Mother Rose

How many of us read Sanskrit prayers without even trying to know the meaning of the words chanted (we don’t bother to translate to ourselves and chant the text and sometimes refuse to do) since we believe that our gods, we suppose, understand just Sanskrit alone and not our regional language or dialect. We further convince ourselves that even though we mispronounce the words in Sanskrit or misspell the translations in our regional language texts, the Heaven will not fall on our heads as no harm will be done on that score, for it is God to understand our intentions that our prayers are sincere and genuine as per our good conscience and understanding. Here I support our above pious chanters for they pray with a belief that God will understand our intentions in his heart of hearts and that by praying the slokas a world of good will be done to us as well as rest of the world. This is so; despite the fact that the impugned prayer or slokas contain certain words that may be categorically against our personal or collective sentiments and beliefs, (there are thousand and one instances of slippery wickets on the pitch of our Gods where we did not agree with our gods doings and undoing predispositions and indiscretions in their arenas truly punctuating the democratic religion of Hinduism (enshrined and reiterated in the episodes of Mahabharata and Ramayana by the characters including protagonist in such epics). We just consider the prayers as a ritual and feel ourselves absolved of all our mundane and even spiritual burdens to be ready for the day’s job with a near lightheaded feeling of enlightenment in the head and heart.

So is the national anthem of any country, as it will be always associated with national spirit, its mission, objective, vision, its past glory, sacrifice and dedications to the martyrs in the struggle for liberation, uplift etc., that spirit would be having deep-felt passions in the memory lane and involvement in psychological emotions of majority of people born, brought up and migrated to other countries, irrespective of any divisions on any lines ans so is the reason why we have to respect the intentions ofthe whole piece of a poem or song than some specifics in certain lines.

On the lighter side I look into some of the film songs. Though they read something in the movie, but when sung outside in public, in the similar fashion, they are sure to evoke anger and sharp responses from the listeners or passers leading to some raised fists or surprised eyebrows never the less, and you cant blame people in the by lanes reading between the lines of your song and alleging eve teasing and other criminal motives behind the innocuous lyrics of our hapless hummer. I would conclude finally with, of course, a cliché, what is in a name, a Rose smells as sweet by any other name, so is the nation that we reside in, where we come from, and so is its song so fragrant and we shall go by such rose, by Vandematharam.

Vandematharam.