Not Innate But Acquired

My outlook toward music and God was alike. I knew both existed, I enjoyed being immersed in the idea of both from time-to-time in my own way but was very selective about devoting my time to either. Being selective can be an excuse for being indolent.

An old pic of a sacred fig tree in a temple premises.

For me, music resonated with road trips and God with my beliefs. God was approached when I was in a crisis-like situation. The idea of being spiritual was sacred and very personal. I wouldn’t visit temples although I had those just minutes away. My connect was based on a typical rebel mindset that I would do only what I feel like doing. It was more about passion and being driven by it. “Why should I do something because everyone else was doing or my parents did?”, I always thought. It all felt right at that time. It was all about passion.  

Today, I think passion is the most overrated thing in our generation. Everyone talks about passion and following it. But do we really need to have passion, to do something? Can passion not be developed?

I never felt like visiting a temple, it was probably once or twice in a year that my family could convince me to accompany them.

In the last few years, because of people around me especially my husband who’s quite spiritual, I began this journey of visiting a temple once in a week. These were not my heartfelt visits, I was only an accomplice in his spiritual journey. He would sense my unwillingness and blend it with a supper date or a visit to a plant nursery, which would keep me enthused for the evening. We had numerous weeks of these customary visits to the temple and contrary to my conviction, I did start feeling engaged in these short temple visits. Overtime, I felt as if a seed of passion was sown within me, passion to connect with the divine. I wouldn’t say, I became passionate about God, but I knew spirituality had started growing on me. I felt a strong connect with God and ironically, this burgeoned with my engagement with music. It was an atypical trance, tribal and nature. 

It’s marvelous to look back in this journey from time-to-time and squeeze all the goodness of passion that one can savour. And, it’s great because I didn’t have it, it was built within. Passion was created, this gives me hope of the unnumbered passions that one could have.