The solution

Rashid and I went to the municipality office to lodge a complaint against the open sewage in our area, which was causing a health epidemic. The authorities, like in any other municipality office, were highly apathetic and directed us from one counter to the other, asking us to complete endless formalities without providing any assistance. “You need to fill the complaint form”, “Checking the completed form is not my duty – it is Mishra’s duty. Go to that counter”, “Cant you complete the form properly? What do you mean you don’t know what to fill in these fields?”, “Come back after half an hour. I need to have my tea.”, “What are you guys doing here till now? Cant you wrap up your work quickly”.

By the end of an hour, I was seething with anger. I started cursing them, “God, these men don’t deserve anything. What they do to others, the same should happen to them. They deserve worse. Let them remain dumb and unenlightened for the rest of their lives.” I was loud enough for Rashid to hear and he prayed, “God, bless these people. Give them a lot of happiness and contentment. Enlighten them”. “What for, Rashid?”, I cut his stupid prayer short. He replied, with the wisdom of a hundred year old sage, ”For when they are enlightened will they realize that the way they are working is wrong. And that will bring about an internal reform in them. And then this will never happen again”.

“Punishment serves no purpose. It is cruel to the one it is inflicted on and it makes no difference to the offender’s future for he remains ignorant. Reform changes a man internally; it causes a realization and the man never wrongs again. An eye for an eye just makes two men blind.”. I now knew why Rashid never believed in capital punishment. He knew the solution.

[Dedicated to H.H.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who has taken the Art of Living Courses to prisoners across the world bringing about a complete reform in their lives]