Do we really know everything?

Usually, I do not give too much importance to things that are spiritual in nature. I just simply join the bandwagon to keep people, especially my loved ones, happy. Like when I, the first born to my father, was summoned to perform certain rights on the first anniversary of his death, I just obliged. I knew it would make my mother happy to see my father 'sent off' to the ethereal world in a proper manner. It does not matter that my parents towards the tail end of his life, could not stand each other but that is another story for another day.

The purpose of the prayers on the day of first death anniversary is to remind the soul of departed that he is not forgotten here on Earth. By invoking the forces of Nature, appeasing the feminine forces and cajoling the spirits of the ancestors, it is hoped that the deceased will keep a cursory eye on the wellbeing of the living.

Do these things really happen or is it just another mumbo jumbo set up to put the element of fear of the unknown? The guilt of not doing certain rituals could literally frustrate one when something does not go his way. Are our ancestors so vengeful that they would harm us if they are not feted? 

As I was faithfully doing the rituals and reciting mantras as directed, I noticed sporadic unprovoked movements of paraphernalia on the dais. At first thought, I attributed it to wind movement or the blowing of air from the air-conditioners.

When all the formalities were over, the priests sat down to give a pep talk to the attendees on the significance and meanings to all the seemingly pointless gestures that were involved during the exercise. Much to everybody's surprise, he asked the audience whether anyone noticed the sudden movements seen around the photograph of the deceased. In unison, everyone nodded in the affirmative. In his experience, he had noticed such unprovoked movements in most of the ceremonies he conducted. In his understanding, it is nothing more than the sign of the soul being in attendance in the ceremony as he was summoned! Really?

Through the rituals, the living hopes the family ancestors of the same bloodline act as the guardian angels who would keep vigil on the downlines. Or maybe just to give a peace of mind to the living, not the dead!

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