About how much devoutness Wayan
and other Balinese Hindu youths have
for
their
Hindu
unerringly
faith,
endowed
no
one
with
is
the
capacity to measure. But one still
questions how long they will carry
these practices with them into the
future. As can be observed everyday
here in Wayan’s garden, the spiritual
cycle of Balinese Hindu devotion
actively presses on. Yet, foreign questions already arise. How long will the cycle of
Balinese offerings last? And, to the philosophical side, is such a question premature or
even parasitic to ask?
Hinduism arrived in Bali in the beginning of the pre-classical era, around 1500 BCE, but
those of us who fall in love with the cultural charms of Bali often ask how long the
incense will burn for the gods. Since many of us come from the Western sphere where
culture
and
commercialization
sometimes
bitterly
intermingle
together
in
a
dichotomous pot of assorted virtue, plastics, survivalism, restlessness, and holiday fever,
we are seductively enamored by the homogeneous karmic piety of religious practices
here in Bali, what is ubiquitously attributable to, practiced, and known as Balinese
Hinduism.
Despite the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ of pleasured foreigners, the eternal status ascribed to the
Hindu gods will only continue to be observed and recognized through the daily prayers
and offerings of the religious community that pay mystical homage. And with tourism
still rising in Bali, approaching three million tourists a year and terrifically changing the
very landscape, and expressly affecting the demeanors, appearances, and lifestyles of
the sons and daughters of Bali, it is difficult not to wonder about the continuation of
Balinese traditional values and rituals.