The Ritual Of Sacrifice
' All your planets and stars are in hostile houses. Even the strong ones are in rival and hostile positions frowning on each other.
Even the favourable Jupiter and the Sun are of no use because of retrograde movement. Especially since the last two years you have been forced to undergo upheaval and disasters ' .
Uttered the swamiji in orange coloured clothes with his raised left arm.
The old woman kneeling before him almost in sobs and frustrated, saw the face of her son Vasuki, kneeling just beside her.
The Swamiji after a moment's pause continued in a final, firm yet low toned voice.
' You need to make offers, oblations and to fortnightly rituals to ward off your calamities and save your self from the possible tragedy in the family'.
"I have no faith in such sheer senseless things".Blurted Vasuki indignantly.
He had been advised by the man, his family preceptor, to mitigate the wrath of the family gods and also to make offers to the cruel, angry stars in his horoscope.
who had been, according to Swamiji, pestering and frustrating him for the past two years.
Everyone present in the hall called him' Swamiji' and always spoke with him in suppressed and supplicating voice.
They never ventured to look at him straight into his face for fear of misfortune or some negative effect.
They had made a practice to place various gifts they offered in front of him and just prostrate.
The Swamiji had mastered several ways of inducing the people. There were some of his votaries and believers who understood the Swamiji 's mute commands.
He would just wave his finger or hand and they understood what they had been asked to do.
The influence of the swamiji belonged to a strange domain wherein to a great extent his votaries themselves were responsible.
They were already under some magic spell or depression when they met him.
It needed just a few deep sounding obscure and incoherent words ; the rest was the visitor's job.
He or she would supply the meaning and explanation on his or her part. The Swamiji spoke as little as possible.
In fact his face and his eyes supported a certain sly smile which worked wonders.
He took special care to change the appearance of his eyes with kajal and marked his fore-head prominently with Vibhuti or the sacred ash and vermilion.
No one ever thought why he always had a clean shaven, gleaming face ;and why several types of perfumes diffused in the air of the hall, in
Which he held his special devotion and counseling gathering .
Vasuki, a man around forty years of age, had come there with his aged mother. On earlier occasions also he had come to the place with his father and uncle.
He could not make anything obvious out of all such visits.
But he had always observed the style and the gimmicks of the swamiji for over a decade.
He had, since his first meeting with him, never ever trusted in anybody's spiritual powers.
Though he was not an agnostic or an atheist , he treated every personal and general problem on its own merit. He was keen and analytical on logical grounds; but he also believed in some
invisible non interfering natural power.
He often said that everything went in accordance with the Natural laws and that man should not violated, transgress or cross the limits set for existence.
He was never prepared to believe that by offering some oblations in rituals, to some God or Deity one could propitiate the divine wrath or the so called punishment.
His logic was : why should any deity be forced or be corrupted with such bribery as the oblations and offers.
For the past several months Vasuki had been hit hard with misfortune. One after the other, several calamities befell his family life.
So much so that he was nearly broken down. But his philosophical attitude and the analytical mind found a certain equilibrium between violence and surrender.
Vasuki however never would believe in rituals performed to ward off the imminent calamities or even the foreseen disasters and disorders .
He found no reasonable explanation in the whole process.
Why would any Deity if at all be wrathful and be pacified with the blood of some other animals.
Even the offers of flowers, fruits and coconut etc are snatching from Nature's beautiful manifestations.
Why would any Deity feel short of any such offerings. There were no answers to such of his questions.
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Vasuki was the only son of Ranga Rao, a businessman, who was tradition -bound and religious.
Though not very wealthy, he had sufficient riches both inherited and self- earned. He was happily settled with his small family of wife, and only son.
To his shock and disaster, Vasuki fell ill; and it was a strange illness which could not be properly diagnosed by the local doctors.
Some specialist were consulted but everything went in vain.
At that time the family preceptor of Ranga Rao asked him to perform certain rituals with specific offerings.
The ceremony went on for a few weeks. Ranga Rao's money and riches flowed freely to the preceptor's monastery and the granary attached thereto.
Vasuki survived and recovered fully. He knew from within that it was his own will power, exercise and dieting on chosen food which had saved him.
He knew that the goat- sacrifice had nothing to do either with his illness or with the 'Deity' ,appeased by the Swamiji . That was years ago.
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Now Vasuki' s only son Kiran had fallen ill. His illness could not be diagnosed by any doctor or specialist.
Several doctors came forward with their own theories. Some even declared that he could live, at best , for only another six months.
The whole family was lost in distress, sorrow and frustration.
Even before that Vasuki had suffered heavy losses in his business ,despite his adequate and proper planning. His wife, and also his widowed mother persistently asked him to seek the
blessings of the family preceptor , the Swamiji.
Vasuki was reluctant. He always believed that Nature is the Creator, Protector, and Destroyer of everything in the world.
All things, living or dead, he believed , belong to Nature. How could anyone meddle with the affairs or the proceedings of Nature.
He firmly believed that if anything, anywhere went wrong, it was either because of the essential Naturally activity or a result of human greed and interference in it.
He always said to himself :one must respect Nature and it's ways with experience, learning and knowledge of all the laws of Nature.
At this stage Vasuki' s wife and also his widowed mother ,persistently asked him to seek the blessings of swamiji and also the
remedy for the prolonged illness of Kiran .
Not being able to withstand their displeasure he had condescended,to meet the Swamiji, who as usual asked him to perform the necessary oblations, yajna and make offers of two
goats and three cocks. This upset Vasuki and he disagreed with the Swamiji.
As he returned home with his family he was in two minds : to displease his family and the Swamiji, or discard all his beliefs established with scientific attitude and sane thoughts.
He decidedly withstood all the railings of his mother and the mutter of displeasure of his wife.
In the meantime he advised his son to develop a strong will power and have faith in himself and in Nature's self curing quality.
He only wanted his son to be normal and committed to the principles of hygiene and medicine.
It did prevail and Kiran soon recovered from his illness. In fact he became a successful athlete.
On the other hand Vasuki who tried to analysis his drawbacks and failures in business, sought to know what went wrong.
He could discern the fact that the production and the marketing sections of his factories needed alterations and revised supervision.
In fact he had to spend more and his losses grew intenser .But as he believed firmly, it yielded finally.
He did catch up with others in the business competition.
Shortly he overtook them all and was soon to be awarded with the year's best businessman title.
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