Restoring Hinduism : One step at a time

My Facebook notification was filled with Thaipusam wishes from friends back home. To be honest, that was my reminder of this celebration.

For those of you wondering what Thaipusam is, kindly Google it.

This year’s Thaipusam celebration was different for me. It was not the fact that I am in America, but how I celebrated it that made a difference. Unlike many of my friends, I was not able to visit a temple. I celebrated it by researching and reading articles about Thaipusam itself.

Of course, it could never replace the original feeling of visiting a temple. However, it brought a sense of proximity between me and God in one way. Thousands of miles away from home but I found peace in reading.

I have a question for all of you reading this, when was the last time you actually questioned or understood the reason behind your practices? I never did.

This post is dedicated to restore the correct perception on the celebration of Thaipusam.

Many years ago, a devotee named Idumban brought milk to perform abishegam (milk bath) for Lord Muruga. Every day without fail, he would carry a pot of milk up the hill to perform this ceremony. One fine day, on the month of Thai, Lord Muruga grant Idumban mukti (release from the death cycle). Seeing this, other villagers too started to bring milk and other fruits as offerings in hopes to receive mukthi.

Centuries later, this perfectly simple and harmless act has transformed to include mortification of flesh and other completely unnecessary feat like the one below:

Not the real Hinduism tradition & it hurts

Before any of you proceed to judge this, let me assure you we all do it in our own way. When is the last time we have been a victim of someone else’s interpretation. Have we blindly follow certain arguments and statements just because it came from someone older? Worse than that, when was our last time of self discovery through your own spiritual religiosity?

As time passes, I realized that we all perpetuate ideas that seem rational to us. These ideas then become a hearsay often misleading other people. Admit it, we have all been victim of this. The reason is simple, we never care to find an answer for ourselves.

I've done my part. I challenge you all to learn and correct what you think is wrong.

As long we remain ignorant, religious fanatics will always take advantage of us.

If you really hate fanatics, face them.

Special credits to: Miss Leela and Mr Gajen for their input and resources.