MEANING OF RITUALS - 2
The first question I would like to ask is why are people scared to ask ?
Answer: The main hindrance that arises in the path of acquiring knowledge is that people, for some reason, think it is inappropriate to ask such questions. Just yesterday (January 17th 2009) there was a multiple-Homa at a relatives house . A homa is where the god of fire (Agni) is worshipped by various offerings to a fire in a consecrated homa-kunda (where the fire is kindled), all this being accompanied by Mantras chanted in Sanskrit. For some reason, I have always had my suspicions of such rituals. I understand that rituals are symbolic. They are symbolic of an action that you perform to relate to God. I intensely desire to relate to God. I earnestly ask Him to answer some urgent prayers that my soul seems to demand from me. The strongest prayer that I have been addressing to Him is expressing a need for the unification of my self with the Divine. Why do I ask this? I have been told that once such a unification is achieved, it is the end of all wants and desires. One is supposed to attain a supreme state of bliss that puts an end to all desires. Now who would not desire that? I have been told that this is possible and one has to try and seek that out.
Yesterday all hell broke loose! All I happened to do was to make a statement that the performance of Homas could be quite meaningless and unfruitful if you are not acutely aware of the actions that you are doing as each Sanskrit line is recited, and the meaning of the line is entirely known to you. The real controversy arose when I made a naughty statement. I said, “What if some mischievous bloke said a line in Sanskrit which, in fact when translated meant – ‘Let your bums be busted!’?”
There was a furious uproar. I was accused of being frivolous. “If you were interested, you could have sat down beside the fire and asked the priests?” my cousin remarked. But seriously, when the Brahmins are doing it at the rate of 45 lines a minute, is it really possible to stop at each line and ask? Luckily, though all were angry at being caught on the wrong foot, they had the grace to let me off lightly. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banter in the end. The husband of my guru was the only person who seemed to see my point, and I thank him for that.
It is time to question the efficacy of these practices. If a multiple entry-Homa, with four agni kundas are being simultaneously performed, is it really possible for it to be fruitful. Is it not being too ambitious? And what are you asking for? If you seem to have everything, are there still some things you need? I swear, in all my life, I have never done a single homa. Now would I be punished for it? Will I be deprived of the basic levels of health, security and comforts and nourishment? When Homas are done for selfish reasons, do they really work?
It may be time to examine such questions. As an aside, I remarked, Brahmins who perform a surfeit of homas could be classified as ‘Homa Sapiens’!
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