The Gods

The village ethos is rooted in god and religion. People know of a dharma that transcends immediate benefits. Dharma gives them a framework of morals.

Gangamma, the mother godess, has 101 sisters. In our own village of 30 families we have temples of Yerpachchamma, Tirupati Gangamma, Sibbalamma, Banthala Gangamma. There is a Vinayaka temple outside each hamlet ... the Vinayaka co-exists in peace with Gangamma, Yerpachchamma, Redima, Banthala Gangamma, Munneshwara, Gurappa … Families in turns daily wash, clean and put muggu (rangoli) and light the lamp.

Existance, entertainment, reunions, dharma are all rooted in religion. Every third or fourth sentence refers to devudu or dharmam.

India is a country of very deep morality, embedded in a dharmam that that is part of the concsious, subconcsious and unconcsious of the people. There is ‘paapam’, or evil acts, and ‘punyam’, or meritorious acts, in which codes of behavior are embedded. Invoking mantrams to bring ill on people brings paapam. Helping someone in need gives punyam. ‘Dharmam’ is to do the right action. Dharmam is to help the needy. Dharmam is to share what one is eating. Dharmam is to do good work even when unwatched. To feed someone gives punyam.

Once the paradigm is part of living, people strive to live by that.

This is not a religiousness that the left will understand. It is even more certainly not a religiousness that the right will understand.When a leftist friend who had come home and told them at the temple pooja that 'gods should be beaten with slippers', they only looked at him with mild surprise, and went on watching the festivities. they do not need to defend their gods ... who are beyond all abuse ... The village people will also never pull down a mosque, or unleash violence to address some historical wrongs.True indian religiousness will give the political left and the political right short shrift. Gandhi understood this religiousnes.

True religiousness seems to have immense power.

it gives chinapaapakka the power to give rice to the person from an unknown village when the village in in the grip of drought and unemployment. and say, 'one should give when aksed, and eat a meal less if needed'. she also says, 'god will show the way to one meal, if not three'. that faith in god and committment to dharmam seem to go together.

this is not a religiousness that the left will understand. it is even more certianly not a religiousness that the right will understand. the village people will never pull down a mosque, or unleash violence to address some historical wrongs.

they hang a picture of jesus, next to their vinayaka, and say that he is also a good god. their gangamma and yerpachchamma and vinayaka are all worshipped.

and when a leftist friend who had come home and told them at the temple pooja that 'gods should be beaten with slippers', they only looked at him with mild surprise, and went on watching the festivities. they do not need to defend their gods ... who are beyond all abuse ...

true indian religiousness will give the political left and the political right short shrift. gandhi understood this religiousness - and learnt from the village people.

Dharmam ...

Village concsiousness is rooted in dharmam.

There is ‘paapam’, or evil acts, and ‘punyam’, or meritorious acts, in which codes of behavior are embedded. Invoking mantrams to bring ill on people brings paapam. Helping someone in need gives punyam. ‘Dharmam’ is to do the right action. Dharmam is to help the needy. Dharmam is to share what one is eating. Dharmam is to do good work even when unwatched. To feed someone gives punyam.

Once the paradigm is part of living, people strive to live by that.

"What I have learnt I have learnt from my village, and it has given me a sense of the real religiousness of this country - leaving aside all superficialness elsewhere.

From each symbol the best can be drawn. I have seen the village people draw the best.

Their ability to share in dire times comes from a strength and courage far deeper than mine. They say their duty is to follow dharmam which means giving the last of theirs to those in greater need.

They say dharmam means honest and hard work, 'even when no one watches'. It is a faith which allows them to accept the reality, after making every human effort.

The actions of the past may lead to the present - but by the same token the present leads to the future ! That shows in their attitudes and actions.

My positions took a complete reversal over the decades in my village. Now I for one refuse to question the essence of a religion that has given very ordinary indians an ethic and a courage to live by this ethic. Far greater than mine."

21 April 2017 at 22:10 ·

Jayanthi told me that even through the worst times, her father lights the lamp and prays to Venkateshwarudu Swami on Saturdays, the day holy to Him.

My village people pray to God. It is not an opium. It is a way to connecting oneself to the universe, to something larger than oneself. It need not be a prayer of supplication. Though it can be, and thats as well.

We all need those daily moments of silence and stillness. And reducing oneself to a zero, as we dissolve in the whole.