random thoughts

During my childhood, as a family trip we were visiting a well known temple in Himachal Pradesh. While I was moving away after praying, a pujariji came and said, “kuchh chadhao”. I looked at him, wondered, and said, “mere paas toh kuchh nahi hai”. Seeing that my parents were outside and no one was close to us, he stared at me with his big-red eyes and almost shouted, “kahan se aaya hai”? I was so scared that I couldn’t stand there for just a second. I just ran!

They say, “GOD is everywhere”… but I doubt because if that’s true, then what purpose do temples serve here? And if HE lives in temples, how can HE be everywhere? Why one has to go to a temple (or a mosque or a church for that matter) for prayers? A confusing cycle of questions… and these questions arise in my mind due to these incidences, which often take place with one while visiting temples.

In another recent incidence, while doing parikrama in a famous temple in AP, a pujariji came to me, put a small pudiya in my palm and started enchanting some mantras. Two thick gold chains around his neck, of length upto his belly drew my attention. He asked my name, place etc during his pooja. I was literally feeling so good. And then came the shock after 2 minutes when he demanded dakhshina (though it was a forceful demand by him, he called it dakhshina). “How much”, I asked. “Thirty”, he said. I bargained for 20, to which he replied, “achha theek hai, jaldi se do”, in a hurry as he was losing other “customers” arguing. I am not sure if the GOD is watching what these sacred people are doing in HIS home?

Tirupati temple earns donations worth millions of rupees, which is spent in welfare activities like education and treatment of poor people etc (although even there, it’s not made clear what amount comes and how and where all it’s spent). But a large fraction out of that comes from a pool of illicit money. The corrupt Commissioner P K Ajwani (exposed some 3 yrs ago) had promised in his personal diary that if he gets a bribe of Rs 1 crore a month, he will donate Rs 10 lakh from it to the Tirupati temple. CBI discovered Rs 15 crore worth of unaccounted wealth from him. And definitely, Mr. Ajwani did not intend to donate his money to poor, he was just bribing the Lord. I wonder if the divinity of the temple worked against his evil intentions, case is still going on.

For an enormous amount which comes unaccounted at temples of similar importance, their “money-managing-dept” runs 24×7. A “genuinely” earning person in India can’t earn such huge. And by the way, does HE need these gifts? May be, HE wants to receive it from us, in a manner such as parents feel proud when their children give them gifts with their own earnings. But most of the parents would certainly not accept such gifts of their child, which are earned by wrong means. For many people in this country, giving money to a needy is a better option; rather than throwing hard earned money in a temple without knowing how that will be spent, donation to a scarcely resourced village school, or responsibility of education of an orphaned child, or donation to a hospital seems like a choice.

I wonder…I wonder does GOD eat the sweets, or enjoy the aroma of the flowers, or uses the money presented? Does HE care if I had stolen that money? Does it even go to the GOD or someone’s pocket?? Is presenting such things the only way to delight HIM? Does one really has to spend money, even in buying sweets or flowers, to please HIM? Does that mean a person who can’t afford these is not blessed by HIM? The temples, where devotees have to buy ticket for darshan, how would a person hardly earning his daily wedges “meet” HIM? May be, God of poor lives somewhere else! When someone pays bribe to temple staff for getting a quick darshan, does GOD watch? When the barber in Tirupati demands 20 Rs for mundan (tonsure), even though he is paid by temple administration, does GOD watch? When a pujariji scare a 10-year boy for money, does GOD watch?

Believing that GOD is everywhere means, seeing or realizing HIM everywhere. But in India, this philosophy is practiced in a different manner. Even in a small town, a number of temples can be seen, approximately one in every 300 square meter area (how about “GOD is ‘almost’ everywhere”). After Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja, the same idols lie helpless on the riverbanks after a few days forming a part of scrap and posing pollution threats, which are worshipped and immersed in water during celebrations. This is what have we done with our GODs!!

Certainly, building temples and idols and presenting HIM gifts could not solve the problems of our society deluged with issues of castes, illiteracy, unemployment and dirty politicians. There is something more to be done, but what? Lets go to a temple and ask HIM, but would we find HIM there? Sure, because HE is everywhere!!