Old masks, and new

By: Vithal C Nadkarni

At the stroke of midnight, old masks are dropped. A fresh masquerade is supposed to begin with the New Year. But which one is it to be? The courier has just delivered five masks.

These were fashioned in south India: one is of a grinning avatar of Shiva, the rest are animal-faced — three boars (varaha) and a tiger (vyaghra) — all with flaring nostrils, curving tusks and fangs. These can perhaps be worn by tantriksand wizards. What about ordinary mortals such as your columnist? Masks have been in use right from Paleolithic times to the present in all kinds of activities: in religion and warfare, in escapades and entertainment.

For all their transformational magic masks, which serve as powerful symbols and guides, can be taken off and worn at will. What about masks beneath masks that do not come off at Halloween or Carnival?

“It’s the masks that stay on that we might want to think about,” says Dorothy Firman, author of Living a Life of Purpose. Questions such as “who am I without my masks? Who are you? Who are we all?” are the really big ones, adds the therapist who combines Zen Buddhist perspective with psychosynthesis.

Nor can anybody “answer” such questions except perhaps the person posing them! For, as St Francis said, “That which you are looking for is that which is looking!” Indian spiritual tradition telescopes that insight even more, “That you are,” declares one of its three mega-statements. So, if you think you are just this face staring back at you from the mirror, you are wrong! You are “That” which, alas, defies all epithets and descriptions!