BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

It was a windy morning with a nip in the air when I was climbing the steep slope leading to Mahakaal temple in Darjeeling the other day. Rain laden clouds were hung over me, giving me a feeling of getting drenched while the strong wind swept them away every now and then. Some distance away from the temple I noticed myriads of multicolored prayer flags with inscriptions, hung on rope lines and fluttering in the wind- sometimes waving gently, sometimes raging; a multi-hued dance of shadow and light. It was almost like a wall of flags on either side of the slope leading me up to the temple.

Prayer flags are not just pretty pieces of coloured cloth. The ancient Buddhist prayers, mantras, sutras and powerful symbols displayed on them seem to produce a spiritual vibration that is activated and carried far and wide by the wind. They are like silent prayers spoken on the breath of nature dissolved in the wind and extended to fill all of space..

Sudharsana Rajpaksha drove us through our visit to Sri Lanka. Endless beaches, timeless heritage sites, oodles of elephants, famous tea and flavourful food may just not be complete experience of Sri Lanka. In fact this Island country’s 2000-plus years of culture can be discovered at ancient sites where legendary temples exhibit beautiful details. I am still figuring out why they call it a lonely planet or why Rabindranath Tagore called it a tear drop on the cheek of time.

Sudharsana spoke fairly good English. He belonged to Galle, an exotic city, bursting with the scent of spices and salty winds, with its wonderful collection of Dutch-colonial buildings, a town of great beauty indeed.

As we travelled through, we came across Buddhist temples at several heritage sites, Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka being amongst them. . Huge flags in five colors in a uniform order were hoisted in all these sites. Sudharsana being a Buddhist himself pointed out the sequence of the color order which is always: yellow, green, red, white and blue. Buddhism divides the phenomenal and psycho-cosmic world into five basic energies. In our physical world these manifest as earth, water, fire, air and space. Our own bodies and everything else in the physical world is composed of these five basic elements.

I recall Tulsidas in his Ramcharit Manas:

Kshiti, jal, paavak, gagan, sameera,

Panch tatwa se bana sharira II  

In Hindu mythology and religion, flags have a great significance.

Jagannath temple is one of the tallest monuments in the country representing the Kalingan architecture. The grand ritual of Dhwaja Parivartan or the Flag Change in the premises of the temple is being performed daily since last 800 years and is considered as an auspicious event to witness. The flag atop the temple always flaps in the opposite direction of air.

In Dwarka, Gujrat, 52 yards of woven cloth is used for making the Dhwaja. Fifty-two small flags are made and joined together to make a single flag. These 52 yards symbolizes, fifty entrances (gates) to the palace of Dwarkadheesh, with each gate having a Dhwaja (flag) besides the two main gates, Swarga Dwar & Moksha Dwar. The 52 yards flag waving from the summit of the temple can be seen from a great distance and people believe and consider a glance at it as a holy sight.

During the great battle of Kurukshetra, Hanuman appeared on Arjuna’s flag hoisted on the chariot of Arjuna and Sri Krishna to help Arjuna by stabilizing and strengthening his chariot. But during the great battle between Karna and Arjuna, even Hanuman failed to stabilize the chariot of Arjuna. Lord Krishna praised Karna  for this feat. The battle over,Krishna asked Arjuna, to step down the chariot. After Arjuna got down, Krishna followed him and thanked Hanuman for staying with them during the whole fight in the form of a flag on the chariot. Hanuman bowed to Krishna and left the flag. As soon as he left, the chariot began to burn and turned into ashes.

The Tibetan word for prayer flag is Dar Cho. “Dar” means to increase life, fortune, health and wealth. “Cho” means all sentient beings. Prayer flags are simple devices that, coupled with the natural energy of the wind, quietly harmonize the environment, impartially increasing happiness and good fortune among all living beings. The prayer flags acquire a fierce intensity when blown by those gusty winds.

As a natural force, the wind has been personified as one or more wind gods or as an expression of the supernatural in many cultures. Vayu is the Hindu god of wind. The Greek wind gods include Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus, Aeolus, in varying interpretations the ruler or keeper of the four winds, has also been described as Astraeus, the god of dusk who fathered the four winds with Eos, goddess of dawn. Venti are the Roman gods of the winds. Fujin, is the Japanese wind god and is one of the eldest Shintigods. Kamikaze is a Japanese word, usually translated as divine wind, believed to be a gift from the gods.

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and writer.  "Blowin' in the Wind",  a song written by him became an anthem for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics depict the sufferings of mankind at the hands of the oppressor. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind; or the answer is rolling in the winds, so you can catch the answer by stretching your hands”.

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

 Here I stand on the edge of the hill on the top of this slope with my outstretched arms, the temple bells resonating in distance. I close my eyes, inhale a lungful of fresh air and pray that I could gather all power-laden energy of happiness, of good fortune, of fulfillment, of wisdom and of peace, as the prayer flags sometimes waving gently, sometimes fluttering vigorously, spread the answer far and wide, blowin’ in the wind….