A mind that is free and
anchored in peace requires no conditions to be fulfilled to stay that way. It
is only in the absence of inner peace that we insist on following rituals and
being superstitious.
Some years ago, I was
wedded to numerology. I needed numbers to add up in names before we named a
product or service offering in our Firm. If I did not get along well with some
of my colleagues, I would add up the numerological value of the alphabets that
constituted their names, and often conclude that we were numerologically
incompatible. I would not stay in hotel rooms whose numbers added up to 4 or 8!
I don’t remember how I got hooked on to this practice. But I followed it
religiously for over a decade. The times that I ended up getting only rooms
whose numbers added up to 4 or 8, especially while traveling in the US where
front office agents at hotels were least interested in meeting my room number
preference, I found my stays always going wrong! I would be anxious the moment
I entered a room with an incompatible number total and would stay frayed at the
edges up until when I eventually checked out.
Then, in 2004, when on a
pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Sabarimalai, in Kerala, I was forced to stay
there overnight because of inclement weather. While Sabarimalai is sacred and
the temple itself is beautiful, the way pilgrims, and the temple’s callous
administrators, manage the mountain paths leading to the temple, and its
surroundings is pathetic. The hygiene quality is abysmal. Since I had to stay overnight,
I got myself a room which turned out to be adding to a total of 8. It was the
dirtiest room you will ever find on the planet – unkempt with a stained, stinky
toilet (Indian squatting type) attached. Although I was exhausted after the 4
hour road trip to the foothills at Pamba, and further after the gruelling 4
hour climb to the hilltop, I just could not get sleep. My body ached and craved
for sleep. But my mind was restless and resented being in a number 8 room – dirty
and stinking to boot!
I sent my wife a text
message wondering why was I being ‘punished’ despite all my piety!
Pat came her reply: “You are punishing
yourself! Think of the number ‘8’ as the sign of infinity, of the Lord himself….you
will get sleep instantaneously!”
Her message struck me
like a bolt of lightning. I suddenly awakened to the futility of my beliefs.
The number 8 was not causing me any agony. My belief that it was unlucky was
bringing me grief. I realized that my decade-plus-old practice was coming in
between me and an opportunity to be free. I let go! I resolved, in a
nano-second, to free myself from the shackles of my belief in my unfounded
number 4 and number 8 theory, put my head down, and slept peacefully for 8 (!)
hours at a stretch!
That day I feel a part of
me awakened forever! Not that I disrespect the science of numerology or intend
to impune its practitioners. I have simply realized that I didn’t need it in my
Life anymore!
Years later, I read this Zen story of the ‘Ritual Cat’. When a
spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat who
lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So the teacher
ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when
the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation
session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the
monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual
teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up
a cat for meditation practice.
This
is how, I would imagine, almost all rituals and superstitions have come up! In
the garb of tradition they hold us hostage. For the one who truly strives for
inner peace, nothing can be a source of distraction. And for the distracted,
there can be no inner peace!
Think
about this. Which is the ritual cat that’s holding you hostage? Go bell that
cat and be free….forever….
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