Sentimentally virtuous.  

I am feeling a little of both, sentimental and virtuous. Why do I become so sentimental about being virtuous specially when the festive season is knocking our doors I wonder. The virtues of being virtuous never get so highlighted as during the festival season. The season of symbolic festivities and celebrations has started. With every festival a story is always associated which translates into a symbolic message to fit into our lives. We have written our own religion, our own stories, for religious stories are our all time favorites. These stories have been created to remind man about the importance of righteous living. If so be it, why does virtues and morals get out of fashion as the season changes. 

Soon we will get swept into a cultural extravaganza of greetings, rituals, new clothes, great food, dazzling sales, and an overwhelming sense of bonhomie with friends and families. The sense of community who recognize each other’s devotional needs reaches its zenith during religious festivals. Festivals are meant to bring out the best in us , to spread happiness, to reach out and touch the lives of all others. The ingredients of happiness is but so simple. It never was or meant to be complex ,we just forget the recipe for true happiness from time to time. The old forgotten ingredients of love, compassion, smile, friendship, tolerance, respect, acceptance, understanding, all come out from within us and we rediscover the simplicity of pure joy. These virtues never seem to lose their fragrance of well being. We like to forget our troubles for a day or two and make the most of the happy times. And just as easy it comes we let this happiness slip away as soon as the festival day or season is over. My sentimental mind foolishly questions, why do we put a time tag to our happy days , why can’t happiness and being good be an everlasting festival of the heart. 

The calendar is jotted with days of religious festivals, from Id- Ul-Fitter to Ganpati, from Janmashtami to Id- Uz-Zuha, from Durga pujo to Diwali, from Guruparv to Thanksgiving , from Christmas to Holi, the list goes on. We chose our festivals , make it a religious thing or a cultural celebration. These are the days when we either rejoice with family, or mend our ways, or break the walls of silence and accept people with open arms.The colors, lights ,new clothes-all of which fill up our homes during festivals bring with it a desire to clean up the accumulated dust of prejudices within. This is indeed a very good and positive attitude . But once again I get sentimental and wonder, where do we hide this loving, forgiving being within us for the rest of the days. Do we need a calendar to be reminded of goodness !

Year after year Ma Durga the deity of assimilated ,unparalleled strength and power comes on earth and we remember how she killed the demon. Yet the demon does reappear again and again . Does the demon ever die is the question-where does the demon live after all ? Of course, this is easy to answer, the demon lives within us, in our minds,our thoughts, in the narrow alleys of our heart. Hidden within the glittering lights of festivities the demon resides with all it’s darkness unmasked. How many years of symbolic Durga is needed to remind us of the omnipresence of the demon. The demon is the product of our diseased society. We are our own sinners. Jesus will be crucified again and again for all our sins, only to resurrect to save us from ourselves . We pelt stones on our own messiahs. We pelt stones on our own conscience. The lights of hundred years of Dipawali will not do away with the darkness within, if we forget to light the lamp every day. The Id milan and brotherhood of man has no meaning if we are blind to the tears of the orphaned child. What use is one days Thanksgiving if we can live for the rest of the year without remembering the hundred thousand people and reasons to be thankful for. All our fasting, praying, rejoicing are but beautiful manifestations of our will do reconnect with our inner self. Deep within us the deity and the demon can both reside, and the choice is ours to make, wether we can conquer our fears and can battle the evil. The choice between a days celebration or a life long promise to ourself to bring in happiness within, to do away with the darkness . 

Life is not a merry-go-round. Beyond the days of gleeful celebrations I need to make a promise to myself to maintain the equanimity of mind. The remote control of my inner engineering is in my own hands. If I can open the magic box of happy ingredients on certain days of the calendar year then why cannot I try to remain the same wonderful person for the rest of the days. I am a little sentimental with the life happening around me, I am a little virtuous with the deep seeded values within me. With the rhythmic beat of the ‘Dhak’ my heart beats with joy as I tap my feet feeling sentimentally virtuous .