During storytime today with my grandaughter over WhatApp video call, I read her a story that popped up in my search on YouTube. As I began to read it to her, I realized that the story was indeed for me. I was having a tough time trying to put my act together in going within as recently my neighborhood has not been conducive with all the din, smells, and activities going around 24/7. At night I used to pick up my pillow and blanket and look around for a quiet spot to doze. This story taught me that the grass is seldom greener elsewhere.
Those who aspire to become full warrior monks shall be put to test. It needs years of dedication to mastering the martial art at times as many as 10 to 11 years.
If in an earlier post in comparison to life within the monastery walls and beyond that, I have to retract my earlier opinion after seeing these monks put in the years of practice. I realized that life is equally hard within the walls and beyond it. I realized the grass is never greener beyond the walls too. When the warrior monks spent years training both in Kung Fu and learning the Buddhist scriptures to qualify to become a Shaolin master, elsewhere on the globe we see people by just adorning attires and dashing their bodies with ash, become overnight Sadhus and monks. Even an astrologer who sits at the pavements looking at our palms and looking into our stars has to educate himself and train to read the lines on the palms and the corresponding stars in the skies. I know how difficult it is having learned to draw up astrological charts from scratch. The much bigger challenge is to correctly predict the happenings when explaining the Gochara Palan as the planets move. The granny who sits under the hot sun selling her wares or homegrown vegetables or cookies deserves more respect than those who adorn the garb of the mendicant and reach out to passerby for donations. But what we do is bargain with the granny who is trying to make a small income to survive, telling her that her goods are costly. On the other hand, we extend our debit and credit cards proudly at posh outlets without muttering a word neither asking for a discount or complaining about how much they charge.
Similarly, if an avatar achieves emancipation it is no big deal. Or for a Siddhar who turns up mysteriously possibly originating by assembling the elements together in taking a form to walk the face of the earth, is not a big deal. But for Ramalingam, a commoner who was born to a couple and grew up with siblings like us to place a concerted and determined effort in reaching God and achieve that state proving to us that it was possible for any man to become divine and later turn into the very divinity is indeed the greatest achievement. Can we attain a similar feat?
We have been blinded to the extent that we do not recognize the genuine from the fake. We think that the grass is greener on the other side of the bank. We think peace and tranquility are to be achieved out there and over there. But Ramalinga Adigal brought peace and tranquility within him. If one stepping into Bhagawan Ramana's samadhi temple senses a serene and peaceful environment and feeling imagine how it would have been walking into the place when the saint was around in the physical form. While we go on searching out there, these saints turned their very place of residence into energy vortexes and pull others to it.
We are all a pack of spiritual tourists. Yes, we tour spiritual spots year in and year out. The din and bustle in the bus or car continue even after we step out of the vehicle upon arrival at these sacred spots. The conversation continues as we enter and make our way into the sacred caves or go within the inner walls of the temples. With man putting up more and more statues in these places it has become a museum rather than a place to sit and meditate, taking in the vibes and energy. All things are done these days to bring visual delight to us. The temples are brightly light and the divine flames are lost in these artificial lightings. To view the stars in the night skies we need to look at it from a place far away from the city lights. Only then shall the stars be seen. Most of these ancient temples relied on natural lighting to light up the place. The inner sanctum is always dark. The only moment we get a glimpse of the deity is when the camphor is lit and the flame showed. Devotees in never wanting to miss that fraction of a second are alert waiting in advance and anticipating for that moment. Things have changed now with the quality of devotees where rather than raising their hands into the air and bringing their palms together over their head in prayer in this rare moments of communion with ones God, they hold their smartphones taking pictures and videos.
Man has become disconnect from the divine. Yes, he is seen at these holy spots in large numbers but he fails to connect with the energies prevailing there. It is only in silence and in the darkness that the sound of silence is heard and the divine light is seen. With the advent of technology that we cannot live without these days, we could be selective in allowing them and not using them at least in places of worship. Self-discipline and understanding is a key factor here rather than to lay rules. But if man has lost his common sense and cannot think he then deserves to be treated like animals that are herded away. Rules are for those who do not have self-discipline. Neither does one who observes self-discipline need the cane.
Life is like a fleeting dream. There is not much time left. Let us bring the much-desired change. Let us adopt certain practices when we travel to places of pilgrimage and abodes of the Siddhas, enter the sacred caves and the jungles. Let us respect the place. Let us drop all prior conversations. Let us absorb the prana and energies prevalent and in abundance in these places. It is always existing 24/7. How is it that many miss it then? It shall be made known to us only if we bring awareness to that moment. We need to bring awareness to it and get connected. Just as we are not aware of the mechanics that goes on beyond the touch of our finger on a touch screen or smart phone or the click of a mouse on an icon on the desktop, man has become fully automated. He is always in auto pilot mode. It is time we brought awareness to each moment. The divine only shows itself at these moments when man's senses are withdrawn from his surroundings and his inner thoughts. Or in exceptional cases, the divine itself comes to draw the curtain over the world around us leading us to have a spectacular experience that is out of this world deep within us.