I chatted with a purohit

Hi There,

I want to share a mind blowing experience i had.

Last Saturday was my grandma's death anniversary, my cousins and all my relatives gathered at my cousin brother's home. We had to start the pooja before 9 am as, my father said, 9-10.30 is rahu kal. Well, i don't believe in this but as most of my family members believe this, we persued the purohit to come to my cousin's place before 9. Somehow, he arrived 10 mins late, ie at 9.10am and THANKS to the bangalore traffic. I was doing some thing and suddenly i remembered that the purohit had come late and was very excited to watch the drama which was about to begin between my family members and purohit, coz, it was 9.10 and we had entered the rahu kal and my family members wanted to start the pooja after 10.30 and the purohit was arguing saying for death anniversary there is no RAHU KAL etc.. anyways he was more or less overpowered by 5 people saying we all believe this and stuff. So he was made to sit idle, then i thought its the right time for me to clear up certain stuff which more or less was pondering on my mind from some time.

This conversation took place in kannada and now i am translating this to english.

Here SW -> swamiji

ME: hello swamiji, i have a question for you
SW: yes

ME: Why is that according to the hindu customs only the girl(bride) has to wear MANGAL SUTRA and the RING on the TOE, why is there nothing for a man to indicate or show that even he is married.
SW: Good question, but, my son, this MANGALSUTRA is not an indication to the girl that she is married, but its an indication to the boy that he is now in a relationship and when ever he sees this mangalsutra it makes him remember that he has to take care of the other person too and now he is not alone. Males have dog like attitude, they can go behind any female. (i was pretty uncomfortable so i interuppted)

ME: How can you say, males have dog like attitude.
SW: See males always want and their desires can be full filled only by the female and so they tend to go where ever they see a good looking female.

ME: Okay, anyways, what about the ring to the TOE
SW: Well, you know how the ring is put to the female's leg?

ME: NO
SW: The female's leg is kept on the male's thigh and then the ring is put. This actually makes good sense, din't you get me here?

ME: NO
SW: This implies that, the leg of the female will be very well protected and similarly it tells the man that, now he has this responsibility to take care of the other person whom he adores and makes love with.

ME: Okay, this does make sense. One more question for you?
SW: Good, go ahead.

ME: why is there something called (JATAKA-> in kannada or KUNDALI -> in hindi) and what information is hidden in that, i think this seriously does not make sense in hindu culture. If the male and female agree that they can live a life together, why the heck they talk so much about this kundali and things?
SW: Very nice to see a person asking this question. Have you come across some incidents where one purohit says that the kundali's match and the other saying these do not match?

ME: Yes, yes, i have come across this. This does seem to be intriguing and what makes this difference of opinion between two swamijis?
SW: There is actually no concept called as kundali, but do you think people are dumb? Even though there is nothing called kundali, you see every one in arranged marriages doing this kundali matching right?

ME: Yes
SW: See actually during my parents time, there was no kundali matching and stuff, they used to see the boy's and girl's family and they used to say, whether they can be matched. Now, when you have a world of so many people, how can you find out, how the family of the girl or the boy is, so we do kundali matching.

ME: You just now said, there is no concept of kundali and now you say, we now do kundali matching because of large population and growth.
SW: According to hindu astrology, these planets and positions of planets during birth of a kid show that, how much PAAP/PUNYA his ancestors have done. Now lets consider the girl's kundali shows that there is some 100paapa/200punya (this is for example only) and the boy's kundali also shows nearing this, then we say kundalis match else we say kundalis do not match.

ME: Okay, good to know this, although kundalis do not actually show us anything its more like a judge of the family of the boy/girl
SW: Yes, you can know only this much from the kundali nothing more that this. In previous ages, the elders in the villages, knew the boy and girl's family and so they used to agree readily if they are good. Only now that due to over population growth, this concept is used, else kundalis do not exists, thats why some purohits may say it matches and some say it does not match, in reality some are lenient and some are a little harsh in making decisions so this is a varied one.

ME: This is a mindblowing concept which our elders have devised to find out. Anyways, one more question. (my family members had a scornful look on their faces as i was more or less going to torture them if they say anything more about these later)
SW: Yes please, its nice to see a youngster asking so many question.

ME: Swamiji, why on this earth, atleast for hindu's caste system came into act, when god itself does not differentiate between people why is that, people themselves differentiate and our elders i guess were more brilliant than us. Why on earth did this caste system come into effect?
SW: You know what, you are trying to decode the most important thing in the history which i do not consider this to be a mistake. Anyways, one truth i would like to share it with you. THE STREE (FEMALE) does not belong to any caste. (I was like hoooooooo, what is this man saying). According to the hindus the FEMALE has equivalent status to GOD (I was bowled out here, i was wondering male is like dog's attitude and female is god?) The FEMALE does not belong to any caste. No female on this earth can belong to any caste, they are next to GOD. (i thought OMG, why our elders think so much about caste creed, etc.. HUH, good that i think i am an ALIEN)

ME: Then why is that we people look out saying this caste's bride is required, so and so qualification.
SW: People are dumb, they dont know the importance of the female (I thought yes, thats why my mother likes me so much and when ever i need some thing, she always makes the best attempt irrespective of her condition and status).

ME: Okay, now i see that there is so much to learn, i learnt that, any female on this earth does not belong to a caste as they are like GODS, No Kundali exists, The mangalsutra is a reminder for the guy and not for the girl. I am thankful to you that you enlightened me some facts.
SW: i am glad that, today you have asked some of the most important questions who no one is concerned about. Now a days, people are so dumb, they dont know what to do, they just follow, i am happy to see a guy asking so many thing which actually would SHAKE THE PHILOSOPHY AND ADAMENT THOUGHTS which are still persistent in people (My family members are nearly in a state of shock and they thought its the right time to stop this discussion coz, if i learn a lot more then i would nearly shake their concept which they have followed from childhood)

They started to talk something else, Now i asked this swamiji

ME: but still you did not clarify my thoughts about caste system and why was this established.
SW: previously when there were men of all kinds, remember the female does not belong to any caste, these men did specific kinds of jobs, this was because of their physical structure, some people had very good face smile and so one caste, some had strong arms and some had strong thighs and some had strong legs, accordingly they did the work and so they made this caste system, again, this caste system belongs only to the males. (i was now wondering what caste i belong too, kidding)

ME: Great thought, So may be due to evolution that people started thinking that i am higher, this caste is lower etc..
SW: Correct.

ME: Wow, you opened my thoughts and have enlightened me. Thank you so much. (time was about 10.30 and my family members were very much upset that they now has to accept something totally different)
SW: Anyways, you have asked so much, i want to tell you something, Any hindu marriage, there is games played between the guy and the girl, you know why this is played?

ME: I am not married, so i have no idea.
SW: Laughing, if the girl is pure by mind and soul, she will not accept a guy very easily to come close to her, thats why we say all mantras and try to attach the female's soul and the male's soul (i was speachless), and then there are games played so that, the girl will accept the guy and does not fear about him. If you start doing non-sense to a girl who is unmarried, do you think she will accept your non-sense? she will remove her sandals and bang you (now i thought OMG there is so much to learn and so much to understand). After the marriage the girl would have accepted the guy because we make the girl's thoughts closer to the guy and make sure they live happily ever after. Now a days, people dont understand this concept coz you find not many souls are pure and their thoughts are pure.

ME: Great, you are very learned person swamiji thanks again for enlightening me.
SW: You are welcome. Never forget that the female is much more powerful than the male as all the five rivers flow inside her. You will understand it later. (I did think that the male is more powerful in strength and the female is more powerful in emotional IQ, anyways its a learning for me). The COW(GOWMATA), STREE(female) and the BRAHMIN is near to GOD according to the hindus. Do you think, i am not capable of earning my daily bread and feeding my family? do you think that i need the money you give and the vegetables/fruits you give?

ME: Hmm, no idea?
SW: It is like giving to the GOD, when ever you do a pooja, you call a brahmin and feed him with vegetables/fruits etc.. so this actually means that we are giving it to god. People dont know anything. When i go to many houses for pooja, people are concerned that the pooja must get over fast and how fast they had completed certain things which are more like a mundane job. No one asks me why are we doing this, why are we doing that... Good to see that, you are asking certain things, these are very important for a person, you will mature as a person.

ME: Thank you so much.

Pooja started and my family members are in a state of relief as, if i learn more then i will shake their philosophy.

Pooja ended and after everything he said, i want to say you something.

SW: You know what, if 2 souls, a girl and a boy have accepted each other, then it means that marriage between them is over, no need to even do this ritual of marriage. No need to feed so many people, no need to dance (i was like hooooooooooooooooo, what is he saying), we make sure that the souls of the male and female accept each other and if they have accepted then it means that they are already married, this, what ever ritual is all waste of time and money.

ME: This will shake the thoughts of my elders who think that only when the mangalsutra is tied is when marriage is complete.
SW: True, most of them are not learned.

ME: Thanks.
SW: You are welcome.

Now, after the complete rituals are over, someone had to drop him to his place, so i took this opportunity. Now in the car.

ME: I want to learn sanskrit, i want to read all this, i see people abroad trying to learn lot about sanskrit and all.
SW: Yes, good to see that you want to learn this, sanskrit has loads of words, having the same meaning. Its good that you learn this and 3 more shastras.

ME: OMG. WOW, i will now meet aliens :D , coz i had read in a blog that, aliens would know sanskrit, as this is 100% correct language.
SW: Yes, people outside india took off our culture and bought in lot of westernization which is good only if you accept what is correct. We must not forget that, lots of inventions are taken from our vedas only. (oh man, we must do something is what ran in my mind)

ME: Yes very true, I dont see anyone writing about our culture which is the most ancient one.
SW: Yes, go ahead son, learn and do what ever you can.

ME: Thanks

House came and i dropped him.

Have a nice day!!!

DISCLAIMER: This conversation is not intended to hurt anyone nor to hurt the sentiments of people nor to divert them from their beliefs. This is solely intended for gaining insight into the rituals performed at our homes. Thoughts of other purohits may wary. Please do not recommend this as an accepted text, this was more like a discussion. Do try to understand the importance of the discussion.

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