Reflections on Navaratri, night four

Colour: Yellow

Yellow is the colour of auspiciousness. Auspicious, a harbinger of a better future. All predicted from a bird’s flight [1].

And what does this yellow bird with kohl-rimmed eyes foresee?

A future that is kinder, one hopes.

A future where words like equality, justice, liberty, and fraternity are not merely intellectual exercises but lived experiences.

A future where there are no false priests misleading us in the name of gods, but every one of us is a living echo of that diverse infinity that finds itself reflected in its creations.

A future where tradition is not fossilized in eternal death but actively reinvents itself into a living truth.

A future where honesty, goodness, compassion, and courage are not unattainable ideals, but skills that each of us endeavour to learn and practice.

A future where love, family, success, and happiness are words that can take infinite meanings and we cherish their diversity.

A future where the past is a fount of knowledge we draw from, not imagined glory that we no longer have.

What auspicious future do we see from the golden oriole’s flight? One into which we fly dipping down but yet raise strongly [2].

[1] — The word auspicious comes from the Latin auspex which literally means bird-seer referring to seers who predicted the future based on bird flight patterns.

[2] — The flight of the golden oriole is described as dipping but strong.