“Of what use are wealth, comforts and pleasures, home, wives, and sons if one is not able to see Shri Rama?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 48.7)

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किं नु तेषां गृहैः कार्यं किं दारै: किं धनेन वा
पुत्रैर्वा किं सुखैर्वापि ये न पश्यन्ति राघवम्

kiṃ nu teṣāṃ gṛhaiḥ kāryaṃ kiṃ dārai: kiṃ dhanena vā
putrairvā kiṃ sukhairvāpi ye na paśyanti rāghavam

“Listen, if you are familiar at all with Hinduism, or what is more accurately known as sanatana-dharma, you understand the basic imagery. The common practices are not a surprise to you. If I had to describe everything in one word, it would be worship. If you want to add a qualifier, you can say ‘constant’ worship. Constant worship that is steady across a vast stretch of time. From morning until night. From childhood into adulthood. From bachelorhood into marriage, and even extending to formal renunciation, or retirement.

“What kind of worship, exactly? To which object of worship? What is the nature of the offerings? This is where you see variety. I might be considered ‘Hindu’ by the less knowledgeable. My neighbor might also be considered Hindu. But we follow different schedules for worship. What is a holiday for me might not be for them, and vice versa. We eat different foods. We might even speak completely different languages. Yet we fall into the same category of religion based on the outsider’s perspective.

“Accompanying the worship is the return. Like those brochures you receive from the new startups, who have their fund that they want you to pump money in. They give an idea of what to expect. They manage expectations by trying to compare funds of a similar category. With the worship in sanatana-dharma, there is always something to be gained. There is a reason for the pomp and pageantry. There is a reason for the vrata in the leadup, which is like a vow of abstinence from something, be it food or drink or both.

“The uniqueness of the historical component of sanatana-dharma is this idea of an avatara. The one standing tallest, who is above everything else, who is never under illusion, volunteers to appear amidst the mortals. He does so at times of His choosing, though the general parameters tend to be the same. When there is a rise in irreligion, adharma. The persecution of the saintly class, the sadhus. The need for extraordinary power to deal with someone who has temporarily gamed the system, so to speak, who has assumed high influence coupled with a nefarious motive.

“The question I have relates to worship. We have so much formal worship that takes place today. For Ganesha. For Shiva. For Parvati. For this deva and that, but why do the avataras not have such worship take place during their time in the mortal realm? Why wasn’t there formal worship of Shri Rama, for instance? Isn’t it better to worship Vishnu directly when He appears than to wait until later to visit a temple to offer respects to a statue, one that is installed as the deity? Why weren’t people appearing before Rama at regular intervals with offerings, in a procedural manner, to get something in return?”

This issue highlights a key distinction in the highest objective of sanatana-dharma. Liberation, which has the corresponding Sanskrit word of moksha, means release from the cycle of birth and death. No more spinning on the wheel of suffering, samsara-chakra. No more accepting a temporary body and enduring the constantly changing conditions, which are always in duality.

Moksha might also be nirvana, but only in terms of the suffering. It is not nirvana in the sense of the end of an existence. There is life in liberation. This is because of the presence of life; no surprise. The individual is always full of life. This is irrespective of how we see them. Whether they are moving or not, whether they have two arms or eight legs, whether they move on the surface of the earth or live deep within the ocean, they are always alive. When we think they are dead, they have simply moved on to another body.

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरो ऽपराणि
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्य्
अन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही

vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ‘parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.22)

After moksha, there is the potential to interact with a person. This is seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly and having a relationship. It might be only in appreciation, like observing from a distance. It might be in savagely roasting Him with sarcastic remarks, in the manner that friendship is free of all formalities. It might be in the role of a loving caretaker, who is always attentive to the needs of the dependent.

These are the same relationships we see in the times of the avatara. There is no need for formal worship because Vishnu does not necessarily advertise His status. He does not walk around showing the universal form, the virat-rupa, as a way to frighten people. He does not go up to strangers and insist upon preferential treatment. He never says, “Do you know who I am?”

There is no need of formal worship because there is something much better to offer. We have an example in the wives of Ayodhya. One time, Shri Rama, who is a beautiful and young prince, has to leave the kingdom and not return for fourteen years. The wives in the householder community are set to follow Rama. No one advised them along these lines. There was no book they consulted that recommended a sort of vrata of abrupt abandonment of family and home. There was nothing personal to be gained by the sacrifice.

The wives followed in this way spontaneously, out of love for Rama. They admonished their husbands for remaining too complacent, for harboring attachment to home and family while missing the opportunity to see Rama. The complaint from the wives is the very embodiment of the liberated state. It is pure devotion, the likes of which the Supreme Lord feels forever indebted to attempt to repay.

In Closing:

Why at home to stay?
Let’s follow Rama today.

Always for our benefit seeing,
As the most benevolent being.

Whether as the prince or mendicant now,
To enjoy this earthly realm how?

At least the constant vision to get,
Our hearts in that place set.

Categories: questions

Tags: avatar, dailyprompt, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, worship