The month of
Karkadom or the month of Ramayana is a holy month for the Hindus in Kerala and
falls within calendar months of July-August. This is followed by Onam and other
Hindu festivals. Similarly, many other auspicious occasions too are celebrated
with gaiety and piousness in other states by Hindus. What is more intriguing is
that lately there has been a pitch for celebrating Ramayana month in all Hindu
temples with extra vigor by most political parties. In fact, a minister of the
left front government in recent times made news when he visited a famous temple
here along with his family and did pooja. There is nothing wrong with this as
any Hindu has the liberty to observe the month as a holy one. So, if there are
political rightists, centre right, centre left or leftists Hindus belonging to
these groups have the right to observe the month and so also other auspicious
days of other months as a religiously important occasion.
Being leftists
doesn’t mean that one is an atheist. A left leaning person has always the
innate desire to understand the Universe we live in and what are the different
forms of energy that is out there in the far reaches of it. Belief in life and
the surrounding objects which emanate such energy in all its forms are
essential for sustaining life itself. The religious sentiments of the people in
general are to be respected for it not only gives their volatile minds
something to stick on to, but also helps in discovering the employment
potential that arises out of this huge cultural supply chain activity. Being a
believer only helps us in coordinating our efforts to a larger goal for
addressing the problems of the masses.
I too am a
practicing Hindu and along with my family I too go to temples and worship. In
fact, I readily love to visit temples and even exotic ones that had given India
its fame and glory and culture. So, unlike others I don’t have any
embarrassment or negativity. I am steadfast in my belief that my being a Hindu
has nothing whatsoever to do with my leftists leanings. Hindu religion for
always has been a way of life in my family and mixing it with politics is
something that I abhor. Further, leaning left or right is not the criteria the
ultimate objective is welfare of the society and the people and for which
gainful employment is a must for one and all. Education, health and housing are
yet another set of measures that when implemented would not only increase the GDP
growth, but also help the society in nurturing people to contribute more easily
and creatively for the whole of the country. In this context Hindu religion
basically provides the inner peace and strength by identifying energy in all
forms. Since, it treats men and women equally it gives a fillip to the economic
and social activities of the country in an unambiguous way.
Lighting of lamps
and the ensuing ambience
All Hindus have a
ritualistic obsession of lighting the lamps and there is no restriction as to
how many they may love to light up. True, in all Hindu tradition lighting of
the lamps are considered one of the most important part of praying to the
Supreme form of energy or God. It not only lights up once heart, but also the
ambience that surrounds the house you live in and naturally of course the
temple too. It is symbolic of driving away the darkness and bringing light into
our lives through faith in the Supreme Energy or God.
At my own home I and
my wife light the lamp at least twice a day with of course the other ensembles
like agarbattis and so on.. As for the agarbattis we may, at times, be a little
more generous by lighting them in other rooms as well. During special occasions
we light up oil lamps all around our home too. Then of course, there are the
sandal pastes and vibhooti that a devoted Hindu smears on his forehead, nape of
the neck, chest and upper hands. What does all this signify? It signifies that
you are in that unique meditative state wherein you are trying to reach out to
the Supreme Energy through smearing your face in abject humility and the
ensuing coolness. Perhaps there may other reasons yet this is what I truly
believe it to be.
Then, of course,
there are flowers displayed and adorned on deities and I believe this accentuates
the environment and its beauty even better. If one were to notice the well
decorated sanctum sanctorum of a temple then knowingly or unknowingly one
starts to worship due to the ethereal beauty of the whole place. I distinctly
believe that faith is inherent in all humans and that they surface in different
ways and strength and the actualization of the faith process starts when a
person believes (meditatively or instinctively) that the deity or even a piece
of stone has enough energy to reciprocate by giving the worshiper the required
zest to carry out any task if and if only the intentions are clear and without
any negativity. As we are surrounded by this Universal Energy we are bound to
believe that it permeates into every material and non-material objects that
surrounds us anywhere and everywhere and by this way we can surely enhance our
positive energy several notches up from what we earlier had.
I find that it is
firmly under a Hindu worshipper’s ambit to choose the place of worship he or
she wants to go and this needn’t be confined to certain particular temples only
while leaving out other Hindu places of worship as he or she needn’t make their
presence felt through an attendance register.
What is Hinduism
really?
Recently there has
been a lot of focus on Hinduism and Hindus within India and there have been
continuous debates as to who the real Hindu is and what is the real Hindu way
of life.
Having thought out
the matter in my own way I had been able to think logically about the Hindu
religion from one of confusion that prevails among Hindus in general to a
picture of greater good and benefit to all Hindus irrespective of chaste,
social or economic order amongst the Hindus. For instance, there are still few
anomalies that prevail in Hindu society and many of these in the form of
antique ritualism, black magic and uses of poison that it becomes difficult
even for an educated Hindu to fully comprehend her own religion and evaluate it
as to its greater intent for its followers towards making way into the future. One
of the greatest future strides that Hinduism can really make is acknowledging
the fact that it is quintessentially a gender free religion unlike those
patriarchal forms that prevail all over the world. A true Hindu faithful gives
equal commitment to both the daughter and son and to mother and father. This
has been so when the Hindu religion was being practiced prior to foreign invasions
that had seen India rising to become more of a patriarchal form of culture than
a gender dualistic culture. When most other cultures and religions advocated
gender equality over lip service and bizarre tactical actions, Hindus by and
large practiced equality as a way of life and without any inhibitions or
egocentric negativity centuries ago since the time of Indus Valley
civilization. In fact, men women moved in the societies as they were by nature
as civilized equal human beings and not due to patriarchal gestures and imperious
structures imposed upon them from the top to bottom levels.
Recently barring
of women in certain places is only localized phenomena and baring a few cases
the Hindu religion is both religiously and administratively gender free or what
I firmly believe it to be so as we stride into the future.
In what way can
you define Hinduism?
It is generally
felt among certain Hindus and so also others from outside that Hinduism is not
a religion and it is indefinable. They say that there are hundreds and
thousands of gods and everything is so bizarre about it that it sans logic and
reason.
But this is not
so. And I firmly believe that Hinduism can be quite easily defined without any
ambiguity whatsoever. My definition of Hinduism is as follows:
“Hinduism
is quintessentially a positive life path for attaining that Eternal Bliss to
merge with the One Supreme Energy through direct and indirect means, the former
being the path advocated through the process of yoga and meditation and by
studying Hindu sacred scriptures for worshippers to attain that rare exalted
state of self-realization while the other being a means for establishing a linkage
through localized objects of worship to attain the same goal, although the
former being superior to the latter in as much as it is more powerful means to
a glorious self-realizable path than the latter which is in essence exercises
localized points of inferences in their object like forms only.”
Here, both ways
serve as an option for the Hindus to choose from or they may choose both and
ultimately the objective is to achieve the state of self-realization or
‘paramananda’ of which the direct path is more superior to the indirect act of worshipping
deities.
There are several
ways that ordinary Hindu worshippers from all walks of life can take bliss and
this is through the awareness of the holy ambience, assuming the power of the
respective deities and through spiritual songs, bhajans and dances. These are the
real life tools to extract that soothing energy from within and without.
Overcrowding in
temples and Gods that Move
I had been
fortunate in visiting several temples in Eastern and Southern parts of the
country, but I feel that simply crowding around a deity or pushing and pulling
through mass of people within the sanctum sanctorum of the temple has anything
to do with proper worship. I fell that to get the maximum energy only when the
mind is at ‘Dhyana’ or ease. For this I had tried my best to avoid the crowd
while I visit certain temples as standing near the ‘Deepa Stumpa’ outside the
sanctum sanctorum or within the compound wall of the auspicious place is enough
for me to see the light. I have my own reasons regarding the worship during
crowded moments.
I firmly believe
that ones faith is reciprocal only to the distance that one keeps from the
energy that one believes in and ones actual and realistic moments of peace. I
believe that there is an inverse relationship between the distance and the
deity. In fact, emotion and faith are inversely proportional to the square of
the distance between the worshipper and the deity with the maximum allowed
stretch for the distance to be measured at its maximum being the temple
boundary wall.
This in essence
means that the more you are away from the deity and at peace with yourself you
as a worshipper reciprocate equally well with the deity. to elucidate the point
let us take an example. If a parent has three children and one is far away
while the two are residing with them or simply staying near. Despite all the
help they get from their near by kind hearted children both will dot more the
one that resides far off and has been quite unruly and rude in behavior towards
them earlier. They will resonate well thinking that the one that resides far
off has become almost like gold in standards of behavior than the two nearby
siblings. This is because of the distance and hence it is seen that the basic
requirement is peace of mind which is in fact the direct method and is achieved
through by attaining the path of self-realization. In the above example both
the parent and the far off sibling remain positive due to each having peace of
mind and hence energy levels resonate in tandem due to the distance between the
parent and the sibling.
In other words,
there is no inner peace when one is jostling and struggling in a crowd of
worshippers, swearing and cursing one another.
Last, but not the
least is the crowd creating living gods that breathe and destroy the essence of
Hinduism. I have great reservations against these human gods and at the most
one can, if need, be treat them like gurus and nothing else.
Food
There is no
restriction for Hindus on any food that is vegetable while they may a little
choosy with non-vegetarian food. However, I have noticed that several Hindus
while traveling abroad or in places where there is dearth of proper food
consuming whatever may be available. This is all right and they must know that
all proteins, minerals and amino acids are not fully available in vegetable
food only. Besides, due to exigencies they may need to take a few out of their
usual habits. For example the Brahmans of Bengal became fish takers for the
sole reason that they were compelled to do so by the Great Bengal Famine.
I had already
written about what actually goes into every human body and when you think and
analyze deeply you will find that there is no pure vegetarian or non-vegetarian
in the real sense of the word. Everybody has a percentage of vegetarianism and
non-vegetarianism within their body and this may vary according to certain
ratios only.
If at all you need
a good example then you may watch people who chew paan or betel leaves daily.
They take a few betel leaves and then add grounded pieces of areca nut and then
apply a generous paste of lime or chuna. Do you know what this lime means?
Well in short the
lime is the residue of marine organisms (animals) like shell, coral, algae,
mollusks to name only a few and also contains fecal debris of other sea animals
too. It is a sedimentary rock formed over millions of years and also contains a
host of other minerals. Although limestone is stated to be organic the slaked
lime which is white and lumpy and water soluble is a separate matter is said to
be inorganic. Yet scientifically if one looks at it then CaO or lime is
obtained from calcium carbonate, limestone (animal mucous, marine creatures and
shells) and other minerals and they fuse to form what is actually seen dug up
on to the surface. These are cheaply available everywhere.
In many Hindu
respected communities you will notice that they take paan with lime (Calcium
Oxide when mixed with water to become Calcium Hydroxide) perhaps every ten or
fifteen minutes to nourish their body with animal nutrition. This keeps them
healthy so you ought to have no fear as you are from younger generation of
Hindus who is fully ready to enter the future with confidence. Or you may have
to take medicines which will prove to be a costlier alternative with every
passing of the day.
However, during
auspicious days it is always better to observe a vegetarian lean food habit so
as to get rid of the toxic elements within the body.
If we really
acknowledge the above then Hinduism can be like a glorious journey into the
future too.
