I just realized I can put a color background to my text. This is the yellow color I was supposed to be wearing Day 1. I have since realized that I do have a shirt that is this color. It was even made in India. Very soft, nice cotton. But it was made for the US market, and it goes with jeans, and I didn’t bring it with me.
Day 7 was similar to the others, with a puja, or worship ceremony, in the morning. More of the out-of-town relatives had arrived, so the group was a little bigger. Every day after general prayers, there was much handling of fruit and flower, lighting of incense, sprinkling of holy water, little kids making faces when offered the holy cow pee to drink, and walking around to each of the four pillars holding up the canopy over the dais, handling more flowers, bringing the blessings to each person and back to the diety whose pillar it was. Then a short break, and everyone had to go outside of the tent to a special pole dedicated to Hanuman, an important Hindu diety who appears in the Ramayana, the modern portion (modern = a few thousand years old, not 5000 years old like the Vedas) of the Hindu scriptures. Hanuman is often shown with his chest opened and bleeding, similar to some Catholic depictions of Jesus. We handled fruit and flowers, while the sons of the deceased lit more incense, and broke some flat bread into small pieces for later consumption. We had to cross the rain control ditch, in bare feet, with multiple chunks of dirt and rocks, so that we were looking INTO the tent, while the junior priest, who did most of the chanting in the morning, fortunately, as his sense of musical tonality was better than the main priest’s, chanted the entire Hanuman Chalisa, a long story that is used as a prayer sacrifice. I definitely knew this drill by Day 7. Then when the Chalisa (this version goes on for almost 10 minutes) was over, we had to walk around the pole, again endangering my sensitive Americano feet, throwing the flowers onto the little altar at the base of the pole (no statue, as is shown in the link).
On Day 7 though, the Chalisa was followed by a procession to the house, to perform a fire sacrifice. The fire was HOT and the day was HOT and I felt sorry for the family members who were sitting right next to the fire. All sorts of things were tossed into the fire, but there was a big dish of what I presumed was pounded dry cow manure, mixed with chips of various woods and seeds. It produced quite a bit of smoke at times, and I was glad not to be sitting up close.
Well, tomorrow I am going shopping in Rishakesh for some gifts, and then I will be off to Delhi, to see the Jama Masjid, a huge, old, and famous mosque which I had hoped to see last year, and was prevented from visiting by the horrible Delhi traffic. Then I have one more day in Delhi for shopping, and back home. Following are a bunch of photos. I am glad to have attended this event.
Fire PujaSome years ago, I realized that the point of the animal sacrifice prescribed in the Hebrew Bible was to allow God to smell the wonderful smells of the roasting meat. On a higher spiritual plane, when we enjoy, God enjoys. Krishna explains to Arjuna that God is the one who enjoys all sensory experience. This smoke actually smelled nice from where I was sitting. I am not aware of a Christian practice that promotes human sensory pleasure for the sake of God’s enjoyment. After the fire puja, and a break for the non-fasters to have lunch, and the fasters to have a snack, then back to the tent for the spiritual instruction. I couldn’t help put another photo of beautiful saris here.This woman supposedly went into a trance, or was possessed by spirit entities multiple times. Personally, I was not convinced, but the people considered her state to be holy. Right afterward, she was playing with her cell phone.The Swami posed for me. He was waiting for his scooter ride back home. I think this shows that Dharmendra really has sway. The Swami really looked like he was ready to get back to his home. The crazy dancing, loud music, kids running around, crush of people waiting to get the blessed food (“prasad”) seemed really more than he cared to endure for longer than necessary.Dharmendra’s father, suffers from arthritis or something similar, and is often sitting in a chair, like others of the older people.Dharmendra and his brother now have 7 day beards. The brother was looking forward to being able to eat ice cream again as of today. He gave up all dairy products for a year to mourn his mother. A male relative, a teacher, who told me that his son has been in Dallas for 4 years, is at right. The building under construction in the background was used as the kitchen to cook the meal for the “afterparty.” The first group to be served appeared to number about 200. At least I counted 50 people, mostly kids, in the center row. You can see some adults sitting with their backs to the kids. Everyone sits on the floor (except old people) with plates on the ground, and people come through and serve from giant pots. There is so much chaos in India, but this is one situation where everyone is disciplined, polite, and patiently awaits the food. The pale yellow drink is buttermilk.Serving lunch for 600, 200 or so at a time. Dharmendra’s brother is handing out 10 rupee notes, crisp from the bank in my case, in white envelopes. Every two days, I was instructed to give 100 rupees in such an envelope to each of the 6 assistant priests, and 200 rupees to the main priest. Good business for the stationery store!Assistant priests. Second from the right did most of the chanting in the morning pujas, and at the fire ceremony. To his right, in white, another primary chanter. Sound tech at far left, in Batman shirt.One of the crazy dresses made for little girls. This one has a piano keyboard at the bottom, and cats and rabbits doing various ballet steps labeled in French. The peace sign seems to be a thing that kids do in photos these days. When I get back home in a few days, everyone’s clothing is going to look REALLY BORING.
So much sensory input! I think my brain would be on overload! Your trip has been amazing! How will you readjust to the drab sameness of life here?!