As a little girl I had lots of queries on Gods, Rituals
and Religious practices and I used to throw them to my Father who I felt had a
fair knowledge on them as he was a voracious reader of books on mythology,
scriptures…etc. Though there were photos of many Gods and Goddesses in our Puja
Room, but my father was a liberal so far as religious practices are concerned. It
was bit strange though, as we hail from an orthodox Odia Brahamin priest
family. In fact, Generations after Generations, till now, my paternal Uncles’ depend
on “Jajamana – Family priest” for their bigger part of livelihood.
Once in the occasion of Shivaratri, I was excited to keep
fast fascinated by people around. My
father never believed in fasting to please Gods, especially for children. To
convince me, fasting is not a need to please Gods, He described the Persona of
Lord Shiva in such a manner that it’s still etched in my mind as if he said it
just yesterday.
Lord Shiva, The Possessor of Power of Destruction, is
actually a very simple God who believes in the “present actions” of a person.
He is The One who can bless you something, which is not even scripted in your Destiny.
He can make you even defy the inevitable Death. He believes in Dedication, Devotion
and Determination!! He is a very Easy God to be pleased with your actions
rather than following tough rituals!! He doesn’t even Differentiate while give
away his blessing!! For him everyone
who performs Good Actions Deserve the fruit of it!! Your Actions can only
please HIM, no matter you follow any rituals/practices or not…
Well…that time I was too little to comprehend what he
said but only understood that “Good Deeds Pleases Lord Shiva” and tried to
follow that…
Let Lord Shiva Bless Us All
Happy MahaShivaratri!! 
Nice write up.
ReplyDeleteHappy Shivaratri