‘I would be grateful for that,’ said Sandhya eagerly.
‘What about visiting a few temples?’ Narasamma said as an after thought.
‘Why forget they’re here honeymooning,’ said the old man jokingly, ‘and are not on a pilgrimage?’
‘Jokes apart,’ said Sandhya, ‘I’m keen praying at a couple of temples.’
‘Raja you spend a night or two in a houseboat on Vasishta,’ suggested Thimmaiah. ‘That would be like icing on your honey.’
‘That’s when Sandhya gets over her phobia for water,’ said Raja Rao.
‘Then take her to Vodalarevu where the Gowthami makes a ‘T’ with the Bay of Bengal,’ said Thimmaiah. ‘It’s a sight to see.’
‘I would love to witness that,’ said Sandhya in excitement. ‘Who knows, in time I might be a game for the houseboat even.’
‘I feel Ryali is a must visit,’ said Raja Rao to Narasamma’s delight, ‘if only to envision the sculptured fusion of Vishnu’s front with Mohini’s back in saligrama.’
‘God bless you people,’ said Narasamma, seemingly blessing them herself. ‘It helps to place trust in God.’
‘The days have changed,’ said Thimmaiah. ‘Nowadays, it’s as though men are guided merely by religiosity and not by any religiousness. Naro narayana, man is God, that’s what our sastras preach, implying that you only reach Him through the service to humanity. Nevertheless, man today seems to believe he no longer needs to serve man to please the Gods. In this jet age of non-stop flights, it’s as though man thinks he can hop to heaven by merely visiting temples. One no longer prays to God for peace of mind; it’s his prosperity that’s at the back of his mind. Boon seeking has become the bane of the religious spirit. The more one is moved by his motive, all the more the fervency in his prayer increases. All the while, it’s as though the fellow-beings count for nothing.’
‘In my opinion,’ commented Raja Rao, ‘there is more to religion than meets the eye. It is the most effective means devised by man to hold human beings from cracking at the threshold of their anxieties. If you see, when a man is gravely ill, his wife fears that she’s on the verge of widowhood and all that goes with it. Unable to bear the anxiety about her future without him, won’t she turn to God via her religion to transfer her burden? God, please save him, she would pray for His mercy while waiting for his recovery in hopeful anticipation. As a result, in the mean time, her own anxiety lies in suspension of belief, making it easy on her mind. In the end, if he comes out true and kicking, its God’s grace, but were he to kick the bucket, then it’s God’s will. However, life takes over where her man would have left it, and soon she gets adjusted in the altered situation. The feature of faith is it rescues us from going insane by helping us to face the vicissitudes of life with religious hope.’