Religious Rituals

Religions are designed to help the masses reach the Divine.  They are designed by nature such that the participants through their practice feel an upliftment of spirit and a renewed sense of positivity in their life.   The psalmist states ‘like a deer that thirst for water so I thirst for you.’  All of us human beings search for greater meaning in our life.  All the more we wish to be acknowledged that our life serves a greater purpose, not unlike a small piece of thread, in itself insignificant, becomes part of a masterpiece when put in the loom by a skilled craftsman.  Religion and rituals give us such significance.

All rituals are based around the idea of sacrifice.  In the bible we read of animal sacrifices.  One of the most famous sacrifices mentioned in Bible is that of Abraham called to sacrifice his son Isaac.   Christians reenacts the sacrifice of Jesus through the Holy mass or communion.  Even the Catholic practice of confessions requires something called ‘restitutions’. 

However my greatest concern is that in this world today, we are giving more importance to participating in the rituals rater than trying to understand the mechanics of it.  Therefore one of the most important questions that comes to my mind is ‘What makes a good Christian?’  Is it following the precepts of Christ or is it following rituals? 

Let me give you a few examples:  Priest often ask the question, ‘Did you go to mass today?’.  Should not the question be ‘Did you improve your relationship with God today?’

Suppose are two points, Point A and Point B.  In between these points lies a deep chasm.  Most people would require a bridge to cross from one point to another, but an Olympic jumper may be able to easily jump across.  If we compare this analogy to religion and say that rituals are like the bridge that joins people to divinity, surly there may be people through practice and discipline who do not require the crutch of a ritual?

At the end of it let me one again ask what difference does it make if I participate in a ritual if I don’t involve my self in it?  For did Christ not say, ‘Sabbath is made for man and not man for Sabbath’?

A Day with Harry Potter

One of my passions is reading.  I love reading, especially adventure books, in Japanese it would be shounen.  I do believe that my love for adventure books was instigated by my beloved dad.  Every evening before going to bed I would beg him to tell me a story and he would enthrall me with various stories of kings, queens, princesses and of adventure.  My father being a learned person that he was would tell me stories sometimes from biblical origins or else sometimes from oriental legends.  He even passed on to me ‘Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Discovery of India’ in the form of a moving tale.  It was only much later that I realized what a great story teller my father was as he could make even the driest subject into a fairy tale.

When I learnt to comprehend the written word my favorite became comics, they included several famous characters like Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Tintin and various others.  All the stories would have the same moral theme, good verses evil and how good always triumphs over evil.  As years went by I moved on to Enid Blyton, Robert Louis Stevenson and Franklin W. Dixon.  Slowly I became more matured and therefore interested in Agatha Christie, Jeffrey Archer etc.

One of the authors that caught on to me like a hook was J.K Rowling.  Being 30 year old and still reading HP sometimes I feel shy to tell others that my all time favorite author is J.K. Rowling, but the fact is that it remains so.  The reason was because I empathized with Harry.  Like Harry I was a nobody, a shadow, a transparent person having very little worth as long as I was a student.  Like Harry when he entered the new world he was revered, I too was put on a pedestal when I went for my religious studies.  I felt that I was living a life similar to Harry Potter.  When my Aunt died, in my condolence letter to my uncle, I didn’t quote from the bible but I quoted from ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ and from ‘Order of the Phoenix’.  Even today I check Fanfiction.Net daily for good stories of HP. 

            

Sometimes I wonder is literature a reflection of society or is society shaped by literature?  There are various examples throughout history.  Two that comes to my mind right now are ‘Das Kapital’ by Karl Marx and ‘Anandamath’ by BC Chaterjee.  Both of them shaped countries.  The former led to the formation of USSR where as the later one led to the formation of Union Republic of India. 

            I feel today’s world is being shaped in a very similar manner by HP, which has become to certain aspect a cult.  It has led to various other similar fantasy literature and movies topping the charts from the top of my head I can recall ‘Twilight’, ‘Night World’, ‘Artemis Fowl’, ‘Eragon’.  All these top bursting titles came about in the same genre as Harry Potter.

            The question I want to ask is why are these fantasy tales are so famous nowadays?  I suppose it is because it brings to us a feeling of wonder, of awe, of astonishment that we seek as an escape from our ordinary daily routine of sitting in our 4x4 cubicles (for some the dimensions are little different). At the end of it all I feel all of us we want deep down in our hearts to be HP to fight the good fight and win despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances and that all of us wishes to spend a day with Harry Potter.

Flying with Cows

When I was very young around three years old my mom was the headmistress of a school in Bihar, Bodhgaya district to be exact.  I have a few distinct memories of those early days that I spent at Bihar. 

The first problem that I faced when I went to the new place was the language difference.  I being from a Bengali family knew next to nothing about Hindi.  As children, language seldom becomes a barrier in interaction, I remember playing games with the neighboring children and joining them in hide and seek.  I also distinctly remember my confusion over the word ‘dhup’ which means ‘sunlight’ in Hindi and ‘incense stick’ in Bengali.

One of the adventures that fill me with a feeling of joyful wonder was the day that I spent flying with the cows.

Before I start my tale I believe it would be prudent to describe to you my mom’s place of work.  You see, it was a primary school up to class five.  The school consisted of a few rented rooms in the ground floor of a two-storied-building.  One part of the school was the teachers’ quarters.   Just behind our quarters was a cow shed, which proudly proclaimed a good number of jersey cows.  Those days we had no need for any alarm clock, as the congregation that lived behind our quarters, would wake us up with their morning adulation to the rising sun; the ‘Moos’ and ‘Maas’ would be in perfect composition of notes like a well-oiled symphony orchestra. One another important fact that I almost forgot to mention was that there were two toilets, one for the use of the teachers (which was situated in the school premises) and the other for the use of students (which was situated in the middle of the field, a little out from the school).

On the day the adventure took place, I decided that in order to answer natures call, I must do it in commune with nature i.e. in the middle of the field.  Taking permission from my grade teacher I set forth like a warrior about to go into a mighty battle. 

After doing all the necessary purification that was required, I was just returning back when I chanced upon our dearly beloved neighbors being led to pasture for their lunch (or was it breakfast?).  I decided to tag along.  I sat on top of a black fellow, like an emperor about to visit his dearly beloved subjects, and set forth.  I spent the day with the other cow-boys playing with them, giving bath to the cows in the river.  I even had a wonderful lunch at a stranger’s house.

When evening came I returned back joyfully, I raced into the compound into my waiting mother’s arms and excitedly started to tell her all the adventures that I had that day.  My mom silently led me inside for evening wash and dinner.

That was the first time I ever tasted freedom.  Freedom where there is no expectation, where I could be and behave however I wanted; freedom to do as I pleased;  freedom where I broke away from the monotony of a student’s life; freedom like a bird experiencing its  first flight and realizing the vast sky.  It was a day that I flew with the cows.

The Journey

     I read a wonderful book called ‘the Alchemist’ in 2005.  It is the story of a young man who travels around, far away from home, in search of treasure.  His whole life is a journey in search of the treasure that he sees in his dreams. Throughout his journey he learns many things and becomes a better person because of his experiences.

    I do not know who once said that ‘Life is a Journey’; but I do know and believe it to be very much true.  We begin this journey of ours right from the time that we are in our mothers womb.  We continue it through our formative years.  We journey through all the ‘Seven Stages of Man’- as William Shakespeare puts it- and at each stage we learn and become a better person because of our experiences. 

     Bishop Fulton J Sheen in his autobiography ‘Treasures in Clay’ says that when we begin our life God has in his mind to make us a beautiful vessel.  But because of our freedom of choice we choose not to be the vessel that God wanted us to be.  So God adds experiences in our life to help us become the next better thing. 

  I believe that if I wish to discover my purpose in life I must first study my past.  I should look into my past to understand what type of a person I was. I must consider deeply the seemingly coincidences that made an impact in my life. These coincidences are like the pieces of jig-saw puzzle.  Only by reflection on them and joining those together will I be able to discover a part of the bigger picture that God is drawing out for me.  I will be able to decipher the path on which God is leading me and my true purpose in life.

     I believe if I have to discover my purpose in life I must first think about my past therefore I will in my next blog write about my childhood events and reflect on them together with you.  

Introduction

Introduction

     To all you who are reading this blog, you must be wondering what this blog is all about.  You see, a few days ago I saw the film "Julie & Julia"  and I was thinking that it would be great if I am able to write a blog too.  The main purpose of writing this blog for me is that I have been searching for a long time about the purpose of my life.
     I am a catholic and since childhood I have been told that the purpose of our life is to "Love and Serve God".  I have often wondered how I am to fulfill this.  Am I meant to live my life out like so many people around me, getting married, bringing up children or the other extreme; living a life of celibacy?  I don't know.
     I have asked many people throughout my life to help me.  They have always asked me to put forth long term goals and try to follow them through. I have tried several times and have always been a failure at following through with my goals. (My current gaol being: to reduce my weight)
    Through this blog I hope to be able to lay down my thoughts and examine them and my life so that I may be able to discover what my life is all about.  What is the purpose of my life.
    I hope that all of you out there who like me feel confused about what to do with their life will be able to sympathies with me and that we will be able to help each other discover the purpose of our life together.