Dream on the Eve of Thaipusam
Last night, I awoke from a brief but vivid dream. I found myself in an Indian household on what felt like a holy day. The air was filled with quiet anticipation. I stumbled upon a group of elderly Indian men making preparations for an upcoming ritual, their faces serene, their movements deliberate. Instinctively, I greeted each one by taking his hand and pressing it to my forehead — a gesture of respect that came naturally, as though I were a child once again in the presence of wisdom.
It struck me, as I awoke, that in nearly all my dreams I am never my present self — not this aging man I see in the mirror — but a child, wide-eyed and humble before the mystery of life. Perhaps this is the soul’s way of remembering its original innocence, its uncorrupted curiosity before the mind learned how to question and divide.
Tomorrow is Thaipusam here in Penang — and perhaps this dream was no coincidence. There is a certain synchronicity, a whisper from the unseen, reminding me that spirit moves not only in temples but also through dreams. My late father once created the one-foot solid-gold idol of Lord Murugan, which even now will be carried in a grand chariot procession from the temple downtown to the hilltop shrine at the Botanical Gardens. This journey of the Lord symbolizes his visit to his consort, Valli — a divine union celebrated with music, chants, and the devotion of countless pilgrims.
The story behind Thaipusam tells of the moment when Goddess Parvati handed her son Murugan the Vel, the sacred spear, to defeat the demon Soorapadman — a symbol of ignorance and ego. The victory was not merely over a demon but over the inner darkness that clouds human hearts. Each year, devotees reenact this triumph through acts of penance and devotion, bearing the kavadi and walking barefoot along the same route the golden chariot takes — offering body, mind, and soul in surrender to the Divine.
And so, I see my father’s hands in gold, shaping the divine image, and I see the child in my dream, bowing before elders. Between them lies a single thread — the eternal reverence for the sacred, whether we find it in Murugan, in Christ, in the Buddha, or in the quiet face of an elder preparing for prayer.
This is the lesson: that spirituality is not bound by culture or religion, but by our shared capacity for awe and humility. The divine wears many names, yet the gesture of reverence — the bowing of the head, the offering of the heart — is universal. In honoring the faith of others, we deepen our own.
On this eve of Thaipusam, may we remember that every tradition is a mirror reflecting the same light, and that beyond all rituals and symbols, it is love, humility, and faith in our common humanity that make us whole.
Invocation
May the golden chariot of faith
ride through every heart tonight.
May the child within us bow
before the wisdom of the ages.
May we see in every god and elder,
in every pilgrim’s step and tear,
the reflection of our shared divinity.
#Thaipusam #LordMurugan #Penang #SpiritualJourney #DreamReflections #FaithAndHumanity #CulturalHarmony #UniversalSpirituality #DivineLight #InnerChild #Synchronicity #CheeseburgerBuddha
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