Yemen Diary – Part 2

While having lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in Sanaa, I got involved in an interesting discussion with a colleague. It happened so that it was prayer time for the Muslims, and my friend never missing a single prayer, religiously turned toward the direction of
Mecca and prayed.

Didn’t I pray, he asked. I do at times, but not regularly. He probably hadn’t realized till that moment that I wasn’t a Muslim like him. So are you a Christian? No, I am a Hindu. So what is the soul of your religion? And it had me dumbfounded. I pondered on it for a while and came up with a couple of explanations.

Hinduism is not a religion, it’s a philosophy, I said. As Hindus we need not adhere to certain rules, rituals, or regulations. In fact it’s not even Hinduism. The actual religion is “Sanatana Dharma.”  We are independent to do whatever we want to do. We can live our lives the way we would like to, keeping in mind what is right and what is wrong. It’s more of a conscience thing. If your conscience allows you to do certain thing you very well can, unless it causes harm to others.

Religion brings peace to your soul, he said. And I could not disagree with him. He is a Muslim and Islam is his guide. He is a rational man, and a thinking man. But when it comes to religion, it’s slightly different. He rises above his intellectually arguing self (the “aham” in Sanskrit). He doesn’t want to dispute the holy book, though he agrees that there are a few aspects he doesn’t understand. But he believes that he won’t commit any wrong, if he does follow it. And that brings peace to him.

He is aware of what he is doing in his life. He follows a certain channel, the channel provided by god, and rediscovered by the Prophet, as they say.

As for me, I still am in search of alternative channels. The ones which are difficult to discover, as I think, I believe. The ones which probably the Supreme Being doesn’t want us to discover. Or is it so? I wonder…

Seven…

I needed to enter the pH value of water in a report and I realized it’s number seven and then I realized some more….

According to Judaism, Christianity and Islam (all three originating from similar if not same platform), God created this world in seven days (although he is supposed to have rested on the seventh day according to some). There are seven days in a week.

According to Christianity there are seven deadly sins (Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride), and seven corresponding virtues (Chastity, Moderation, Liberality, Charity, Meekness, Zeal and Humility). Book of Revealation has been addressed to seven churches of the apocalypse.

The number of earths and heavens according to Quran are seven. The number of ayat in surat al-Fatiha (the opening or the first chapter in Quran) is seven.

There are seven yoga chakras in our body, and seven levels of consciousness to be achieved, before we can come out of the unending cycle of life and death, according to Hinduism. The number of sages are seven and their wives are the goddesses referred to as the “Seven Mothers”. The bride and the groom are supposed to take “saat pheras” during the marriage rituals.

Prince Siddhartha (better known as Lord Buddha) walked seven steps at his birth.

Seven is also considered a “virgin number”. Probably because it’s the only single digit number (natural number), which is neither a multiple nor a factor of any of the single digit numbers.

The significance of number seven can be derived from the fact that the number of stellar objects in the solar system visible to the naked eye is seven. Sun, moon, and the five classical naked planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Probably here lies the reason why seven has been so sacredly used in all the religions of the world. Also, there are seven colours in a rainbow.

The reason for 7 being a lucky number symbolically, is because it represents the union of man and woman, since the number for women is 4 and the number for men is 3.

 There are seven continents and seven seas.