Shortly after I entered, I saw a man come with his wife, stand in the centre of the temple, and loudly sing an Aarti (Bhajan) of Devi. I was initially perplexed because I had never seen anyone do that. I thought he must be a singer the temple hired to recite the Aarti. But no musical instruments accompanied him, just his wife, both singing on top of their voice.
I grew up most of my life in South India, and this has never happened in any South Indian temple. The other devotees in the temple were unmoved and unfazed by the couple singing as if they had seen it happening before. I decided to sit and observe how it ends. The couple stopped singing after about 15 minutes, took Prasad, and left. That's all.
I was stumped. I have never seen any ritual/recital like this anywhere. Because temples are generally places where you sit and absorb the energy of the Deity. You sit near the Garbha Gruha, and you try to bask yourself in the vibration and energy of the Deity for two reasons.
One is because the Grabha Gruha and the Deity get consecrated on a Kunda filled with gemstones, precious metals, and Yantras emitting tremendous vibration. Second, because of the continuous daily rituals in the temple, the Deity reaches the peak of its vibration during certain times of the day.
A temple is where we go and submerge ourself in that energy field. The concept of Daan, Dakshina and money came much later.
While I was walking back from the temple, a few questions kept coming to me. Why and who asked this couple to sing like this in a temple? No scriptures mention any ritual or method like this.
Then, it struck me that it is the very core of Sanatana Dharma. It gives you the flexibility to express your devotion however you want. Scriptures clearly mention the rules of what to do in a temple and how to perform Puja, but that does not stop you from doing it your way. That flexibility is the key in Santana Dharma.
Santana Dharma is timeless, and there is a reason it is. Remember, whenever a storm comes, only the hardest and strongest trees get uprooted. But the subtle and nimble ones sway with the storm and still stand strong.
Sanatana Dharma is dynamic and fluid like water. It will bend against any obstruction and cross over. From time immemorial, there have been attacks and atrocities against the Dharma in different ways, but it has been unmoved and unscathed. And that is because of a couple like that who were singing in the temple, just expressing their devotion in the way they knew. They may not have known the scriptural injunctions, but they were happy doing what they did.
I mindfully thanked God that I could witness that incident; otherwise, I would have never thought in this direction. Now, what that couple did is both good and bad.
Good because they are just expressing their devotion in the way they know. Just like Bedara Kannappa offered Shiva Linga the best meat, he had hunted. The only is difference that Bedara Kannappa sacrifices both his eyes to the Shiva Linga, greatest evidence of devotion.
The bad part is that, let's say you have a limited time on Earth and must complete an experiment. Would you prefer to trial and error and start from scratch, or would you take help from people who have done the experiments before and learn from their mistakes and experiences? Most of us would choose the second option, right?
That is where the scriptures come into play. The scriptures are nothing but experiences and learning from different Rishis and Yogis who tried doing the experiment from scratch. All their experiences, mistakes, and winnings are recorded very clearly. Yes, many of the scriptures are lost. But we still have a big chunk of them available to us today.
The biggest problem is that we need to read our scriptures. Of course, there are many valid reasons why many of us can't. All that is required to destroy a civilisation or culture is to eliminate the language of its scriptures. That is what the invaders of Bharat did historically. You will find numerous such attacks on Sanskrit and the scriptures.
That is why many of us do not know Sanskrit even today. It's been wiped out of the educational system, and the Sanskrit taught in schools is far from the Sanskrit used in the Vedas, etc.
And when we don't read our scriptures, two things happen - we fall prey to misinformation, Totka and other shortcuts that have no basis in Sanatana Dharma. And second, we will never learn how to complete the experiment. We will waste time doing things thinking they will give results, and at the end reach no where.
To exemplify, how many of us chant Mantras daily, thinking they will give wealth, health, or some other goal? Chanting Mantra will not provide complete results until we understand its different parts.
(CLICK HERE to know more on different parts of Mantras).
There are numerous things like this we do inaccurately in our daily life, which are not in sync with the foundations of Sanatana Dharma. Whatever happened with Sanatana Dharma in the past, cannot be changed. But atleast now we can try to learn more about it, just one step further.
4 comments
Hello Sir
I started following your page since Navratri when your page appeared on my insta feed.Since then I have loved chanting Argala stotram and reading on the tidbits about Devi rahasyam which is inspiring me to buy the book but I have my own apprehensions.As much as I want to understand the real techniques for spiritual connects,I believe that every person has their own way of spiritual connection,some listen to chants ,some try to chant and do it wrong as they are still learning ,some just do their favourite chants of their ishta devata.To me all of this is spiritual connection.The inquisitiveness of knowing the right pronunciations and meaning should come from within.Regardless,it is a certain expectation,connection or belief that makes people chant.To discount altogether that without knowing meaning chanting is useless is the only statement that bothers me.what is your message to a layman who considers Sanskrit as a hard foreign language but loves to hear to chants and is trying his best to do it regularly unaffected by how he/she pronounces.
Hi Parigyaan sir
Your blogs concept section is very thoughtful and itself a connection to divine. Loved reading through it however in this blog i first time dont fully agree on, i may be wrong but just wanted to express my thoughts, you being someone i feel blessed to get the directions and grace from. I think whether its South, North or any part of the world once cannot bind everything with protocols or rituals. There is something called inner connection with that supreme divine and when that Shakti wants/makes us to behave in that way to appease her/him i dont think any rituals or scriptures will have any relevance to overpower that command from the Supreme Power itself. Aarti is one such example of Bhakti Devotion that the couple was immersed into by singing loudly.
I apologies if i dont make any sense as iam a beginner only in spirituality but i just tried to express what i have learnt from your super amazing books and other sources. You will always be my favourite mentor Parigyaan sir 😊🙏🏼 Loads of Love and Light to you! 🧿🧿🧿
I did navratri again this year n chanted the durga saptashati properly. I smhow a very strong connection to Devi this year. I am doing the Srgalastotram now every day. What are the other procedures I need to do if u can guide me. I am a young working professional from Kolkata.
Pranam Parigyaan ji
Very well said, our Sanatana Dharma is so beautiful. And now it has reduced to just performing rituals. However, seeing the revival of Sanatana Dharma in this age of technology gives us hopes.
I am interested in understanding and exploring Srimad Bhagavata Gita, could you guide me with few suggestions pls