Superstition
and blind faith play a very important role in our life. Often these
affect our life without our even knowing about it.
Superstitions
are based on beliefs. A belief is that which we follow without
question.
In
India one often finds little babies with black tikka somewhere on
their face. This black tikka is to ward off the evil eye of all those
who look at the baby. I feel quite sad to think that we apprehend
that some friend, relative or well wisher could have an evil eye
which could harm our little baby.
Well,
that was just an aside, which has some part to play in the story that I want to tell you today. This story is about an
intelligent person who believes that he is very rational and
does not believe in superstion or blind faith.
Once
upon a time in the land of the five rivers of India, lived a
prosperous cloth merchant. He had five sons. One of them got good
education and as was the practice in those days, joined Government
Service in British India. Soon he was transferred to the capital of
India and moved to Delhi with his wife and daughter. As everything appeared to be good, one would presume that they should have been a happy family. They had everything that a person needs to be happy, except for the fact that they did not have a son.
We
have to remember that in India it is imperative that a son must be
born in a household otherwise the ancestors would have a lot of
discomfort as there would be no body to offer food and water to their
souls by way of annual rituals performed which are called "Shhradh".
This
young couple were educated people and quite forward looking and
modern in their outlook. Yet not having a son was always their
eternal cause of anxiety and sorrow. Soon a son was born in the household. Then
the next child too was a son. A succession of daughters also
followed.It was a large, prosperous and happy family.
As
chance would have it, sadly both the sons died mysteriously. It was
believed by the mother of the sons that someone had poisoned one of her sons and also that the evil eye had been cast on her
sons.
Once
again sorrow and desperation started living in their house, as tragedy had
befallen twice, and the much coveted sons did not survive.
The
Lady of the house kept as many fasts as she was advised to. She went
on pilgrimage to every place that she could think of. She even
trudged upto the Amarnath cave, in those days when the path leading
to the Cave was not well maintained. It was a very treacherous climb,
but faith moveth mountains, so this mountain moved the Lady in
question.
Once
on top of the Amarnath cave, for once the lord and master of the house
put his foot down and told the lady not to promise that they would
return to Amarnath if their boon was granted and their wish was
fulfilled.
They
had already promised the residing deities at Amritsar, Vaishno Devi
and many others that they would return and give more offerings if and
when a son was born in their family.
Perhaps
collective prayer to so many Gods and Godesses had their effect and
soon a son was born in this house. There was great rejoicing and
celebrations in this household. The son was welcomed with a lot of
pomp and show.
Because
of the fear of evil eye this boy was given only old clothes to wear,
for one full year.
The
family astrologer was consulted and all papers connected with janm
kundli, tehwa, and horoscope forecasting the future of the boy was
calculated and prepared.
Everything
in the horoscope was good, the future was bright, the boy would
live and do well for himself and fulfill all his obligations and
duties. His ancestors would rest in peace and would be well fed for
ever and ever after.
There
was just one thing predicted, which was an issue of anxiety. The boy
was to meet a stranger in the train. That stranger was this boy's
enemy from a previous birth. The stranger was going to take revenge
in this birth.
This
story was put in the cold storage and for all practical purposes was
forgotten by everyone.
Time
passed and the boy grew up. As it was written in the stars, this boy
met a person on the train, whom he befriended. The friendship looked
healthy and both were comfortable with each other.
Yet
there was something between them which did not allow happiness to
last for too long. There were more downs than ups. Life started to
become bitter. There were too many frictions, arguments and insults
were hurled at each other vociferously and regularly.
The
friend B could never understand why their great friendship always had
this twinge of sadness, distrust and arguments. Until one day the
story of the horoscope was told to him.
The
whole picture became clear and the friend B could understand what the real problem was.
This friend A had grown up knowing that he would one day
meet someone on the train who was going to wreck havoc in his life. When this prophecy came true and A actually met a stranger on the train, whom he befriended the story that had been lying dormant in his memory raised its head without being intrusive.
To ensure that the train friend would not cause any problem, A started
being on the offensive and created as many problems as he could to
make life insufferable for friend B. A had made it his habit to
rebut everything that B suggested. It had become his stance to always
throw back each and every suggestion made by friend B.
A would seek advice about each and everything from Friend B. He would make an effort to show that he was listening and also that he valued the advise of B. Perhaps consciously he did believe that he valued the advise of B. Yet after taking the advise, A would invariably take an absolutely opposite stance. B being unaware of
the reason for this kind of mistrusting attitude and behavior, could not fathom out this distrust and offensive action.
It
was a sad tale of mistrust. A had himself made his own life
miserable. He could never trust, had no faith and questioned each and
every action of B. A had become a victim of the superstition and
story told to him in his childhood. This stupid tale of rebirth and
someone taking revenge in this birth had taken its toll. Poor A had
become a victim of a sordid story told by some godman, who obviously
did this to earn a living off gullible people who would give
donations, perform Pujas with dakshina and propitiate the Gods to
ensure that the ills that were foretold were warded off.
Sadly,
A did not even know that this story was the cause of his mistrust and
suspicious nature which never allowed him to trust anyone. All his actions had been performed without malice. Perhaps his sub conscious mind with the memory of this prophecy had taken charge of his behavior to ensure that no harm befell A.
That
is how superstition, blind faith destroys innocent lives without the
people even knowing what actually hit them. Stories told in childhood usually have a lasting impression upon the psyche of all people.
A rational person is one who questions everything including his own behavior. He takes conscious decisions and controls his own life pattern and behavior. He takes charge of his own life and takes corrective action to ensure the happiness of all, himself included.
As Buddha had said, we are responsible for our own happiness. He had said peace can be attained by our own self. We are responsible for our own thoughts and our thoughts shape our destiny.
