There is a very powerful prayer called the Durga Kavacham. The word Kavacham literally means armour. A different form of Shakthi or the feminine Energy is assigned to each part of the human body. For example the heart is protected by Lalitha Devi, the wife by Bhairavi. The way ahead by Kshemankari and so on and so forth. Literally everything is covered in this Manthra. What is very interesting is the phrase “Mano Budhdhir Ahamkaara”.
Look at the word “Ahamkaara”. This is often used to denote ego. Most Sanatana philosophies urge for the annihilation of the ego to discover Godhead. Why then this specific inclusion, with the petition to protect it, that took to the Mahaamaaya? Whenever there is a contradiction, it bodes well to search deeper. The Sanskrit word “Aham” means I. Here the word “Ahamkaara” means the true essence of everything.
There is a reference to the the importance of each thing remaining as itself in the Soundarya Lahari of Shri Aadi Shankaarachaarya. If this phenomenon was not in play constantly throughout Creation, we would return back to chaos. The need for clear boundaries is very much in evidence around us in our physical world. The moment these demarcations are obfuscated, it is only a question of time, before confusion enters. Only Divinity has the license to be “ Avyaktha” and survive.
The vastness of Divinity is such that its limits (if any) are not visible at all to us. Why is it that we are very unsure of demanding and applying these definitions in our metaphysical life? The sad thing is that some of the most precious words have descended to a cesspool of uncertainties and multi-meanings which would be simply destroyed in the sensory world around us. For example, one can imagine the problems if the words sea and land were to be interchangeable! This is just a tiny slice of potential absurdity in Creation. Take the most abused word «Love». This is easily the most powerful word and rightly has it been said that «God is Love».
We love old Hindi film songs, books, ice cream, our friends, cotton clothes, Varanasi temple, travel, reading, writing, rowing boats, and elephants. The love we aver in ALL these are true and sincere and most importantly non-toxic, though health freaks may frown at the ice cream part! But Love can turn toxic in an instant. The greatest weapon for emotional blackmail is Love. I love you, therefore change, and be what I want you to be. Do not remain what you are, what you were, in fact the very person who attracted me in the first place.
From giving up wearing jeans to learning how to cook nonvegetarian food, to changing one›s birth religion, the scope of this is huge. In the expert and manipulative hands of a narcissist, people they allegedly love change beyond recognition. The remedy is to put down very definite limits at the very beginning. A trivial example of the very opposite of this is this. Let›s say the girl likes tea and the boy coffee and they are eating out.
There is no point in both of them ordering hot chocolate that neither of them likes, simply so that neither bends to the other! It is far more sensible to stick to an order of coffee and another of tea and have separate cups! Words full of grandeur or what should be grandeur get shaved down to mean absurd things. Misuse of religion is the most dangerous of all. Things have come to such a pass that it has often become fatal to give voice to any of the religions. The golden exemption is Zoroastrianism. This is such a miniscule religion in our country and has the chutzpah not to whine for a minority slot. They have contributed so much to the welfare of our society that both majority and minority religions should bow down to them and learn to shut up and imitate them. Patriotism, Nationalism etc are also such words. Full of value in themselves they becomes the opposite in the hands of vested interests. Just imagine that geographical borders were the only deterrent to people traveling anywhere in the World, say two hundred years ago. With all our alleged development and technology, we have become more insular, less inclusive. Look at Saudi Arabia.
The Laws there are so harsh and feared that ordinary people are quite safe in soceity. It makes sense for an unwed teenager to receive financial help from the Government for her and her child. It does NOT make financial or emotional sense to repeat it for child number two. This makes living on the dole a smart move and kills the spirit of helping someone who has made a genuine mistake. The same is applicable for Nationalism. It is quite natural for people with common interests to band together and take care of these common interests.
However, destroying someone else›s dissimilar interests becomes an act of aggression at best, or an act of war. Fear of losing their primacy made France and Britain go into the Two World Wars. The result was something no one foresaw, which was the rise of the new kid on the block, the United States of America. Sanatana Dharma has lasted for so long because it is inclusive. The social media trend of blaming other faiths, and often reducing acts of violence to a faithbased violence, unnecessarily elevates that faith and reduces the horror of the act, whether it be rape or murder. One of the trending words in social media is love jihad.
According to such reports, a few people pretend to be of a different religion to charm, most often girls, marry them, impregnate them and then reveal their true identity to the pregnant wife. What could be more impious than initially disguising oneself behind a hated religion, only to profess to seek to propagate their own? Thought is still free and untrammeled. But a discerning watch has to be kept on words, leaving a large clear space for jokes and private conversations.
The moment speech goes into that of inciting a crowd, such a rabble rouser has to be made aware of the consequences. It is Fear more than Love which governs most societies successfully. For Love to be the Supreme moving force, we have return to the wisdom of the ancients so as to look deeply within and contemplate. While surrounded by our modern technological wizardry, we have to define, acknowledge and sometimes maybe learn from «advanced» societies from the present and the past to reach the glory where we originated from.
Thiruvathira Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi was born the XII Princess of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore.
