HEALTH

DEITIES RITUALS MUHURTA

AND

PILGRIMAGE
DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

The ideas and forms; especially those of deities; appear to be created by individuals. But is this true? Is it not true that right from the conception, gestation, birth and subsequent growth and development of an individual is not determined by that individual? In fact, is it not true that; even the genetic constitution and the heredity of that individual is NOT determined, decided and developed by that individual? The case in point is that of ideas such as three hundred and thirty million deities in Hindu Dharma! Such ideas and their forms; are ridiculed; as if they were created by some stupid individuals. Actually no individual per se; decides his or her ideas! They are the product of time, space and several other phenomena in society and nature. The idea of three hundred and thirty million deities; is most probably through the appreciation of the interrelationship between the time, space, cosmos, solar system, peculiarities of different celestial phenomena, their effects on life, circadian rhythms, consciousness; and the ultimate culmination of life into superliving i.e. self realization. This insight of the seers; also forms the basis of auspicious times, days (MUHURTA), horoscopes, different rituals, different rituals involved in acculturation (SANSKARA), and

different ways of worshipping different deities for their characteristic blessing (e.g. enlightenment and wisdom from Ganapati and Saraswati ) for blossoming into superliving. As per the perception of the seers; the individual human existence is but a miniscule of the universe or cosmos (including the cosmic consciousness, time, space etc), the deities are cosmic entities with specific predilection or correspondence and/or subtle relationship with specific loci in individual human existence. The individual human beings are near exact replication and representation of the cosmic being; the PURUSHA and His attributes viz. PRAKRUTI; with potential to be PURUSHA and PRAKRUTI! Hence worshipping deities; is actually rectifying, healing and empowering the corresponding loci in an individual human existence through the blessings of these deities; (who are part of PURUSHA and PRAKRUTI; i.e. true self!); for realization of true self; and concurrent global blossoming. Strangely though; several authors have criticized or even ridiculed many Hindu ways of life and the rituals. This is; due to superficial study; or because of extraordinary transphysiological enlightened state; beyond the realm; of a common man, referred to as VIDEHI AVASTHA.

Actually; even though Hindu way of life; which is heterogeneous; has some grossly aberrant ideas and traditions; broadly speaking; many of the customs and traditions embody a step by step process of evolution towards superliving (individual and global blossoming). This is why; even as Hindu philosophy talks about the immortality of soul; still it prescribes the SANSKARA, rituals, traditions, customs, conventions, different worships, different auspicious days, times and so on; so that a child grows, develops and evolves to the state of self realization, which is being one with the immortal cosmic soul; i.e. superliving; benevolent to universe. Hence irrespective of the names and titles of the religions; the practice of worshipping the deities; and following many of the rituals conducive to superliving; would soon be popular, sought after and practiced in every nook and corner of the world; for holistic welfare of the world! It is true that the legacy of the ancient seers has been destroyed, distorted, adulterated and vitiated in many ways due to preponderance of TAMOGUNA and RAJO GUNA; (again; a function of time and not individuals); in the form of brutal bloody invasions, carnages and genocides by some and of some! Hence study and scrutiny of the legacy has become difficult!

This is also because; mere rote, mechanistic, reductionist and lopsided logical thinking and learning; without evolving internally (As in case of westernized mainstream education or a traditional gurukul); cannot extract the essence of past wisdom in e.g. nyasa, vyahruti, achaman, pranayama, deities and pilgrimage. The egalitarian socio-economic materialistic perspective; also cannot grasp the core of the hundreds of rituals, conventions and festivals in Hindu Dharma. It offers simplistic superficial explanations these phenomena and knowingly or unknowingly neglects, trivializes, vulgarizes and/or undermines their sublime and pivotal role in the holistic blossoming of individuals and human civilization. But study and scrutiny of ancient wisdom is most certainly required. We have to be honest and holistic for this. Like the rituals and rites; the places of pilgrimage are also criticized or ridiculed. This is partly; because; their relevance as sources of vitality and vigor and conduits of vitality to self realization, for one and all; became redundant; due to unprecedented rise of TAMOGUNA and RAJOGUNA; in the form of mean selfishness, cheating, deception and superstitions. NAMASMARAN evolves, enlightens and enables us to see, appreciate, scrutinize, verify and modify if necessary; the

practical details (not the essence) of wisdom of the seers of the past (irrespective of the race, region and religion); who have left behind the invaluable treasure of the legacy such as Ayurveda, Jyotish, Yoga, Smrutis, Acupressure, Medicinal Herbs and so on; and participate in true individual and global welfare!