WHERE IT'S JUST ME AND THE YELLOW MOON

 



“At a night like this,

where it’s just me and the yellow Moon…

I feel complete.”

Kamand Kojouri

 

Today morning, a friend of mine, who hails from Kanyakumari district, was describing to me the significance of ‘Vaikuntha Ekadashi’.

As you know, the universe of a frog, who lives in a well, is limited to the boundary of that well. Accepting that truth, I listened to my friend like a little child and learnt a thing or two about ‘Vaikuntha Ekadashi’, which, my friend said, comes once a year…

This year, I was told, that ‘Vaikuntha Ekadashi’ had come some days ago, in Jan. “It’s a very auspicious day,” my friend said, “Those who worship Lord Vishnu keep a vigil by praying, chanting, meditating and fasting on this occasion." My friend continued, “Vaikuntha means heaven. Thus, Vishnu devotees believe, that the Gates of Heaven open on this day, and, those who die on this day go straight to heaven.”

Naïve? Blind faith?




“Mano toh bhagwan; na mano toh patthar.”  Our Faith can be as simple as this line puts it. We all need to get in touch with our respective religious beliefs and make space to accommodate others’.

I listened to my friend from Kanyakumai with a childlike curiosity…

Let me repeat here what Kamand Kojouri says:

“At a night like this,

where it’s just me and the yellow Moon…

I feel complete.”

That complete feeling – in my view – was this poet’s way of seeking entry into  the Gates of Heaven… the Vaikuntha.

Don’t we all have our own ways?

Be that be so…

Being pure and pious means being innocent and trusting…

Everything else, I think, is very complicated. That’s why, perhaps, one of the Beatitudes, on the Sermon on the Mount, goes like this:

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for, they shall see God.”




GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: 1. Doni Haris/Pixel

 

Video: Jason Miraz/Domi Spampi

 

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