Suffering and love

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

Shah Latif once saw a kuunjarrii (type of bird in Sindh which pairs for
life) that had been wounded by a hunter.  Seeing the suffering of his
companion wailing in sorrow, he said:

    kuunjarrii kaalaha laniin, sajjarna vidhami chiti
    aaon jehen riia hiti, ghanghari ghaariyaan ddinharaa

    finding the kuunjirri, tore the heart of the mate
    as with my being here, enduring separation from Beloved

I was reminded of this 'baiti' by the following story:

"The following pages were written in the Concentration Camp in Dachau,
in the midst of all kinds of cruelties.  They were furtively scrawled
in a hospital barrack where I stayed during my illness, in a time when
Death grasped day by day after us, when we lost twelve thousands
within four and a half months...

"You asked me why I do not eat meat and you are wondering at the
reasons for my behavior ... I refuse to eat animals because I cannot
nourish myself by the sufferings and the death of other creatures.  I
refuse to do so, because I suffered so painfully myself that I can
feel the pains of others by recalling my own sufferings...

"I am not preaching .. I am writing this letter to you, to an already
awakened individual who rationally controls his impulses, who feels
responsible, internally and externally, for his acts, who knows that
our supreme court is sitting in our conscience...

"I have not the intention to point out with my finger... I think it is
much more my duty to stir up my conscience...

"That is my point: I want to grow up into a better world where a
higher law grants more happiness, in a new world where God's
commandment reigns: You shall love each other."

           --Edgar Kupfer, who was put in Dachau [Nazi
             concentration camp] for being a pacifist opposed to war.
                     quoted in John Robbins, Diet for a New America

----
haku mojuudu,

Gul Agha