I have been blamed again and again for writing thought-provoking posts.
This post might prove to be provoking also. (I do like to argue as my
readers (all 6 of them) know very well :) )
People say quite often, religious people, or
self-proclaimed-intellectuals-but-still-trapped-in-religion-people that
sitting in a temple gives them an unexplained, mysterious feeling of
peace. There is nothing mysterious about it, the feeling comes from the
expectation and the environment. The feeling of peace and tranquility
comes from within not from without. You can get the same feeling sitting
in a forest, on a riverbank, on a raft in the middle of the sea and when
you have learnt the real source of the feeling, you can have it in the
middle of a busy thoroughfare like Times Square.
As Basheer Badr has said,
Apna gham le ke kaheeN door na jaaya jaaye,
Ghar mein bikhari hui cheezoN ko sajaaya jaaye
[Let us not travel without with our sorrow, let us rearrange the things
strewn about in the house.]
The source of this peace and happiness is within us and we don't need to
take a single step to find it.
There are a lot of things that add to the feeling. Keertan is a popular
way of worship in Hinduism, music, songs, dance all brought together to
worship God. Other religions have similar practices, Islam the qawwali
and Chritianism their hymn-singing. It is the power of music that turns
your thought in a particular direction, it has nothing to do with God.
You can use anything to connect yourself to God and you can use the same
media to connect to anything.
Remember Hitler's songs of the Third Reich?
My point is that it's not neccessary to worship God in any one way or
any particular style.
Ghar se masjid hai bahut door chalo yoon kar lein,
Kisi rote hue bachche ko hansaya jaaye.
[The mosque is very far from home lets do this instead, help a crying
child to find his smile again.]
I seriously dislike the people who think themselves righteous and God's
favorite because they "go to church every Sunday", there are similar
equivalents in all religions, people who spend 4 hours in keertan every
week or perform namaaz 5 times a day. They are all fine practices, IF it
does not give you a superiority complex. I have met people who have the
holier-than-thou attitude because they have a direct hotline to God and
a suite reserved in heaven. On the other hand, rarely, but I have met
people, who serve God and humanity equally and as part of their very
being rather than as a habit or an attempt to earn brownie points with
the Big Guy.
I like Osho because he does not use any of the gimmicks and he does not
do anything that is supposedly mysterious or unexplained. His discourses
are not accompanied by music or background sounds. His langauge, tone
and style is not professional. He never raises his voice like a
professional speaker and he definitely is not an orator. Still, when he
talks, people listen. Simply because what he says makes sense. In
answering a question from someone about going to the temple he explains
at length why the person himself is the source of all that is good and
pure, even though all the religions preach otherwise. Osho finishes with,
"The day you understand this one thing, you will not go to the temple,
you will BE the temple."
["Phir tum mandir nahin jaaoge, tum khud mandir ho jaaoge.]
