To Enter or Not To Enter; That is the Question

There is a beautiful story about Meera Bai, whose devotional songs linger on a million tongues even to this day. She once visited a temple at Brindavan, which, at that time, was only open to men. When the priests prevented her from entering, she innocently told them "I thought Krishna was the only male in this universe". The priests were tongue-tied and let her in. 

I wonder if the women who are making a hue and cry about Sabarimala and Shani Shinganapur know about Meera bai. The noise that is being made over Sabarimala and Shani Shinganapur would have been funny (come on, airdrop?) if it were not so pathetic. It is evident that these ladies do not have any love for these Gods or for the religion that endorses these Gods. They are in it just to prove a political point and buy their two minutes of fame, and that is it. 

In a country as diverse as India, there are many, many unique temples and unique ways of worship. In Sandur, there is a Kumaraswamy temple that women of child-bearing age are denied entry to, much like Sabarimala. There is a short wall right in front of the main door, that prevents others from even snatching a glimpse at the icon inside. And there are some Maaramma temples, where traditionally there are priestesses but no priests. Some Gods and Goddesses are worshipped with flowers and fruits and sweets, whereas others need meat and liquor. Yet others are worshipped with song and dance. Flowers are not to be worn in Tirumala, because all the flowers that grow in the vicinity are meant for the Lord. There is room for the devotion of everyone and answers to the spiritual aspirations of everyone. This diversity is what makes sanAtana dharma so charming but yet so difficult to understand. 

The devotees of Ayyappa undergo penance for forty days before visiting Sabarimala. They dress differently. They abstain from meat, alcohol and sex. Can they do these without the consent and help of their wives? The day before the men leave for Sabarimala yatra is a big festival for the entire family. All the people (women included) worship and sing bhajans in praise of the lord. At least, this was what I had seen a few years ago, when I was invited to the celebration before the departure of the yaatris. The women send their husbands and brothers and fathers happily for the yaatra. Women participate in the celebrations with great fervor, even if they don't enter the temple.

And then there is Shani Shinganapur, unique in its own way. The temple does not have doors, like any other house in the village (even the bathrooms do not have doors, believe me!). Contrary to what some of the loud voices of today would have us believe, women do enter the temple for darshan. However, going up on the platform to pour oil on the icon is done by males who have undergone purificatory bath just before entering the temple. My mind simply fails to understand how this is an affront to women.

The vrata men perform before visiting Sabarimala is arduous. Also, it emphasizes self-denial and detachment. The daily duties of women need some level of attachment to the family and worldliness. Taking care of children, for instance. Whatever the feminists say, mothers' duties towards children are more those of the father. This affects other aspects of their lives also. They dress in different ways. They prefer different timings at work. They worship in different ways. sandhyāvandane is for men, whereas Hūvīḻya and kuṅkumārcane are for women. The Kathasaritsagara talks about a weird vrata that was performed by women to ward off diseases that are common in the rainy season. 

The argument that feminists put forth is that the patriarchal society of the day kept women out of places of worship because they menstruate. They try to falsely imagine the shortcomings of Islam in Hinduism too. However, except in places like Sabarimala, women of menstruating age are allowed to enter the temples and offer our worship. Yes, there is a restriction on women visiting temples when they are actually menstruating. But frankly, half the women I know would rather spend those days curled up in a bed and reading, than visiting overcrowded temples (please don't go by the feminine hygiene ads where women are jumping and playing during their periods). Whatever prompted these rules to be dictated, they are a blessing, even if in disguise. This is especially true in India where public sanitation leaves much to be desired.

Finally, the ultimate truth is that Biology is Destiny*. Until technology can make men with uteruses and make them produce babies, there is going to be this difference. But I hope we never get such technology, because we should accept and cherish these differences. A painting with many colors looks far prettier than one that has been smeared with red ink all over. 

*Not my quote, but I love it.

Cobwebs, Cobras and Luck

The other day, the main door of our house happened to be closed for an unusually long time in the evening. I happened to be the first one to open the door, and walked straight into a cobweb. I "Ewww!"ed and went hastily inside, wiping my face and neck. My Mother-in-law saw this and said "You know, walking into cobwebs is supposed to be very lucky". I felt a little better. (No, cobwebs are not common in our house :D)

But that got me thinking. I am not aware if this happens in other cultures also, but some very unpleasant things are regarded as lucky in India. Take, for example, the sighting of a cobra with its hood raised. That is supposed to be a very good thing to happen to somebody. Of course, I assume that this works only if the person keeps his/her head and walks away from it and not towards it, in reach of its fangs! There are loads of other such superstitions(?) about not-so-pleasant things, like squint-eyes and wisdom teeth growing at awkward angles.

I wonder what the reason is, behind this. I can think of one explanation. It is probably just a way to make a person feel better about an unpleasant experience. Imagine what it would do to the morale of the squint-eyed person if someone referred to him as, you know, the lucky one! Suppose somebody is shaken because of his encounter with a cobra, what is a better way to console him than to say "You know, you're really lucky!"?

That said, what is luck? We wish others luck before exams and before weddings. We carry lucky pens that hardly write and wear lucky dresses that are ragged. And at home, I am not allowed to watch any cricket match when India is playing, because that's supposed to be bad luck for the Indian team. I really wonder how much more presumptuous we can get, thinking that one person watching or not watching India play can influence their victory or defeat.

Is it a good idea to make Team India visit the Snake Park before their upcoming match against Australia? :))

Drums and Camphor, Rice and ...

I was eating a peaceful lunch in the lunch room today, talking about mundane things that afflict employees everywhere. It was then that I heard the sound of drums beating in a simple rhythm. I did not give much thought to it, until the drum-beating crowd sounded like they had made a stop right in front of our office. I walked to the window to see what it was. There was an open lorry, with the icon of a Goddess, bedecked with jewels and adorned with flowers. A couple of people were holding umbrellas above Her head. I thought that it was the traditional aarati, and I was instantly reminded of my days in Madras. Every now and then, processions of Gods used to be taken on our road. There used to be naagaswaram playing beautifully. The house-fronts would be cleaned, and adorned with rangolis. We used to take camphor, fruit and coconuts and perform pooja. But this procession wasn't just that.

There was a water tank leading the lorry. God's path has to be clean, so these guys had ingeniously brought a tank along, with its faucet open. Drums were beating loudly and rhythmically. A couple of youngsters were dancing and looked like they were drunk. A man spread banana leaves side by side on the ground, right in front of the lorry. A couple of women served rice and some more dishes on them. A girl removed agarbattis from the wrapper, handed them to the chief priestess (?) and threw the wrapper on the roadside. I remained watching, mainly to see whether these guys would clean up as they left. On hindsight, I think that was too much of an expectation.

Agarbattis were burnt. Camphor was lit. There was real devotion and seriousness on the faces of the people standing around the lorry. The drum-beating then reached a feverish tempo. Two sheep were dragged in front of the lorry. That was the limit for me. I could not stomach it anymore. I just walked back to my seat. A while later, the beating of the drums stopped.

I have spent quite some time in small and large towns of Karnataka. Every year, in B__, there used to be the annual festival of the Mother Goddess, and animal sacrifice used to be a regular part of the proceedings. I do not know if it continues, though. During my tenth standard I lived in H___, another town. And exactly before my exams, cholera broke out. The folks there thought that it was because the Mother Goddess was angry. Therefore, to propitiate her, a festival was organized. Some thirty buffaloes, a lot of sheep and innumerable chicken were sacrificed. The devotees were not at all worried about cholera spreading even more because of their unhygenic practices.

Is there a law that bans animal sacrifice? Yes!

Mission Saturn

Mission Saturn: Catastrophe in waiting?

Boy, are these people for real? I cannot imagine how people can think (now, are these people really thinking?) like this. One astrologer mouths about the Cassini mission "Man will never reach there. He will be destroyed before that. He should not even attempt to build such enmity with nature and, least of all, with such powerful planets". Another's pearls of wisdom go like this "Those monitoring the spacecraft will definitely be affected". And I do not even want to go into the psyche of the journalist who thought that this was worth being published. There were a couple of astrologers who held a different view, but as always, imbecility of imbeciles outshadows sanity of normal people.

I believe in Astrology, but I believe more in Freewill. Astrology can probably give a direction to our lives, but what we make of it is left to US. I have seen some people with supposedly great horoscopes choosing to make their lives miserable and what is worse, succeeding there. The problem with Astrology is that it gives lazy people a convenient excuse for their misery. Hey, working is hard. Do not work; just blame the poor planets for being unsuccessful!

Coming to this news item, is the theory that shani is vindictive, excuse enough for stalling the mission?. The mission itself obviously requires enormous amount of work. My professor is working on the Cassini mission to Saturn, and I read some papers about it. It is really, really involved and one must be perseverant and really, really learned to do that stuff. And it indeed distresses me that the so-called astrologers actually say these things about the mission in an offhandedly and irresponsible way.

Recently, I was watching a program on PBS, about Galileo. Galileo had a lot of opposition from the church for supporting Copernicus's heliocentric theory. In a letter, Galileo said, and I quote "But I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them”. The same argument holds here. With all the technologies available today, let us expand our horizons. Let us know, or at least try to know everything there is to know about everything. Let us not lose the curiosity we had when we were children. It is a wonderful thing!