THE UNDULATED WOODS.

Chapter 2.

During weekends, I was at home sweet home. My cottage was small, it had a visiting hall and two rooms, however, the home is where the heart is, so the size of the house doesn't bother me. There was a temple near my house, perhaps fifteen feet away, it was a small temple, and it was visited by travellers. The temple was maintained by the co-operative society in the town, the donations which the temple receive were taken over by the society, and those monies were spend towards the welfare of poor, needy and the orphans. The society didn't have the lustre balance sheets, however, the funds injected by government was sufficient for society to run for a long haul, and that funds were too used to help the destitute, as the donation received from the temple was small, but still small contributions make it big. The temple had temporary priest, as it was situated outside the borders of the town, so the temple lay vacant after the priest goes away. I had visited the temple there, and as it was a serene place, so I spend my weekend, praying at the temple, and donating at the temple's donation box, as the money would go for a charitable cause. As the temple wasn't big, so there was no chance of purloining in there. The temple was made up of black stones, and there were beautiful designs carved on the walls of the temple. During festivals the temple was crammed with people, however, the rest of the year, it was a silent place.

I had a curiosity to become a priest, I was totally sure and there wasn't any speck of doubt in me. In the few years of my work experience, I have accumulated enough money, without weaving a tangled web of deception. Albeit the money was less, however, it was sufficed for me. I wasn't into deceiving people, and that wasn't my nature. My life was intertwined as I was confused to go for priesthood or no. Later I made up my mind and I went to the Co-operative society office to enquire about it, as the temple was handled by them. I met a person known as Mr. Shastriji. He was a jovial person, and one of the founding members of the society, he was the one who manages the finance of the society, and looking after the donations. Shastriji isn't a priest, but sometimes he conducts the worship part, he handed over Holy Books like Vedas and Bhagavad Gita to read. Shastriji was recently hitched, and his wife was an ardent devotee of God, so he provided me with Holy Books.

I stared reading the Holy Scriptures, it was difficult for me, and I thought that I would come unstuck, however, as I belonged to a Theist Family, so I worked hard, and I went to different temples listening to the discourse or sermon of Saints at the temple, and I learned to ways to recite the Holy Hymns of God. The rules and regulations of worship and timings. I was immersed in reading the Holy Scriptures. Cramming the Holy Scriptures are not important, but to understand the essence of it is important. The Holy Scriptures are the 'Word of God' and we need to understand the essence of it. This wasn't an effortless job, but I tried my level best, and by the Grace of God, I completed reading Bhagavad Gita, Holy Vedas and other Holy Scriptures. I went to different shrines, where the priests were preaching about God, so I grasped all the information, and in due course, I also learned the Holy Hymns employed for exorcism and warding off evil spirits. I wonk or swotted every word in Holy Scriptures, I burned the midnight oil to grasp what I read, as it wasn't inbred in me. I wasn't pincered reading the Holy Scriptures, as I visited various shrines, and listening to the sermon or expatiation of the saints there. This was a moment of Epiphany for me.

Rarely I knew, that this information would be asset for me in near future, and I learned to know a hawk from a handsaw.