Preach but practice

 We humans are basically elements of contradiction. It would be a lie not to admit that we all have some semblance of hypocrisy embedded within us. Let me narrate an interesting incident from past.

Few years back I was visiting the Jagannath temple of Greater Chicago along with my sister's family during the Thanksgiving holidays. It was a blustery day and it felt very cold inside the temple, not quite unusual towards end of the month of November in Chicago. To make things worst the heating system inside was not functioning properly.

The chief priest of the temple was already aware of this but did not inform the Utility guys as his inflated ego was punctured. I came to know that the reason was quite silly but not something unusual amongst us Desis (a slang used for people of Indian origin in America). Our priest felt that he was not properly approached by the members of the temple committee. His ego was bruised, needing a buttered massage.

I was patiently listening to the conversation between the priest, my brother-in-law and other members of the core temple management committee. The man remain implacable, stubbornly refusing to yield an inch like a bovine on an Indian road refusing to budge by the relentless honking. Finally I concluded that it was nothing but the priest's BIG ego which put a spanner in the wheels of any movement going forward.

In the meantime I noticed a few lines in Sanskrit scribbled on the temple wall in Devnagari script (the script of Hindi language) - "AHAM BHAV ATMA KE LIYE KHARAB HAI", meaning "Ego is bad for the soul". Earlier that evening the Priest elucidated the same during his 30 minutes long PRAVACHAN (sermon), how ego can be harmful to mind, body, heart and soul, and what needs to be done to conquer ego.

It was getting cold and dark as time to bid adieu approached. I looked at the wall and brought into the attention of our priest to those lines and asked him point blank - "PANDITJEE (Respected priest), can you please explain those lines written on the wall to me ?" He duly obliged by explaining to me again how ego is harmful to the body and soul, though I could sense the conundrum in him. I thanked him, did my NAMASTE (Indian tradition of greet and good bye) and started walking back towards the exit door. 

Suddenly I heard the Priest's voice from behind, "Dash Jee, I have a feeling you knew the meaning of those lines but still asked me". He continued - " I agree we don't always practice what we preach. That's why we are mere humans needing guidance from God". I smirked and chuckled back, as a burst of howling chilly Chicago wind gust rushed through the semi-open door slapping my face, reminding me to run towards the warm comforts of my car. "See you later Panditjee", I muttered as I was eager to run away from spirituality, longing for some spirit to keep me warm for the rest of the evening.

Late that night I learnt that to every one's delight and pleasant surprise the priest did a volte-face and agreed to call the maintenance folks to fix the heating the first thing next morning.