Sacrifice

"Saroja.. Are u ready completely..?" - I asked. My wife simply nodded her head.

Today we are performing a 'milk abisheka' to Lord Nataraja in the Agastheeswarar temple. We were driving in our car towards the temple.

As we were approaching the temple, I asked my wife "Hope u got everything. Where is the milk packet..?".

She said "Archakar wanted only one litre. I have got two liters as a precaution". And she pointed to the big aluminium utensil (annakoodai) in which almost all items required have been stuffed.

We parked the car and started carrying the items into the temple.

*****
"Sir.. Sir…" - a faint voice disturbed us.

I could see a small girl, probably in ages 6-10, scantily dressed with torn-up clothes, filled with dust all over, her dirty hair strutting out in all directions, nose blocked, holding her hand before us.

As I looked around, I could see a woman sitting outside the compound wall with a baby in her hand and two other kids around her. I could guess that this girl also belonged to that lady.

"No.. No.. go away.." - I said, carefully avoiding touching her. After all I am going into a temple, after having an early morning bath and purifying myself. How can I allow myself to be dirtied by this girl..?

"Sir.. Sir.. please.." - The girl repeated.

"psst.. psst.. just give some money.. Otherwise she will not let you go.." - my wife said.

"No.. No.. we should not encourage these people. See her mother sitting there. She knows that she can extract money from us with this girl. That is why she has sent her. It's like a blackmail. I won't submit" - I said. "Hey girl.. go away.. I am not going to give u anything"

****
Inside the temple, we were standing before the Lord. The 'Garbagriha' was screened, as Lord was getting prepared to have his milk bath.

"Sir.. Sir.. please.." - The same voice came again. I turned around and saw that young girl next to us.

I got infuriated. "See.. It is her mother. She knows that we won't like to get disturbed inside the temple and hence has sent her daughter inside" - I told my wife. "Hey girl.. I have no money with me now.. So there is no use.. Don't waste your time here. Go out and check with others. You may get something useful".

The force of my words should have dawned on that girl. Her facial expression showed that she understood me. She started looking here and there..

"Sir.. please.. atleast give me that milk packet.. just one.."- the girl asked.

I got the shock of my life. Beggars now have become choosers. Since I told the girl that I don't have money, she is asking for a milk packet. What an audacity..?

"Hey..there.. Are u going to get out or not now? The milk is meant for God. Do you understand..? Get out of this place now.." - I said.

"Sir.. please.. just one packet.. my mother is not having milk.. u saw my baby brother.. he is hungry and crying. He needs milk.. I already drank tea. But he needs milk.." - Words came out broken from the girl. But she uttered them completely.

I remained silent for a moment. I did not expect this little girl to talk about her mother not having milk. After a moment, I recovered.

"See.. I told you.. It is exactly her mother. She had told her to beg like this. These people are real cheats." - I said "Mama.. Mama.." - I called the archakar (priest)

The archakar (priest) came out. The screen was still closed. "What happened' na.. Milk only know.. I will get it from you, when I need it." - he said.

"That's fine" - I said - "See this beggar girl. She has been continuously disturbing us here. Can u chase her away. She is not going".

The archakar (priest) saw the girl. "hey why did you come inside?. How many times I told you to stick outside the temple"- he shouted

He searched here and there. He got hold of an empty 'thaar' (stem) of plantains and threw it at the girl. As the plantain stem stuck the girl, she cried with pain and ran out of the temple.
The rest of the session passed on peacefully.

We performed the milk abisheka peacefully and had a good time with the lord in his magnificent form.

*****
As we were packing the things from the temple, the archakar (priest) came to me and handed over a CD. "Do u have a CD player ?" - he asked.

"Yes.. why not..?" - I said "What is this CD..?"

"This is about the scientific basis of all our rituals. You may be thinking that the rituals like Yajna, abisheka that we carry out are mere rituals. In this CD, Swami Paramatmananda has explained the scientific basis of our rituals" - he said.

"Wow.. I have heard of such basis. I never had an opportunity to understand them" - I said.

"Yes.. yes.. that is why we are distributing this in CD's. If u deeply look at it, Yajna in the Vedic age and Abisheka in the current age are nothing but sacrifice. In this world, everything is a sacrifice. Our body is a sacrifice or Yajna. Our stomach is the altar. The flame from that altar is our speech. The biological/ecological chain of plants, insects, birds and animals is a system of sacrifice. Explosion of Cosmos, birth of stars, planets including our earth is a sacrifice. Birth and death is a sacrifice. Everything started from the Brahman with a sacrifice. Everything will end with a sacrifice. As you see, every such sacrifice is to evolve beings of higher intelligence. Every yajna or abisheka to the lord highlights this sacrifice. That is why our Rishis devised Yajna, abisheka, et al." - The archakar said.

"Oh.. this philosophy is beautiful"- I said "How much this CD costs..?"

"It is priced at Rs.300. We are distributing here for Rs.250" - The archakar said.

"That is not a problem" - I said. I counted the cash and gave it to him. The analogy of sacrifice and sacrificial altar in every aspect of cosmos and our life impressed me a lot. It kindled my thoughts deeply. What a deep-rooted meaning a Yajna or abisheka has..?

As I started my car that audacious girl came again. As I looked at her again, suddenly her stomach appeared as a sacrificial altar. The flames from her stomach, leaped to her throat and operated her vocal chords.

She opened her mouth and said "Sir.. Sir..please..".