From ‘Shunya’ to ‘Shiva’ — Sacred Mystery of India
‘Om’ is the sacred chant that is generally recited by the ‘Yoga’ practitioners to cleanse body and mind. The peaceful divine chant helps one to get rid of negative thoughts fully. Those who practice Yoga daily or do ‘dhyana’ (meditation) to detoxify their souls know the real essence of this powerful ‘Mantra’.
I was raised in an extremely disciplined army family. My strict parents largely taught me and my two siblings to be polite and always show gratitude. Two moral values which lay the foundation of an ideal upbringing. Regardless of our few contradictions in mutual ideologies, my parents inculcated the best of behaviorism in us that helped us grow individually as much as socially. The qualities thus remain intact until today. Noticeably, each one of us held top positions in our standards almost every year and excelled in studies as well as extracurricular content in school.
However, as is clear to you by now, our family was particularly inclined more towards academics and codes of conduct and took a lesser interest in given religious activities. Although one daily practice that remained unmoved was to worship every morning and night to our patron god, Lord Hanuman. He, who is immortal and is an incarnation of Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology.
For the unversed, in Hindu families’ daily prayers are too performed in a certain order and manner followed by ‘aarti’ and ‘prasad’. In my family, it was my father who used to be the first one to leave home in the first hours of the dawn (for his morning parades) after his cold showers but he never stepped out without performing his daily prayers followed by a cup of hot tea. My mother, on the other hand, woke up as early as my father, she hardly knew practices that are generally supposed to be conducted by ‘women of the house’. My poor mother, all the routine she maintained every day in her diary was to look after the needs of her kids and husband (like a typical Indian mother). But neither she was a temple-goer nor a pro at pleasing a deity.
However, it was her this easiness and naivety that provided us a free choice for adopting any cultural practice, if for nothing than just for the sake of at least our forefathers and especially my maternal grandmother, who had expertise in all the innumerable valuable traditions and beliefs.
As far as my personal opinion goes, being a Hindu if you are not familiar with common practices or cultural beliefs of the community, there remains a vacuum in a life devoid of inner voice and positivity. I realized this very soon in my life. Thankfully, when during summer vacations our family visited our extended family homes, we along with our cousins galloped down learnings that subconsciously became an inseparable part of our lives. By the time, they only went down and deep our minds enriching overall routines. For instance, I visited the temple more often with them, started our days differently but learned literal tradition, I even practiced my first fast for ‘Lord Shiva’ influenced by such values.
Shiva, the supreme God of Hindus. He, who is the creator and destroyer of life.
Kids generally follow all the ‘said’ and ‘done’ rituals when it comes to their individual needs (thanks to the competitive world and parental pressure of scoring best). Be it before exams, after them and before results and in some cases even for day to day mischiefs, one can easily find all age groups calmed and poised in prayers with folded hands and closed eyes trying to ‘persuade’ their deities to grant good results. After all, in order to have our gods/goddesses listen to our prayers we do not necessarily need to please their idols, only summoning them from the core of heart serves the purpose. And that is where lies the real ‘power’.
What my personal experience has been?
From times of merely closing my eyes to remembering ‘Shiva’ each Monday (the day Hindus dedicate to Shiva) to thank him deeply for everything he has given me and my family, I begin all my weeks of every month.
Initially, while choosing to walk down the path of spiritualism I had begun with mesmerizing chants of the very powerful ‘Om Namaha Shivay’ mantra in times of tiniest of crises like a maths period in the classroom that I was little poor in or to save myself from my mother’s mood swings etc.
With time I began to keep regular Monday fasts followed by annual observances like a ‘Shivratri’ or ‘Janmashtami’. Gradually, this process also taught me ideal ways to observe prime Hindu festivals like Rakhi, Dussehra, Navratri, Diwali etc. and it further helped me to make my mother learn things she barely knew all these years (not that she was a complete ignorant of such values but she definitely needed to learn a lot).
Rituals/traditions apart, it is a powerful feeling to be empowered of hidden blessings driven by constant directions that come your way when you start to believe in ‘the power of it’. Contrary to what some atheists say, for me, such observances only open up one’s mind further and turn everything into positive.
My journey thus from ‘Shunya’, knowing nothing to ‘Shiva’ as in knowing everything gives me an abundance of possibilities and opportunities to turn almost everything that comes my way into favorable despite few adversities. There seems an invisible power that decides my well-being and is always there to aspire me for more goodness and lays stronger reasons for me to follow the path I chose subconsciously.
Having said that, each dharma has its own beauty and each practice has its own way to positivity. But I’m proud to be born a Hindu, the only dharma that gives you the freedom to practice eternal faith paving the way to spiritualism or summon as many gods as per your convenience. Be it day-long fasts, powerful chants or miraculous stories of supreme Hindu Gods like Ganesha, Hanuman, Durga, Krishna or Shiva himself, the words only clear up head and the heart while enlightening upon the path of its believers.
