It’s the 3rd day of Ganesh Chaturthi..and Mumbai is on high alert due to torrential rains since morning, many places in the city are flooding..nothing new…and there is no connection between the two, that I know of.
And I think of the irony of people, letting god idols into water…
Anyway I digress.
Amidst torrential rains..and Ganpati Visarjan.. The cacophony of celebration drums and the visarjan procession is something, as a Mumbaikar I have resigned myself to. But even then, when it’s less than 20 feet away from you and one is under the weather (pun intended), it’s still TOO much.
My ears were ringing, the frown was deepening, and a headache about to creep up… I was tired, annoyed and…judgmental about ‘such’ things’
Nevertheless.
I realized that even when I went up to my house and shut the doors and windows I could not drown the noise.
So.. deep breath.
As a recent me-2-me practice, I decided to walk towards, what was causing me this ‘suffering’. The procession with 9-10 large drums and some large brass plates colliding, much like my inner world, being enthusiastically beaten with FULL force by drenched, strong dancing men and women, was oblivious to all that was going on inside me.
Back to my practice.. which is by the way called ..”Larger than….”
The practice is not just walking towards but also being larger than, that which is causing the suffering, so I moved my focus from just the ears and head to ..receive the ‘noise’ with my full body. I went and stood a couple of feet away, almost becoming part of the procession and closed my eyes and let my whole being receive this….noise!!
Something magical happened..
My whole body and cells started reverberating ….to the rhythm..and I started to smile involuntarily. It felt like ALL my cells joined the procession and celebration for those 7-10 minutes. I could FEEL the beats inside my body. I had become the drum, the drum beats, and the drummers…
..and as I closed my eyes..surrendering to the drums..no longer resisting… in the MIDDLE of the procession, dancing people, loud singing of “ganpati bappa moray” …
Everything just fell into a spontaneous silence ..
I could have been underwater… everything was so still !!!
I had immersed and merged.
And, just as spontaneously..after what, in my mind was a long time ..
I opened my eyes and felt content, peaceful, cleansed … and grateful !!…
And.. I bowed to Ganapati and took the prasad and the gift of this amazing experience and left..
The Suffering transformed to Celebration.
The Experience may not always be in your control..but the space in which the experience is experienced.. can be.
Visarjan:
The english meaning of this word : Immersion and Letting Go !!! –
Just What I am learning to do.
Rhea
