An Insight on Idol Worship and the role of Priests

 

For centuries now, Idol worship has faced continual claims and comments on being an action of least worth, and should be terminated because it doesn’t satisfy the logic which modern man searches from spirituality. Idol worship has been criticized, and this blog today will justify them all. My words do not offer a spiritual authority; I’m just a servant of god, and glorifying the lost dignity of Idol Worship and the role of Brahmins.

Brahmins too have been facing scarcity of their true nature, and aren’t, thus, able to justify their presence in the temple or in front of the idol.

A greater section of the world believes that the society began some 2000 years ago with the onset of “The New Testaments”, but it is not true. India has been the nation which has been built and nurtured by so many saints and sages, so many divine incarnations, that has made the whole soil of India, holy. It has been in existence since so many ages, and Hinduism has been the religion that has the most ancient order of Monks, which has taught the nation tolerance and universal acceptance. Hence before justifying and breaking certain myths, i would ask all my readers who are Hindu, to be proud to have born in such a religion. And those from other religion, Oh dear Brother, It is the same mohammaden that we follow, it’s just that we call it by different name, It is the same Christ we pray, but with earthen lamps instead of candles.

 I, on behalf of all the Hindu people present to you, an insight on Idol Worship and Brahmins.

The God who has no form, or the “niraakar bramha” is undoubtedly a concept of faith, but this has been past. In order to build devotion and belief on the formless god, one needs a highly disciplined and meditated mind. For common man like us, this has been nothing more than a concept written in Shrimad Bhagvat Geeta, The Bible, The Quran. In order to focus one’s faith on someone, one needs a form to meditate upon. Some see it as a father, some see it as the divine mother, for some it is a friend, and for some it is the punisher. None of them are misled. They all have faith in someone, but all these “someone” ultimately drain upto the ultimatum, or the formless god. “It doesn’t matter for the path you follow, because all paths ultimately lead to him. What’s important is, you should follow.”

Now having our mind fixed upon the form, whether father, protector, destroyer, or redeemer, we sought for a physical form to pray to. And this led to the existence of idol worship as we see it.

The whole concept of Idol worship is originated from the divine concept that “Each soul is divine. Every soul is a part of the almighty. And hence, what we actually search outside, it resides in us.” And this brings on the need for a priest, or Brahmin. The job of the priest is to manifest this divine soul in him, and portrait the same divine soul into the Idol. This is termed as “prana pratistha” or the “avahana” or installing the divine soul into the idol. Now the Idol that was earlier just a fabrication of mud, water and stones, has now the divine soul that has been set up by the priest. People decorate this life incorporated idol as per their own choice, some show candles to it, some put coloured powders on it, while some cover it with ornamented sheets of cloth. It is all faith and this gives them a boost in their faith, and this faith when manifested in them, improvises their body functioning, hence helping them in pursuing their duties with more efficiency.

The priest, or the Brahmin assigned with the job of putting in the soul to the idol, has to maintain certain level of purity, so that the divinity doesn’t find it difficult to be manifested in him. Hence Brahmins have a certain protocol to which they stick to. But with the onset of logic and science, people have shortened their logic, and hence call it blind faith.

This is my appeal to all the intellectual masses reading this, everything written in scriptures and advised by saints and sages, has logic and reason behind it. If we aren’t able to recognize it, doesn’t mean the logic is invalid. It just proves us our ignorance.

Hence, wake up and rise, accept what the sages have to say.

Accept to live in misery with Christ than living in palace without him.

And don’t criticize for what is unknown to you, because remember all great leaders of every religion had so many criticisms to deal with, and yet we kneel before them in prayers.

I bow down before my master who showed the world the unity in diversity for religion, Shri Ramakrishna, who himself had manifested goddess kali in the temple of Dakshineshwar, Kolkata.

Hope, my readers would have had a different conviction by the end of this blog. Will keep you enlightened further.

Jai maa..

My Beloved Personality

We are bodies of perceptions. Whatever we see, there’s the perception that builds up our attitude towards it in the latter stage. This attitude when continued for a longer period of time, gives us a conviction, and is held accountable for the actions we do in regards to the corresponding object. We all have distinct perceptions, let it be any case! I always love to infer, but unless we have a strong feeling or supporting argument, things can’t be inferred.

I always believed in god, i followed him, but why? I didn’t know! At times, i get distracted, and deliberately work against the norms to see if it ever mattered to someone! Till date i have had no conclusive results pertaining to that. But I have an inference on the question that could come up when asked the other way around. And simultaneously the former question also met its answer.

In the recent past, i along with two friends had been to tirupati, carved out of devotion and a vision. It’s the abode of Lord Venkateshwara; a form of lord Vishnu. After having climbed the seven hills or 10 kms in a steep gradient, and standing in 5 different queues for around 4 hours, we were allowed to the main gopuram, or the entrance of the temple. They allowed us to see the lord’s idol for nearly 10 seconds. It was exactly the same as we see in the photos, so why should there be any craze? Logically correct! But experience led me to believe in something else. I know a couple of appraisal chants for the lord, and sing it during daily prayers, but infront of him in the temple, i forgot all. I just kept on looking at him, so natural, so beautiful, and so divine it was. I could keep on looking at him, and never get tired. The crowd pushed me, but i felt like floating over an ocean of devotion, and the last second when i was the nearest to him, my friend who has right behind me, shouted in a typical south Indian manner “govinda govinda gooovvviinnddaaaa” while i was looking at the lord. This last second made a strange bliss feeling run throughout my body. I was in an ecstasy. Smiling, laughing, dancing for no viable reason. It was feeling which could only be experienced, not told.

It was as if, people are calling their beloved! All the diversified relations came into my mind just to one being. The way we call, our friends, our parents, our kin, siblings, aunts, there are different ways to call them, with a change in tone. But as for the case of lord, it all were encrypted in just one call. It was equivalent to call your mother, father, brother, sister, relative, friend, lover, anyone whom you believe to be yours. The lord was just mine, and i was his. No other feeling with a greater remark could happen to me in my life. It was just it.

Now i had answers to all the questions, and the answer is; we should believe in him, follow his instructions, love him, because he is the only one who loves you the most, he is the only one who you can claim to be yours, and he will never betray you. No matter how many times you work against, you just go to him and with a pure heart ask him for forgiveness, he forgives without a thought, and rather hugs you tight in the bonds of divinity and godliness.

While my way back, as every single person who saw me, i had this understanding, that it’s god watching me through their eyes, after all we all are a part of his. And then i understood, this is why people say, god has “thousands of eyes”.

Brilliant, never to be forgotten experience it was. Those who visit him very often, mark my blog before you leave, you will have a very different and fabulous experience. To all those who don’t visit him, give it a try, and go to him with my blog in your mind, I’m confident the experience will be worth it.

It was time i had written my last blog, and this experience filled my heart with utter love and ecstasy, i couldn’t wait to write this blog. Hope you all were through me all the while. Take care, and see you soon, as i follow up fast this time. With this I remain with a phrase very common amongst us ( Brahmins from odisha, who are devotees of lord Jagannath) 

                              “jagannatha swami nayana patha gami bhaba tume”;

                      “ Let you be the destination of my vision everytime, Oh Jagannath!”

Standing at the brink of our own apocalypse

Claiming to be secular, we carve out a way to extend the boundaries on which we stand today. Irrespective of what we do, we tend to console our guilt conscious by stating the cliché of being secular. Such has our lust increased that we could form an explanation justifying even the most heinous action we are driven to do. Hence giving us enormous room to do almost anything and yet claim to be unperturbed by the sickened society. In ancient texts of the Hindu religion, a situation of this order is mentioned to happen, where chaos will be such that its entropy will be beyond any human’s control. Indeed, we are a part of such a beautiful society this day.

“Lust, hunger, poverty, anger and attachment eats up our intelligence and invites infamy to our life’s course.” After a while of realization of the selection of the wrong path, man repents for its incorrect choice. At this point, repentance goes in vain, since we already made a choice which led us this far that we have done things that were strictly beyond the boundaries set by our culture and civilization. Our roots have decayed in such a manner that the tree could fall even against a slightest breeze. This downfall of morality has a direct influence over the stability of a civilization. When men cannot protect their integrity, how possibly could they protect their civilization, which stands at the brink of devastation?

The discussion of the ingenuity of a religion is not the matter in front of us. The matter is to accept one and start the process of self-realization. Until and unless we know what we are, and the true purpose of life, we can’t make up a prosperous and ethical society. According to the words of a great saint; “ the one who sees unity in diversity, peace in a warfront, love in hatred is liable to be designated as a perfect man.” These words although seem very vague and ambiguous, allows our intellect to seek for the unsaid mystery.

We attain peace and happiness, when we start looking inside us, when we find the diversity in our own self. We remain calm and composed, action-less and motionless, because we are now aware of the truth. Every job a man does is to attain happiness and pleasure. Some feel they can achieve it by earning more and more money, while others feel they achieve it by spending time with their family. But neither of these could provide them eternal and perpetual happiness. The only way to achieve this never ending happiness is by knowing oneself, and it’s possible only by the knowledge of this eternal yet mortal world. The moment we are able to conceive the truth, millions of ambiguities and doubts get clarified, there’s no more jealousy, anger and a communal harmony presides over our intellect.

This perpetual happiness is just the first stepping stone. The eternal bliss seconds it, which is achieved when man is able to see the residing almighty in him. At this stage, no creature seems less than god; he seeks the divine manifestation in each and every thing around him. He’s all happy, and totally content, he neither cries for the departed, nor welcomes the new born, since he’s saturated with the true knowledge, which leads us to think and understand beyond this mortal attachment.

The whole basis of a religion is to bring order into human society, and protect it from destruction, the destruction that had originated from the mortal beings making up the society, to give a society the true knowledge and make them aware of the truth behind every happening. It’s not the external source that is responsible behind the destruction of a society, but the internal chaos which adds up to the antisocial elements.

If we have the perception that the divine knowledge is useless at this stage, then it’s time to think again, you might be sleeping in the darkest of nights, and when you wake up, there’s nothing left for resurrection. It’s high time to get back to the basics and learn from it, the essence of quality living.

The Way of Yama

Dear readers, this note is the continuation of my previous note “13 days after Death”. This will explain the significance of 1 year after death. The dreadful journey the soul has to cover to Yama’s kingdom. The torments, screams and agony of the souls might be felt while reading this note.

On the 13^th day of death, the soul walks his way back to Yama’s kingdom along with his messengers for one year. Dragged and beaten up, he is no less than a slave who has committed the crime of assassin of his master. He cries out aloud, with deep repentance he mourns at his deeds when told about godliness, while he was alive. For now there’s no other way out, just suffer the untold pain. He remembers the way he made fun of sages and saints who were preaching about god and his ways. Had he been a listener to those and profound believer in god, all these sufferings would not have been on his part and he would have achieved God’s kingdom right after his death.

There is no shade of trees there, in which a man may take rest, and on this road there is none of the foods by which he may support life. No water is to be seen anywhere that he, extremely thirsty, may drink. Twelve suns blaze, O Bird, as though at the end of a pralaya. There the sinful soul goes along pierced by cold winds, in one place torn by thorns, in another stung by very venomous serpents. The sinful in one place is bitten by ferocious lions, tigers, and dogs; in another stung by scorpions; in another burnt by fire. On 28th day of his death the jiva partakes the pindam offered by his son after a

shradha.

Here he eats the monthly rice-balls given by his sons and grandsons through either love or compassion, and thence goes on into Sauripura. There is there a king named Jangama, who has the appearance of Death. Having seen him he is overcome with fear and decides to give up efforts. In that city he eats a mixture of water and food, given at the end of three fortnights, and then passes on from that city. Thence the departed speedily goes to Nagendrabhavana; and having seen the fearful forests there he cries in misery. Being dragged unmercifully he weeps again and again. At the end of two months the afflicted leaves that city, having enjoyed there the rice-balls, water and cloths given by his relatives; being again dragged with the nooses he is led onwards by the servants. Upon the coming of the third month, having arrived at the city of the Gandharvas, and there having eaten the rice-balls offered in the third month he moves on. And in the fourth month reaches Śailâgama city, There stones rain down copiously upon the departed. Having eaten the rice-balls of the fourth month he becomes somewhat happy. In the fifth month the departed goes thence to the city of Krauncha.

Remaining in the city of Krauncha, the departed eats the rice balls given by hand in the fifth month, and then, having eaten it, goes to Krûrapura. At the end of five and a half months the ceremony before the six-monthly is performed. He remains, satisfied with the rice-balls and jars then given. Having stayed, trembling and very miserable, for a time and having left that city, threatened by the servants of Yama, he goes to Chitrabhavana, over which kingdom rules a king named Vichitra, who is the younger brother of Yama. When he sees his huge form he runs away in fear.

Then having come before him some fishermen say: 'We have arrived, bringing a boat for you--who desire to cross the great Vaitaraṇî River--if your merits are sufficient’. The river is made up of blood and pus, had bones and rotten human flesh floating all over the river. It is about a yojana long. 'It is said by the sages, who see the truth, that Vitarana is a gift, and this is called Vaitaraṇî because it is crossed over by that. 'If you have made the gift of a cow, then the boat will come to you, otherwise not.' Having heard their words, 'Oh heavens,' he exclaims. Seeing him it seethes, seeing which he cries loudly. The sinful soul who has made no gifts verily sinks in that. Having fixed a skewer through his lips, the messengers, floating in the air, carry him across like a fish upon a hook.

Having then eaten the rice-balls of the sixth month, he passes on. He goes on the way lamenting, very greatly afflicted with the desire to eat. At the approach of the seventh month he goes to the city of Bahwâpada. There he enjoys what is given by his sons in the seventh month. Having passed beyond that city, he arrives at the city of Duhkhada. Travelling in the air he suffers great misery. Having eaten the rice-balls which are given in the eighth month he moves on. At the end of the ninth month he goes to the city of Nânâkranda. Having seen many people crying in agony in various ways, and being himself faint of heart, he cries in great misery. Having left that city, the departed, threatened by the servants of Yama, goes, with difficulty, in the tenth month, to Sutaptabhavana.

Though he there obtains the rice-ball gifts and water, he is not happy At the completion of the eleventh month he goes to the city of Raudra. There he enjoys what is offered in the eleventh month by his sons and others, and half after the eleventh month he reaches Payovarṣaṇa. There clouds team, giving misery to the departed, and them, he, in misery, obtains the Śrâddha before the annual one. At the end of the year he goes to the city of Śîtâḍhya, where cold a hundred times greater than that of the Himâlaya afflicts him. Hungry and pierced with cold, he looks about in the ten directions. 'Does there remain any relative who will remove my misery?' There the servants ask: 'What sort of merit have you?' Having eaten the annual rice-balls he plucks up courage again. At the end of the year, coming nearer to the abode of Yama, having reached the city of Bahubhîti, he casts off the body the measure of a hand. The spirit the size of a thumb, to work out its karma, getting a body of torment, sets out through the air with the servants of Yama. Those who do not offer gifts for the dweller in the upper body, thus go, painfully bound in tight bonds. Thus he enters the kingdom of Yama. In the Yama’s kingdom, the soul’s credits are recited and he receives punishments accordingly. The happenings in Yama’s kingdom will be posted in the next blog.

Believing or not is your choice. My job restricts me to read the texts and present it in an abridged format to you. Although scary and creepy, these happenings can be found in various ancient texts. All of them can’t be taken as the works of fiction.

See you in my next blog. Till then, take care and mind your actions.

13 Days after Death

13, cursed as an unlucky number and the storehouse of all the evil spirits in various religions across the world, marks its trademark from the ancient literary texts of supreme knowledge. The content in this has been inspired from the text of utmost reverence, the garuda purana. This text explains about the happenings after death. Most of us aren’t believers in anything of this sort, are we? True indeed, it sounds creepy and scary, no wonder one forbids to think about all this. Standing unbiased, and bound by my culture, i have gone through these texts and shockingly there are numerous living examples who have witnessed after death experience. To a Hindu there is needed no greater testimony than that of Yogi Yâjñavalkya who, in the Prâyaśchitta Adhyâya of his law book, mentions 21 hells.

Powerful death, unexpectedly, like a serpent, approaches an individual stricken with bodily and mental pain, yet anxiously hoping to live. Not yet tired of life, being cared for by his dependents, with his body deformed through old age, nearing death, in the house, he remains, like a house-dog, eating what is ungraciously placed before him, diseased, with failing digestion, eating little, moving little, with eyes turned up through loss of vitality, with tubes obstructed by phlegm, exhausted by coughing and difficult breathing, with the death rattle in his throat, lying encircled by his sorrowing relatives; though being spoken to he does not answer, being caught in the noose of death. In this condition, with mind busy with the support of his family, with senses unconquered, swooning with intense pain he dies amidst his weeping relatives. In this last moment, all the worlds appear as one, and he does not attempt to say anything. Then, at the destruction of the decayed senses and the numbing of the intelligence, the messengers of Yama come and life departs. When the soul leaves his material body, the moment seems to be an age, and pain like the biting of thousands of scorpions is experienced.

Two terrifying messengers of Yama come, fierce of aspect with nooses and rods, naked black like a buffalo, and with grinding teeth. As black as crows, with hair erect, with ugly faces, with nails like weapons; seeing whom his heart palpitates and he releases excrements. They drag him all the way to Yama’s kingdom where the soul cries and laments for all the misdeeds it has done while he was alive. Hungry and thirsty, roasting in the sun, forest-fires and hot winds, struck upon the back with whips, painfully he walks, almost powerless, along a road of burning sand, shelter-less and waterless. Having seen the fearful Yama, the man, after a time, by command of Yama, swiftly comes back through the air, with the messengers.

This is why, the body of the dead isn’t burnt right after his soul leaves his body. We wait for the soul to return from the kingdom of Yama back to his house where he spent his lifetime. In deep grief, he observes his funeral rites, and watches the piece of meat which he held for decades wrapped up in flames. Having returned, bound by his past tendencies, desiring the body but held back with a noose by the followers of Yama, tortured by hunger and thirst, he weeps. He obtains the rice-balls given by his offspring, and the gifts made during the time of his illness. Nevertheless, the sinful Denier does not obtain gratification. The Śrâddha, the gifts, and the handful of water, for the sinful, do not uplift. Although they eat the rice-ball offering, still they are tortured with hunger. Those who are in the departed condition, deprived of the rice-ball offering, wander about in great misery, in an uninhabited forest, until the end of the age.

For ten days the son should offer rice-balls. Every day these are divided into four portions. Two portions give nourishment to the five elements of the body; the third goes to the messengers of Yama; he lives upon the fourth. For nine days and nights the departed obtains rice-balls, and on the tenth day the being, with fully formed body, acquires strength. The old body being cremated, a new one is formed by these offerings, the man, the size of a hand (cubit), by this experiences good and evil on the way. By the rice-ball of the first day the head is-formed; the neck and shoulders by the second; by the third the heart forms. By the fourth the back forms; and by the fifth the navel; by the sixth the hips and secret parts; by the seventh the thigh forms, likewise the knees on eighth day and feet by ninth day. On the tenth day hunger and thirst are imbibed on to the doll manifesting the departed. On the thirteenth day the departed, bound by the servants of Yama, walks alone along the road like a captured monkey. It is on this day, when the son of the departed carries the soul of the departed from the house by making lot of noise by beating utensils and leaves it far off from the house.  This marks as the beginning of a year of continuous pain and sufferings till he reaches kingdom of Yama. It takes 86,000 yojanas to Yama’s kingdom. The details of this one year of suffering will be mentioned in my upcoming blog.

*Serious Note:  All the details mentioned in the above written blog are a piece of serious work attained after going through ancient texts and listening learned saints from across India.