A fag, dop and joint for the gods
THIS edition of POST publishes slap bang in the middle of the International Aids Conference which began on Monday in Durban and ends on Friday, after presenting new scientific knowledge seeking a cure for the global epidemic.
An estimated 35 million lives have been lost to HIVrelated causes since the early 80s, and about the same number of people are estimated to be living with HIV globally, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
While there is no cure yet for HIV infection, antiretroviral drugs can control the virus and help prevent transmission so people with HIV can now expect a near-normal lifespan. The Aids-related death rate has dropped sharply.
It is hoped that in the nottoo-distant future, a cure will be found.
Not too long ago, it was commonplace for people throughout the world to die horrific, painful, disfiguring deaths from illnesses they couldn’t control. Today, many of those diseases, such as smallpox, measles and polio, have largely disappeared, thanks to the power of vaccines.
Women are being helped to become pregnant via test tubes; we have put man on the moon; spacecraft have landed on Mars; the heart and other vital organs are transplanted every day, and we have self-driving cars.
Our lives have been computerised – from entertainment and education to food production, and mobile phones and the internet have shrunk the world.
When there have been all these wondrous inventions and discoveries, why are some Hindus still going to pot? Why are they plying their Gods with dagga – cannabis, marijuana, dope, ganja, bhang or grass, call it what you may?
During the Tamil month of Adi, which this year began on July 16 and ends on August 17, many families observe the Amman prayer when fermented porridge is offered to Goddess Mariammen, to give thanks to the Mother for bringing rain, curing diseases such as smallpox and getting rid of other miseries.
Where matters become hazy and leave me numbed is when the Amman prayer takes on the fervour of a so-called “porridge jol” and the folk deity Lord Madurai Veeran is worshipped in the late afternoon or early evening.
The mythical warrior of Madurai, who is reputed to have protected the people of the South Indian city against thieves and bandits, is worshipped for his valour and courage. To give thanks to the deity who sports a thick moustache, he is offered dagga, cigarettes, alcohol and meat dishes.
In this world of impermanence nothing is immutable. Changes take place every moment. Transformation in human societies is ongoing with regard to their culture, traditions, customs, values, religion, and standard of living. Individuals must learn to adjust to existing social conditions.
Regrettably, some Hindus are not prepared to compromise with existing social conditions. They adopt modernity but also want to remain loyal to tradition, at the risk of appearing insane. It’s like driving a German sedan with intelligent driving systems – and still offering Lord Madurai Veeran Durban Poison. They are prisoners of a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism,
From the many people I have interrogated, I can state that many Hindus are unaware of the significance of many rituals of daily life which have become mumbo jumbo – mere routine work.
There was a time when rituals had many purposes and facilitated better development of personality and purification of human life. Often rituals were solutions to the many social problems confronted by the individuals. They educated the individuals with regard to family and social hygiene, and inculcated strict discipline and a code of conduct.
The advent of modern science has reduced many rituals to mere ceremonies without any significance.
I am not advocating that all rituals be thrown overboard. However, one should adapt to the changing social environment. The greatness of any individual lies in his ability to accommodate his tradition within the given social environment.
Rituals, like the husk of a seed, preserve its life and make it germinate. If the flame of a lamp is necessary to help one concentrate on a chosen deity during prayer, then so be it. Not many people have reached those heights where they can dispense with symbols and rituals and devote themselves to purely abstract principles.
Rituals give a concrete shape to the abstract spiritual ideals and add colour and zest to life.
Even a Christian worships before a cross or a form of Jesus Christ. Muslims pray facing Mecca, the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad. Mecca has a cube-shaped building called the Kaaba which Muslims believe is the holiest place on earth.
Yes, by all means propitiate Lord Madurai Veeran with an assortment of curries, left over porridge from the mid-morning prayer, milk, fruit, and savouries such as kozhukattai, vadai, goolgoola, and urundai.
However, today it is ludicrous to offer intoxicants to one’s God. Worse is that animals – goats or chickens – are sacrificed in Lord Madurai Veeran’s name, and sometimes a shaman will fall into a so-called trance, drink the animal’s blood, knock down the booze, do a dagga joint and then incoherently mumble solutions for people’s problems.
In her book Indian People in Natal, published by social anthropologist Hilda Kuper in 1960, based on research that she conducted in the community in the 1950s into religious practices among Hindus, she found that many people slavishly practised rituals without understanding or questioning the significance.
She relates that an interviewee once illustrated the stupidity of some people with the following parable: “A man, while praying, noticed his cat drinking the milk left for prayer. He immediately tied the cat to a post and resumed his prayers.
“His son saw the cat, and thought it part of the ritual. After his father’s death – followed by that of the heartbroken cat – the son had to perform the prayer, and so he bought a cat, tied it to a post and prayed to it. This was carried on from generation to generation; if necessary, the family bought a cat for the occasion.”
It is encouraging that the younger generation is today questioning the import of various rituals and is forsaking those that are absurd and bizarre – such as animal sacrifice, kaateri or “black fowl prayers”, fire walking and offering meat, drugs and alcohol to the Gods.
Until about two decades ago, many men among the local Gujurati community would drink bhang lassi, a kind of milkshake made with dagga, to get high on Shivarathi. It is believed that Lord Shiva is always in deep meditation and dagga helps this deity to stay in a state of complete bliss. This practice has since been dumped in the name of modernism and rationality.
I was perturbed when self-styled guru or religious teacher Kevin Munien of Shastri Park in Phoenix last week widely issued his guidelines for performing the Mariammen and Madurai Veeran “sacrificial” prayer in the afternoon, and included inter alia items that must be offered: roast chicken rooster curry, boiled eggs, cigarettes, alcohol and dagga.
Is Munien serious? Does he not know that dagga is illegal in South Africa? The possession of just a few grams is in contravention of section 4(b) of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992 and can land you a fine of at least R5 000 or six months’ imprisonment. Try telling the magistrate that you bought the ganja for Lord Madurai Veeran.
Just when I was getting annoyed with Munien’s ridiculous guidance, I calmed down when I received another two e-mails.
The Shree Veeraboga Emperumal Temple in oThongathi chose to commemorate the start of the month of Adi with a blood donation drive and free blood sugar and cholesterol testing.
The Shri Suria-Narayan Temple in Redfern, Phoenix, opted to coincide its prayer to Goddess Mariammen with a “show and tell” of an exhibition at the temple of various drugs by the SA Police Service.
The flyer for the anti-drug campaign states: “You could save many lives, including that of your own children, if you see and know about these drugs. Drugs affect us all. Prevention is better than cure.”
I pray Kevin Munien attended the drugs display.