I WAS unable to respond to the letter ‘Pandits have to live the message they preach’, written during the month of September 2014, by Cecil Ramkirath, due to my absence from Guyana and my busy schedule.
Mr Ramkirath, who resides in a foreign country, has proven that he has the courage to represent his opinions on issues relating to Hinduism at the local level. Even though I made a call for a National Hindu Organisation, not one person at the local level seems able to muster the energy to even voice an opinion. In this regard I hold him in high esteem. Still, for me that cannot be the end of the matter.

Let me say that as long as there is no forum to address Hindu issues at the intellectual levels, topics of interest will be aired in the public regardless of how distasteful they are.

I agree with the writer that Pujas are supposed to be an expression of love for God and that all items of the pujas, including bhajans, are impregnated with symbolism. However, I cannot call his argument anything else but simplistic at best. Most Pujas are mere process of negotiation and bargaining with God, or rewarding God for the perceived good that he did.
I may have erred, and I do apologise if I conveyed the understanding that all Pandits are incapable of transforming the hearts of devotees. Pandits do perform a desirable service and they have to be paid. Often it is their only source of income. What I cannot stand for is when the service of a Pandit is turned into a business. The very long list of expensive items that is given to the devotee is being sold by many pandits. Their sermons are almost always incoherent and consist of abstract scripts lacking in any metaphor.
I am not against Puja. I do perform Puja. On Deepawali I will be performing Lakshmi Puja. We will light our Diyas, and then I will aarti my wife and bow at her feet. I never hit her and always say thank you when she places my meal before me. Coming up to the last years on my parent’s life, my brothers and I made sure that their desires and needs were fulfilled. That was our Vishnu and Durga puja. During last Pitri Paksha one of my sons performed Pitri Puja by asking me to sit and allow him to care for my feet and toe nails, the way I did for my father. That action is far more expensive than athar and chandan and innocence.

We can learn a lot from the devotees of the Devi Mandirs about Pujas. They fast and pray for months and they make their offerings without Pandits. Their piety and faith will make many Pandits envious.
Records have proven that the Ancient and New age saints all agree that, in the age of Kali, chanting the name of God and right actions will bring peace and salvation. The Panduas worshipped Krishna. They won the Mahabharata war. Tell me what peace they had?
Buddha, Kabir Das, Dayanand, Prabhupada, et al inspired change for the better. When our ancestors first arrived in Guyana, the journey from India took about six months. Now the same distance can be covered in one day. It is good to keep traditions alive, but it is better to give essence to the life of the practitioners, for without them what is the use of traditions?

During 2006 I was contracted as a facilitator with the Guyana Social Cohesion Programme. On one occasion, when I had to travel to an interior location in Guyana, I arrived at the Ogle Airport and enquired if any flip chart was available for me to take on the plane. I was informed by the Logistics Officer that a vehicle with all necessary materials left for the conference venue the morning before. When I demanded a flip chart, because there was no guarantee the vehicle would arrive, that officer said “Pandit, you are a man of little faith.” My answer was “what I can do for myself, I do not burden God with.” The said vehicle never arrived.
My point is that we have to shoulder our responsibilities. If we want peace and happiness then we must be realistic and not symbolic. If we love God why then do we burden him with all our tasks and menial responsibilities? After every prayer the Hindu says ‘Shanti, Shanti, Shanti’ – a declaration that there is peace everywhere. Why then is peace so elusive? While I agree that prayers are expressions of humility, glorification and supplication it cannot be treated as a wishing well.

Peace is not a product that Krishna will give to us because we pray for it. It has to be earned. It is not a place we can go to. Peace is internal. It is a learnt process that we can all access. Will you pray for peace when your children are crying that they are hungry?

I will be the last person to say ‘not to perform pujas’. However, I will be among the first to say we must deepen the philosophy of Hindu traditions. Only when we can give meaningful expression to our rituals will people have greater participation. However, to say that if we stop doing pujas “we will lose the very enduring values of Sanatan Dharma” cannot be substantiated. Those values are enshrined in Gyaan Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raaj Yoga, the yams and Ni-yams, etc. Pujas are not a requisite for honesty, benevolence and compassion.
In the same letter Mr. Ramkirath informs us that there are more than enough motivational speakers among the Pandits’ clan. Well, I can’t find them. Let them be pointed out. Please answer how come the Mandirs are scarcely attended. How come we have a problem with conversion? Let me inform Mr. Rarkirath that when most Pandits are asked to address a topic out of his mandir, they always decline and say they prefer to sing. During 2013 I was approached by a group of Pandits to hold a class on Patra for them. My question to them was “Who will be the beneficiaries.” And they answered “the Pandits”. That was the end of the meeting.
It is not my intention to bash anyone, but we must stop living in denial, Some Hindu organisations are of the opinion that they have the answers. We have a crisis on hand which is not being addressed. For this reason I am repeating the call for Panditii professionalism and a national Hindu organisation.

PANDIT CHRISHNA PERSAUD, JP, FILS