Of Gods and Men and GodMen..
The past few days of the news have been rampantly flashing about the flip side of the story of a swami. India has always been an abode of Sanyansins which has attracted not only the crowd within but also has drawn crowds from the wide expanse of the world ranging from the wider east to the wider west and spanning all around. We sure are known for our Sanyasins, all thanks to Vivekananda and the parliament of religions.
With time, the Sanyasins have changed too, they have become quite the management gurus if you look at them very closely, they are excellent public speakers, they know how to draw the crowd and I don’t know how, it seems very magical as to how effective they are in pulling a crowd like that. Last week I was circling around to find a parking spot in kalamandir Mysore to get to Vanaranga only to realize that the whole place was crowded and the reason was there was a spiritual discourse. I might not be the best person to make a comment on the spiritual discourses and their utilities, I think it is fair to respect the people who believe in it and those who don’t also. Either sects have their own reasons and as long as it works for them, I am in no place to question the rectitude of it.
However the past few days and the news have been a little appalling. It hurts to know how the entire belief system is misused cos of a few bad eggs in the system. Earlier the focus was just simple, when it was politics people said corrupt and uneducated and with bureaucracy they said corrupt but educated. Beyond all these the Mathas and the ashrams always had a great name for the amount of social activities they were involved in. But now looking at the nexus all these various functioning units have, it becomes a little harder to trust the way things work here. I am undoubtedly referring to the various news articles about the great GodMan Nityananda and the multiple followers he has. The news has brought out the multiple allegations and I would perceive them as true. It may be one side of the story but I would still like to believe in the just human behaviour of the so called GodMen. We have a strange sense of association here, once someone wears saffron, we tend to associate them with the godly demeanour and prostrate before them with our hands always in a namaskara. It is equally funny how we do that immediately without even knowing properly about the person. It may be the age old cultural tuning we have or may even be the immense amount of respect we have for the sanyasin. Eastern philosophy has always had a proclivity towards salvation, moksha, abstinence, celibacy, and the list goes on…..
We may be right or may even be wrong, but truth is again a perception. We have always taken siege in the truth that seems the most appropriate for us. Some want to believe in the godliness of men and I would too if the godliness is a reference to the many ideals we host in our minds and I would be totally against it if it is a mere belief that someone could do miracles and be the GODS! I don’t know if I am a believer and I don’t want to know either, all I know is that there is a truth and the truth is always human. No matter how many times we say gods, no matter how many times we associate the qualities of godliness, it is still human. I would very much love to refer the book “Devaru” by A.N.Murty which really establishes the logic between the gods, the men. It is a fantastic read for people who really are open for an argument and looking into the logic of things.
I think the recent wake of events should at least ring a bell somewhere and make us realize that it is time that we call an end to some things. It is time to let the logic and thought take precedence. One of the major reasons we take siege in the thoughts or the spiritualities of the GodMen may be cos we are in search of solution for the multifarious problems in our life and it makes us feel good to let someone else take care of our problems and in this case god or the GodMen. Fact is god probably would like to help people who help only themselves. Fact is even I would want to believe in the entity called god, he would still want us to become better men and take responsibility for our problems instead of chickening out. Probably the problems are there only for this reason and nothing else. The moment we are willing to take responsibility and act upon these, I think that is the time when the superstition vanishes. Superstition and spirituality are two different things and I really love to believe in every ounce of spirituality and the divinity within that. But yes it is definitely not the god men, it is definitely not the superstitions, there are only men and there is only a simple truth and that probably is the spirituality…
muktamanassu 