The open sky under which I slept gave me a tug in the morning with its cold winds with sun rising on the east breaking the first lights of the dawn. I was so refreshed to be under an open sky and could not help but walk over to the corner of the roof facing the sun and raised my arms up and soaked the morning rays. The eastern winds caressing my whole body rejuvenating the soul and I could not help smiling as I remembered the famous Titanic pose that I was displaying in the cold morning breeze with the corner of the roof acting as the hull of an ancient ship.
The day started with my brother going over to our mango grove where the pot containing my fathers ashes were kept. There we had to perform a ritual of bidding farewell to father with all honors and providing him with the necessary means for his life onwards. Such is our belief system that we don’t take the death as a parting but only as a continuation of a journey. There is a different sect of Brahmins called Karma Kaandi’s (Those who perform last rites and who take the offerings for the death as a means to convey the same to the departed soul. As per our customs we have called 11 Brahmins for the ritual and we will have to perform rituals and offer food and offerings to those Brahmins. My brother being the eldest had to take the lead in all the rituals so he was bathed and then he had to sit in the ritual for continuous 5 hours meanwhile as per our customs, we all brother had to shave our heads or cut hairs as offering of our own ego to the perpetual truth of life being momentary and we are all mere occupants in this body and finally we will have to live. I remember the famous saying of GITA, that the soul can not be cut, burned, make wet or dry, the soul is the forever living element of the Par Brahman and only moves on. Hence this ritual in effect makes one understand that it’s the ego which causes us pain not the death of the suffering.
Once we have had finished the rituals and the Brahmins have departed we all went to a nearby river which was 3 KMs away for a bath. I remembered so many incidents that happened in those fields that it almost made me feel sick in heart. How happy those days were, free from pressures and pain. Pure bliss, even in the games that we played in the dirt and dust, I found undiluted happiness. I came across those rustic villages where we used to walk around looking for some sweets, or some special branches of trees shaped like V for making a special slingshot. Armed with those slingshots, the bow and specially sharpened arrows we used to walk into the mango grove called Kookuhali which has so many trees that even in the mid day it was dark inside. Specially in the summer days, when the mangos become ripe with each passing breeze, they used to fall to the ground in hundreds and we used to go crazy trying gather them in the baskets as soon as they fell. Now the place is in ruins as many of the trees were felled and many a storm also took its toll, I looked around for the special tree that we used to call King and Queen and used to celebrate each year there crowning with so many kids gathered around. We even used to have the tie the knot with Vedic rituals of marriage with one of our cousin pundit tying the sacred knot between those two trees planted firmly next to each other.
The river came into view and it flashed in my memory like a long lost friend. This river a very small tributary to Holy Ganges is called Bansi River. How much fun we used to have there. My brother’s son went all wild and started running to it to make a running dive inside the cold waters and I find myself running along side with him. Just before he made his jump my flashback went off and I simply walked to the river. The water was cold in the hot summer which made all of us refreshed. The river was bringing along with it many water plants and algae and while being in the water it used to touch me which made me jump every time. I am still scared of snakes although in such a frolic no one snake will dare to come around but I was still scared. Slowly the sun started settling down and we decide to walk back to our village.
Om Namah Shivaya
Virtual
The open sky under which I slept gave me a tug in the morning with its cold winds with sun rising on the east breaking the first lights of the dawn. I was so refreshed to be under an open sky and could not help but walk over to the corner of the roof facing the sun and raised my arms up and soaked the morning rays. The eastern winds caressing my whole body rejuvenating the soul and I could not help smiling as I remembered the famous Titanic pose that I was displaying in the cold morning breeze with the corner of the roof acting as the hull of an ancient ship.
1 Comments:
This is soooo cool!
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