麻豆社

Good morning. This weekend, many Hindu families are preparing for the Diwali festivities. Now, in the Diwali story, Ram鈥檚 brother, Laxman, is mortally injured. So, Hanuman is sent to fetch the only cure 鈥� the sanjivani herb located on a distant mountain. When Hanuman gets there, he can鈥檛 distinguish the herb from the other plants 鈥� so he returns with the whole mountain peak.

I imagine that the parents of children suffering from Cystic Fibrosis, may also feel that their years of campaigning have had to move mountains. Following the decision in Scotland a month ago, the government has just announced that a desperately needed life-extending drug will now be available on the NHS in England.

Although there are natural concerns about such costs for a state-funded health system, NHS England say they are happy with the deal struck with the pharmaceutical company.

And, yesterday, on this programme, we heard the deeply moving testimony from Beth and her daughter Isobel of what this means for families like them. Isobel couldn鈥檛 say if she might now be able to enjoy a normal life, because up to now she鈥檚 never experienced what 鈥榥ormal鈥� could be like. But she, and 5000 others, may now look forward to longer lives with significant relief from the symptoms they鈥檝e endured so long. Their destiny has changed.

One of the Sanskrit words for 鈥榯he future鈥� translates as: 鈥渢hat which has not yet been named.鈥� The idea is that the future already exists within the present, but is yet to manifest to the extent that we can apply labels to it. Some might interpret this as fatalistic 鈥� that the future is fixed. But, according to the modern Hindu theologian, Chaitanya Charan Das that鈥檚 not the message. He, suggests: 鈥淲e are not to give in passively to destiny, we can forge our destiny by the application of dharma 鈥� selfless action for the benefit of others.鈥�

The future will unfold according to what we do today. It is only in this present moment, that we can plant the seeds we wish to later fructify; and cultivate the outcomes we hope to harvest.

The Diwali festival of light isn鈥檛 all about gifts, decorations and family get-togethers. It looks to the year ahead and is intended as a celebration of sharing love in the spirit of dharma; inspiring us to perhaps move mountains.

As one Hindu text says: Love is the moon; Dharma is the sun. When you treat people with love, you are like the moon, helping those in the darkness of their suffering today; and when you act in dharma, you鈥檙e like the sun, enabling yourself and others to see the way forward to a brighter tomorrow.

I wish you all a Happy Diwali.

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