A time for thoughtful gestures
Today is Kamika Ekadashi, extra special because it falls in the holy month of Shravan, which commenced on July 11 and ends on August 9. It is meant to be a time of reflection, spiritual inquiry, and stock-taking of events, relationships, and directions that are important to us. A calendar opportunity provided by tradition to re-evaluate what we want to keep, and think of how we can make small or big changes for our well-being.
The belief goes that this Ekadashi is further powered by the preceding Ashadhi Ekadashi on July 6. That's also known as Dev Shayani Ekadashi because it's believed to be the day when Bhagavan Vishnu enters a four-month period of celestial 'sleep' in Yoga Nidra, or yogic 'sleep'. The entire responsibility of keeping the universe going falls on Lord Shiva during this annual occurrence, a period also known as Chaturmaas or 'four months'.
It's believed that it's good luck to regularly listen to the Vishnu Sahasra Namam or 'The Thousand Names of Vishnu', a passage from the Mahabharata, during this period. Grandsire Bhishma imparted it to Yudhishthira from his bed of arrows. Or else, read or listen daily to even one verse from the Bhagavad Gita. This is recommended to connect with and channel Mahavishnu's deeply restful and powerful Yoga Nidra energy into our lives, thereby reducing stress.
To enhance this step in our personal journey, and in our sakhyam or friendship with God, we are also given a recommendation for Kamika Ekadashi, indeed for the entire month of Shravan. The recommendation is simple yet powerful – donate to those in need, giving whatever you can of food, clothing, water, or monetary assistance. Everything counts, big or little. Even a student or someone on a tight budget can make small but thoughtful gestures to earn merit.
An elderly mochi or cobbler gave me a good clue about this when I went to get a slipper repaired. There were food carts along the road selling momos, samosas and veg burgers. I impulsively asked if I could get him something. Instead of the fried food, he said he would like bananas, a wise choice. So, I got him six from the fruit man's cart. It cost a small sum of ₹30, but it was clean, power food, full of nutrition. Giving fruit is certainly a good, healthy option as a gesture that any one of us could make, and not only on an Ekadashi.
Delhi NCR is presently aswarm with kavadias on their way to Haridwar to fetch Ganga water for the shivlings in their temples at home. Sometimes it feels like an invasion because there are lumpen gangs among them who resort to violence and the destruction of cars and shops in the city. The police seem to be firmly on their side. I feel bad about this because the genuine pilgrims marching stoically under the sun on the long road to Haridwar get a bad name because of the rowdies. Many devout householders, shop owners and even companies set up camps along the route for the kavadias, offering them free food, baths, and mats to rest on under a canopy.
One year, at a big kavadiya camp at Buddha Jayanti Park in Delhi, one such group of hosts, traders from Karol Bagh market, told me piously, "We do it for us, not them, because it's good merit". The rewards they're after are "peace and prosperity". These camps usually serve heavy, oily, fried food – puris, kachoris, samosas, potato curry, and loads of sweets, which does not sound helpful at all for those walking long distances.
I often wonder if these hosts could be persuaded to change their offerings to fruit, milk and nutritious vegetable curries with rotis or rice. It could be economically managed with a bit of planning to really help sustain pilgrims, rather than making it about themselves. But that requires self-awareness or, at a cosmic level, awareness-building programmes by the state governments along the route, a 'chintan manthan'.
Another hurdle is the immovable wall of established tastes. Bhandaras or community meals in temples usually feature fried food. Even fasts are broken with fried food. So, it seems pretty impossible to change the 'halwai habit', a halwai being the professional cook hired to turn out the puris and potato curry. So, I'm wholly hesitant to suggest it to anyone, but can't help wondering each Shravan why nobody wants to consider offering appropriate marching food, maybe tasty sattu rotis and alternative sabzi. I can't practice what I preach because I am inclined to other causes.
However, some very nice gestures can happen, too, in Delhi. Last week, a dear friend of decades, a UP-ite, threw an 'all-girls' birthday lunch as she does each year. Her friends from school, college and work are invited. She sets up a QR code for a charity of her choice and asks us to contribute whatever we want to that cause. This time, she chose an animal shelter called All Creatures Great and Small. No pressure, just a sweet poem about it on WhatsApp, saying 'If you like'. She treated us to sangria, Thai food and date pancakes with coconut-jaggery ice cream. Some guests preferred to bring presents, which was also acceptable. Many others were pleased to have the chance to contribute somewhere genuine, knowing she would have researched it properly, and were happy to respect her wishes. Her gesture was very much in tune with the spirit of this Ekadashi, wouldn't you say?
Renuka Narayanan | FAITHLINE | Senior Journalist
(Views are personal)
(shebaba09@gmail.com)