The way of baguchi (fortune teller)
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha
THANKS
Many thanks to all my English language teachers: Mr Jeoffery Bairde, Mr Jonathan Young, Mrs Natalya Konstantinova, Mrs Gulsina Shamilevna, Mrs Solodkova Irina Sergeyevna, Mr Nguni and others who made it possible for me to write this book.
INTRODUCTION
Once the reader gets acquainted with the h2 of the book he/she may see the English word in brackets which is a translation of a term in Tatar. Further some words in Tatar that occur in the book will be given the English translation in brackets. Normally most Tatar words have an English translation with a small exception of words like моң (mong) which might mean some mood or a melody but doesn’t have an exact translation.
The topic of the book is how the tradition of fortune-telling among Tatar people, the ethnicity that I belong to, luckily continued although just to some extent. Of course I wasn’t given the power to predict the things like oil prices for some reason but I learned how to see the things clearly.
Abdullah Khamidullin
CHAPTER I
Some information about the author and his background
Speaking about the way that I passed I would like to give some information about myself and my background that will probably be useful for comprehension.
Three of my great-grandfathers were heads of villages (kolkhoz) in different parts of modern Tatarstan. Most of my ancestors were Kazan Tatars while some were Astrakhan Tatars (my great-great grandmother was taken as a wife from there). This is the reason why I have some Southern Caucasian features in my appearance.
The family of my grandmother from the father’s side was well-off. They had a store selling clothes in the village near Kazan. They used to send caravans to Central Asia in order to buy goods for their store. They also had one servant. After the Socialist Revolution their property was taken from them and my great-grandfather was sent to dig the Belomorkanal (A channel in the North-West of Russia). My great-grandmother sent a pot of honey to the jail but by the time it arrived my great-grandfather had died already either of hunger or of frost. However his cell-mates took the honey and ate it. After they got freed from the jail later one of them came to the village of my great-grandmother and gave the money for that honey. Later my great-grandfather was rehabilitated posthumously. The property of my great-grandfather’s family was taken then and some of it sold some of it given to kolkhoz. The horse of the family was also given there. But the animal was accustomed to the previous owners and so my grandmother was called to look after the horse.
Later my grandmother moved to Kazan to the place called the New Tatar Settlement. This is where my family lived and I lived too when being a young person. The New Tatar Settlement is a place where some great Tatar poets lived. Historically the New Tatar Settlement is a place with densely built wooden houses and it’s adjacent to the river Volga (Idel in Tatar). It’s an ancient place. Once I found an ancient Siberian coin in our yard. I looked in the Internet for prices and it costed some sum. However I lost it later.
As of my mother’s side the person who I’d like to tell about is my grandfather’s from the mother’s side mother. Therefore my great grandmother. She used to be a teacher in a rural school and she was a baguchi (fortune teller). She used to cast things to tell things. Sometimes she told about people’s relations. And one time she said the people where their lost cow had been. The cow was in a pit. So this ancestor of mine had a gift of fortune-telling. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to talk to her much. I saw her just once and once I wrote a letter to her in Arabic script.
As of me personally I managed to learn some traditions and the language of my ethnicity (Tatar). When at school I was good at English, Arabic, Physics, Maths, Geography and Computing. I was also good at Jogging (I took part in competitions) however wasn’t so good at other physical exercises. The subjects that I was less successful at were Chemistry, Russian Literature and History. As of now I try to learn some Chemistry from books that I buy in Internet. And the better knowledge of Russian literature and History will come with time I guess.
As of relations with religion my family was mainly atheistic. But I read some books on Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Buddhism. The Buddhist way seemed logical to me so I accepted it to some extent. Later I was an atheist. Later I got to know how important that topic was. And eventually I became a Hindu.
About my name
I was born in Moscow in the late Soviet period to a family of art students. My parents called me Abdullah after my grandfather. It’s not that good according to Vedic traditions to call a child after his grandparent. Abdullah is also a name of some genius Tatar poets and writers like Abdullah Tukai and Abdullah Aleesh. As far as I know fortunately there are good translations of Abdullah Tukai into English so it’s possible to read many of his works.
Let me try to translate one of Tukai’s poems into English too:
***
Should someone ask: “My friend, how should I live?”
You tell him: “Do not speak a lot that’s the tip I give”
“Keep watching the ones walking by your side
And listen to your left and right”
Ok. That was a trial.
Furthermore my last name is Khamidullin. It’s quite a typical Tatar last name and I want to work hard to make it outstanding and noble.
“Special” operations
I got to know that military people and special forces carry out operations and give names to them. Being inspired with that I also carried out small operations but in the spiritual sphere and called them somehow my way. For example I would keep a fast for some time and make translations of Hindu spiritual texts simultaneously.
Some penances
Having got to know that keeping a fast has a religious merit I was inspired with that and kept fasts. I always kept the Ekadashi fast and it seemed easy to me to keep it the whole day and night without taking water in. My ancestors also keeped religious fasts but of the Muslim religion even in the Soviet times so the topic wasn’t completely new to me.
Plus I kept some 3-day fasts. I managed to keep 4 such fasts but one time I felt dizzy and fainted and fell on our TV-set. So, it’s a bit dangerous no need to repeat after me exactly.
Doing everything in a noble way
Once my ancestors belonged to the elite of Tatar people I wanted to be noble too, to belong to more noble groups of people. Therefore I tried to work on the problems more, longer. I learned these techniques from Jewish and American Anglo-Saxon people. Of course it’s to know your own working abilities, ‘cause if you work too much you start to get sick. Therefore it’s to go some middle way between hard work and having rest. Perhaps, that’s what the Lord Buddha taught.
Some imperfections that I found in translations of Hindu books into Russian
When reading translations of Hindu books into Russian I found some imperfections. For instance it’s said about the lotus-petal like eyes of the God in English while the Russian translator gives it as lotus-like eyes of God (lotosookiye). The shape of the lotus flower is round so the reader might think the deity has some kind of circle-shaped eyes. But it’s of the shape of petals. Therefore we can see empirically how the number of mistakes might grow with the growth of the number of translations.
Some ideas on the natural selection
Note that the natural selection might not always be an efficient tool for survival of the fittest. Imagine a hairy elephant born a hundred years before an ice age. He/she might have been rejected while having necessary features for the population to survive in later period. Could the nature look in advance for the animals how to live in the future? In my humble opinion yes in the case of the most clever elephants, wolves, apes, etc.
The background of the author.
Now let’s come back to the ethnicity that I mentioned. So the reason that I wrote about it is probably not to delude the reader with being attached to some ethnos, background, etc. But to make a person feel that a person from any background might be successful at the spiritual way.
Let’s take example from renowned spiritual teachers of the present. Some taught to be patriots of their country (like Sri Chinmoy, Satya Sai Baba) and some put the faith above the origin (like Acharya Swami Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada).
CHAPTER II
An unusual meeting (darshan)
And so I lived my life finished school, entered the Kazan Aviation University named after Tupolev (I dreamed to become an IT-specialist) and graduated from it, worked a bit, then served in the Russian army. My life was not ideal sometimes I misbehaved but generally tried to keep a decent way of living. And one time I was in my grandmother’s house in the New Tatar Settlement. It was the time somewhere about the New Year. And I was lying in bed that could be assembled and disassembled. I was a bit sick. I read some information about Hinduism from Internet some time before that. Suddenly I saw a white four-handed creature some 10 inches height on the right side. He had big eyes in proportion to his body. I was quite surprised and did not greet him (that was a male person probably) and just looked at him for some time. As far as I remember he didn’t have anything in his hands. He didn’t say a word and floated in the air for quite a long lasting time. Then he disappeared. So I told about it to my grandmother and my uncle and some people also. People thought it was because we lived near a cemetery and that might have been a ghost. But in my opinion he was some deity that visited me. Later I read more Hindu scriptures and got to know with some neo-Hindu teachers like Sri Chinmoy, Srila Prabhupada, Satya Sai Baba and Devdutt Pattanaik. But I couldn’t decide which teacher to follow so I followed Hinduism (Gaudia-Vaishnavism) generally and recited Hare Krishna mantra. I made beads for myself from wood plus I bought electronic beads later. I was very glad that a deity visited me and tried to stick to the way of Hinduism.
An unusual journey
After some time passed I was in my bed again. And I was taken away. First I was brought to Papua-New-Guinea. To some place. It was probably the launch place of interstellar ships near the equator. I was said it was called somehow like Jayapur. Then I was brought to some other planet. The habitants were a bit similar to the Earth habitants, they were about three and a half feet in height. But their heads were like the chess bishop’s head, sharpened. They told me about their cars and computers but not everything in order I wouldn’t get shocked. Then they brought me to their Queen. A translator that could translate thoughts worked and it told me in Russian calling me by name: “Well, Abdullah, did you understand what your mistake was?” But I didn’t know what it was. Of course I made many mistakes in my life but I didn’t know which of them or perhaps some that I didn’t know about. Then I was brought back home.
I was very glad to visit other planet and to meet other humans that stood higher in their development.
A dance of Shiva
After I became a Hindu I made an altar at my home. First I made it on the shelf. But then I replaced it ‘cause it was below the place where my parents stored alcohol.
But one time in the evening I heard some rhythm and someone unseen dancing. I knew it was Lord Shiva. So now I know one melody (or a tact) that he dances to.
So these were my encounters with the supernatural in my life. Now if someone asked me why I believe in God I’d say the proof was what I had seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. I read lots of Hindu literature after that. I spent a lot of time on it. My knowledge of English helped me as well. Although my progress in Sanskrit wasn’t that easy.
Later I visited some Buddhist teachings too as well. The teacher was lama Yonten Gialtso of the Jonang Buddhist tradition. I learned some breathing techniques and how to bow to Simkhamukkha deity as well.
So, I guess it’s possible to say that the gift of seeing the supernatural passed from my great grandmother to me and the way of baguchi in our family continued.
Some not so humble thoughts of mine
Some ethnicities, nations are proud of their astronauts, cosmonauts to be sent to space. Many of us heard of Chuvash, Kazakh, the United Arab Emirates, etc., etc. cosmonauts and astronauts. We are proud of them of course. But if you ask me about Tatar people who have been to outer space I’ll tell you: “I’ve been there at other planets. Furthermore there was a contact with extraterrestrials”. I’m kinda proud with myself about it. Who knew I would make such a stunning career? However I’m probably not the only one. The former Kalmykia president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told that he talked to aliens. I’d rather believe it from what I know now although it sounds a little bit fantastic. Not anyone has karma good enough to meet aliens probably.
Should someone get curious how the encounter with aliens happens I’d commend for a clip “Fell in love with an alien” by The Kelly Family. It can be something like that.
Shurale or satyrs. Some tales of my grandmother
The great Tatar poet Gabdullah Tukay wrote a poem about hominide “demons” of the Arski region living in the forest. These creatures are described as covered with fur, with a horn in the middle of the forehead with long elongated fingers. They would tickle a man to death with those fingers should they catch one. They are usually described as less intellectual than people.
So, these are some extracts from folk fairy tales. Later I got to know that Dolgan people have similar fairy tales about creatures called “chuchuna”. I discussed it with them at the forum in Internet a lot.
My grandmother told me about Shurales too. She said that they were told that the elongated bones found in the forest of the Arski district belonged to Shurale. Would you believe it?