My father used to pray before a deity every morning after taking bath. He brought us up telling us to call our elders with respect and to ignore their cast, creed, or religion. He was also very strict and I believe that is responsible for the discipline we had after we grew up.
He used to take us to Guruvayur temple once in a while. That’s the major pilgrimage we did as children. Evenings he made us sit down and recite religious rhymes and poems. I remember vividly, reciting ‘Jnanappana of Poonthanam’ in which I still have a great penchant for – a poem that is a great helpful hint to the futility of life.
Our local temple visits and praying at home before were erratic at best even though father did pray at home as I explained, briefly after he takes bath, religiously, all his life.
On the whole, there is nothing to suggest that we were a family from which one would expect an emergence of a Sannyasi. There were no ingredients in place in our family to create such a radical thinking as leaving home and joining a Math. There was no foundation for sure. May be the foundation was laid much later by my brother.
A doctor close to me, once said, it is human psychology that some people who have no inclination for a certain thing would suddenly develop that interest. He also said that such people would develop such a new interest with great speed and interest and quickly get immersed in the new interest rather than going slow and after careful considerations.
I don’t know if my brothers is such a case of love at first sight. But so far it looks like it is a sincere, hardened affair rather than an abrupt infatuation with spirituality.
