The Buddha on My Bookshelf (A Personal Essay)
After an exceptionally hectic morning spent at my study table, I decided to sit in my living room with a cup of coffee. My eyes wandered around the room and fell on the statue of Lord Buddha, seated peacefully in a meditative state; on my old bookshelf. I felt nostalgia engulf me as I went back in time and this is how my story unveils.
Religion is a way of life and I have never been a particularly religious person not even in my own religion- Hinduism. I was always raised to believe in a power Higher than myself who is always Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent whom we call God. As a child, I was only interested in taking part in festivals and decorating the idols of gods and goddesses in our house. It was only much later in life when I gave up visiting places of worship and some of my fanatic ritualistic notions that were stumbling blocks on my path to pure spiritualism in its truest essence were put to rest and I experienced true bliss. It was truly liberating and uplifting.
As time passed my interest in spirituality and the occult sciences deepened and assumed different dimensions, where I began to question my own existence. It was on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I noticed my grandmother looking at the Buddha statue and uttering a quick prayer of gratitude. I asked her the reason and I said that it was only a statue. She scolded me for being so insensitive and cold. My grandmother then narrated the story to me and it changed my life and perspective of looking at things.
It was at this crucial period in my life seated on my divan with a cup of coffee I reminisced the story that my grandmother had narrated to me when I was a teenager and this is how my grandmother’s narrative unfolds.
My grandfather worked as an Accounts Officer in the Defence Department during the British rule in India. My grandparents were transferred to Burma along with their four young children. They reached Burma in 1936 and the possibility of World War II was gaining momentum as the main villain Adolf Hitler, the German dictator was causing mindless and massive havoc in Europe. At that time Burma was part of the British Empire. It was formed into a separate colony under the Government of India Act, of 1935. Burma, a country located between India and China has little or no contact with its neighbors and the rest of the world. The northern, eastern and western borders have high mountain ranges acting as barriers to discourage both trade and travel. Seeing this as an opportunity to expand its dominance Japan’s dramatic interference in 1941, made western allies Great Britain and the USA rethink their strategy and focus their attention on Burma, which is an ethnically diverse nation; with 135 distinct officially recognized ethnic groups, by the Burmese government. Under the British rule, there was a substantial amount of growth and prosperity in Burma, but there was an underlying angst amongst the Bamar community who hailed from an agricultural background. The Bamars, are fiercely patriotic and nationalistic in their approach to life. They have a lot of consideration for others and are tolerant of adverse circumstances.
Since Burma was a separate colony under the Government of India, the Bamar community wanted Indian workers to be imported to work in their plantation fields. This kind of work exchange was not acceptable to the Britishers and there was widespread conflict. The Burmese government decided to make the Japanese their allies. This led to bitter conflict and widespread misunderstanding between the Japanese and the Britishers. It was at this crucial point that Japan in the year 1942 finally bombed Burma.
On that fateful afternoon of March 1942, my grandparents along with their four teenage children had to flee the capital city of Rangoon, after having lived a comfortable life for almost six years. They returned to India penniless and homeless. Despite losing everything in a devastating war they returned with a white marble statue of Lord Buddha along with a newfound renewed confidence to start life all over again. This is the statue of Gautama Buddha which is now perched on my old antique wooden bookshelf with a calm and serene look on His face.
Buddhism and the study of Zen have had a profound impact on me. Though Zen is not a religion or philosophy but its intrinsic ideologies resonate with Buddhism. Zen in its basic essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being and paves the path from bondage to freedom. It is both meditation and an expression of one’s true self and also means freeing the being from mind attachment and trains the mind to practice mindfulness and live in the present. The subtle presence of Lord Buddha’s statue in a staunch Hindu family which adorns our house as a souvenir from Burma can have such a tremendous and a lasting spiritual influence on me is truly a very humbling experience.
I have been through innumerable challenges and difficult times in my life but every time I have fallen, I have risen again as a stronger and a resolute human being. Every time I look at the statue of Lord Buddha I am assured of a higher presence and wisdom in my life. Lord Buddha ceased to be a marble statue but a living presence in my house and my life. Calm and serene His presence resonates with a power that is unparalleled.
Here I would like to go down memory lane once again and look back at the hard times my grandparents faced in raising four children one of whom was my own father. Introspecting on the events that unfolded on that fateful day in the year 1942, I shudder to think that my entire family would have been wiped out in the bombing and I would have not come into existence. But their faith in Lord Buddha and their collective destinies conspired with the Universe and brought them all back safely to their own motherland. As I was shaken out from my nostalgic reverie from the past by a loud shrill of the doorbell and I got up with a sharp twinge of emotions in my throat. Oh! How much I miss my parents and my grandmother long after they have all gone but their Lord Buddha is always there.
I have narrated this story to bring out the profoundness of how a simple marble statue can impact the lives of people living in a close-knit family and still continues to shower his blessings on all of us even seventy years after His installation in our house. I take great pride in owning this piece of history that is now a part and parcel of my life and I am proud to carry this legacy forward with me. Every time I am faced with a difficult situation I just have to look at His smiling face and I am reassured of his blessings and grace. Thank You, Lord Buddha! For Your Divine presence in my life!
