The last marathon

       CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Karuna while trekking through the jungle of Burma on his way to India while
       a novice (second from right with a blanket);Buddhadasa Bhikkhu who called Karuna his 'dharma
       brother'; samples of his translations of works by
       Indian greats; during his dangerous mission to mainland China (fourth from right); posing with Sang Pathanothai at the Lardyao Political Jail, and with one
       of Karuna's many benefactors, Pandit Raghunath Sharma, director of the Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge.
       "Life's journey is along an unchartered path, here hills and hollows overtake us unawares."
       Thus Karuna Kusalasaya cited Rabindranath Tagore in the last chapter of his autobiography,Life Without A Choice , which he penned as a series of letters to his three children in the mid-1980's. The book relates an amazing life of ordeals, often wrought by forces beyond the owner's control or anticipations. But Karuna's "life without a choice" is also about human courage and perseverance - to face every twist and turn without a grudge. In person as in words, Ajarn Karuna was that gentle,humble soul whose "lion-hearted"strength was concealed in his frail,diminutive physique.
       I first met Ajarn Karuna by sheer coincidence. A friend and former 'Outlook' colleague mentioned one day she would like to interview the "master" of Indian studies at his house on Prannok Road. Prannok? That was soo close to my house, and I immediately volunteered to tag along with her and our photographer friend to do the interview.
       That was almost 12 years ago, a traditional cycle of years by 12 zodiac signs already completed. But the first impressions of his spartan shophouse were as vivid as ever. Right next to the busy street of Prannok, the entrance door, painted in pale blue, was swung open by his young, a bit shy-looking maid. The three of us followed her through the dimly-lit and narrow hall,on both sides flanked by bookshelves,on the walls were hung photographs and/or frames of quotations by some historic figures from India. I recognised Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharal Nehru. Thanks to Karuna and also to his wife, Rueng-urai, his cotranslator on several occasions, works by those Indian luminaries have become accessible to the Thai public in wellpolished Thai prose, and ties between the two countries thus strengthened over the half past century.
       Then in his late seventies, and a longestablished reputation as the "guru"about all things Indian, Ajarn Karuna turned out to be a lively and friendly old man, the kind you would like to have for a next door neighbour. He took delight in our visit, and answered every single question filed by us in so obliging a manner. How he became an orphan from a very young age after his father was wrongfully charged and thrown into a prison where he died a few years later,and his mother had also passed away some time before, totally broken by the family's misfortune; how he had to toil for a living carrying buckets of water from the Kwai Yai River to his boss'house in Pak Nam Pho, Nakhon Sawan;how he was slapped and kicked out by his boss after he accidentally slipped and broke their crockery; how penniless,he decided to join an arduous trek led by an Italian monk from Thailand to India where he would be spending the next 13 years, the last four in the Internees-of-War camps during World War II; how later back in his homeland he would be put in jail again, this time for more than eight years, on another unjust charge of being a communist sympathiser (due to his joining two secret missions to re-establish diplomatic relationships with mainland China during the Pibulsongkram regime).
       Listening to our conversation that dragged on and on, his wife Rueng-urai chipped in and offered bits of comments
       every now and then.(For Karuna's almost 10-year detention she struggled to bring up the children, took care of the house,as well as nurtured her husband's morale and prodded him to embark on his muchpraised translation works - Karuna would refer to his wife as his ardhangini - better half.) But most of the time, she just smiled her kind, serene smiles. By that time, Ajarn Rueng-urai had more or less lost her eyesight. Still, I could not help feeling the lady emanated a remarkable sense of calmness and insight into how to sustain a peaceful life not unlike her husband.
       From that first interview, I would return to their house again and again.Looking back, I wish I had done more.For in the elderly couple's presence, I would feel refreshed and my faith in humanity regained. Here are two individuals who have been through so much,but still managed to maintain a healthy view of life, and try their best to make it as meaningful as possible. Re-reading Karuna's autobiography again recently,I could imagine his "fatherly" voice narrating the past events in his turbulent life, but with very little trace of bitterness or cynicism. He rarely speaks ill of anyone,even recalling how the group of police officers who arrested him in 1958 were "very polite" and allowed him to leave his house without being handcuffed.Regarding the time he spent at the "University of Lardyao Political Jail", he said it has enabled him to concentrate on writing and translating books, including Tagore's Gitanjali , Nehru's The Discovery of India , Gandhi's autobiography MyExperiments With Truth , and so on.
       "I may add that I touch on this issue without any sense of sarcasm," Karuna wrote in his book."What I wish to bring home to you is that by being in detention and cut off from the outside world, I was able to attend to literary work more fruitfully. To me, Sarit's coup d'etat [which entailed McCarthyite mass arrests of hundreds of Thai intellectuals including Karuna] was, therefore,'a blessing in disguise'(but, let me point out, with regard to literary work only)."
       Another constant trait of the man is his humility. Throughout his memoirs,Karuna would every now and then express his gratefulness to several individuals whose kindness, he says, has enabled him to become what he is, be they the Italian monk Venerable Lokanatha, his Hindi teacher Venerable Ananda Kausalyayana, HRH Prince Paribatra (who provided him a scholarship for a couple of years of his study in India),Professor Tan Yun-Shan of the Shantiniketan University, and so on.
       But when it concerns his own conduct,Ajarn Karuna seems to adopt a somewhat less forgiving attitude. One episode in Life Without A Choice described how his over-diligence to do his journalism work inadvertently put his then pregnant wife in a dangerous childbirth situation.
       "Every time I think of the events that took place on that day I cannot but censure myself with shame. I was really ashamed of myself. Even today, a husband and a father in the full sense,I can't forget this sin on my part."
       If only the leaders of our country could be this honest and willing to make such amends! A few years ago, while walking along the bustling street of Prannok, I chanced upon a moving sight - that of Ajarn Karuna tenderly holding his wife's hand, guiding her to walk across the zebra crossing, step by step. Little did they realise how their act has sparked a warm flutter inside of me and made me smile the rest of the day.
       One does not need much in order to be content. Toward the end of his autobiography, Karuna compares his life to a long marathon walk:
       "My Dear Children, at this twilight of life which soon will turn into 'dark night'in accordance with the law of nature,you may like to ask me how I feel about my life that has gone by. In reply let me say that I am satisfied with all that have taken place and do not feel slighted in the least. If I were to be compared with a marathon race walker, despite all the disadvantages suffered by me from the very outset, I think I am justified to claim that I also reached the victory line like others. In any case, I have nothing to complain against life because life is struggle and none can choose his birth".
       Last week, at his funeral held at Wat Kruawan on the Thon Buri side of the Chao Phraya River, I was told by the organisers that only "Ajarn's nails and hair" were placed as his symbolic presence throughout the service. Long before his recent demise, he had offered to donate his body to the medical school for further study. After all, his name,Karuna , does means compassion.
       OBITUARY FOR KARUNA KUSALASAYA
       (MAY 10,1920 TO AUGUST 13,2009)