Of rituals and righteousness
This one was long overdue. The very fact that this post is put up indicates how strongly I feel about it. The motivation for this post comes from an event in the last week of December.
It was the ‘house-warming ceremony’ (more familiarly perhaps grihapravesham) for our new house. Almost inappropriately, I felt a sense of dread and indifference simultaneously. Indifference because I have believed that these rituals are as superfluous as things can get. The dread because I had to put on a veneer of enjoying the ceremony while wondering all the while whether I was in Hades or not. I kept telling myself that things would turn out to be better than I anticipated. As so well brought out in the movie ‘Memento’, we all lie to ourselves for surreal gratification. In this case reality was far worse than I could imagine.
When a triumvirate of pot-bellied priests reached our temporary residence, I knew ‘it’ had begun. Something or the other was always missing for some or the other worship. Damn.., why couldn’t the intransigent priests manage with whatever was available and be done with it?The ‘code of conduct’ mandated ridiculous restrictions the way even mundane stuff was to be dealt with. The obligation to be sensitive to those around made me docile. Then the ‘homa’s * began and got the lachrymose glands working overtime. I had always thought that entering a new house was a joyous affair far from the ‘tearful’ affair it turns out to be with these rituals. I had to keep rubbing my eyes (no pun intended) to convince myself that it was after all a ceremony for the well-being of everyone (was it?). Finally after what seemed like eternity the ceremonies got over and it was time for more pot-bellied and bare-chested and occasionally even hirsute (a deadly combo, trust me!) Brahmins to serve you lunch (or was it ‘prasadam’). The only saving grace was that my parents usually excused my rebelliousness providing me an avenue for letting off steam.
I would be misleading you if I gave you the impression that I am an atheist or agnostic or some such sort. My near unshakable respect for and, to a significant extent, practice of the fundamental tenets on which the magnificent edifice of Hinduism is built would, I presume, give me the authority to say a thing or two about the way it is currently being followed. I am humble enough to acknowledge alternative points of view.
The raison d’etre for any religion is to offer solace to the human mind whose restlessness can know no bounds. The objectives of preserving morality or organizing populations are only spin-offs. The religions surviving today are testimony to this. Rituals come in to reinforce the tenets central to religion. When they become a rigmarole whose primary objective is to give someone the feeling that by merely performing a rite he has purged himself (the other sex is not excluded) of all wrong-doings or evil-influences-not that I believe in them, again, they reduce to a parody of all that religion should be. Sadly, this is the current state of affairs.
True Hinduism, though I admit this is subjective, when practiced would give everyone the will to surmount any challenge in life, achieve what was previously thought impossible, reach a plane of living where no material occurrence can deny bliss. Bliss, the elusive elixir, is after all what most of us are after, consciously or unconsciously.
(Please bear in mind that the post does not intend to offend anyone who holds the rituals highly. If it makes the reader reflect on the 'utility' of rituals and their realtion to religion and culture, I have achieved my aim)
It was the ‘house-warming ceremony’ (more familiarly perhaps grihapravesham) for our new house. Almost inappropriately, I felt a sense of dread and indifference simultaneously. Indifference because I have believed that these rituals are as superfluous as things can get. The dread because I had to put on a veneer of enjoying the ceremony while wondering all the while whether I was in Hades or not. I kept telling myself that things would turn out to be better than I anticipated. As so well brought out in the movie ‘Memento’, we all lie to ourselves for surreal gratification. In this case reality was far worse than I could imagine.
When a triumvirate of pot-bellied priests reached our temporary residence, I knew ‘it’ had begun. Something or the other was always missing for some or the other worship. Damn.., why couldn’t the intransigent priests manage with whatever was available and be done with it?The ‘code of conduct’ mandated ridiculous restrictions the way even mundane stuff was to be dealt with. The obligation to be sensitive to those around made me docile. Then the ‘homa’s * began and got the lachrymose glands working overtime. I had always thought that entering a new house was a joyous affair far from the ‘tearful’ affair it turns out to be with these rituals. I had to keep rubbing my eyes (no pun intended) to convince myself that it was after all a ceremony for the well-being of everyone (was it?). Finally after what seemed like eternity the ceremonies got over and it was time for more pot-bellied and bare-chested and occasionally even hirsute (a deadly combo, trust me!) Brahmins to serve you lunch (or was it ‘prasadam’). The only saving grace was that my parents usually excused my rebelliousness providing me an avenue for letting off steam.
I would be misleading you if I gave you the impression that I am an atheist or agnostic or some such sort. My near unshakable respect for and, to a significant extent, practice of the fundamental tenets on which the magnificent edifice of Hinduism is built would, I presume, give me the authority to say a thing or two about the way it is currently being followed. I am humble enough to acknowledge alternative points of view.
The raison d’etre for any religion is to offer solace to the human mind whose restlessness can know no bounds. The objectives of preserving morality or organizing populations are only spin-offs. The religions surviving today are testimony to this. Rituals come in to reinforce the tenets central to religion. When they become a rigmarole whose primary objective is to give someone the feeling that by merely performing a rite he has purged himself (the other sex is not excluded) of all wrong-doings or evil-influences-not that I believe in them, again, they reduce to a parody of all that religion should be. Sadly, this is the current state of affairs.
True Hinduism, though I admit this is subjective, when practiced would give everyone the will to surmount any challenge in life, achieve what was previously thought impossible, reach a plane of living where no material occurrence can deny bliss. Bliss, the elusive elixir, is after all what most of us are after, consciously or unconsciously.
(Please bear in mind that the post does not intend to offend anyone who holds the rituals highly. If it makes the reader reflect on the 'utility' of rituals and their realtion to religion and culture, I have achieved my aim)
posted by Gaju Krishna at
8:16 AM
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