Love Thy Neighbour

It was a bright cold morning in Pavanpur town. Cloaks were striking at eight. The fifth-anniversary function of the Kali Mata mandir had already commenced. A team of priests was chanting Veda mantras through loudspeakers. Ramana, a retired bank employee, had spared the entire first floor of his house for Kali Mata mandir. About one hundred devotees from different walks of life participated in the function. A sacred fire ceremony of Ganapathi Homa and other spiritual activities were conducted in the shamiyana erected in front of the mandir. Before the commencement of Homa, one of the priests, Madhu Sharma, delivered a brief lecture on Homa. He told the devotees that the combination of the powerful energy of the fire and the mantras creates extremely auspicious and purifying vibrations. The smoke that rises from Homa contains powerful healing energy and purifies the atmosphere. 

Ramana after retirement from the bank service dedicated the rest of his life to spiritual activities. The circumstances forced him to take such a decision. His wife Gomati also joined him. Their two sons Vaibhav and Uddhav after completing their graduation joined a Gurukul for spiritual studies and remained as bachelors with no intention of coming back home. This was the reason why Ramana and his wife Gomati made a major decision in their life. 

On that day, all the programs right from early morning to afternoon were conducted under the guidance of priests. The mass feeding was arranged. Voluntary donations were accepted by the devotees.  The temple committee was formed. When Homa was in full swing, suddenly, at about 10 am,  Bhairav, a next-door neighbor was shouting on the road. He was calling Ramana to come out. Both never had a cordial relationship. On hearing this, few devotees came out and requested Bhairav to wait till the rituals were over. But Bhairav was adamant and told them to call Ramana immediately. Ramana came out leaving Homa abruptly.

"Ramana,  you know I am conducting tuition classes at this time. Due to your loudspeakers, I am unable to conduct the classes. I don't say stop Homa and other activities. Let all the rituals be continued. I say stop loudspeakers and carry on silently without disturbing others. If you fail to do it, I will lodge a complaint with the Police."

"Bhairav,  loudspeakers are essential for all the activities. At this juncture, I cannot stop it. Please allow me to continue. I have already taken permission from the concerned government authorities. I request you to join Homa and receive the blessings of Lord Ganesha, vighna nivaraka.  Let us sit and sort out our differences after this function.``

"I don't want to wait. Settle the matter now itself. Otherwise, I will have to take action."

Ramana requested him with folded hands and said, 

"Bhairav, please do not create hurdles at this juncture. It's a religious function attended by many devotees. This homa is conducted for the welfare of the society including you."

Bhairav again started shouting. Devotees sensing the danger tried to avert the situation. They came in a group and told Bhairav to go back to his house. Seeing the large crowd, he went inside his house. The homa and other activities were over peacefully. Every day between 6 and 8  in the evening the programs include discourse, bhajan, and mangal arati. 

Bhairav was running Adarsh Tutorial Center. The timings of the temple and tutorial Center coincide. The big board displayed outside his tutorial center was really a surprise. Any passerby can ask how is it possible to give coaching right from the first standard to post-graduation in any discipline?

Bhairav approached the court to stop the loudspeakers through a lawyer. Another development was devotees to the temple were increasing and admissions of the students to the tutorial center were decreasing. All these developments led to animosity between Ramana and Bhairav. It took an ugly turn. Bhairav knew very well that no immediate action against Ramana was possible.  All the devotees assured Raman that they would support him. In the meantime, Bhairav filed a petition against Ramana in court. After more than three years, the court verdict came in favor of Bhairav. This was a terrible shock for Raman. His advocate advised him to appeal in the higher court. Ramana being a pious man, not interested in fighting, dropped the idea of appeal in the higher court.  To stay away from the bad person, he shifted the Kalika idol to his friend's house after getting his willingness. He also decided to sell the house. One businessman had purchased the house and Ramana and his wife moved to another house. The buyer took possession of the house within three months.  The  Idol of Kalika Mata was moved and installed in the friend's house with all the religious rituals carried out by the priests.  The devotees were most disappointed with the shifting of the idol and the missing of Ramana, a pious man.

 Bhairav was most happy to know the shifting of the idol and the sale of Ramana's house. His happiness was for a short time. After some days his tutorial center was closed as there were no students and suffered a lot. He would have been happy if he was generous, ethical, fair, kind, and peaceful towards neighbor Ramana. 

 Bhairav failed to understand

 'love thy neighbor."