Dev Bhumi

I was born and raised in a Hindu family. I went to a Catholic school. I have Jewish and Christian relatives, and some of the dearest people in my life are Muslims. I have experienced peace and the presence of a greater being at the Vatican in Rome , the Jama Masjid in Delhi, the Aarti in Haridwar and at the Suvarna Mandir in Amritsar. Religion has never taken center stage in my life. And I'd be hard pressed to tell you whether I am an agnostic or a Hindu.

All I know is that I take pleasure in doing the surya namaskar each morning - greatful for a new dawn, even as the namaskar sends the blood coursing to muscles that are only now making their presence felt. The surya namaskar always makes me feel warm and out of breath as I struggle through the transition from pose 7 to 8.

India - more so than any other country has been witness to religion turning neighbor against neighbor. And yet all these great religions coexist here in harmony. There is a large Hindu temple and a Gurudwara of great significance within walking distance of the great Jama Masjid. Places of worship seem to be clustered together rather than pigeonholed in different neigborhoods. Is this coincidence or part of a diabolical plan to ensure that no one religion stakes its claim on a neighborhood ? I don't know.

The other peculiar thing I noticed is that though India is a secular country, with Hindus being the vast majority..... every rickshaw driver, every truck driver will bow his head to a place of worship irrespective of his faith.

Personally, I have yet to get comfortable saying Jai Srikrishna, Khuda Hafiz, Shalom or Sat Sri Akal - to recognize these as acknowledgements of the other's religion rather than a committment to a specific faith.

Last year, I had the opportunity to visit Haridwar - Hari (God) - dwar (door). It is located at the point at which the holy Ganges - Gangaji or Ganga ma - emerges from the mountains into the plains.

We'd really gone to Ananda in the Himalayas - a spa designed to make you believe in something... I am not sure what - perhaps to make you believe that it is worth working very hard and accumulating a lot of wealth so that you can then afford to vacation at Ananda. Ananda was everything the brochures said and far more. Up on a hill - far away from the dirt, noise and bustle, surrounded by luxury, rose petals, elegance and abundance - it was very easy to believe you were god, or certainly very close to God.

After a full 24 hours of this and other treatments... we descended to Haridwar. We gathered at the Har-ki-Podi (the feet of the Gods) along with other devotees to witness the aarti. To say that I was a non-believer and very skeptical of the goings-on around me would be an understatement. But you've got to witness the aarti once in your life, and this was my turn.

The lamps were lit. The horns were sounded. The images of the Gods were prepared for the night. The chanting began and the aarti blared over the loudspeakers. Money was collected for prayers. Baskets of flowers with lamps were sold. I decided to participate - I bought some prayers and some lights and floated them along with hundreds of other devotees. Believer or non-believer, that was a truly moving and magical experience.

The next morning we took a cable car to the top of one of the surrounding hills, to the temple of Mansa Devi. People say that if there is something you really want, ask Mansa Devi and your wish will come true. I asked for stability at my data center (i had had many sleepless nights as our systems kept going under..and this was truly what I wanted most). The first week upon my return we had an outage, and I thought perhaps it was because I lacked faith.. but in the next few weeks things started to shape up. Some people say it is because of the focus and discipline I brought in. Sometimes I think it was just sheer luck. Other times I think it is because I really wanted the stability. But always I think, that perhaps, just perhaps Mansa Devi had something to do with it.

It suited me to believe it was Mansa Devi - so a few weeks ago I went back to Haridwar and the Temple of Mansa Devi. The idea was to go back and offer thanks, and perhaps ask for something else. All the way there - I kept trying to decide on the one thing I wanted most. There were so many and prioritization was not easy. When I made it to the front of the line, my elevator speech abandoned me - all I could do was acknowledge her presence in my world and ask her to watch over me.

Living in this Dev Bhumi (God's land) perhaps I too have become a believer.