The man who taught me the biggest lesson on spiritualism

It was a pre-Christmas Sunday. Bangalore seemed deserted that day despite the pleasant cold weather. The reason was the long weekend. People take short holidays on long weekends and visit nearby holiday spots, relatives and friends. Last Sunday, the shop and malls were over-crowded with people shopping for clothes, goodies, sweets, chocolates, cards and gifts. But, things were very different this Sunday.

I had not planned to go out and decided to cook something interesting. I got an idea from surfing the food websites for a chicken dish. I thought of buying chicken from a roadside chicken shop that was close to my home. Apart from supporting a small business, it would be quicker than getting it home delivered or buying from a shopping mall.

I walked to the shop. It had different varieties of cut chicken pieces on display- legs, organ meat, skinless, curry cut, with skin etc. I saw two men standing in front of the shop, but there was no one at the counter. As I asked the people standing, I was utterly surprised to see the one who responded. The man was clad in black dhoti and angavastram and had a long beard, a rudraskha mala hanging up to his belly. Sandalwood paste was smeared on his forehead. I had thought that the other person was the salesman of that shop. But, when he entered the shop, it became apparent that he was the one who was going to serve the customers. It was hard to believe that he was the shopkeeper, I was in a state of shock. He smiled and welcomed me inside. I thought he might hesitate to show the non-vegetarian food on display, but he opened the freezer, took out the stuff I wanted and started cutting it to my need. The owner, who was probably in his early thirties, was wearing a Ganesha pendant too.

Normally in religious festivals, most of us do not like to touch non-veg, some groups even demand that the non-veg shops remain closed on auspicious days. Should we not be given the choice to eat non-veg or not on specific days? At home too, we don’t like to cook or serve non-veg on the days we observe vrat. If I have to make an omelette, I do it with reluctance. As if, the smell or thought of a non-veg food will diminish our levels of spirituality. But, in reality, we are being very ritualistic and not spiritual.

I asked him how he was cutting and selling non-veg without any hesitation? His reply stunned me more than I expected. "This is work my ma’am. My religion or vrat should not come in its way. For one month, I will observe fasting before going to the temple. If I don’t do this my family will starve for that period. What type of dharma will I be earning?"

I nodded in agreement. His ascetic life should not come in his way of earning livelihood. His devotion to his duty seemed exemplary. Purity of the soul can be maintained even when one is doing his job.

I learnt the biggest lesson on spiritualism at that moment. Being spiritual is not being biased about superficial rituals. We must realise and understand that spiritualism resides deep inside us and it must not be affected by such trivial rituals. One’s journey to spirituality is much above any ritual- religious or otherwise.

- By Minati Pradhan

Source: indiatimes.com