One day...

One fine day, a long, painful problem got resolved, and then I decided to thank the lords for helping me solve them. I looked up the auspicious temples listed online, according to history and mythological stories. It did take an effort, travel, money, and time. But hey, it is where God resides, isn't it? So I made all the arrangements accordingly and was ready.

While waiting for my flight in the lounge, I read the news where a state was almost drowned due to floods, and the lives of at least hundreds were just destroyed. Families were washed away in this turmoil. I thought, what bizarre that these families must have done to anger the same Lord I was going to visit! Appalled to say the least.

On my way from the airport, while in the car I noticed a bunch of homeless people in a hurry to find shelter as it started pouring out. They had about a 2x2 area which was covered by very cheap and, to my perspective, a dirty plastic cover. 

I was wondering why they are on the roads? Maybe they aren't religious, or maybe they didn't pray enough... Or maybe they didn't pray to the right God!

In front of the temple, there were a bunch of elderly people left astray by their own kins for various reasons, begging for food and money. They hadn't eaten well, forget about the hygiene of themselves! Yeah, as guessed rightly, people just kept meters of distance away from them. 

I then wondered, didn't they visit temples or do anything that would please the Gods and give them a good life? Or did they sin in their prime life? Although by looks they seemed to be illiterate and from a humble background, whom would they have wronged?

Though I brushed it off, I couldn't help but to think, we also beg for God's grace by wearing the purest dress, by not eating anything, thinking of that as the purest form.

I was waiting in the moderate queue as I had paid for the quickest Darshan (visit). I glanced at the other end of the normal queue because there was a commotion. Someone fainted and was about to be stomped by the crowd! People at the person's back screamed and stopped with all their strength, which alerted the temple's crew, and they came in to rescue. As usual, the person hadn't eaten anything (not even water) to be at their purest form and couldn't endure the fatigue! They had now rushed the devotee to the hospital, so close to visiting the God (in either way). People there murmured, "God must have been annoyed and denied his visit. Better luck next time".

By the time the commotion ended, our line was pushed ahead to another room where we could see the Lord from a distance with all the chants and dhoop. I cleansed my sins and got my blessings. "I was elated and dizzy with excitement to finally be there." Magical 3 seconds for sure! In tears for sure (the only tear I noticed and recalled). I stood in a queue, paid for the Lord's offerings (prasad), because I want my loved ones to be blessed by Him too! I went back to the hotel with all the prasads.

People back home asked me, "So were you blessed and did you pay your gratitude?"... I said yeah, while glancing at another breaking news, I guess so, or maybe one day I will!

-Hope