Failing spirituality in Pakistan today

In the light of literature

“Meanwhile the Indians fall

into the sugared depths of the

harbors and are buried in the

morning mists;

a corpse rolls, a thing without

name, a discarded number,

a bunch of rotten fruit

thrown on the garbage heap.”

Pablo Neruda,  La United Fruit Co, 1950
The beans of carnage and massacre have spilled to all pillars of society, even religious personalities and the ambassadors of peace. The murder of Amjad Sabriwas one such instance. While the ripples of shock are still in the air, I am forced to think of the link between rising murders in our society and failing spiritual ethos. There are either the fanatics, the bigots out there ranting on their political power bases; or there is materialistic elite which is totally impervious to a human heart’s spiritual cry. Spiritual religion whose aim is peace, is at stake amid rising human loss.

This linkage between failing religion and rising mortality has been explored by quite a few writers of English Literature. Having read them I realise that our daily affairs resonate much of the truth writers aim to echo in their works. Hence, I have chosen to explore the fizzling out of physical lives as a potent symbol for the waning spiritual ethos in both Guardians (G) and in Through the Arc of the Rainforest (TAR). In both the novels authors have tried to delve into how it is so very difficult to keep the meaning of life intact once its spiritual spring has been muffled. The novels explore as to how spirituality, be it superstitious or authentically religious, means life for its adherent followers. When that lifeblood of a people is blocked, the purpose of the physical dies. In the murder of Amjad Sabri, I see a thunderous blow to religion with the physical being maimed. Religion dying with physical; or was it the physical dying with attack on religion?

Before I delve into the intricacies of the matter at hand, I shall briefly mention the crux of Guardians and Through the Arc of the Rainforest. Guardians is a tale where the invisible protagonist, Rafa, tries to cross the Rio Grande and is taken hostage by the coyotes making him cross into the American Dream.  His sister, Regina, struggles to find him while at the same time protecting his son from same crime mafia that targeted Rafa. This seems like a perfect portrayal of Karachi where families are targeted and the vicious circle doesn’t let go of generations to come. The interesting part is that the author has incorporated religion as the dying factor along with the receding moral attributes of society. Very relatable in Pakistan. Through the Arc of the Rainforest is a similar exposition of the dying spiritual ethos with materialism and love for wealth kicking in. The Matacao, a symbol of indigenous religious devotion, is targeted to make skyscrapers; in the result of which a phenomenal number of people die out of disease and lack of connection with the divine.

I will begin with a threefold exposition of the correspondence of the two variables of waning mortality and spirituality in Guardians by Ana Castillo; and then i shall move onto a similar exposition of the statement as it manifests its relevance in Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tie Yamashita.

Firstly, as Alexia Schemien writes about Guardians by Ana Castillo in “Hybrid Spiritualities”, that while Regina can be taken as the image of Virgin Mary or the Lady of Guadelupe- both having a similar religious significance albeit through an amalgamation of American and Mexican religiosity- Gabo is the Christ figure. Like he says in the novel, ‘My palms hurt’, is a direct reference at Christ’s crucifixion and how he had to endure the pain to be able to become the saving messiah for his followers. Gabo is a similar case in point who is a disadvantaged child himself, dispossessed of parental love and guardianship but lives for Regina as the last image of her brother Rafa who she is trying tooth and nail to find. Rafa has been taken by the coyotes who fooled him into passing the Rio Grande into the American land. When Rafa is caught and never returns, Regina is totally at sea. Hence Gabo serves as a hope for his aunt. On the contrary, the irony lies in the fact that while Regina is his guardian, she fails at guarding Gabo, the aspiring priest, from the excesses of the gang mafia. This can understandably be taken as an image of a spirituality that fails to guard itself in the face of the brutal scourge of worldliness, material worries and institutional rules- that disregard all humaneness necessary to protect lives and not let those in cahoots with the rich and influential dishonor them.

I find the second link most fundamental because here is where Gabo loses touch with the reality and gets close with the gang members. Regina immediately senses the change in him and says that, ‘Gabo used to be a better listener than a talker and now he wasn’t either.’ Hence although Gabo did not dither in his devotion for priesthood, but was constantly in touch with the gang calling Jesse Arellano his ‘best friend’. This only foreboded a departure from his pristine former self. Hence the cycle of what Yamashita calls a ‘loss of innocence’ albeit unintended for Gabo begins to roll most inexorably for him. Secondly, i feel when the priest marries Herlinda Moro that might also be one of the dissuading and discouraging factors for Gabo of the corruption of the clergy. Religion going corrupt, as in our country; and becoming a tool in the hands of a few. The recent episode involving Maulana Abdul Qawi and Qandeel Baloch is a glaring example of how religion is maligned once its torchbearers lose touch with morality. Just because a religious figure perverts himself, bad name is brought upon not only the individual but entire religion.

As Schemien writes in her article,“Hybrid Spiritualities” onGuardians that Regina is an image of the power of virginhood. We see even this is inverted as her only relation surviving also loses the battle of life and with him dies all innocence, all spirituality. Gabo was an object of adoration, love and innocence in a world ravaged by mutilation of the dead for corporeal gain and playing with people’s precious lives for corporate benefits. Hence a white pearl of innocence and spiritual airiness caught up in earthbound, base mafia wars struggling to suck the lifeblood from ordinary white collar folk. As Regina says about Gabo, ‘What was there not to love?’ This echoing a hollow cry in the vault by her as to what did spirituality do to suffer in such a brutal world and wither away thereafter. One is forced to ask a similar question when people like Amjad Sabri are targeted for no crime of their own. Why would someone target an ambassador of peace? It boggles and exasperates one’s conscience.

While Guardians explores spirituality dying with crime, Through the Arc of the Rainforest is an advanced case in point where spirituality is altered and replaced by material interests. In both the cases, spirituality is the casualty, a victim of self interest of a certain clique.Told from the first-person perspective of a ball that floats on the head of Kazumasa Ishimaru, a Japanese expatriate who moves to Brazil in search of a job. The novel details the rise and fall of an Amazonian community after the discovery of the Matacão, a resilient, seemingly magical and impenetrable black substance found on the floor of the rainforest on the farm of a Brazilian farmer Mané Pena. The novel explores how Matacao becomes a centre of spiritual fulfillment for the people. Initially, the pilgrims flock to the site as the Matacão becomes the site of religious miracles. ThenBatista and Thania Aparecida think up a plan to make use of the place as an advertising spot in order to make the most of the place . Then Mané Pena becomes a Guru who heals the people with his magical feather that later becomes the corporate export interest of GGG. A beautiful exposition of corporate interests tying in with religion. When this happens, corruption of religious figures is relentless.
Second, following a similar pattern as inGuardians, the loss of innocence occurs with the deathly blow on the spiritually revered area when JB Tweep is told of the commercial value of the area. JB Tweep prides on being what is said in the novel as, ‘ He accepted his third arm as another might accept ESP, and addition of 128K to their random access or the invention of the wheel. As far as J.B. was concerned, he had entered a new genetic plane in the species. He even speculated that he was the result of Nobel prize-winning sperm. He was a better model, the wave of the future.’ Hence, the place now is open to commercialisation and it being used as such. The spiritual value of it vanishes and is taken over by the conglomerates and commercial entities; or in another sense the value of the Matacao rises so much that it becomes impossible to the common folk to access- hence it loses touch with the ordinary. As in our country, religion is made commercial and denied a direct access for common folk. One has to go to a peer or a religious scholar for understanding religion. A direct touch with religion is discouraged. And hence, religion too is made a business out of.  The Matacao becomes a refuse after all the commercial going ons. The Matacao in the end vanishes and all its benefits disappear as well, hence revealing the damage corporate interests do to the wellbeing and spiritual fulfillment of a people. Likewise the characters also die in the end. Failing spirituality corresponding with rising mortality!

Hence, to conclude,the parallels between the two novels in light of the above poem reveal how corporate interests muffle personal devotion, spiritualties and local religious mores. The Matacao’s and Christ figures are jeered at. And people then trample on them without a hitch. In the wake of which humanity is made a joke out of. With humanity dying out, the spiritual fulfillment is hijacked by ‘this’ worldliness while no one cares about ‘that’ world which awaits…