I want to put forth my views on how religious sentiments are being played with at holy places. This is a complaint that every person has but there is no one to listen and act on it. The underlying sarcasm in this problem is that India is a secular country, but when it comes to exploiting religious sentiments, everyone wants his/her share in it.
Let me first explain my experiences. I am a Jain by birth. But from my childhood, I have been to most of the holy places of all religions in India along with my family – from Haridwar to St. Paul’s Church in Kolkata, from Palitanaji in Gujarat to Sanchi Stupa, from Dargah at Ajmer to Tirupati Balaji, from Jama Masjid in Bhopal to Raghunath Temple at Jammu. It always used to fascinate me how India has been able to evolve and merge so many religions.
But there is another side of the coin that dominates the sanctity of these places. Corruption and greed have become the motive of the administrators. In Benares or Kali Temple at Kolkata “pandas” try to thug people in the names of evils and angry gods and goddesses. At Dargah in Ajmer, the sufi saints will put a chadar on the devotee, speak a few chants, pray to God for happiness for the entire family and then ask for heavy charges for their services. Apart from that the pollution levels at these places have also increased with no one taking the responsibility to keep them clean. At Vaishno Devi or Parasnath, there is too much plastic and paper wastes.
One more important aspect that I would like to highlight is the way the locals loot devotees, be it through costly fancy items like colourful idols and plastic decoration items, or through expensive transportation systems. Recently at Rajgiri, we were not allowed to roam on our taxi, but forced to take a tonga (horse-cart) that charged us double of what the taxi would have charged. When I complained to the administration, there response was just a cold look followed by few sympathetic sentences about the employment status of local people. I do agree that holy places create employment that helps in growth and development of the area, but then they are robbing in the broad sunlight.
To me religion is an institution where people try to remove their fears, gain confidence when they are really down and attain self-actualization. But these malpractices at these religious places will only lead to dissatisfaction amongst the devotees.
The only way we can remove these malpractices at religious places is by increasing awareness amongst people, that Godliness cannot be reached by just giving away bribes to “pandas” and “maulwis” and “sadhus”. Moreover, the trusts at these places should also become proactive and understand their responsibility of looking after the comfort of the devotees.
I hope this way we will be able to maintain the purity of our religions.
Let me first explain my experiences. I am a Jain by birth. But from my childhood, I have been to most of the holy places of all religions in India along with my family – from Haridwar to St. Paul’s Church in Kolkata, from Palitanaji in Gujarat to Sanchi Stupa, from Dargah at Ajmer to Tirupati Balaji, from Jama Masjid in Bhopal to Raghunath Temple at Jammu. It always used to fascinate me how India has been able to evolve and merge so many religions.
But there is another side of the coin that dominates the sanctity of these places. Corruption and greed have become the motive of the administrators. In Benares or Kali Temple at Kolkata “pandas” try to thug people in the names of evils and angry gods and goddesses. At Dargah in Ajmer, the sufi saints will put a chadar on the devotee, speak a few chants, pray to God for happiness for the entire family and then ask for heavy charges for their services. Apart from that the pollution levels at these places have also increased with no one taking the responsibility to keep them clean. At Vaishno Devi or Parasnath, there is too much plastic and paper wastes.
One more important aspect that I would like to highlight is the way the locals loot devotees, be it through costly fancy items like colourful idols and plastic decoration items, or through expensive transportation systems. Recently at Rajgiri, we were not allowed to roam on our taxi, but forced to take a tonga (horse-cart) that charged us double of what the taxi would have charged. When I complained to the administration, there response was just a cold look followed by few sympathetic sentences about the employment status of local people. I do agree that holy places create employment that helps in growth and development of the area, but then they are robbing in the broad sunlight.
To me religion is an institution where people try to remove their fears, gain confidence when they are really down and attain self-actualization. But these malpractices at these religious places will only lead to dissatisfaction amongst the devotees.
The only way we can remove these malpractices at religious places is by increasing awareness amongst people, that Godliness cannot be reached by just giving away bribes to “pandas” and “maulwis” and “sadhus”. Moreover, the trusts at these places should also become proactive and understand their responsibility of looking after the comfort of the devotees.
I hope this way we will be able to maintain the purity of our religions.
Written By: Mohit Singhvi, IIM Indore
No comments:
Post a Comment