Looking at Aradhane from the periphery

This new avatar as a journalist has me questioning a lot of things I previously took for granted, things that I thought was fairly basic and fundamental.

For example, consider the aradhane. 

Yesterday, Aug. 5, 2012, was the third day of the Raghavendra Swamy aradhane. And I visited three mutts (a temple of a different kind)- I insisted on visiting one of them, something I would never ever do previously- just so I could understand the logic behind grandeur of it all. More on that later.

Let me give you a little bit of intro- This was 341^st aradhane(anniversary of his cremation in Mantralaya).  All mutts celebrate the festival with pomp and show; most of the mutts I’ve visited over the past also serve a free meal (read elaborate lunch).

The number of devotees that throng mutts is enormous.

On a personal note, I have never been excited by religious events. At best, I can call myself secular. I’m happy to live my set of opinions on god and religion. However, I do like them for one reason, it gives people, a reason to celebrate and be merry. I look at the faces of people and enjoy, while all the religious folks bathe themselves in the customs and traditions of it all.

The aradhane is, to a large extent, a carnival for the elderly. Just like I sit with friends and compare notes before the exams, the elderly (atleast in my family) compare notes on the sweets served, the bhajans sung, and the benefits volunteers receive across different mutts. And the fervor is even more pronounced in my family- not just because we( excluding me)  are sworn devotees .. but also because we happen to be direct descendants of Rayaru(aka Raghavendra swamy). Yeah, blue blood and all..Go figure! The middle name Beegamudre should point you in the right direction.

On Aug. 12, I sat through 10 minutes of comparing notes on food and the niceties of the event in my cousin's home.“Oh, nam matha(mutt) dalli haygreeva kanri.. Fruit salad oo hakidru,” mom beamed proudly, as if it was her family function. “Also...” (I tried to translate this for the benefit of non-Kannadigas... sorry... I cannot..! It’s impossible!)

Unfortunately, she was interrupted by another family member, who was busy recalling some funny incident that involved an aachar (priest) and a volunteer.

Before that could end, another started on how nice the previous day was, which was cut short by who they met in the event... It was at this point I decided to sneak away and troll on Facebook. Much simpler you see.

Anyway, in one of the three mutts I happened to visit, an achaar was narrating a purana( a story--specifically glorifying rayaru).

“Who, here is poorer than he was at that time.”

My reaction- errmm..Duh! Several millions! What with all the inflation and all! And back then, when rayaru existed, the economy was much better that it is now. People dealt with gold, like they buy rice now!

I became a bitch for facts when I became a journalist.

Sure, he was poor. He went on to inspire people and do great things. No one’s contesting that- but making a statement as blatantly misinformed as that, I thought was thoroughly off putting.

He made several other statements.

“Who here, faced more difficulties than he did?” and several rhetoric questions basically aimed at glorifying him. I have nothing against the glorification. But delivering such a misinformed lecture to everyone –I wouldn’t recommend him!

 I was even more mesmerized with the crowd’s reaction. Every single syllable out of the priest’s mouth the devotees gulped down. I walked out of the hall after thoroughly rolling my eyes at the ignorance of everyone around.

In the main hall, people were busy praying- getting prasada in plastic cups, dropping wads of cash into the hundi( the bigger, religious version of piggy bank) and I stood in the middle of the crowd wondering how much plastic, water, and electricity went into this three-day fest.

 I quickly brushed the thought aside because I knew, there are several events around the world, which consume far more resources and waste more than half of it every single say. At least this event gave hope and renewed faith in people’s lives, gave them an anchor to align their lives around, no matter how exaggerated the claims made by the aachar were.

That afternoon, I was left alone by my family, amongst a sea of devotees to eat food.

Surrounded by two ladies, well past their seventies, eating the most traditional food I could get my hands on, on the most holiest (supposedly) of days, I got invited to hang out at a pub in the evening.

I gave myself the most tactical face palm, involuntarily guffawed, much to the annoyance of the pious aunties..and realized how random and warped my life is.

PS-- A request to all the devotees... read--extensively! Question what the priest says. Reaffirm your faiths with facts! He is not your encyclopedia.. Religion is much more than bowing your head to the elderly and trusting the priest to dictate your way of life. Discover.. Because religion and life are more colorful than one can imagine!