How good a devotee are you ?
Yes, we are indeed talking about devotion to GOD!
Most of us would equate devotion with prostrating before an idol of our favourite
GOD or then keeping a "fast", say on "kadwa chouth" or going to a public place of worship (read mandir/masjid/girijaghar/gurudwara) on predetermined days or then carrying out a satyanarayan pooja or even going to Shirdi and similar other sacred places or even attending the excellent orations of Asaramji Bapu (the ultimate fashion these days) . Have you ever paused to examine if this is really what devotion means
Rituals are a necessary part of human life. These practices are prescribed to create an atmosphere for the main activity to be carried out more efficiently. So if you don't follow the rules of how a Rotary meeting is to be conducted (or for that matter, any other meeting), the inefficiencies that will creep into your operations will affect the "service" you have committed to render to the weaker sections of the society. Many meetings are followed by dinner, mainly to attract more participants; the dinner in itself is not so important. If you start thinking that the main purpose itself was carrying out the rituals, you'll end up achieving nothing. All religious rituals, similarly, have a specific purpose of creating a state of the mind, to enable us communicate more effectively with GOD. While making a phone call, the initial action of lifting the handset and dialing the required number is a ritual that is essential to perform, if you are to achieve your main objective of establishing communication with the other side. So, if you are a good devotee, don't feel satisfied at just following the rituals - keep track of the ultimate goal; that of communicating with the ALMIGHTY.
Every individual has to have a personal equation with GOD. This is not something that can be done collectively. Community Projects which require tangible assets (money, clothes, crutches etc.) need to be done collectively because the demand for these far outstrips the supply and a single individual, howsoever rich, will not be able to provide these. Praying to GOD is not a community project - it is an individual and a strictly personal activity and therefore needs to be done singly.
Devotion is not the monopoly of persons who are "religious" by nature. I conducted a small survey (which may not have a statistical significance, but which does denote a definite trend) in which the following five questions were asked. Why don't you rate yourself on the same queries? Be truthful, though! Pardon me for formulating a "Hindu" questionnaire - respondents were around me and easier to get .
- "Ganesh", the elephant GOD "likes" "modaks" (sweet eatable made out of sugar and grated coconut). Will you be comfortable offering "shrikhand puri" on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi" , this year, just for a change ??
- You perform the pooja everyday, in your house. Will you be willing to give it a weekly holiday?
- Your family has been performing the traditional (nine days) "navaratri pooja" at home, since the days of your forefathers. This year, can you agree to donate an equivalent amount to an orphanage instead of celebrating this traditional pooja?
- You go to the "shani mandir" every Saturday. Can you go there on a Sunday, this week, instead of Saturday?
- There are two sets of "pandits" - one who perform the auspicious "poojas" and the others whose perform the religious rituals after a death in the Hindu family. Are you willing to invite one of the latter groups to solemnize the marriage of your daughter?
We sometimes put GOD in an impossible situation. We either want to strike a deal with HIM (I don't know why GOD is always considered male) or want to leave everything to HIM or want to berate HIM for favours supposedly denied. In the ultimate analysis, GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES. A good devotee prays because he feels "good and peaceful and contented", after doing so. This state of mind ultimately leads to better performance in whatever you do and these are the real benefits of devotion.
You will be surprised, but most of our children do not know the full meaning of our own national anthem. Imagine them singing something that they do not fully comprehend. How can we expect them to be filled with pride for their country, if they do not even know what they are uttering? This has been the bane of our indifferent upbringing. Parents do not assist their children to understand what they insist the children must learn to say (aartis or shlokas for example), because they were never assisted by their own parents. My survey says that more than 60% of the people who are singing the most common Ganesh "aarti" in Marathi (sukha karta, dukha harta…) do not know its meaning. Good devotees recite only what they understand and conversly, try to understand what they want to recite.
Now, for every "yes", give yourselves zero marks and for every "no", give yourselves one mark. Those who score 4 or 5 marks need to watch out on this imaginary scale of "devotion". They are probably missing the wood for the trees. Those with a total of 2 or 3 have some hope; they can still train themselves to be better devotees. Those who total 0 or 1 have the brightest chance of being real "devotees", less cluttered in their minds about what devotion is all about.
So dear readers, promise yourselves to be GOOD devotees and not men and women of straw, endlessly engaged in peripheral activities, instead of going to the "heart" of the issue. Do your rituals by all means but remember that this is not the final objective.
"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." In this article, he tries to question various beliefs that we hold, without scrutiny. The purpose here is to have a robust debate without in anyway belittling personal beliefs. He can be reached at creative@nagpur.dot.net.in