receiving a soul

As we sat out on the front porch, ketut mentioned that he will contact the priest in order to have the ceremony for the bale. I was surprised that we needed a priest. I just thought we place a special offering and that's enough. But he explained to me that it is just like when he bought his daughter a motorbike so she could drive to high school. Then he also had to hire a priest and have a large offering and ceremony. Now I was surprised again.!

"You mean she couldn't ride on the motorbike until you had a ceremony?"

"No. only afterwards. Whenever you have a tool or machine, or building that you are going to begin using, it is important that it receive a soul first.  Then it can unite with your soul also and serve you well. It will be strong and healthy and will be in alignment with you. All of its' parts will be strong and it will be safe. the tires will not be flat, and the machine will not stall or break. If you want to overtake a truck, then it will follow your desires as if you are one. It will serve you well. It becomes alive."

"And if you would have bought a used motorbike?"

"Then you would also have a ceremony for it, since you are the new owner and your soul and the soul of your motorbike need to become like one, so that it will be safe and serve you well. That is how we Balinese believe." I had been placing incense stick and flower offerings on each of their motorbikes at dusk each evening and had made up my own little blessing for them in gratitude for safe traveling and that the motorbike should stay in good condition and that they be safe drivers and that all of their trips should be in order to actualize their purpose here on earth. I was happy to realize that it was in sync with this giving of a soul to the motorbike.

"For instance, the bale is made from different materials; the wooden pillars are from the trees in the forest, the terra cotta tile roof is from earth somewhere in the world, the nails are from minerals. These all need to be united into one, as if a baby is being born. It will receive a soul. Now, even though it is finished, it is not alive yet. Once we have the ceremony on the full moon next week, the priest will bless it and it will receive a soul. The priest can also pray that the person who sits in the bale will be happy and healthy, and many things. Then the bale will be alive and be part of our life here on the compound."

I had intuitively felt that the bale was not meant to be used yet, even though ketut had not told any of us not to sit there yet. I tried, and he tried, but it was as if it was empty, or not "alive" yet. I had decided to wait until after the ceremony to begin sitting there to prepare the offerings or play music, or rest.

"And when do we have another ceremony for the family altar? Every year?" he answered that whenever we change the material on the altar (it is wrapped with a black and white checkerboard cloth as if wearing a sarong). It is alive, like us, and so when you make food, you bring it some too, and you place the offerings there each day, and you treat it like a being. It has a soul.

I remember when I first came to bali I was speaking with my cab driver on one of our trips about the different religious sculptures and paraphernalia. I wondered if it had to be treated in a special way when it is bought. His answer surprised me; "it is just a piece of cement now, only once the priest has performed the ceremony will it  become alive, and then it must be treated with respect like you would any of gods' creations. . "

I await the ceremony in a few days. I want to feel for myself the difference in the bale once it receives a soul.