wanting more. It should be in this full understanding that one should turn to this prayer. In other words, this prayer is not for materialistic wants, but for pursuing the path of enlightenment.

We, the lesser mortals, look for light every day in one situation or the other, and we are content interpreting the words ‘Lead Kindly Light’ and ‘tamaso ma jyotirgamaya’ as forms of appeal for extricating us from one crisis or the other. The path to salvation that emancipated persons seek is not the same as the path of mundane life that we trudge along. 

Hinduism divides a person’s life into four stages or Ashramas:

1. Brahmacharya (student)

2. Grihastha (householder)

3. Vanaprastha (retirement)

4. Sannyasa (renunciation)

Each stage needs its own unique enlightenment, which essentially means that you graduate from one level of enlightenment to the next. You learn all through your life, and yet the ‘student’ phase is seen as a phase when one studies and gains knowledge. As a householder or house maker, you learn to raise a family, keep the flock together, maintain work-life balance, and meet the many demands of the family. You constantly look for that light that guides you and helps you live the many roles that you have to play as a householder.

The last two stages namely, ‘vanaprastha’, i.e. retirement and ‘Sannyasa’, i.e. renunciation are stages where the materialistic wants are not as many as there are for a householder. Yet, both continue to look for the light. ‘Vanaprastha’ means ‘forest bound’. A person who has discharged all his duties as a householder is now ready for what we call ‘retirement’ which involves learning how to be detached from emotions and worldly pleasures. It would not be an exaggeration to mention that opting to live in a senior community is a form of vanaprastha. The last stage sannyasa, or renunciation, involves intense mental resolve to be selfless and focus on service above self (which happens to be the Rotary credo). It is about giving back to society and serving the needy. 

Dear readers, each time I post an FC edition, I look for guidance from various sources, and each time when I learn or discover something, I tell myself that my mind is not free from darkness but is full of many shades of grey, and it is the perpetual quest for learning that dispels ignorance. I then see myself taking a small step from the umbra towards the penumbra. 

I am reminded of a billboard that was put up in Mumbai on Annie Besant Road, Worli, by the National Association For The Blind. It had the picture of a blind person with a lit lamp in front, and the line below read: “I light this lamp so that others may see”. Need I say more?

See you next week. Take care of yourself and lead kindly a good life.