AUSTRALIA, April 6, 2007: In 1976 Carl Belle began his personal journey with Lord Muruga when he was posted to Malaysia by the Australian government. To assist him with his job working with students he undertook a study of Malaysia’s religious and visited a number of religious and cultural festivals.
Carl says, “I first saw the major festival of Thaipusam at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur in January 1978, and was so overcome that I had to sit down; I felt that I would pass out. The reason was not the body piercings, but rather the intense vibrations I felt emanating from the devotees; it was totally unlike any other emotion I had ever experienced, and certainly different from anything in my own religious background. This was spirituality as pure ecstasy. Indeed, I commented to my wife, Wendy, that I could see myself engaging in this, but of course, later that day my ‘skeptical-scientific’ Western background reasserted itself, and I dismissed my feelings as a psychological trick of the mind. However, I did follow a friend who took a kavadi in the Thaipusam festival of 1979, and again I felt overcome and strongly attracted to the ritual.
“I returned to Australia in 1979, and felt culture shock. I felt that I had left for Australia prematurely, and that Malaysia held the answer to my queries. I had a number of psychic experiences after I returned to Australia, but I kept denying the validity of these experiences. The culmination came at a party I attended on 29 September 1979. I was talking to a group of scientists, who were enthusiasts for genetic engineering. I was horrified at the narrow world they envisaged, and the hatred or at least contempt for humanity which informed their arguments. Finally, one of these scientists turned to me, and stated ‘You are obviously speaking from a religious point of view. What religion are you?’ Without time to think, I responded automatically, ‘I am a Hindu,’ thus acknowledging for the first time, all that happened to me over the past twenty months.
“That night I had a powerful vision. I saw waves of kavadi bearers at Batu Caves, humble in the face of the Divine, and I saw the arrogance of a particular strand of Western science, dismissive of fellow humans. As I pondered on this, I saw Lord Murugan, the God of Thaipusam appear in a brilliant blue light, and summon me to Batu Caves, and I knew I had been asked to bear a kavadi. I thus made a vow to take a kavadi on five occasions (2007 was my fifteenth kavadi!) and my first pilgrimage was in January 1981.”
To read the full interview and view the personal photographs of Mr. Belle’s kavadi, click URL above.