Institutionalized mumbo jumbo

Herbs and remedies

Chapter 5 Institutionalized mumbo jumbo

Peter caught the shaman just as he was leaving the house. He introduced himself.

“I have to pick up some herbs in the hills,” he informed. “We can walk together.”

They walked down a slope to the river. He indicated that they would have to cross it. He warned Peter that the rocks were very slippery and to step carefully. Picking up a sturdy branch from the ground, he handed it to Peter, to be used as a support.

It occurred to Peter as he walked over the stones, with the water gushing and rushing around him, that a man needed to hold on to something, even if that was the views of another. We receive from others their perceptions, and bring our cherish to it, as a support for our early selves.

“The village is like the mind of a person,” he answered in response to Peter's inquiries.”Each family and household plays a role and function in relation to the whole.”

They climbed up an incline above the river and then walked north.

“Neela and Kozinsky are like the goat and the bear. Neela is naïve because he has a bigger friend to protect him. He becomes completely secure in his feelings. Kozinsky on the other hand is all brawn and relies on Neela to inspire him to do things. Together, it represents what the human condition is and is representative of relations in the village.”

He stopped to examine a plant, plucked some leaves, wrapped it in a paper and placed it in a satchel he carried.

“But while adults bring some moderation to their relations, in the case of young boys, they mix without limits and create a temptation for the adults to do so.”

They had climbed to a ridge and walked along its crest. The view around them was panoramic. The shaman continued to pluck on leaves.

“Out here, our people rely on their relationship with god in all matters. What we have relied upon all this time is the knowledge handed down to us through the generations. But it is a changing experience and every new generation brings something new to it.”

Peter cut in.

“This knowledge has obviously gone through many changes?”

“Of course,” he replied.

They stopped to rest on some rocks. They viewed the village in the valley below them. It was shrouded in the afternoon mist.

“Is there a religious doctrine to the practice?” Peter asked.

The shaman paused to think then replied,

“We pray to Kaliama, the goddess. She is the village deity.”

Kaliama, as one of the consorts of Siva, is the experience of the fierce female aspect. Her worship is especially prominent in Kolkata, India, where her devotees are known to undergo severe penances, as a way of regulating the mind and body desires.

“So its a combination of your father's knowledge and the influence of the goddess?”

He was hesitant about replying, then said slowly,

“As a human we are a part of the world. In cave dwelling times, we were not consciously directing the path of our lives. It was undertaken by a force in us that is a combination of our mind and passions.It is like the relations we have with our mothers. As we became civilized, we learnt to take over that function. It is a very dangerous undertaking and should only be done with a guru in these matters.”

“Its a mix then,” offered Peter, referring to the several hats we wear in our lives.

“That may be so,” he replied, “ but introducing the human knowledge of the world to the originally existing experience of the mother, is a very delicate business. A man must be mindful of the separate qualities of the original mother, the divine and the human. This is the trident and the practice of the trinity.”

Peter reflected on his own relations with the wife and couldn't help feeling a sense of association with the idea.

“So the separation of the two boys healed the village?” he pressed on.

“You see,” began the shaman slowly, “ when the spirit of the goddess is guiding us, we learnt to obey its dictates and stayed stable in our lives. But man has the ability to learn and each age brings a new craving to advance our knowledge of ourselves. So there is some pushing and shoving between the human and the mother as the originally existing power of self regulation.”

He continued uninterrupted.

“When the mother was guiding us, the illness only took place with the cows and the other animals. But as we take on more of that by ourselves, our minds are coming into the management of our impulses and their viral natures. If we are unable to control and manage it, its a cause for great danger to the body and to society.”

Peter listened intently but made no move to raise inquiries.

“In my father's time, we'll slaughter the cows but as man grows in the engagement of the mind, we need solutions that deal with man's understanding of the phenomenon.”

Then very quickly, he added,

“As a young man, I ran away from the village and went up to Srinagar. It was simply too boring here. But after almost 30 years, I finally got some sense into my head and came back to continue my father's work.”

He raised a finger as emphasis,

“Neela will be returning some day. We need more people to understand this phenomenon and to find better ways to deal with the social aspects of our lives, otherwise people will isolate themselves and society will come to a standstill.”

Peter couldn't help smiling. Neela would probably have run away himself, but the banishment made it official.

“You may inform Neela that he is free to return. That is, when he has learnt that it is not about forgiving us for what we did to him but to understand what we did.”