Why Rituals at Home?
Why should we do Sandhya Vandanam, Agni Sandhanam and other rituals at home?
To our ancestors Home was not so much a place on earth
meant for enjoyment of conjugal or domestic bliss
("kaama") as it was a place conducive for spiritual
atonement, practices and advancement.
"panchyasUnA gruhasthasya vartantE'hara-harah sadA
khandanI pEsanI chuLLi jalakumbha upaskarah".
The verse above is a very interesting one indeed. It
attracted the attention of none other than the
venerable (late) "AchArya" of Kanchi, Pujyasri
Chandrasekherendra Saraswati, who devoted one whole
chapter to it in his famous book of spiritual
discourses and commentary in Tamil, "deivattin-kural".
It would be profitable for us to briefly summarize
that chapter in the context of our ongoing discussions
on the subject of "kaama" as it extends to Man's
"homing instinct".
**************
In what comes to us as rather shocking revelation,
one's home is a brutal butchery, says the above
Sanskrit couplet. And because our home is a butchery,
it is a place of rampant "himsa" or violence.
There are many sins in the world of which Man can be
guilty. Violence is perhaps the most heinous of them.
Violence is rather unbecoming too of a man of
spiritual refinement. Therefore it is sin that he must
shun and avoid in life with all the courage and
conviction at his disposal.
Unfortunately, Violence sometimes becomes unavoidable
in life due to the inexorable working of the law of
"karma" i.e. due to the exigencies and vagaries of
life. Conditions and circumstances of human existence,
as well as the ebb and tide of human affairs sometimes
conspire to make violence inevitable. In life
sometimes, Violence is imposed upon Man against his
personal will and willingness.
One such human circumstance, where Violence becomes
inevitable and ineluctable, says the above Sanskrit
couplet of the ancient "dharma-sAstra", prevails in
Man's very home. In his very house, says the verse,
day in and day out, Man commits such brutal acts of
killing and such savage taking of life, that a home
really deserves to be called a bloody butchery. It is
a place where the business of violence is conducted
daily, unceasingly and unfeelingly, in five different
murderous ways. This is what is meant by the phrase:
"panchyasUnA gruhasthasya vartantE'hara-harah sadA"
****************
Now, why does the "dharma-sAstrA" say a man's home is
a butchery where violence is perpetrated daily in five
different ways? The answer is in the next line of the
verse:
"khandanI pEsanI chuLLi jalakumbha upaskarah".
The word "khandani" in Sanskrit means "cutter" (some
of you may instantly recall the word as it appears in
the 2nd stanza of Swami Desikan's famous "stOtra",
"sri sudarshanAshtakam": "shubajagadrUpa mandana,
suragaNatrAsa KHANDANA"!). Any instrument that cuts,
cleaves, minces, chops, sloughs, decapitates, lops...
is called "khandanI".
In all our homes, we carry all varieties of such
"khandani" kitchens --- e.g. knives, cleavers,
cutters, mincers, graters etc. --- and in our garages
--- e.g. hacksaws, chain-saws, blades etc. Now, with
these lethal "khandani" in our kitchen, we commit
violence on many life-bearing organisms indeed
everyday. In "non-vegetarian" homes, the "khandani" is
used to wring out the necks and gouge out the flesh of
ducks, turkey and fish. In "vegetarian" homes, they
are used to cut, chop, slice and dice root-vegetables,
leafy vegetables and fruits (which even though are not
locomoting living-creatures like chickens or fish, are
nevertheless living organisms too, and who therefore
suffer pain when violence is inflicted upon them,
though not perhaps to the same degree locomoting
creatures do when they meet their end on a kitchen
table).
Next, there is "pEsani". This is a very interesting
Sanskrit word for anyone who is interested in
linguistics and philology. There is the English word
"pestle" which all of you know. We use pestle and
mortar as instruments when we want to grind something,
or crush, knead, mash, granulate or powder something.
The word English "pestle" probably has its roots in
the Sanskrit "pEsani" because that instrument of
destruction is exactly what is meant too in the
subject verse. At home in the kitchen we use "pesani"
to grind and pound seed, gram, pulses and other kinds
of grain in order to make food for ourselves. In the
olden days they used the stone pestle ("ammi",
"worrel", "olakkae", it used to be called in Tamil).
These days we use the modern mechanical automatic
"kitchen system" with such global brand-names as
Moulinex, Philips and Braun that do the same job as
the "pesani" more efficiently and at great speeds. The
purpose of these "pesani" tools is to pulverize the
grains and seeds we use as food items for ourselves.
Although such grain or seed is not a locomoting living
creature, still it does contain the potential for life
and life-giving, isn't it? (If we take a seed of paddy
and plant it, it will surely grow and multiply). So by
pounding and gnashing grain and seed with "pesani" in
our kitchen, says the above verse, we do inflict pain
on them and commit violence in our homes.
Then there is "chulli". This is the fire-place,
hot-stove, hot-plate or oven in the kitchen that we
use to cook our food. Today we have "micro-waves"
which are the modern avatars of the old "chulli". In
the process or cooking with the aid of "chulli",
unknowingly and unwittingly, we also burn up little
insects and organisms that are present in the air
around our kitchen surroundings but which are
invisible to the naked eye. When we boil water or
milk, or when we roast something or fry something,
alongwith the edible portion of what we cook,
invariably and quite unavoidably, we also destroy
millions of living micro-organisms too that are
present in such food-items. So, in that particular and
narrow sense, we do commit mass-slaughter of life. Our
"chulli" is (in the parlance of Sri George Bush II)
indeed a "weapon of mass-destruction" housed within
our kitchens.
Next, there is "jalakumbha". In the kitchen of the
olden days in India, they used big earthen pots to
store water. These were called "jalakumbha". Large
quantities of water were daily poured in and decanted
out for various purposes from these pots. While doing
so, again, many tiny insects and creatures and other
micro-organisms in the air and on the floor of the
house-kitchen would be deluged and drowned. Thus, the
"jalakumbha" too in the house was regarded, by this
verse, as a tool of great violence.
And finally, there was the "upaskarah". This was the
most lethan weapon of destruction in the hands of the
lady of the house. The broom-stick. The lady of the
house who kept the home surroundings tidy and clean
did so by daily sweeping away all manner of dust,
grime, garbage and trash. IN the process, she also
caused death and destruction to the lives and homes of
millions of minute creatures, insects and microscopic
living organisms that inhabit such dust, grime and
garbage. In the modern home, the simple tool of
"upaskarah" has been developed and perfected into a
technologically advanced and sophisticated
killing-machine. It is the Hoover vacuum-cleaner. It
can sweep away billions and billions of
micro-organisms and germs from our homes with a single
swish and a single stroke of Madam. The modern Hoover
is to the Vedic-day "upaskarah" what the modern
atom-bomb is to the pre-historic spear.
****************
It was because of the above orgy of violence
perpetrated daily by humans in their homes ---i.e.
"panchyasUnA gruhasthasya vartantE'hara-harah sadA"
--- that the "gruha", the Home, in spite being
undoubtedly a very auspicious and virtuous institution
otherwise, was yet regarded by the ancient
"dharma-sAstras" as an inexhautible source of
unavoidable sin --- the sin of "himsa". It was really
a butchery of sorts.
And that was the reason why our ancient ancestors did
not get over-excited about or go overboard in their
love and attachment for the home. They did not allow
the "kaama" of the "homing instinct" overpower them or
distort their sense of life-values. They maintained at
all times "vairAgya", a sense of emotional distance
from the Home.
The home was a cradle of many human virtues and
happiness indeed. But it was also a fountainhead of
unwitting sin and error for which, the ancient
ancestors recognized, Man needed to atone in a deeply
moral and spiritual way. It was for that very reason
that they regarded the home not so much as a place for
indulgence in personal pleasure, comfort and enjoyment
("kaama"), but as a conducive place for spiritual
atonement and penance. It was the reason therefore why
the home was considered the fittest place to carry out
daily rituals of sacrifice and offerings to the gods
(e.g. "sandhyavandana arghya", "agni-sandhAnam") as
well as of human charity and expiation ("owpasanam",
"vaisvadevam").
It was a measure of our Vedic ancestors' wisdom that
not only did they believe that 'charity begins at
home' but also that 'self-sacrifice', the greatest of
all charitable deeds, too begins at Home. Such deeds
were ritualized in the Vedic scheme of things --- in
little daily sacraments such as the "vaisvadeva" rite
or the daily "arghya-samarpaNam" routine. The Home
thus became "yagnya-bhUmi" --- a place primarily meant
for Man's self-sacrifice, not self-gratification.
Thus, by ritualizing daily life at home into
sacrificial expressions of spiritual charity and
atonement, the overpowering feeling of "kaama" --- the
deep-rooted instinct of attachment and possessiveness
that arises in the human heart for one's "own home"
and property -- that "kaamic" urge was sought to be
conquered.
Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan
posted by R. Raghunathan @ 3:19 AM
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