I was five when I first saw an addition to the existing number of framed god pictures in our home mandir. The 3 saffron garbed men with a stick in their hand and a gentle smile on their lips did not seem God to me. True to my ever questioning demeanour I asked my father “Who are they?” My father replied “They are our gurus” Not very happy with the answer I asked “Are they God?” A prompt NO came from my mother. “They are our gurus who lead an austere life and are considered most close to god” That was my earliest memory of holy men being considered equivalent to god and as I grew up I have only witnessed more and more of them in India.
As I grew up I read and saw the rise of many such sanyasis, spiritual gurus and self proclaimed gods. What amazed me was the huge(read huuuuuuuge) number of followers these god men had. The throng included not only Indians but Italians, Germans, Iraqis, Israelis and people from all over the globe. Each one standing in endless queues to get a darshan of their god in the hope that their desires and wishes be accorded tatkal status in the cosmic scheme of things. Temples hanging their photos alongside deities, huge donations from the who’s who, educational institutions and hospitals opened on their names; these god men surely are amongst the most influential in India.
The recent demise of a self-proclaimed god and spiritual guru - his unique identity being the unmistakable halo of his jet black hair, got the nation mourning. From ministers to celebrities to the corporate biggies apart from the common man rushed to get a last glimpse of their god, to pay their last respects, to witness his Samadhi in the hope that it would wash away their sins.
Although the recent years saw many scandals and scams surrounding many god men India still largely is a country where even the most educated people willingly cloud their rationality when the subject is GOD!!!!!!
A very well orchestrated piece of work...really sad to see educated people still believing in godmen..its like being a part of a greater herd mentality..
ReplyDeleteIt is tough for me to bestow Godly status to people who are living. But we need also to appreciate the amount of charity done by such religious / spiritual association. Any thing which is beneficial for the poor should be encouraged. Hope we remember this man not for his godly status but for the planning / think-tank behind hospitals, schools, colleges for the poor.
ReplyDeleteNt bad bt lacked the punch...absence of rsrch ws conspicuouseg radhe maa launched amist the media hoopla.biz men proximity to gurus mainly cz of black to white conversion.etc etc...good attemp bt i ws left wanting mr of the author...sry mk that from th author!!
ReplyDeleteEveryone is quite busy in their own life! We tend to forget our roots! Avarice has taken over common man's life! Somewhere when we dig our conscience wetend to feel guilty about all this! But in vain! And then someone "GODMEN" come to our lives! give us a way to come together and enthrall ourselves spiritually! And all of a sudden we start to feel good abt everything!
ReplyDeleteI think these godmen aredoin a great job! Bringing people together!
And talking about scams! well just switch on a TV or open a newspaper! you will rarely find a Godmen's name attached! Unless you call big corporations, politicians or social workers as godmen! :P
Well when it comes to money I think everyone deserves to get paid for the work they do!
Peon Gets PAID
Consultants get PAID!
Businessmen earn PROFITS!
Employees get salaries!
Shareholders get DIVIDENDS!
hence these godmen getting Donations are totally justified :D :D :D
Hence Proved!
(Unless you have anything contrary to offer)
I am not questioning anyone's faith here. Just my thoughts. Also Swami Nithyanand and a self-styled godman named Icchadhari Bimanand baba made enough headlines last year for their shameless acts. So some swamis have given us enough proof of their fraudalent activities to question their entire clan.
ReplyDeleteThat just means we should stop using mobile phones as well! considering the quantum of corruption every service provider has supported to get 2g licenses causing a loss of 1.78 lac crores to Indian Exchequer!
ReplyDeletefrankly it dosent happen this way! wherever you go, whatever you do you will find people who will be really true as well as people who will be scamsters!
y go far? Even in our dating lives , we very rarely find a keeper! isnt it? most of them are discarded!
does that mean we start doubting every other prospective candidate! NO - There is alwasy a girl you wanna go out for a coffee with :D :P :P
We deal with it and move on! :) :D :D
@ RK-ponders
ReplyDeleteClearly u hv appreciation for sathya sai's work..but with all due respect whose was all the money in th first place,ppl's...he gave a small portion of it bck while living on rest hundreds of crores..clearly the scrutiny of his actions are immaterial now,,bt i m merely pointing th fact that wn faith exceeds its limit,evn erudite ones act irrationally,if ths continues waht a pitiful state we wl b left in..no offense amigo!
BIG OMI..
ReplyDeleteI agree everyone should be compensated for their work,but in that case it would be much better if the gurus explicitly state their fees...when ppl donate,they have a feeling that they r doing so to please gods lessening their evils n guilt,bt th money ends up in mercedes in lavish suits built within the ashrams.N abt scams..pls contact Maharshtra andha shraddha nirmulan samiti,tk ur pick of baba n u wil get all evidences,in case u r wondering wht is all th evidence doin thr...well police are afraid to tk action against any of the guru's..strict orders from above!!
BIG OMI
ReplyDeleteFirstly i hv to admit..clever arguments. n nw to the topic,wn we consider some guru,wh asks us to seek our spiritual side and leave th material world behind,we expect them to lead. we expect them to BE austere.hw cn v follow them when they so openly flaunt their hypocritical lifestyle of bentley's and islands? We donnot donate cz these gurus bring forlorn ppl like us together or show us our spiritual side.we do so cz we are made to blv that they are associated with god n godly ways.N this is the basis of GURUISM,association wt god n religion.they thrive on it,every single one. Still i will agree,if ppl find some solace and piece amidst this whole role playing,who are we to spoil the rewarding arrangement. newes Nice discussion!!
Thanks for Compliment Devil1 :)
ReplyDeletei should say you have shared your thought process and how you perceive this issue,But i have a different point of view,some god men may be fake,some may not have miraculous powers,some may have a face worse then we humans do,but some do good may be with tag of being *godly* or as a common man, but doing good cannot be ignored and this is what drives number of people to such spiritual gurus.May be the miracles were staged ,may be it was misleading many.but wont you follow someone if someone has done good to you?.Not a question of rationality here, for most it is a answer to questions which do not have answers
ReplyDelete