Mayflower

[Guest guest]

Yesterday, my husband and I took a trip to the state

of Massachusetts in the northeastern part of the

United States. We visited a very important historical

site called Plymouth. This is a very small town on the

seacoast, a very average little community. It looks

unremarkable except for what happened there many years

ago.

Every American knows the story, but let me

summarize for those of you who are not Americans. The

very first English-speaking colony in North America

was in Virginia in 1607. Thirteen years later, a small

group of people decided to leave England and move to

Virginia. This was a violent time in European history.

People of different religious groups were at war with

one another, burning people alive quite frequently for

beliefs. This group of people was a small religious

minority, people unable to practice their faith freely

in England.

So, in 1620 they hired a ship called the Mayflower

and sailed toward Virginia. They were on the ship for

weeks. There was a storm and the Mayflower was blown

off course. They arrived in North America in the wrong

spot, 700 km north of Virginia. It was December and

the land was covered with snow. There were no other

Europeans for 700 km around. Very little food was

available. The Native Americans took pity on the

people and helped them, but still almost half the

people died from cold and starvation. But the other

half lived and formed a new colony named Plymouth.

All of this I already knew before yesterday.

What I learned yesterday was just how small this

Mayflower ship was. There is today a replica called

the Mayflower 2 in Plymouth. It is a tiny little boat.

There are today private homes in Boston larger than

this ship. I stood there wondering how 150 people

could possible have squeezed into it. Conditions

during the voyage must have been horrendous. I wonder

how many Americans today would have tolerated such a

journey, with little space, bad food, bad sanitary

conditions, and 150 other smelly people who had not

bathed in weeks.

Why do I mention all of this on this list?

Remember the reason that these people left England.

They left their homes and their friends and the lives

that they had known. They eudured terrible hardships

and risked death; indeed for half of them death became

more than a mere risk. Why? Because of their religious

faith. They could have avoided this by abandoning

their faith and worshipping the same way as their

neighbors. Yet they chose to be honest and worship the

Divine in the manner that they felt in their hearts

was proper.

Now, I ask you: Are you a member of a religious

minority? Does the manner in which you worship the

divine differ from the way that your neighbors do? If

so, what hardships are willing to endure for your

faith? Whatever your answer, it cannot possible equal

what the founders of Plymouth endured so many years

ago.

We of all minority faiths should all learn from

the people who set sail on the Mayflower. Holding true

to one's beliefs and one's interpretation of the

Divine is sometimes difficult. The temptation to

surrender and act like everybody else can be very

intense. But each of us holds a spark of the Divine

within our own souls. That inner flame is the sole

guide for each of us on how to worship and what to

believe. We must be true to that flame or we cannot

pretend to be honest about anything else. We must be

willing to sacrifice certain material comforts in this

struggle to be true to our hearts. The Divine deserves

nothing less.

Jai Ma!

 

Sister Usha

 

=====

Sister Usha Devi

Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside

every woman

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.