No, this is not a spiritual or religious sermon. To start with, let me confess that I go to temples whenever somebody wants me to accompany them or to attend any family function in the temple. Like all others, I prostrate before the God with folded hands, accept the ‘Prasadam’ offered by the priest with utmost reverence, put some money in the ‘Hundi’ and above all offer prayer to the almighty God which I believe is supreme having no form. It is immaterial whether the God belongs to Hindu, Muslim or Christian as long as it is one.
And what do I pray for? A fat bank balance, long life, good job, more and more wealth in the form of land, house, villas and farmhouses or gold bars stacked in some locker. I ask for none except well being of every human being. Some body has rightly said that ‘Caring hands are stronger than praying hands’.
Most people recite prayers in their respective church, mosque or a temple, prayers that proclaim the immortality of the soul or to get a place in heaven but definitely not hell at any cost. To this end, they will be prepared to come to the God again and again, day in day out with all humility and sincerity yet after the worship is over, they go back into their competitive ruts practicing usual greed, dishonesty, jealousy, hatred, back biting, hatching plots and manipulating !
From my own experience as a banker, I have come across many people with big ‘Vibhuthi’ or ‘kumkumam’ on their forehead that appeared very pious, spiritual, God fearing but have indulged in rapes, looting, forgery, cheating the public as well as their own kith & kin. Many of such people have availed huge loans from bank and defaulted in repayment intentionally. They come out with all types of tactical methods to evade repayment and even threatening to harm. I have seen priests , saints and Gurus indulging in theft of offerings made by devotees made during religious rituals. Highly regarded and famous preachers, self styled God / saints have been known to amaze wealth, indulging in sex scandals and even conspiring murders, there is no need to name them as this is known to every aware citizen. I have seen people worshiping God at home, reading religious, spiritual books, attending discourses but back home, treat their own siblings with contempt, showering abuses, physically assaulting and driving them to the wall.
In the light of the above all, it makes me wonder , as to how religious are we? Do we need to lead such a hypocritical life?
Great post, I liked how you penned the true picture of society as a whole, I so often just see all these things n say to myself that "to whom they are trying to make fool after all?"
ReplyDeleteand after all what they get out of this hypocritical life???? well i doubt.....how one can be satisfied being fake to himself n his God???
Would you like to read my post "Still Wondering".You might get some answers
ReplyDeleteSo true. You must read this poem called "Abou Ben Adhem" which is about this man who did not love god but loved his fellow human beings. But when the blessings of God came the poet says "Ben Adam's name led the rest". We are a materialistic society and God to us is a means to an end. Caring hands dont exist any where.
ReplyDeletegreat post...to some extent we all are hypocrites...we protest corruption by blogging from a pirated windows, we give tips to begging kids even though we know that we are promoting kidnapping and exploitation of children.....hypocrisy is so human...
ReplyDeleteMany people take recourse to God after committing mistakes. Its their belief that God would forgive if they pray him, may be kind of bribing the God or mere washing away their guilt before God.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more. Our society needs more people like you
ReplyDeleteReligion gives a good person bad reasons to be good. But it is not very obvious among the believers. If god is there somewhere why isn't he/she coming and saving the world? Why such miscreants are still booming above innocents? This kind of thinking makes it more obvious that humans created god and not god created human.
ReplyDeleteThrough Buzz-
ReplyDelete- Down to earth, practical observation. I concur with you. The dichotomy in people is appalling. A small error (amaze - amass) has crept in - perhaps you may like to change it.
Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy
My cousin had visited India and she had told me that the roads out there are very dangerous. People drive in all available space. When Indians come to Suriname and drive a car, we find them very dangerous drivers.:)
ReplyDeleteI am not religious and refuse to believe any doctrine that makes idiots out of sane people. I have seen domestic abuse from a man who worships Durga, keeps fasts, burns the lamp in front of her each evening. What crap. How the basic concepts of humanity have been twisted over the ages to suit the desires of a few who sell God and all the paraphernalia that goes with it makes me sick. I like your post. First visit to your blog and looks like there are going to be many more . Thank you for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIt is not the physical worship that is seen by everyone called worship. It is the sincere soulful surrender to God by following ethics, loving the fellow beings and leading a pious life which is the Real Worship. Incidentally congrats on your "Google PR" .
ReplyDeleteGreat post. you have brought out the thoughts very well.. People who are religious (no set definition) play the barter system very well. It more about 'I will give give god prayers, pooja, coconut and God will give me peace'. There are too many questions about path and rituals that need to be followed.
ReplyDeleteSome of my views on this at http://goingagainstthetide.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-do-we-visit-temples.html