Celebration of Life

Adhip Chaudhuri

July 25, 1951 – January 13, 2014

January 18, 2014

Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Georgetown University

Washington, DC

 
CELEBRANT                             Rev. Leo Lefebure

Entrance Hymn                                                           “All Creatures of Our God and King” (611)

Welcome and Opening Prayer                                   Rev. Leo Lefebure

First Reading                                                              Wisdom 3:1-9

                                                                                   Biswajit Banerjee

Responsorial Psalm                                                    Psalm 23

                                                                                   Indranil Ghosh

Second Reading                                                         Revelation 14:13

                                                                                   David Goldfrank

Gospel                                                                        John 10:11-17

Homily                                                                        Rev. Leo Lefebure

“Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo by R. Tagore

(Where the Mind is Without Fear)                               Doc Ghose

Reflections  
                                                               
                                                                                  Indranil Ghosh

                                                                                  Prem Saggar

                                                                                  Ibrahim Oweiss

                                                                                  Amit Shah

                                                                                  Neal Chaudhuri

                                                                                  Maya Chaudhuri

Mozart’s“Ave Verum Corpus”                                     Yuniko Rogers

General Intercessions                                               Margaret McBride

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing Prayer and Blessing

Closing Hymn                                                “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” 

Thanks to Luke Schafer for organizing singing and music

Adhip Chaudhuri was an international economist and assistant professor of economics at Georgetown University from 1979 to 2013.  His research and writing applied philosopher John Rawls’s seminal work on social justice to measurable economic social welfare indices.

A gifted teacher known for his ability to make difficult concepts understandable and relevant to his students’ lives, Adhip was recognized as teacher of the year three times. One of his students rated him as “the real deal,” adding, “His lectures are clear, relevant, and to the point.…Pay attention, dive into the material, and Chaudhuri will maximize your return on the time you invest in the course.”

Adhip taught and lectured internationally in Vienna, Hanoi, and Doha, Qatar. His writings on international trade, finance, and social welfare appeared in such academic journals as Theory and Decision and Social Choice and Welfare and in The Multinational Corporation in the 1980s, edited by Charles P. Kindleberger and David Audretsch, published by MIT Press in 1983.

Adhip was most proud of his children, Maya and Neal Chaudhuri.  Maya is currently working for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  Neal is studying biology at Georgetown University.  

Born in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, India, on July 25, 1951, to Sabitri and N. K. Chaudhuri, Adhip was the youngest of four children.  He attended Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission high school in Kolkata (Calcutta), graduating in 1967 with high honors in statewide examinations, and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, where he graduated in 1970 with honors in economics at the top of both his class and the university.

He pursued graduate studies at Delhi School of Economics and Columbia University, New York, where he obtained a PhD in economics with his dissertation, “Envy, Distributive Justice, and Social Choice.” His thesis advisers were Nobel Prize­winning economists William Vickery and Edmund Phelps.  His areas of specialization were welfare economics, international economics, and the history of economic thought.

Adhip was also a passionate bridge and tennis player and an avid gardener. 

Adhip leaves behind his wife, Joanne Kinney Smyth, his children, Maya and Neal, his brother, Pradip, and sister, Shibani, of Kolkata, his extended family, and many friends around the world.

************

 The family of Adhip is grateful for all the love, support and prayers offered to us and Adhip.  To his friends and family, thank you for the gift of your friendship and the love and affection you have given him throughout his life. 

                                                       *************

We invite you to join us at Copley Hall Formal Lounge immediately following the service for a reception.  It is a five-minute walk from the chapel. 

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because dawn has come.”

Rabindranath Tagore 

Gospel and Homily for the Memorial Service for Adhip Chaudhuri
Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, Georgetown University, Jan. 18, 2014

By Leo D. Lefebure

A Reading from the Gospel according to John (10:11-17)

Jesus said to them, “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.  And I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Today we gather to commend Adhip into the loving arms of God, who embraces us all.  I extend my deepest condolences to Joanne, Maya, Neal, and to all Adhip’s family and friends both here and in India and in Doha and around the world. 

In Adhip’s life, the Hindu and the Catholic traditions encountered each other  while Indian and American cultural traditions flowed together.  Adhip taught for over thirty years at Georgetown University; I came to know him at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar, where he taught international economics while I was teaching theology.  Our colleagues and friends in Doha have asked me to communicate their condolences and sympathy to Adhip’s family and friends.  They are with us today in spirit and in prayer.  In his study of economics, Adhip was alert to the multiple interconnections between nations and within societies, and to the intersections between economic theory and the experience of daily life.  He had a special concern for those most vulnerable, which resonated deeply with the values of Catholic social teaching and of the Society of Jesus.  Adhip felt a special connection to St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missioner who came to India in the sixteenth century.

             Throughout his life, Adhip was a crosser of boundaries, an explorer who ventured into distant areas with his ever-inquisitive mind and his vigilant concern for those in need.  Wherever Adhip went, he remained rooted in the heritage of his native Bengal in India, where he was shaped by mentors such as Swami Prabhananada of the Ramakrishna Mission.  Adhip loved making connections for others.  When I was planning a trip from Doha to India in the spring of 2008, Adhip helped to make arrangements for my stay in Calcutta.  His gracious sister, Mrs. Shibani Gosh, greeted me with flowers at the airport and then escorted me to the Ramakrishna Mission in Gol Park in downtown Calcutta.  That afternoon, we went to the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission in Belur, along the banks of the Ganges River, where we met Adhip’s former mentor, Swami Prabhananda, who was then serving as the Secretary General of the Ramakrishna Mission.  We enjoyed an extended and animated discussion of interreligious relations.

             Adhip was a Hindu who was often surrounded by Christians and, at some periods of his life, by Muslims.  One day he came into my class in Doha and spoke to a Muslim-majority group of students about what the Hindu tradition meant to him.  The students were fascinated by his presentation. 

            The biblical readings that we hear proclaimed today also involve the crossing of boundaries, both within this world and between this world and the next.  They present the hope that the loving grace of God embraces all humanity, offering eternal life for all.  The Book of Wisdom was written by a well-educated Jew in Alexandria, Egypt, shortly before the time of Christ.  The author writes in the name of the earlier King Solomon addressing not only the Jewish community but “all those who rule on earth” (Wis 1:1), indeed all humankind.  The figure of Wisdom, personified as a gracious woman, symbolizes the loving presence of God in and through the entire universe, wooing humans, and promising rewards to those who seek and find her.  The Book of Wisdom recognizes that life often involves suffering, and the hope that we hear today that “the souls of the just are in the hands of God” is presented as encouragement to the entire human family, especially those who have gone through difficult times of suffering.  The Book of Wisdom interprets the sufferings of this world as trials that allow the true character of the just to shine forth, and promises that the just are now at peace.  Those who seek wisdom in this world and live in accordance with wisdom’s demands will find fulfillment in the next world.

            The Book of Revelation also is aware of the sufferings in this life, but it directs our attention beyond the difficulties of the present to the everlasting joy of those who are united to God.  In the gospel of John, Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd who cares for his flock, and he goes on to state that he has other sheep not of this fold, whom he must also seek.  Many interpreters have understood these words as a reference to Jesus’s concern for followers of other religious paths.  When Pope Paul VI established the Secretariat for non-Christian Religions in the Vatican fifty years ago, in May of 1964, he quoted these words of Jesus, “I have other sheep, not of this fold,” and he applied them explicitly to followers of other religious traditions, including Hindus.

             Pope Paul visited Bombay in December of that same year on the first papal visit to India in all of history.  He met with leaders of other religious traditions, reflected on the deep relation between Indian religious traditions and the Catholic faith, and quoted a passage from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  Pope Paul expressed his deep respect for Indian religions and culture as he stated:  “This visit to India is the fulfilment of a long cherished desire. Yours is a land of ancient culture, the cradle of great religions, the home of a nation that has sought God with a relentless desire, in deep meditation and silence, and in hymns of fervent prayer. Rarely has this longing for God been expressed with words so full of the spirit of Advent as in the words written in your sacred books many centuries before Christ. ‘From the unreal lead me to the real; from darkness lead me to light; from death lead me to immortality’ (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1, 3, 28).”[1]  These words of Pope Paul and the ancient Upanishad offer encouragement to us today.  In making his own the words of the ancient Upanishadic prayer, Pope Paul was recognizing a profound convergence of the Christian and the Hindu paths.  In both traditions, we often find ourselves caught in darkness and death, in a world that is not fully real.  Both traditions recognize that the ultimate, the divine, is beyond our concepts and ideas, but both trust that we can experience God’s grace in life-transforming ways.  Thus it is most fitting that we make this prayer our own today as we pray for Adhip and ourselves: “From the unreal lead me to the real; from darkness lead me to light; from death lead me to immortality.”

             In the gospel of John, Jesus presents himself not only as a shepherd but also as a friend.  Friendship is a value that unites the Hindu and the Christian traditions.  It was a great blessing to me personally to enjoy Adhip’s friendship and care when we were together in Doha.  The biblical book of Proverbs tells us, “A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity” (Prov 17:17).  The book of Sirach elaborates: “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure.  Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth.  Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; and those who fear the Lord will find them.  Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright, for as they are, so are their neighbors also.” (Sir 6:14-17).  At a particularly difficult period in my life, Adhip reached out to me with infinite understanding and concern and helped to guide me safely through the tempest to more peaceful waters.  For his friendship, I will forever be grateful.  In the gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples: “I do not call you servants any longer . . . but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (Jn 15:15).  The way God works in our lives is often through other people.  In my life, Adhip was both a shepherd and a friend.  In a profound sense he was a shepherd to me when I most needed shepherding; he was a friend to me when I most needed a friend.  To me, Adhip was a concrete expression of God’s grace.  For this I will forever be grateful to him.  In my life, it was through Adhip that God responded to the prayer of the Upanishad: “From the unreal lead me to the real; from darkness lead me to light; from death lead me to immortality.”

            Adhip once told me that he hoped that something from the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore could be read at this service.  I would like to close my remarks today by reading some lines from the ending of Tagore’s great poem, Gitanjali, where the speaker of the poem takes his leave of this world:

“When I go from hence let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable.

I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light and thus am I blessed—let this be my parting word.

In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him that is formless. . . .

No more sailing from harbor to harbor with this my weather-beaten boat.  The days are long passed when my sport was to be tossed on waves.

And now I am eager to die into the deathless.

Into the audience hall by the fathomless abyss where swells up the music of toneless strings I shall take this harp of my life. . .

In one salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet.

Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.

Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.

Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee.”[2]

Amen.

[1] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/speeches/1964/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19641203_other-religions_en.html

[2] Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali (Radford, VA: A & D Publishing, 2008), 41, 42, 43.