SERENDIPITOUS ENCOUNTERS WITH HINDUISM

schlomo · ‎04-27-2022

Yesterday, as I was waiting at a bus stop, I saw one of Hindu’s most recognizable devotees: a Hare Krishna monk. With his hands in a prayerful position and his eyes half open (perhaps his meditative default) he crossed the street in front of me. But instead of reaching the sidewalk, oblivious to any ensuing danger, he precariously walked on the edge of the curb for a while before getting off at his destination, Safeway. It was not a safe way to go; if he stumbled, he could have been run over. The Hindu word for recklessness is laaparavaahee. It may be a long locution, but its consequences can shorten one’s life. The Hindu motif continued today. While unscrambling the daily word (diarist) offered in The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, I was stumped near the end. I needed three more words (30 was the goal). So I improvised. I conjured up these unfamiliar but possible valid entries: sati, rita, and arti. My ploy worked. Not only that. Just by chance, all three words derive from Hinduism. Sati refers to a widow immolating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre; rati refers to the order of the universe; and arti involves burning incense to a Hindu diety. If I were a married Hindu monk, I would downplay my antics next to Safeway. I wouldn’t want my wife to imagine having to sacrifice herself (sati) if I had succumbed to the traffic. I would then tell her that I would never defy the cosmic scheme of things (rati). But after my wife went to bed, just in case I needed to placate the gods for my potentially fatal escapade, I would burn as much incense as I could find (arti). And I promise that I will try to curb my antics while I am traveling in a self-induced altered state.

schlomo