72. The cat who stopped the worship
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In a monastery, there lived a cat. Every day, whenever the old Sannidhanam (pontiff) of the monastery was performing his daily worship, the cat used to jump here and there and create a big ruckus. So one day the Sannidham said, 'Hey, first tie up that cat before I start my puja, so that the puja is not disturbed.' The disciples tied up the cat, and the Sannidhanam did the puja peacefully.
On the second day, they again tied up the cat, and the Sannidhanam did the puja. On the third day, they again tied up the cat, and the Sannidhanam did the puja. After some time, it became customary to tie up the cat before the Sannidhanam started the puja every day. One day, the old Sannidhanam died. The new Sannidhanam who succeeded him also faithfully followed the practice of tying up the cat before starting his daily puja.
After some years, the cat died.
Now the disciples don't know what to do!
How to start the puja without the cat?
And they started searching everywhere for another cat, but no cat could be found.
And finally, that day the Sannidhanam could not perform the puja because there was no cat!
A beautiful religious tradition which had been happening without a break for hundreds of years was stopped because of a wrong understanding.
Many times, the aachaara – the everyday practices you observe – get the status of religion.
Sometimes, the aachaara even starts contradicting the core truth of the religion, but you continue to practice the aachaara, dropping the religion!
This is because, again and again, we miss the real context of religion.
That is why Swami Vivekananda urges people to forget about all that they know as 'religion', and go back to the Upanishads, the Source.
Drink from the Source; it will strengthen you.
