Hindu Temples I have visited (Part-III)

Akshardham Temple, Gandhinagar.
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Akshardham Temple, New Delhi
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Belur Math, Kolkata

Birla Mandir, Kolkata

Dakshineshwar Kali Mandir, Kolkata

Somnath Mandir, Somnath, Gujarat

Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati

Also:

Hindu Temples I have visited (Part-II)

Hindu Temples I have visited (Part-I)

Attachment

A couple of weeks back, a senior colleague happened to visit our work location. He had helped me many times before on some assignments and I thought I shared good rapport with him. Memories of how I had questioned him on technical topics and he had explained things so well to me, were fresh in my mind. When we met, we went on very well. We talked about a host of things, from work related to personal. We also discovered a common friend, who was his classmate and my ex-colleague. I thought I had found a good pal in him.

Recently he was relocated to another location onsite. In fact it was like a promotion for him. When he joined from there, he stopped replying or explaining things to me. I was conscious about his elevated position and hence didn’t push, but his ‘silence’ was troubling me. It also so happened that I would ping him but he won’t reply and would leave the chat as it was. I would send him emails asking for some clarifications to which he won’t reply, even though he was designated to help me in this project! I thought he may be busy, but his “status” on Communicator was always “green”. Now I started wondering what the reason was. Thought came to my mind if it was the common friend who had spoken something ill about me to him and hence he was cutting me off? Or was it that he was too much conscious of his elevated position and hence won’t reply to me like before? Was he finding his new position challenging, was already troubled with the things he was doing, and hence he found my enquiries uninvited?

Today, I couldn’t contain myself. I had sent two emails to him this morning, to which he hadn’t replied. Of course I had sent separate emails to other senior colleagues too, as my plan B, and I had managed to do my work, but that was not the point. I seemed to be troubled by him ignoring me! Despite the fact that I thought he was a friend! I pinged him and asked him exactly this: “you have become very silent these days :)” with a smiley and all small fonts, to appear friendly. This time, to my surprise, he replied, “may be....but am quite busy”. Just this much. I didn’t want to appear pushing, so I accepted it readily and replied, “ok ok, your status remained green so I wondered... no issues..”. And then I went for tea. When I got back, I saw his reply to the last one as “i don't bother to change the status msg :)”

So it indeed was because he was busy. May be, or maybe not. It can be that he has grown snobby and was indeed avoiding me. No matter what the reason was, why was I troubled? I think the reason why I was troubled was because I felt an “attachment” for him. I thought I cared for him and hence was hurt when I couldn’t feel an affirmative “return gesture”. The roots of my trouble were not in his behavior, but in my own feelings. My attachments.

When he said, “may be....but am quite busy” I felt hurt. In my true self, I cried in my inside. Why? Because his behavior was not nice to me; he whom I cared about and “expected” a similar return gesture. He may be behaving like this to everyone now a day, but not everyone would be feeling hurt. Was it because no one else cared for him? Certainly not. But may be others didn’t feel that kind of attachment which would require a return gesture. Was I selfish? Was I really “expecting” something in “return”? I wonder if I am like this to a colleague in office known for a month, how I would feel if someone I loved truly behaved with similar “unaffectionate” way. Why to keep such a sensitive heart, which gets hurt so often?

I think getting hurt because of being sensitive is “part of the parcel”. If one has not got that sensitive heart, one would not enjoy those small little joys of life which one doesn’t see from one’s physical eyes but can only feel from heart. Only those can fall who have risen first. Only those can feel lonely who have had a company. Only those can feel hurt who have been touched before. I think yes, it is part of the parcel… It is part of being us…  Part of being me.

- Rahul

PS: In the above text, I look like justifying attachment, which I also think is the reason of human misery; yet it is so very part of us…

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PS: (after 1 month): I think it has become quite clear now. He has taken his new position/responsibility very seriously and is working in much cautioned manner. He is now more introvert and formal with everyone. (At times bossy too) Perhaps he had to make this forced transformation because he is quite young by age for his role. Anyways by now I am perfectly at peace with the change. :)

School of Hinduism (Lesson-1)

These days I am reading some Books on Hinduism; here are some pointers I have underlined:

• In Hinduism there is no concept of Devil. There are angels and demons, good and bad people, but there is no Devil. Only there is God.

• Every Hindu ritual is concluded with chanting "Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" - Peace, Peace, Peace, which is achieved only when we appreciate the world in totality, looking from every point of view. It is symbolized in Brama's four heads facing the four directions...

• According to Vedic scriptures, God didnt "create" this world. God simply made all creatures "aware" of it. Awareness leads to discovery, Discovery is Creation. I think this concept is so different from those in other religions...

• Lord Vishnu rests on a serpent. Serpent is symbol of earth, regularly regenerating itself with the seasons and tides. Lord Vishnu rides into battles when faced with disorder on an eagle. Eagle is a symbol of sweeping wind of change, the revolution that brings back hope...

• A Hindu temple is not a prayer hall or the space where the faithful gather. It is the residence of God. Each day the deity is bathed, fed, bedecked and adored. In earliest phase of Hinduism, known as the Vedic age, there were no temples. The need for permanent shrines came much later.Temple or no temple, the need of invoking the divine in all phases of Hinduism has been the same. The present phase of Hinduism is Age of Worship, Bhakti era. I think in this era, temples play an important role.

• Dakshina is a fee paid for services. It clears debt. Daan is an act of charity. It earns equity.

• Lord Vishnu carries Sudarshan Chakra, a discus, in his right index finger. Sudarshan means Positive Outlook. The Chakra's whirring round God's right index finger is indicative of nature and culture's rhythmic order.

• Lakshmana-rekha, the line that Lakshmana traces around Rama's hut, is the divide between nature and culture. Within the line Rama's law applies. Outside in the wilderness, the realm of Ravana. Another word for Rakshasas would be barbarias, jivas who follow the rule of the jungle known in Hindu scriptures as Matsya Nyaya or the code of fishes, which tells that might is right. Manavas follow code of Dharma which is based on roles and responsibilities.

• Bhagwan Shiva, the fountainhead of Yoga is associated with all things that never die and never change. He sits atop a mountain, under a banyan tree, located under the pole star, in the north.

• In Maharashtra, following the rains, Gauri, dressed in green, is worshipped along with Ganesha. Green is the color of vegetation, motherhood, fulfilled desires. Gauri represents fulfilled desires, the fructification of earth's fertility. She is the domesticated form of the Goddess. Her hair is tied in a bun with a string of flowers.

• Hindus are advised against reading the Mahabharata inside their homes for the fear that ideas in that book such as brothers fighting over property will pollute family values. They prefer reading the Ramayana because in it brothers never fight over inheritance. The principle underlying this custom is called "sympathetic or imitative magic". According to this events in a household are influenced by the ideas expressed in sacred symbols, rituals and narratives. That is why during marriage and childbirth symbols associated with fruition and fertility and opulance are placed in all corners of the house.

(The title of the post(s) may look curious. As I explained to a friend's query; I said, "I am a part time student of Hinduism; taking evening classes in self study mode" :)