The Other day at Dargah
We look for special day or special event to learn things which are very obvious. Many of us look for books or television to become aware of our basic life principles. For instance one of the biggest yet very well entrenched feature of our country is secularism. It means equal respect for all religions.
You can see people in India practicing it without knowing the word SECULARISM.
Indian secularism differs from Western. In India all religions are recognised by the government, Where as in western countries you need to keep you religion as your private affairs. When I was sitting on Dashaswamedh Ghat on the banks of Ganges in Varanasi, I met a young man from Spain, William. He said "in Spain, people respect each other's religion but they are very formal in doing so". Here in India William found that people from different religions intermingle very freely. We Indians are never surprised to see Hindus visiting Gurdwara or a Durgah. This basic feature of our society has helped our society to survive despite its diversity and it's differences.
I had same feeling and I was once again reminded of William's words when I went to Nizamuddin Aulia's darah on Thursday evening. There are two qawwali sessions held on Thursday evening one starting at 5 pm and next around 9 pm. We were three friends, me, Tushar and Hitesh, who wanted to go for a short spiritual journey on that evening. In this traffic laden city famous for its polluted air, this session of Qawwali was like a breeze of clean and spiritual air for our minds.
As Some religious monuments - Gurudwaras, Dargahs, Mosques - require both men and women to cover the head with a scarf or a large handkerchief. I could see many people from different religions entering dargah with their covered head. Though rules are not strictly followed at this place, I could not see any head which paid respect to the shrine without covering his head.
Don't we miss many such daily occasions in our life and we want media or books to tell what is very obvious. If we keep our eyes and ears open we as a society have tradition and culture of thousands of years which is more than enough to embark upon the journey of a strong and leading nation based on the shared values of justice and equality.
I should also mention things which went against these principles. As a society we are always in the state of progress as it is said that change is the only constant. Print, electronic and social Media is today flooded with articles which demand justice for women, their right to equality. It is not just duty of institutions like police or judiciary to take cognizance of these violations of rights. Women are not allowed to enter in this dargah and this is not just limited to this religion. When I went to newly constructed Swaminarayan temple in Pune, I saw that men were given front places and women had to offer their prayer from a distance which was separated by a rope. This reflects that our society is colored with people from different sects and different religion, not only they share their features like covering head while entering shrine as in case of Gurudara and Dargah but also they share their ill practices like discrimination of women.
Opening our eyes and ears to daily world will teach us about all these life principles and it will also help us to remove bad practices. Discrimination of women as talked earlier is not just limited to public places but it starts from our home. Only when we come to realize these issues, we will be able to make changes in our behavior and outlook towards women.
Just another day is therefore good enough to learn and improvise our life. We may not need special event or special persons, or books to tell us how we can make our life better. And if we practice being happy in ordinary chores our life we will be able to make each passing day more meaningful.
“The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant party, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.” observed Ralph Waldo Emerson
You can see people in India practicing it without knowing the word SECULARISM.
Indian secularism differs from Western. In India all religions are recognised by the government, Where as in western countries you need to keep you religion as your private affairs. When I was sitting on Dashaswamedh Ghat on the banks of Ganges in Varanasi, I met a young man from Spain, William. He said "in Spain, people respect each other's religion but they are very formal in doing so". Here in India William found that people from different religions intermingle very freely. We Indians are never surprised to see Hindus visiting Gurdwara or a Durgah. This basic feature of our society has helped our society to survive despite its diversity and it's differences.
I had same feeling and I was once again reminded of William's words when I went to Nizamuddin Aulia's darah on Thursday evening. There are two qawwali sessions held on Thursday evening one starting at 5 pm and next around 9 pm. We were three friends, me, Tushar and Hitesh, who wanted to go for a short spiritual journey on that evening. In this traffic laden city famous for its polluted air, this session of Qawwali was like a breeze of clean and spiritual air for our minds.
As Some religious monuments - Gurudwaras, Dargahs, Mosques - require both men and women to cover the head with a scarf or a large handkerchief. I could see many people from different religions entering dargah with their covered head. Though rules are not strictly followed at this place, I could not see any head which paid respect to the shrine without covering his head.
Don't we miss many such daily occasions in our life and we want media or books to tell what is very obvious. If we keep our eyes and ears open we as a society have tradition and culture of thousands of years which is more than enough to embark upon the journey of a strong and leading nation based on the shared values of justice and equality.
I should also mention things which went against these principles. As a society we are always in the state of progress as it is said that change is the only constant. Print, electronic and social Media is today flooded with articles which demand justice for women, their right to equality. It is not just duty of institutions like police or judiciary to take cognizance of these violations of rights. Women are not allowed to enter in this dargah and this is not just limited to this religion. When I went to newly constructed Swaminarayan temple in Pune, I saw that men were given front places and women had to offer their prayer from a distance which was separated by a rope. This reflects that our society is colored with people from different sects and different religion, not only they share their features like covering head while entering shrine as in case of Gurudara and Dargah but also they share their ill practices like discrimination of women.
Opening our eyes and ears to daily world will teach us about all these life principles and it will also help us to remove bad practices. Discrimination of women as talked earlier is not just limited to public places but it starts from our home. Only when we come to realize these issues, we will be able to make changes in our behavior and outlook towards women.
Just another day is therefore good enough to learn and improvise our life. We may not need special event or special persons, or books to tell us how we can make our life better. And if we practice being happy in ordinary chores our life we will be able to make each passing day more meaningful.
“The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant party, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.” observed Ralph Waldo Emerson
wonderful thoughts
ReplyDeleteA really good and interesting take on India's undercurrent of religious differences and unity.
ReplyDelete