By Patricia Mukhim
On Thursday (October 18) the Central Puja Committee (CPC) which had decades ago launched the observance of Durga Puja in Shillong through a very unique, “Get Together of Harmony,” in different pandals of the city, brought together people from different communities, diverse walks of life and all religious heads, although the honchos of several churches were conspicuous by their absence. The objective of the CPC has always been to spread the spirit of harmonious co-existence. This was precipitated because of the history of conflict and violence that disrupted normal life in Shillong for several years beginning with 1979. Since that year there used to be an air of tentativeness about whether Puja could be celebrated in the spirit of gaiety that’s supposed to attend the visitation of Goddess Durga.
Many of us have been baptised and raised in organised religion that pooh-poohs idol worship. But I can recall that as kids we were taken to Puja pandals just for fun’s sake, to see what people actually do over there. We were warned though that we should not partake of the “prashad” since it is associated with idol worship. We’ve come a long way since then. Received ideas of religious taboos are now a thing of the past, although some still carry religion as adage of honour. Now that I think of it, its rather funny that we were well indoctrinated into religion but not on how to live life in a multicultural society and why it is important to not only tolerate but to also love another human being even if the person is difficult to love because (a) she does not belong to your community (b) she comes from a religion and culture that is completely alien to yours (c) that she is an interloper into your land. Over the years one has got over these hang-ups. One has also learnt from Gandhi’s aphorism that there is enough in this world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed and that the reason why even my own tribal society is today so fragmented is because a few have become filthy rich at the cost of the majority who are slipping below the poverty line.
The much maligned outsider really does not have much role to play in our self destruction. But of course we need the “other” around which to vent the frustration of our unmet needs; to mask our guilt – the guilt of never taking time off for an honest introspection. Over the years we have actually constructed our politics around the idea that the “other” is the enemy and that if there is no “other” we would have been what late GG Swell says – a shining outpost in a patch of green. I wish things were so simple, black and white, right or wrong. But they aren’t. The shades of grey actually call for our attention. The human mind is a highly complex thing that is capable of much good and also extreme evil. Perhaps the fact that evil is not unleashed in the scale that it could is because we have these rare occasions of soul searching whether it be at a church, mosque or temple or with nature as the Khasis who still practice the indigenous faith do.
The piece- de- resistance at the CPC led celebration on Thursday was Governor RS Mooshahary’s speech. He was able to cover up the gaffe caused by a bad sound system and other glitches. The governor was the last to speak yet he held the audience spellbound with the recitation of shlokas like a scholar of Sanskrit. The gems of thoughts that he shared about Dharma and the wide rubric of spirituality and intrinsic humanity that it encompasses was something that one rarely hears in this day and age when speeches are nearly always populist; are more about delivery than substance and are intended to please a certain section of the audience. Governor Mooshahary was very direct and drew from his wide readings of several scriptural texts from different religions. It is not often that a state has a governor who is also scholarly above all other decorations.
Without mincing words the Governor expressed his reservations about animal sacrifice which he termed as a ritual to appease the gods but whether that’s how it really works is highly debatable. Talking about compassion as the bedrock of all religions Mr Mooshahary said that such get-togethers were fine and created a spirit of camaraderie but he questioned whether the Durga Puja as such really contributed to anything of permanent value such as purity of the mind and true humanity. Only a pure mind can create a pure heart and only a pure heart can reach out to other human being in love and compassion. I thought this is the basis of human existence. We come to this earth and spend at best 70-80 years of our lives (if we are lucky) and yet we are so overburdened by ego, pride and a counterfeit life.
Talking about religion Mr Mooshahary said religion is meant to enhance human values and social contacts through mutual understanding but that it has completely failed to do that. Talking about Dharma which some tend to mix up with religion, Mooshahary said Dharma preceded religion because it arrived with the birth of human beings on this earth. The Governor also debunked the word ‘Hindu’ to mean religion. He said Santana Dharma is about ethics, righteousness, purity of spirit and the ability to be one with the cosmic forces. “Santana Dharma enables us to carry all the values of good human behaviour in our hearts.” Its been a while since I heard such down to earth preaching that does not pigeon hole us human beings into this or that religion but speaks of humanity as the greatest of all religions.
We have arrived at a goalpost where the individualistic spirit of ‘self above all else’ is directing the way we live and behave. There is the need to win arguments; the need to be recognised; the need to have power; the need to have wealth; the need to outdo my neighbour and to acquire more than what he/she has, including a better car, house, even a better wife/husband etc. The list can go on. On any given day if we examine our lives before passing into the realm of dreams we would realise that it revolves around meeting all or some of the above needs. There is nothing in the above listed hierarchy of needs that even remotely has space for another person. It’s all about me, me, I and I. But as thinking and reading human beings we also know that the only happiness that can accrue to us is through the happiness we bring to others. It’s a strange logic that we don’t get this simple fact of life.
One must of course admit that we have learnt some lessons from the past. In the last five years or more we have never had any doubts that Durga Puja would be celebrated in Shillong. Gone are those days of fear and apprehension about the worst. The Khasi-Jaintia community – the host community in Shillong must be congratulated for their spirit of accommodation and grace. They have always been a gentle, good natured society and if they have found it difficult to reach out it is because Khasis are by nature reserved. This is borne out by Japanese scholar Chie Nakane’s accounts in her book about the Khasis and also observations by British chroniclers.
What leaves me wondering however is why there are so few non-Khasis willing to speak Khasi and learn to adapt to some of the desirable aspect of Khasi cultural principles? Why do we have communal ghettos in this city? Why are opportunities for social interface so few and far between? What is it that restrains us from striking genuine friendships? And why are we as tribals perpetually suspicious of the non-tribal? When will we see beyond the stereotypes? Perhaps as Governor Mooshahary says we are soaked in religion but have not understood dharma or the ethics of life. It’s time to distinguish between the two and change the way we live.