Piece of (my) mind on peace of mind

Every morning , after my customary prayer (especially when I’m home), I like to analyse the reason behind my actions. When I’m being frank with myself of course, the primary reason that comes to mind is that it makes my mom happy, that’s probably why I stood with folded hands and chanted shlokas whose meaning I was blissfully ignorant of (read ages 1 to 4)….as I grew up..I learnt more shlokas(hymns/chants) …learnt their meaning, the mythology behind most of them and praying has a whole new meaning today. This is where my train of thought ends on a normal day , but on certain mornings (we’ve all had them), you wake up feeling uber-philanthropic, today was one of those days. I decided to go a couple of steps further and reconstruct mankind’s journey in the path of prayer. (Disclaimer : I firmly believe that god blesses us equally but in different ways, some can write , some can dance whilst some can sing. Bluntly put , future passages may indicate an inclination of mine towards intellectual superiority of a subset of our species, bear with me) Curious creatures that they were, our ancestors were certainly intrigued by the collossal treasure-trove of magic that is mother nature , and what they couldn’t fathom was attributed to stronger and higher forces, probably resulted in nature-worship . Now all was well , but just like every house has a loo or two , society is incomplete without a couple of morons , and these ancient morons probably questioned the existence of a higher power or acted like jerks and started asking for a pic of the “force”, thereby resulting in the intelectually superior ones giving the higher power a form or in my religion’s case 3 crore forms . The point is , religion was just a way of praying , different paths formulated to suit different dumbasses and how hard or easy it was to convince them. Today , the definition of religion has changed radically , and I don’t need to go into details , still , I’m glad we have religions , because honestly , praying before a deity is easier than meditating upon one’s self and finding the answers to questions that have been haunting humans for millenia ….or is it??….ever been to tirupathi or vaishnodevi or any of the jyothir lingas ??… ever been to velankani or (purely assuming) golden temple or the jamma masjid?… when I asked my parents as to why we visit temples , the first answer I got was , for peace of mind …now … while that might be true in the case of a ganesha temple inside my colony ..I ask you..how ?…how does one find peace when sweaty people are yelling and pushing you around , cops are ready to lathi-charge you and you wait in a long queue or climb several flights of stairs …to what end …to see a well-decked idol whose 7 megapixel picture adorns my dad’s PC desktop …seems illogical …but divine grace has a way of showing you things ….that three second rendezvous with the idol (most of us close our eyes during those precious moments too) signifies that which is divine…knowledge,atman…call it what you will…and the struggle..including the chaotic path which leads to the inner sanctum signifies life itself…or any goal for that matter…peace of mind is not achieved by just closing one’s eyes and meditating…not in today’s world…only by going through all the ordeals and over all the hurdles that life hurls at you …while retaining the pieces of one’s mind can we achieve peace of mind…so next time you think of throwing a tantrum or questioning the motive behind visting a place of worship…think not of whether you are a religious person or not…religion is but a means to spiritiuality … faith and prayers are two very powerful tools…not because god will listen to them and answer…but because ..as you pray ..you’re listening to yourself and giving yourself hope which eventually manifests itself as strength…If even one of you reads this and starts to pray or if I renew your faith in prayer , then MY prayers have been answered . Jai hind !