Communicating with god in the lockdown

Going to my favourite Ganesha temple, a couple or more times a week has always been part of my routine for years. Apart from the aarti or archana, I would also spend time circumambulating the temple 108 times. It gave me time to commune with the elephant-headed Lord, still my mind and proved a very meditative experience. There were times when the shrine would get crowded or when noisy devotees disturbed my calm. 

Then after the lockdown was imposed and the temple was closed this outing was stopped. I haven’t ventured out since, for fear of unnecessary exposure to the virus, until a vaccine hits the market. I wake up to a framed and laminated picture of that Ganesha that is under my pillow, every morning as always.

Then I began to look at my home altar with a new pair of eyes. I swept and mopped the floor of the pooja room, tried to clear any clutter that was on the floor and began the practice of quietly sitting down and meditating upon the Gods therein after lighting a lamp. It was as if all the energies were flowing down on me. A sense of peace envelops me.

While a temple has the collective energies of the devotees, not to forget the prana that we absorb as we walk around bare feet, the same energies are also present in our prayer altars. The more we seek God’s guidance in front of it and we find blessings granted and prayers answered (if denied what we wanted it is probably with good reason and for something better in its place), the more we strengthen the space with chants and floral and other offerings, reading of the scriptures, the deeper our meditation and focus,  the greater are the chances of this energy field growing manifold.

My Reiki teacher once told me that homes where agnihotra is performed everyday are enveloped in a protective field. Even temples have a kumbabishekam once in twelve years to energise the idol. So, fret not that going to places of worship is not possible as before. Your home and heart are a temple. Come together as a family whenever you can. As the Bible says Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them."