In Kundapur, we went to see a nearby river which was too picturesque to be described. The trees kissed the water as if standing in a mangrove forest. Seeing a temple across, we crossed the river in a boat and reached the temple only to see that it belonged to a daiva, as they call it in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. The god had come on the body of the priest and he was dancing with a sword. My young cousin, who had never seen such a scene before with a priest dressed in cloth made of gejje, stood gaping at him even when he danced dangerously close to her. I came out only to see a hen with throat cut, jumping up in air writhing in pain, to take its last long breath and fall dead. What do any amount of literacy, education, sophistication, wealth and power amount to? Nothing, when it comes to following such rituals in fear of god, if not true devotion. The hen's jumping in pain is still dancing in front of my eyes. Why are people so desperate to get what they want at the cost of other living beings? My young cousins asked me why they kill animals for god and if the animals don't feel pain. What do I answer them? Except we humans are just like that.
'Caught in a strange land in a net with other butterflies, I'm a caterpillar yet undecided to remain a caterpillar and perish or turn into a beautiful butterfly and live a life full of joy.' Readers don't laugh. But I came up with this one night recently when I was travelling in a train. I tossed and turned, not being able to sleep, upset over unexplainable things and frustrated over events not in my control. Then it occurred to me that our life and its usefulness depends on our decisions -- whether to remain a crawling caterpillar whose existence otherwise is either ignored by all and sundry or who is cursed for just being there and thrown out with a stick, or to develop wings of life and metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly whom everybody adores for its beauty and colour, for its flitting liveliness, for its service to the flower's pollination... I thought that I should be a butterfly, of service to others, but then again I thought, anyway, who really cares?
... its a matter of level of consciousness - of the universality of the spirit of life we share with all creations of nature & God, hence the care we ought to practice with gratitude towards all things God-made ... until we get there, we're not humans, as its we the humans who're gifted with superior intelligence & freewill to discover the higher meaning of life & preserve the harmony of nature .. We're not condemned to be like that only!
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