An Altered State of Mind?

Illumination? Enlightenment? Nirvana? Can't Say.

But, this journey certainly observed my spiritual formation.

I returned from this holiest of holy places, to find two types of people. Those who are in a kind of disbelief and a kind of shock they can’t hide; and the others, the devotees who stand in the temple with shaking knees and trembling hands, because they feel the presence of the powerful one! These are not my judgments, just experiences.

I found in this arrangement, a mechanical process of access to god, and the way it was being orchestrated reminded me of what my dad and I observed during our family trip to the Vaishno Devi temple. As much sanctity belief and respect people had for the entity, we were appalled by the hypocrisy. The shroud of the structure came out when the true bhagats and devotees had to wait for 4-6 hours for their turn to come, whereas the affluent, walked pass the line because they had the VIP and the chopper pass, and within 15 minutes of waiting, they got an access to god! As I connect my experiences I realize; may it be Vaishno Devi Shrine or Kashi Shrine, there exists a strong belief in the place, the location claims to have miracles happen and the un-impossible done, now whether that's just a belief people nurse or there's really a pious aura to the place is again a matter of perception and belief. It may not be scientifically proved.

In Varanasi, if we insulate ourselves from the ‘facade’ of the whole process and if we dig deeper into the historical and mythological importance, then we might feel the deep rooted links and presence of the Lord. It has been so layered and masked by the make-belief structure, the labyrinth and complexities of which the ‘access to god’ has been portrayed, that we can have a wide spectrum of beliefs!  Accordingly, I believe it's not about religion or god, it’s the way everything has been packaged and delivered to a common man. My education in Arya Samaj, which talks about the omnipresence of God, may not make me an uncommon person but it definitely sets apart my thought process, it sets me thinking.

As I reflect upon this incredible experience, images come across my eyes, images

Kashi, an edifying wonder!

captured by brain, streaks of my memory. It’s not about verdicts, it’s about my perceptions, my observations, and how it transformed me. But, did it really transform me? I share my views with the Arya-Samajic society, which rejects the belief of blind faith, idolatry, priest-craft and superstitions brought about by ignorance and fear. They say, God is everywhere, but not any thing. I believe in the philosophy of finding God within, in respecting humanity and being kind. My opinions of pooja path and idol worship were highly influenced by what I had been seeing in family and my close social circle. I found myself involved in a process I don’t integrate with. Probably because of the generation gap, lack of understanding and the non-scientific explanation of the process. I don't feel the inclination towards idols and make-belief recreations of religious settings, vis-à-vis, temples and Poojas, to attain ‘Oneness with God’.

In this sudden exposure to a larger than life picture of religion, nothing I witnessed came and hit me in the face. It was just another learning, an involvement, an engagement which ultimately made me build on my views of ‘Dharma & Aastha’ (Religion and Spirituality). It was an entirely different aspect of life. Amidst whatever it was supposed to portray, I seized onto its energy, its life and its discipline. I sensed a well set systematic process, an organized chaos. Once again dear readers, I am not disputing God, religion or sanctity of the place. Neither the historical relevance, importance nor roots of its sacred temples and ghats. I call myself a curious traveler. Simply trying to analyze and synthesize the complete mechanism and infrastructure that has supposedly eroded the entire system

of religion, purely seeking a deeper cleanup….