temple Blog and Journals

I don't believe in reincarnation. That's a cop-out...

Rod Serling

When I caught one of my colleagues smoking the other day, I decided to be the annoying person I am, and point out the unhealthy nature of his rather disgusting habit. To my surprise the answer I got was, “don’t worry, if I die soon then I will simply be reborn to a better life”. On another occasion, I gave out chocolates to my team and found everyone grabbing at them in a mindless manner, with little care if they were taking too much, and even less concern if they were depriving their colleagues from getting their fair share. I have found that for the most part, Indians eat sugar like starved ants, so I figured I should use the reincarnation angle to get them on the right path. I said, “If you eat too much chocolate, then you will be reincarnated as a diabetic”.  When I said it, I think I even waved my finger at them like my 5th grade teacher. This got some of my colleagues to think for a brief moment, before going back to their mindless grabbing.

Reincarnation you see is a commonly held belief for many Hindus, though many of the better educated don’t really give it much heed, as is obvious in the above cases, but it seems to me that it can be a great excuse for apathy, sloth, and laziness. In fact, I would say rather than a belief for the promotion of one’s self and the appreciation for the things that one has finally achieved after supposed uncountable lives, reincarnation can in some cases be used instead to justify callous actions that are downright self destructive. Even though reincarnation may have had a meaningful purpose in the past, I think it has become a hard concept to apply.

Another Hindu concept that I find odd is the belief that cows are sacred and not to be eaten. In fact, it seems that some Hindus believe that the cow is a representation of god himself. Yes! all of them. Now the rational behind this belief does make some sense when one considers how valuable a cow was eons ago, in an age where resources were quite scarce. Now however, I am not sure how much sense this makes, as cows are not an endangered species to say the least. Even if Hindus consider cows sacred, that doesn’t seem to stop them from treating them in a rather abysmal way. They often over work the animal, tie the poor creature up and impede its desire to roam about, deny it proper food and or don’t let it eat enough thus keeping the animal in poor state of health, and I have even seen people take a stick or rock and just abuse the poor creature in a cruel attempt to control its behavior. I can’t believe good Hindus would do these things if they really believed the creature was sacred. The worst Hindu offenders in my opinion deserve a good head hoofing the next time they go down below for a drink. In comparison, after seeing how poorly some Hindus treat their cows, I can’t really understand how ending up on my GrillMaster barbecue is such a bad thing.

Finally, the weirdest thing I find about Hindus is their desire to celebrate throughout the night, and or in the early morning. I am not one to go ahead and mock customs that I am obviously ignorant about, but I have trouble understanding how anyone can get up at four in the morning and start singing at the top of their lungs. I am very fortunate to have a Hindu temple right behind my house, so I get a full does of celebratory music almost every weekend. Lucky me.

If the timing of said celebrations were not bad enough, the type of instrument the temple uses to make music is even worse. The “Harmonium” as it is called was first introduced to India by 19th century French missionaries, and is a sort of pump organ that, as the name implies, has a hand-pump on the side and sounds something in between an accordion, harmonica, bagpipe, and an out of tune kazoo. Maybe it’s just the bad mood I am in after having been woken up at 4 in the morning, but I think this instrument sounds like crap. And if the Harmonium (Horrormonium as it should be called) isn’t bad enough, the singing of our local priest is…well how should one say this. I suppose in a manner that is not unlike vocal harassment, his singing is quite bad. I say this with every attempt to temper my opinion, and quite possibly I am being less than kind when I articulate this, but his lack of pitch, harmony, beat, rhythm and anything else that makes music a pleasing thing, makes his expression of Hindu devotional songs something of a melodic catastrophe. This is just one man’s opinion though. In his defense I have to assume he suffers from some medical condition such as tone deafness, or similar affliction.

I must admit that I have only lived in India for six months at this point, and I am truly in no position to be judgmental. I know that I have no experience to explain and rationalize the actions I see taking place in this wonderfully strange country. If I get to stay here long enough, I hope to eventually understand and learn the values and beliefs that drive the events occurring all around me. Except for the singing bit at 4 in the morning. That’s downright nuts.