Originally posted by: Kwerky
Wisu, you never fail to surprise me. Seriously! I am always bowled over by your erudition, specially when you talk about spirituality and religion. 😊 My God, you are THE complete package, haan! I have to admit..had I been a guy, I would have pursued you relentlessly...whether you were in India or saat-samundar paar. 😆
Achcha..haan...today is Ashtami-Navmi rolled into one. So did you make something special for navmi/completion of your fasts?
It is interesting (and inspiring) to read about how your mother and you have explored and adopted other practices in Hinduism besides Arya Samaj. 😊 And as far as sacrilege goes, it might be labeled that by the very orthodox but I believe in flexibility and whatever gives the mind peace or resonates with you spiritually...whether within the purview of your own religion or outside. I don't necessarily believe in strict customs or rituals or miracles or various manifestations of God...I am more drawn towards a supreme soul thought...and just think that one should work towards good karma.
@bold: Correct! I have seen that too amongst a couple of my friends who are from the Arya Samaj. I think in today's world in every religion you will find people who do step out of the basic restrictions imposed by their faith. A lot of Jain kids in our generation consume potatoes and onions...though it is restricted for them.
@Sai Baba: My mother-in-law is an ardent follower of Sai Baba. And ardent is putting it mildly.😊She breathes, lives Baba. There are numerous pictures and idols, big and small, of him around our house in Delhi. Whenever she goes out on a trip, she carries in her handbag a huge volume of Sai Satcharitra (which is in tatters because it is decades old..and has been carried everywhere..and she sleeps with it at her bedside). And whenever we visit Delhi, we have to visit the nearest Sai Baba temple on the day before we return to SG. As you said, such are matters of personal faith...😊
Actually, there is an interesting story here that I just recalled. One of my mom's patients gifted her a calendar with a beautiful picture of Sai Baba...you know those one-sheet poster calendars? We never had a picture of Baba before that at our place (because my parents weren't his followers) and my parents put that calendar up in our pooja room. Now... my Mom tells me that the same evening, the door bell rang and she went up to the gate of our house and there was this elderly sadhu standing there...you would know, this is a common occurrence back home...sadhus or people dressed up as sadhus come asking for money/alms etc. This man had a striking resemblance to how Sai Baba is depicted in pictures...same beard, the cloth tied around his head in a similar fashion etc. (and let me tell you, my mother never exaggerates...she is a woman of few words...). So she asked him what he wanted..and this man asked her to donate whatever she wanted to. Though my parents never give in to demands like these, maybe it was his appearance or something else...which prompted my mother to give him some food/fruits. As she was doing so, he asked her not to worry about anything and told her - "your daughter will get married soon...don't worry...and she will get married in Delhi itself...tumhein pata bhi nahi chalega aur sab apney aap ho jaayega..." ...which suitably surprised her because she never mentioned anything about me or my marriage to him. Now this is the time when my parents had been trying to fix a match for me for quite some time...they were considering NRIs...I was unwilling...stalemate...parents and their anxiousness...shaadi kab hogi...kaise hogi... you get the idea?😆 Well, she let it go...never mentioned about this to anyone at that time. To cut a long story short, I was married 3 months down the line (and no, it wasn't an arranged marriage 😆😆...that's another story). So when both set of parents met and everything was finalized and my mother came to know of my mom-in-law's devotion towards Sai Baba...that is when she told us all about her experience with that sadhu.
@Erudition: ☺️ ☺️ ☺️
In everyday life, I think I am problematic. I can be extremely intolerant towards intolerant people; and even though I have taught myself to hold my tongue, my face betrays my thoughts. If I have a low opinion of someone, it shows on my face - so, I guess, I drive away the guys (even when I am completely silent).
Now-a-days, so close to returning home, I have purged all the negative emotions related to being single... of that misery, I will only concern myself after returning from vacation. 😆 😆
@Ashtami-navami: Nahin, I'd have made halwa, but I ran out of ghee (I don't use oil for maing halwa). There wasn't enough ghee to even do an aarti last night, so I did the aarti with camphor instead. [So much for being an Arya Samaji. 😛]
What did you make? Kheer, halwa, puri??
@Sai Baba: You have an interesting story there. I can believe that Baba does manifest himself like this from time to time...
I too got inspired to go to a Sai Baba temple in a similar way. I was in my first year, kinda unhappy with the pace of life - we had hardships at home, and I was emotionally distressed - when one afternoon, I was returning home in a DTC bus and was sitting on the long seat that they had at the back of the bus.
I should tell you two other things that are essential to fully appreciate this story:
1. I am almost never parted with my money. I spend it very judiciously...
2. I have the puritan attitude that Arya Samaj extols. So, I spent quite a lot of time time reading the puranic literature, and even though I stretched the limits of personal faith to include all the Hindu Gods, I never accepted Gods or entities that are not recognized in the scriptures. For instance, the scriptures make no mention of a Santoshi Maa. She is only the creation of the film industry, so even though I would recite Durga Saptashati sometimes, I'd scoff when the priest in the neighbourhood temple would do an arati of a filmy goddess. It was the same with Sai Baba - his pictures can be found all over Delhi; but I'd see them and sanctimoniously decide that that does not constitute pure hinduism.
So, this afternoon when I was sitting on the back seat of the bus, lost in thought... quite abruptly a sadhu leaped into the slowly moving bus, took sometime to adjust his footing, looked at me (as I was sitting on the seat nearest to the door), and said to me: "Sai baba ke mandir mein jaao, sab theek ho jaayega". I don't know what I was thinking, or what came over me at that time, I had a coin in my hand - and I gave it to him. That was his dakshina. He got off the bus almost immediately after that.
Some days later, a Sai Baba temple opened up in our neighbourhood. I went there with my mother. They were singing the arati in Marathi, and it sounded very beautiful. Whilst in the temple - as the priest waved the aarti-paatra before Baba, I became overcome with emotions (my eyes teared up, and my voice choked), and in that instant, I became devoted to Baba.
There is always a voice (distinct from you) that speaks to you - we can call it the conscience. I notice that when I visit this temple (every time I go back home), my conscience speaks in a different voice (and by that I don't mean the physical characteristics of the voice, I mean simply that the amount of compassion and kindness in the voice is w-a-y more than usual)...
From your story, it would mean that your wedding has Baba's blessings. That is so nice. 🤗 🤗
