1. A housewife writes: my husband is a contractor. For the last two years he has had no job. The reason is the curse of bribery. The engineers, who supervise the work in each firm and government office, are devils. It is not to those who have education or experience that they give the job but to those who bribe them with lakhs of rupees and expensive things like Maruti cars. Only the millionaires get jobs. Engineers are garbage bins. Half of a 5000 Rs bill must be given to them and also to their subordinates. If there is no remedy for this even now, how will a person like me manage a household- a wife who depends only on the income of the husband! For how many days our only food was prayer! Don’t those engineers and officials go to retreat centres to make a retreat? My request is that this topic also should be included in the talks given by the priests. Let the hearts of the officals melt. Let the high mountains quake and the rocks be shattered.

2. In a small town government sanction was given for some help to a poor family to construct a house. The application was made to the concerned municipality. After a long time the householder came to know that the request was sent to the state capital. On enquiry he was informed that the request had not reached there at all! On his return, he made further enquiries with the help of a municipal councillor. The truth was out. The request was not forwarded to the State Department. The concerned official’s stand was this: "You are getting such a big sum free from the government. Can you not give us a part of it?"

3. In a village a young man submitted a request for electricity to begin a cottage industry. Daily he contacted the officers of different categories. But nothing was done. Finally he confided his difficulty to an old friend in the Electricity Office. Things would move only if a considerable sum were given to various people. What encouragement is the Department of Electricity giving to the industrial development of the country?
 
 

India is the land of spirituality. Places of worship, poojas, prayers, vow-offerings and pilgrim centres abound in India. The number of those engaged in such activities is on the increase daily. But does our sense of justice, honesty, love and compassion increase in proportion to our devotion? The above-mentioned examples give the answer. A survey proves that India is not far off from the first place on the list of those connected with bribery.

On the one hand, devotion, prayer offerings, fasting and pilgrimages abound; on the other, those who are busy with such practices have no hesitation to cheat, steal, take bribes, hoard black money and persecute the poor. Is it to placate the prick of conscience that results from one’s injustice, exploitation and terrorism, that one is immersed in religious exercises? It is remarkable that the western countries, which lag far behind us in religious fervour, are also far behind us in the matter of corruption. Is all this devotional effervescence just a white wash that does not touch the core of our being? Why do piety and prayer not affect our sense of justice, honesty and compassion?
 
 

God commanded the people of Israel right from the time of Moses to exercise a sense of justice and love along with piety. "You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right" (Deut 16:19).

In course of time, the people overlooked righteousness and honesty and slipped into a mechanical piety. Faith was confined to tradition and observances. Injustice and selfish pleasure took the upper hand. God then reproved the people strongly through the prophets. He taught them that such observances and pious expressions could not please him; rather, justice and deep compassion were absolutely essential. "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offering of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps"(Amos 5:21-23). God severely reproved those, who, like the keepers of law and order in our police stations, side those who give bribes, "who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights!" (Is 5:23).
 
 

To the lawyers who vainly hoped to please God through some external observances while overlooking the essentials of the law, like honesty, righteousness and compassion, Jesus said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others" (Mt 23:23).

Exposing the spiritual blindness of those who are interested only in the external aspects of religion, like the place of worship, the rites and rituals to be observed etc. Jesus said: "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:24).

The most deplorable aspect of our spirituality is the lack of insight to discern the needs of the neighbour. An official who sleeps over the request of an ordinary person on the plea that it is not accompanied by a bribe or recommended by person of importance, does not even entertain a thought that he is doing an act of great injustice. A man, who spends 50 lakhs for his daughter’s wedding, does not suffer any qualm of conscience that the neighbour’s daughter stays unmarried because they cannot afford to spend 50 thousand! One who builds a house for 30 lakhs, has no concern at all for the poor neighbour who cannot afford even 30 thousand and, therefore, is obliged to live in a makeshift hut. Because regular prayer and religious observances are faithfully attended to in the houses of rich officials and millionaires, they go on living in the false satisfaction that they are close to God: "Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me" (Mt 25:45).