The prayer

A 4 year-old kid was wandering along the corridors of the temple. The temple was quite busy that day and people were pouring in, as it was a special day for the deity and special prayers are being offered. This kid was looking with amusement at one of the sculptures in the pillar. The mother of the kid had walked quite a distance. The kid realized it and ran to catch up with her. Her mother asked to hold her hand to avoid getting lost in the crowd. The kid asked her mother, “Mummy, what’s a special prayer?” The mother just said, “Come in, you’ll know.” They reached the main deity of the temple. The place was already crowded. The mother and the kid somehow squeezed in to find a place to get a good view of the deity.
The crowd was very boisterous. You would have noticed even the otherwise calm temple would turn very noisy and restless on a special day and would look as though it has lost its divinity. The priest had not started the special prayers for the evening. I always wondered why we needed these special prayers. Bribing even the almighty? Everyone in the crowd was eagerly waiting to witness the special prayers offered to God that day. As the clock was ticking, the crowd started enquiring the priest on when the prayers would start. His answer was simply, “It would start.”
The crowd was getting restless on this unusual delay in the prayers and started to murmur among themselves. The priest was also looking very restless, infact he was looking a bit tensed. He kept looking at the doorstep. It appeared as though he was waiting for someone. The temple was actually cramped with people. With even no place to move around, the people felt uneasy and started perspiring a lot. The little kid not used to all these started crying. Her mother had a tough time consoling her. With quite a few kids crying, the place became very noisy and a few started asking the priest to start the prayers. He just said, “Kindly hold on.”
Suddenly there was a little commotion outside too and a well-dressed couple entered the temple. The crowd gave way and the couple went closer to the deity. They came from one of the very well-known families of the city. There was a deafening silence in the crowd for a moment. The couple had sponsored the special prayers today and the priest had no option other than to wait for them to attend the prayers. The priest started acting fast and started the prayers. He started chanting mantras and made it explicitly clear that he was doing this for the well-being of the couple’s family. He kept smiling at the couple everyone now and then, in between his prayers. This pleased the couple too and that was reflected in their smiles.
The crowd now knew the real reason for the delay. They got pissed off and started staring at the couple. Quite a few were cursing them for the delay and debating to themselves on how they could make the God wait just because they were rich. They thought no one was above God. But know one spurt this out. Some kept cursing the priest for his biased behavior and some cursed the couple. Some even tried to get introduced to the couple. All these happened when the priest was offering prayers to the God. None in the crowd seemed to fulfill the purpose was visiting a temple. None prayed whole-heartedly. A few were admiring the couple for their power and a few were cursing them. Some even sympathized themselves that they did not have similar powers as that of the couple.
The couple also felt very happy and satisfied by the kind of attention they got. After the prayers, the priest handed over a special packet to the couple with a very pleasing smile. This pleased the couple all the more.
The couple were satisfied by the kind of treatment they were given. The priest patted himself for his good job. The crowd was agitated by the kind of treatment they were given. The kid wore a confused look, as it was still trying to decipher on what a special prayer is. None of them seemed to serve the purpose of why they were at the temple. None seemed to worship the Lord with peace of mind. They were all held up with materialistic and human thoughts. I used to wonder why the deities at the temples always smile. Is it just a smile or a teasing grin? Or is the deity also trying to please someone? Who knows???!!!! With none paying attention to God, the special prayer was grandeur!!!