When the Gods Come Calling...

Photo credit: www.winegiftcentre.com
Memory tag: Of festivals in cosmopolitan Shillong

Festivals are a time of renewal – of the spiritual and material. They are a break in everyday routine turning yet another day into a landmark. Woven into tradition, this landmark becomes an annual ritual .For us heliocentric creatures, who measure time by the movement of the earth around the sun, we cannot imagine life without the spirit and rituals of festivals. The seasons on this planet were probably the first reasons to celebrate. Imagine the joy, when cold bleak winter gave way to verdant spring! The earth was once again warmed by the growing daylight hours, as our hemisphere turned towards the sun. Spring festivals come in all forms of celebration. As the ascending sun enters the cancer constellation, celebrations like maker sankranti, pongal and vasant panchami begin the festive calendar. Even Durga puja was originally celebrated at this time. The most colorful of all spring festivals, Holi or Doljatra seems to wait for the flowering of the palash or flame of the forest. In the university town of Santiniketan, a sea of color dances, bedecked in flaming orange palash blossoms and yellow garments. This is a unique prelude to ‘rang barse…’! Is it a coincidence that so many festivals where lights are trademarks of celebrations, come as the daylight hours shorten into winter? The Christmas tree lights and the earthen deepavali lamps are particularly evocative images.

On a material plane, festivals bring a full stop in daily monotony. The day itself is aromatic in its unique bouquet of flavors. The date is marked out in red in the calendar and given special significance in almanacs. Trade and traders whet our appetites with clearance sales two months earlier and fresh new stocks/ releases immediately before. The diversity that unites all humanity ensures we have 13 festivals in 12 solar months (at a conservative, proverbial Bengali estimate)! Homes are cleaned, dusted and refurbished. I have done my round of window shopping, with the delicious to buy or not to buy, the take over bidding and the joy of final acquisition! Clothes, furnishing, jewellery…. a family I saw, was carefully weighing the values of a handycam. The young daughter sitting between her parents seemed to have a healthy opinion of her own as did her mother. The father regulated matters with a mild veto so that budgetary considerations were not overlooked. Meanwhile the shop attendant was outdoing himself in extolling the virtues of various brands. The owner,in whose hands lay his puja bonus, was fairly visible to the unaided eye. Culture and customs associated with these times keep tradition from getting lost in the whirlwind daily existence. Dancing, singing, cooking, clothes, crafts and human relations are all renewed through tidings of joy and comfort. The fruits in the Christmas pudding which the whole family helped make, bring them together in delicious anticipation. It also supplied nutrients preserved in dried fruits unavailable in cold dark winters of Christmas of the past. Homes are decorated with symbols to suit the occasion. The door must be specially adorned with wreaths or garlands. The floor cleaned and decorated with motifs beautiful and significant. The footmarks of Lakshmi for example, are ever inwards so that her permanent residence ensures continued prosperity. No home can afford a non resident status for her! The material symbols add up to the spiritual whole. Occasions to celebrate birth and passing of messiahs and great masters are an annual reminders lest we forget to make our lives sublime and die imprisoned in the lifeless web of dead habit.

During religious festivals, they say the gods come calling, perhaps walking through a deepavali or a lamp lit path. Are you left wondering as am I …how many roads must a man walk down ( am listening to Dylan as write) before he meets the omnipresent? Is it only a matter of perception? Almighty, godhead, mentor, beloved, guest or guess whose coming to dinner? I’ve filled life giving water in a cut glass decanter and set out crystal glasses to match. It must be thirsty journey from heaven! Are the highways jammed as is wont to happen on earth? The counterpane on the divan is embroidered with threads that tell a story. Even the weather has changed; cool crisp winter is in the air. Fresh pine logs are stacked ready; a match will set them aflame.
Am I ready to open the door when he knocks?

For, that I need also to do an honest, no holes barred stock taking of my life. Then enter the worthwhile, delete the unworthy and save the catalyst. Have honesty, generosity, forgiveness, learning, growth, grace, courage, beauty, respect been part of the joy of my being? If yes, I am ready for celebration in festive times. If not, I need to use the energy of these times of renewal to transform my life. This, in the end, is celebration and true qualification to open the door when he enters. The great seer Swami Vivekananda wrote

“Each soul is potentially divine
The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.
Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these and be free.
This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”