BURNING OUR 'OLD AND WASTEFUL CLOTHES'








Around 8, last night, I saw a message on one of our Society WhatsApp groups. It was posted by a Youth representative:
“The youth are burning a Ravan Effigy as a tradition of Dusshera.... To ward off all the evil and negativity. If you have any old clothes or waste clothes, kindly let us know, as we will use them.  Also, everyone please be present for the same…. Time is 9.30 onwards.”

Well, it brought an instant smile on my face!   Did I have any ‘old clothes’ or ‘waste clothes’? I did have some; but, I did not send them to our Youth. Instead, I got in touch with truck-loads of ‘old and waste’ clothes my mind had been wearing… Yes, I bundled them up and sent down, without thinking twice about it!

So, last night, when our Ravan went up in flames, I am happy, that the flames could consume all my ‘old and wasteful’ thoughts…

That’s the only way – the most sensible way – to ward off all the evil and negativity… Get in touch with the Ravan within you… bundle him up and throw him into the flames.

The Ravan outside is of no significance… It is none of my business to burn him down, you see!

There is so much evil and negativity in all of us. We are Ravans of different proportions. Yes, it is a different matter, that we all assume we are avatars of Ram… pure and pious. I am no exception… I will not easily acknowledge or accept the presence of evil and negativity in me…  aka… ‘RAVAN’! It’s tough to look inward and drop that heaviness around my heart…


This morning, in our Tai Chi class, we were doing a simple exercise known as ‘Chi Saw’, also known as  ‘Chi Sau’ or ‘Sticking Hands’. Each of us had to pair up with one of our fellow-students to perform this exercise… One of the two in the pair had to drop his hands down as if they were lifeless, dead… The other person would swing these dead hands around using his energy… One is active, the other is passive… the male and the female… the Yin and Yang…

Obviously, the easy role to play was when you acted with Male energy… when you were in control. The role of yielding wasn’t easy. “Gerry, your shoulders are still heavy… drop them dead,” Narayan, my partner, kept reminding me. I tried to drop them, let go of my control and just yield; but, it was just not happening… Something from inside was popping up from somewhere and blocking the yielding process… “Let the head, shoulders, hands, chest, legs and every part of your body be dead… except your soul,” Narayan was telling me, “Look inward… let everything else drop!”

It is difficult to let go of our control. The thought is very scary to most of us… Subconsciously, we want to hold on to our ideas, beliefs, relations, power, position and everything about ‘self’. So many years have been spent in forming that ‘self image’… ‘Successful image’… ‘Powerful image’… that pure-and-pious Ram-avatar… that, it’s not easy to strip ourselves of these ‘old clothes’ … yes, even though, in  heart of our hearts, we all know that they are not only ‘wasteful’ clothes, but they are also ‘evil and negative’…

And, imagine our plight, had ten heads stood on our shoulders!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Anil Bedi

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