To
the Chinmaya Mission of the 60"s, Kollengode.
the Chinmaya Mission of the 60"s, Kollengode.
In the
barren drawing room
a gaggle of
women
like
flighty butterflies
in
colourful silk sarees
quickly
settled
at the
arrival of the Pujari.
He came
with bags of
old brass
lamps,white wicks,dark oil
boxes of
coloured powders
roses,chrysanthemums
and basil leaves.
Soon, he
began to draw
the
coloured powders flowing off
his long
fingers into intricate patterns
a warp and
woof on the floor
for
flower decked symmetrical lamps.
As the
women wheedled the petals of varied hues
from all
the flowers, the Pujari
with his
nimble fingers cajoled the wicks
and slowly
lit the lamps aglow!
Bedecked
with jasmine flowers
in her
green silk gold embellished kurtha
my young
daughter looked radiant
as she too
lit the lamps
kneeling
down beside them.
All set,
the Pujari then went
into the
room to change
into the
barest of clothes
looking
like a sagacious man of another world
to invoke
the goddess,and surrender our prayers.
Sitting
erect with eyes closed
He made the
gestures of symbolic mudras
the
manthras in his sonorous voice
resonated
in the breathing silence of the room
even as
dusk fell the women gathered there
felt
pleasantly uplifted.
Soon they
all joined him
sincere in
their rendition
a rhetoric
studied
from
another time,another generation
the names
in praise of the goddess_
the sahasra
namam or one thouand allusions
to the
spirit of Devi.
As the
chanting subsided
and the
electric lights switched off
divinity
seemed so tangible
amidst the
piety of the ancient lamps
that
continously burnt
straight
and steady
into our
very souls.
