கோவிலுக்கும் மனதுக்கும் தாழ் போடுகிறோம்,
தரிசனத்துக்கும் திருமணத்துக்கும் நாள் தேடுகிறோம்,
கடவளயும் அன்பையும் பூட்டிவைக்க முடியுமா ??
This is
what radio does to you, during long bus journeys in rainy evenings. The words
kept lingering in my mind for the whole of two hours, poor RJ didn’t know that his
on spot haiku had a fan following in me.
History
classes taught me that these are places of worship, eternal symbols of love and
were places of refuge during wars. Primitive man feared nature, its
unpredictability and spontaneity that he worshipped their forces. Harvest
festivals, monsoon festivals and spring festivals were celebrated thanking
nature for not unleashing its furies. Soon we gave them human forms with extra
ordinary powers. Now we have enclosed these forces in high security temples,
churches and mosques least they become targets of crime and terror.
We call
them supreme powers, metaphysical, believe are un perceivable to a human mind
yet keep them enclosed, locked and decide on good timings to visit them and conduct
pooja. Places of worship get vandalized idols get stolen and in worse conditions
are left unattended to a dilapidated state.
Kings
were known by the temples they built, kingdoms were conquered for the temples
in their region, lands as big as a city were donated to temples. We grew up
learning about the temple towns, seeing every village start with an “ellai
kovil” with the guardian deity only to grow up and invent digital locks and
remote sensing devices to guard temples.
Watch
towers and high walls are just not enough. The CCTV is the modern day “dwara
balakas” and machine gun clad security personnel do the job of “vahanas” like
lions and nandis. We are content with live darshans on TV and visit temples on occasions
to catch up on latest designs in sarees and jewellery for the fashionista in us
just can’t help it.
The thought
process jolts me up as I realize it has been a long time since I visited a
temple to just experience its sheer peace and harmony and it just crossed my mind,
the RJ is playing “yaar yaar sivam from Anbe sivam” and I am lost again.
