How often have you heard this refrain or its variants: Naah! I don’t go to temples. I don’t like going to temples…I mean, there’s no point…all that noise, meaningless mantras and rituals…some are so unhygienic…I believe in God but I’m spiritual…after all, Hinduism is a personal religion and I don’t really need to go to a temple to pray…? How often have you yourself uttered this refrain? Answer honestly.
Nearly 5,000 years ago in Kurukshetra in Northern India, the hundred sons of King Dhritarastra fought the famous Mahabharata war against the five sons of King Pandu, King Dhritarastra’s younger brother. The former group was called the Kauravas and the latter, the Pandavas. Almost all major kings from the Indian subcontinent took part in this great war that was fought for eighteen days. Although the Kaurava army was larger, the Pandava army finally won the war.
An old farmer and his grandson lived on a farm. One day the grandson said, “I try to read the Bhagavad-Gita just like you but I don't understand it much. And whatever little I understand, I forget it very soon. What is the use of reading this book?”
The old farmer quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”
3-11 September 2009
Places visited – Ujjain, Dhar, Bagh caves, Maheshwar, Omkareshwar, Indore, Bhopal, Sanchi, Udaigiri caves, Vidisha, Udayapura, Beda Ghat, Khajuraho, Markhera, and Deogarh (in order of visiting).
Any sensible mind exploring the Sundarakanda ('the beautiful section') of the Ramayana invariably feels that it has been aptly named so. Not surprisingly, there have been innumerable explanations of the explicit and implicit beauty of the Sundarakanda, all of which are very endearing. It would perhaps not be deemed superfluous, if yet another attempt is made at explicating one of the numerous beauties of this lovable episode.