This week’s ramblings is about rituals, not exactly religious
rituals, but... well I’ll let you decide.
With Vesak Poya just behind me it brings a lot of memories. I used to
observe Sil every single Poya. Well that was before I became a
journalist.
 Now I hardly have the time to go to the temple. If I am lucky enough
I could get home before six on a Poya day! Yup that’s right journalism
has turned me into a full blown workaholic!
But I was a totally different person before. I used to get up early
in the morning every Poya and go to the village temple with my father.
We could never talk my mother into observing Sil with us, because she
could never sit still for very long.
Even a fifth grader had more patience than she did when it came to
staying put. My father was completely different. I eventually tired of
observing Sil in the local temple because the old upasikas would chatter
away obliterating anything that the monks said.
But my father was oblivious to all that. He sat right in front and
listened apparently very intently to every word uttered by the monk and
nodded from time to time. It took me a few poyas to realize the apparent
enthusiasm was not out of piety, but actually a result of dozing off!
Sometimes the nodding got so vigorous that I was so afraid that he
would take a nose dive in front of all the other upasakas. There was
this other fervent upasaka in his group, who actually has a problem
sleeping until very late at night. So he is into the practice of
reciting Pirith.
This is actually a good thing, but the problem is that he requires
all the other family members to join in on this ritual. But none of the
others had a sleeping problem. His brother falls asleep right after the
first few verses, his wife holds on for a while longer, but she too
gives in soon enough to that irresistible desire to count sheep.
When the fervent upasaka realizes that his is the only remaining
voice reciting pirith, he looks back and frowns while still chanting
pirith.My cousin’s antics really crack me up. No disrespect, she is a
truly pious Buddhist. She keeps her place of worship meticulously clean,
she offers flowers, incense, lights the lamp every day, but above all
she is a truly a good Buddhist even in practice.
 However she is a jovial creature by birth and she tends to get a
little carried away when she is in one of her jolly moods.
On one such occasion she had found herself reciting gatha, when to
her horror realized that, instead of chanting gatha, she had in fact
switched to a popular song that had been playing in her mind.
Bewildered that she should commit some horrible black sin she had
started chanting the gatha again, with even more fervor this time. After
chanting for a while, she sensed that something was out of place that
she could not quite put her finger on; when with horror she yet again
realized that she was chanting the very same popular song to the tune of
the gatha! |
