To each his own

[Guest guest]

Ayudha Puja is an interesting religious ritual in South India. In olden days

`ayudha' or weaponry was worshipped on the Navami day of the Dasara period.

Now, with progress and industrialisation, one can see different people

worshipping different articles. It is an industrial holiday and every

organisation witnesses puja of its equipment, vehicles, etc.

 

Elsewhere, car owners worship their vehicles, tailors their sewing machines,

IT professionals their PCs, the cobbler his anvil, and so on. Flowers,

vermilion and sandal paste are used during the worship.

 

It is perhaps the same with other rituals, which are necessarily personal in

nature. If someone feels purer after a bath, another person may feel pure

with just a pinch of vermilion or vibhuti on the forehead. What is important

that all these people are thinking of the Almighty.

 

All this is captured in Sri Ramakrishna's `Yata mat tata path' (as many ways

as there are paths) teaching.