Between
alchemists, contemplation at beaches, self-talks and endless talks with like
souls, I felt this is it, the meaningful nothingness and calm heaviness is my
version of divinity, the feel.
I get
reminded of being scolded by my mother for closing my eyes while praying in
temples, gosh you missed the darshan, and I was told. Little did I know back then that it was this
mystery that I liked about god. The feeling
of being there, yet not.
During a
discussion at office for a design of a prayer space we realized how culturally
and socially man has made this a truth. The interior of the sacred sanctity of
south Indian temples, technically called the garba griha, are dark and
mysterious unlike the grandeur and splendor of their exterior. The moolavar or
the prime deity is mostly made of stone and is dark sans a few ornamentation.
They have a flickering deepam which gives lends an aura and a glimpse of the
deity. The moment of the aarthi, the only time it is light brightly, I would
say, is definetly a magical mystical moment even to an atheist. It makes you
spellbound, the play of light and darkness, the spell of camphor, the sound of the
bells, the chant of the slokas, the aura of the place.
Also we realized,
up north, the interior of the temples as well as the deities are bright and
colourful, made of marble and heavily decked up like the culture and festivity
of the place. The god is obvious , there are elaborate pandals, people sing,
dance and celebrate.
The
discussion continued into our love and confusions over the kolams vs. the
rangolis, the golus vs. the garbas, the deepams vs. the holi, the adhirasams vs.
the rasagulas, we decided it has to be a very personal decision and decided to
postpone it.
But the talk
stirred in me my actual love for old
south Indian temples, why the visit gave me peace, in spite of not being a
strongly religious or ritualistic person. We do not want our journeys to end,
do not want all our questions to be answered, do not like our tomorrows to be
revealed. Searches and questions keep us going, like there is always a
tomorrow. Oh my…the FM is playing-
ninaithu ninaithu paarthen…
nerungi vilagi nadandhen…
nerungi vilagi nadandhen…
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