‘Little’ Faith
Tuesdays are a big deal. Tuesdays are pretty auspicious. All the days are associated with a deity and Tuesdays come to be associated with Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is believed to himself be an incarnation of Lord Shiva sent to help overcome troubles laid in the path of Lord Rama, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Like million others, my parents visit the nearby Lord Hanuman temple. Some days I go along.
Today in the temple I saw an olderly couple stand in the queue. Well, its Tuesday. Everyone wants dedicated time with Lord Hanuman. So there is naturally a queue. There are bhajans being played on speaker and everyone is just humming along. However there is a small child, of around an year of age, with the olderly couple. I am not sure what made me but I did become interested to watch the little child at play. For a few moments the child kept standing in the queue, moving one step at a time. But then he grew bored. He started running to the right side of the temple where other deity temples were present. His grandfather (man from the olderly couple) went after him. He tried to bring the child back to the queue but was not successful. Finally he lifted the child up and then took him to the other temples. The child seemed so happy going in front of each idol and then joining his hands into a namaste.
That was not enough. Afterwards the child got fascinated with the bells tied around the temple. He (assuming the child was a boy) touched one while being lifted by his grandfather and then wouldn’t let him move anywhere else. He started going to each bell and trying to ring it. Some were heavier than he was and wouldn’t ring even when he tried to ring them. When his grandfather would ring them for him, he wouldn’t be too pleased about it.
It was not a big temple. The number of bells was also finite. When the bells were over, the child took to notice people. He saw how people went to the engraving of Lord Hanuman and kneeled before it and touched their foreheads on Lord Hanuman’s feet. The child ran to the same place and did the same. He even asked his grandfather to kneel. When his grandfather tried bringing him back to the queue, he displayed the same kneeling action to his grandmother before running away again.
This time he saw a man circling around a tree. The child went to as far as he could but the tree was planted on land a step lower than the rest of the temple. The child didn’t know how to get down the step and sensing danger didn’t just walk into it. As his grandfather came to pick him up, he kept pointing towards the tree.
When he couldn’t find anything else to interest him in that long queue anymore, the child started running all around. The grandfather had to then take him to the other side of the temple to repeat the routine of the namastes, bells and the kneeling in front of the deities.
This boy reminded me of a little girl I had met a while back. She must be maybe six months elder to the boy for she could speak. She didn’t know much words herself but could repeat things being said to her. Her grandmother was a socialite who even indulged in a lot of religious gatherings and prayer meetings. The grandmother would often take the little girl along.
We met over lunch with this family. Everyone was chatting merrily and when the little girl felt that she was not getting due attention, she started singing the prayers. Most words were not clear but the tune was. Her grandmother suddenly joined along and told us about how the little girl enjoys all those prayer meetings.
The little girl had her attention back. She chuckled for a while and then concentrated her concentration elsewhere.
Remembering both these children, I just think that the most pure form of worship comes from these children. They follow their parents or elders in all such activities. Folding hands before God, bowing their heads, singing prayers or other such religious activities. However they do it for fun and from their heart. They do not demand anything back from God. As we grow older and start facing failures – discovering things that are not in our control, we start asking back for these same actions.
As a person I believe that as we grow up, we start losing faith. To a little child, all the elders say to bow before a God and he shall bless them. The child agrees and bows without any second thought. Then comes the first problem – maybe losing your favourite pencil. Mother is going to be very angry. The now a little older child, starts praying. He lost the faith that the pencil would come back to him and he also lost faith that his mother might be angry but wont be hurting her own child. With bigger problems, we slowly start losing faith on first people around us and then we lose faith on ourselves. It is then we start asking for a good job, a bigger house, a good spouse and what not.
All the things we ask for, we can achieve ourselves. A good job – I can study and find one. A bigger house – I can save and buy one. A good spouse – I can be a better person and find one. What I don’t ask from God is patience, contentment, wisdom and other virtues that truly are something where God should intervene.
Now I am not saying that we are all bad. I am just here giving you some food for your thought as I had had for mine.
Someday I wish I would be that child again – visit a temple, bow in front of an idol and say ‘I am happy’. No desires, no regrets, no worries and a little faith.