Paalaguttapalle (Dalitwada) - A Village: The religiousness of the land.

Tuesday 27 March 2018

The religiousness of the land.

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Aparna Krishnan

28 March 2015Edited

In the modern educated world. where science is the religion, to be truly religious is seen as old fashioned and slightly stupid and irrational even. Maybe because science cannot prove Dharmam, and the need to follow it.

My village people are religious. They worship in Tirumala, at the local Vinayaka temple, at the anthill which is Nagamma, at the rock under the neem tree which id Gangamma. I have to rediscover the theism which my education stole from me, and reclaim it. i have the essence of it, and need to own it up completely. The soul of my country breaths religiousness. The heart of my village is religious.

Comments

Deepak Kumar " I have to rediscover the theism which my education stole from me, and reclaim it" right on the spot correct!!

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Bharatha Sudarshan Good expression..

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Piyush Manush is it rediscovering theism or pushing down brahmanism down the throats of unsuspecting rural populace who place a lot of trust on anyone who seeks to reach out to them .. i have not seen a single post of u celebrating village folks indulgence with nature in terms of faith !! it has been temples and idols all the way - other forms of theism has been pushed below the carpet in the name of dharma that u so define in your convenience..

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Aparna Krishnan Piyush, i would suggest you simply go to any village and watch silently, keeping aside every notion. It is not easy - it took me many years to reach that state, because we the educated are full on notions. Yes, my people seek something to worship - they worship a stone anointed with vibhuthi as Gangamma, they anoint the anthill and it is Nagamma, They build temples with a devotion and at a cost that I registered my protest even as I contributed as part of the community. Yes, they do to Tirumala (that we the educated find opulent and avoid) with the same devotion as they do to the Gangamma idol.

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Aparna Krishnan My people may be more idolators than nature worshippers (tho' I find such divisions rather synthetic and extremely unpalatable personally. I see faith and ethics and a strength to follow ethics, and rituals and sacrifice as one integrated whole in India.). They do not need to fit into my oy your notions.

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Aparna Krishnan And yes Piyush Manush, my India is deeply theistic. And so am I - far less so, But still that is where I am and belong.

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Sunny Narang Aparna with you completely . Any stone anywhere can become the centre of faith and ultimately even that is just a gateway to the infinite within and without . Vivekananda was told by Kali, that I protect you and not you , me . So he says , that every temple in India can be destroyed and not a whiff of difference will happen to Sanatan Dharma . Every tribe on the planet also has some carved wood icons or spaces they revere , Sanatan Dharma is just taking the Nature understanding deeper . Were'nt we all tribals a few thousand years ago ? Everyone on the planet ? Its just that some have lost the nature and soul connect and some not .

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Aparna Krishnan And Piyush, where is your 'unsuspecting rural populace' that will buy my 'brahminical theories' (or your theories for that matter). I have only seen them as extremely rooted and clear in their positions, with an openness to listen which comes out of a deep rootedness.

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Aparna Krishnan And also I would think its time this beating the 'brahminical practices' stopped. Over generations India has integrated everything into one vast cresendo. Gangamma and animal sacrifice and the Mahabharatam and Tirumala with its gold plated dome (which disturbs my and your middle class sensibilities) and Sri Krisna and daily prayers and festivals. Thats India - take it or leave it.

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Vidyasankar Sundaresan If you get a chance, check out Thayumanavar's compositions. There is one very poignant one that will resonate with you, kallaada pErgaLe nallavargaL. Sangita Kalanidhi T. Viswa, the flautist brother of Balasaraswati, used to sing this as a viruttam often in his concerts.

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Aparna Krishnan Vidyasankar Sundaresan, please translate.

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Aparna Krishnan (And Piyush, to ask to nature worship, and not idol worship is again a synthetic construct of an educated mind. Even when the village people bow to the idol at Tirumala - where I do not go because of my objection to seperate queues for the rich, and my sheer laziness to be honest - they connect to the same divinity that they do when they bow to the lump of cowdung they worship as Gavaramma during Sankranthi. And that same divinity in vedanta is connected to as Vishwaroopa upasana - which is god in all creation. india is a whole that cannot be split and amputated in parts. Though wrongs have to be corrected time and again, and so Nanaks and Kabirs come ... )

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Aparna Krishnan Vidyasankar Sundaresan, found this translation. Yes. In the utter illiterates of this country I have found the greatest clarity and humility, and even the deepest understanding of religion, as they live by the tenets that are commonly just recited and left. " Many learned Pundits thus are very pious and religious, hiding a huge mammoth pride of self deceit that they are ‘well educated’! It is targeting them that Thayumanavar says with a double certificate that the “kallaada pergaLe nallavargaL nallavargaL”, meaning ‘unread are good, very good!’ Having said so, he further laments, “kartrum arivillaada en kanmattai ensolgen?” That means, “Where to go and whom to tell about my fate when despite all education, I am so foolish as not to be devoted to God!”

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Aparna Krishnan Piyush, through this entire discussion of theism and atheism, one tangential point seems central. This needs to be understood - and this we can do this later, and in person also maybe better. About the fact that notions can be pushed own the rural illiterate world. Not possible. Their groundedness is complete. Which is why it becomes so critical for us to understand the Indian concsiousness and faith and soul - and work from that reality. That holds for any culture and civilisation. There is a civilisational ethos which is larger that you and me (we are just specks of dust, as Radhika to my delight pointed out the other day), and unless we can tune into that and work with it and correct its direction where needed, we are irrelevent.

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Rakesh Dogra The sanctity of this simple shrine is no less than most popular Teerthams anywhere...

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Rahul Banerjee Stones are for marvelling at for their innate beauty rather than for worshipping as symbols of nonexistent super beings!! People are free to do the latter but that doesn't mean that the people who prefer to do the former are fools. Your aggressive touting of the latter is a waste of time and energy. As piyush says you would be better occupied doing the former!!

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Aparna Krishnan Rakesh Dogra, any place where people bow to divinity within and without becomes sacred. Sacredness is in dissolving oneself into the entire. I see that when my village people pray with folded hands to the 8 directions, dissolving themselves into that direction and into that prayer, before they say the mantrams to a sick person. It is mind stilling - when one sees someone negate oneself that way.

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Aparna Krishnan Rahul Banerjee, in the phrase itself is the subtle dismissal of those who worship stones. Or it sounds like that. And even in meditation, one aspires to lose oneself in a larger whole. And that larger principle or shoonyata (or poornatha !). That is divinity. And many of us need something to anchor that onto - a stone or an image or a direction even. And india, as i see it, revels in those anchors, and celebrates them.

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Rajesh Pandey If stones give anchorage or direction to some individuals, let their stones be with them. Why thrust our limited (borrowed ? ) wisdom on such individuals ? That too, when they are not even asking for it ?

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Aparna Krishnan Yes, limited knowlege. Yes, borrowed knowlege. We live in scientific times Rajesh Pandey, and thereby religiousness stands discredited in educated circles. A 'nature spirituality' is permitted, but not a 'stone idol' which is the worst of superstitiousness ! Rahul Banerjeeplease face the fact that in these exchanges the atheist usually has a clear sense of the superior intelligence of his choice.Surprisingly, there is no smugness in the theism in the village. By their standards, I am a lukewarm follower, and though they have asked me directly if i do not beleive in God, it has been surprisingly free of any overtomes ever.

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Aparna Krishnan (There was a time when I told them that I would not come to the Gangamma festival to cook sugarerd rice under the tree and offer to the idol - because they killed hens there (animal sacrifice) - utterly judgementally. I only face a gentle response - Vanajakshi brought her pot of rice and asked me to add some grains of rice in it, and said that that would be counted as participation. That deep culture was what i have always seen there.)

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Aparna Krishnan (Later i started going, because i realised that a non vegetarian community will offer its god its food. Reasonable. And in animal sacrifices the hen is killed with a prayer, while in civilised cities, they are rasied in inhuman coops, debeaked, and killed prayerlessly.)

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Aparna Krishnan Rajesh Pandey, my objection to animal sacrifice was also limited (borrowed) knowlege. It takes the educated animal a long time to get simple and straightforward in thinking.

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Rahul Banerjee The Indian ethos happens to have an atheistic component also.

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Aparna Krishnan yes, but that is fringe. the main ethos is theistic.

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Rahul Banerjee That doesn't make it automatically more rational or mandatory to follow.

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Aparna Krishnan i agree. we are free to follow our beleifs, and especially so in the indian paradigm. only, given that our main concern is the society and its overall well being, it becomes important to tune into the mindset of the country very deeply. and there theism cannot be dismissed. because as i understand, it is the basis on which the world view of india is built.

Aparna Krishnan it took me a very long time to see it. ti showed itself only after i dropped my self definition as an activist, and became simply a teacher, friend and neighbour. having no theory to defend enabled me to see more clearly a different reality. I accept Piyush Manush's point that maybe i have been focussing a little more on the more common worship of a brick and a stone and a tree and an anthill, each personified as a god or goddess. there are also purely nature based worship such as praying to the directions, and to the sun. But it is all so interrated that i would not know when the element converts to a stone. Gangamma, Annasamy Anna, told me is Gangadevi herself, and most powerful of all gods as water is the most powerful, as life itself is formed within water in the womb. But she is worshipped as a stone. Idol worship ? So be it.

Aparna Krishnan Superstition to worship a direction and water and a stone and an anthill and an image ? According to the Geeta, the highest is gnana yoga, below which is vishwaroopa dhyanam (seeing god in all creation), below which is ishta devata dhyanam (for those unable to meditate on the formless), below which is nishkama karma yoga (for the rajasic person to act without attachment to the fruit of action - activities for the larger good), below which is skama karma yoga (applying to selfish activities, but without attachment to the results).

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Aparna Krishnan maybe my village people and i are are the ishta devata dhyanam stage - not all of us are able to se god in the entire creation. when the geeta does not judge and label them as 'superstitious', i will not. and even if the geeta did, i would not !

Aparna Krishnan to me the educated are more uncouth than the simple illiterate - and i begin with my own behaviour starting from a very limited generosity compared to my illiterate neighbours. therefore when i say 'educated animal' i do mean it, but that, as much of my criticism about my own community starts with myself.

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Aparna Krishnan This is not as a response, but more as an affirmation of a general. A person of a community critiqueing himself and his community in strong words, in my paradigm, is valid within limits of decent language (i lay those limits for myself). thereby i can call me and my clan 'educated buffoons' also. but i will not permit usage of that same language for the other party, especially when it is already disadvantaged by everything stacked against it - i will not accept another calling village people 'illiterate buffoons'. Self critique has certian permits, and critiqueing others has certian other permits. That is the code I hold valid. That is all.

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