Final Transit

Faith or easy money?

It is incorrect to link scientific and economic progress to people’s faith in religion. As a teenager, I always used to believe that as we make technological progress, people’s faith in God would decrease, and some day eventually ‘God’ would remain as a concept limited to books. How wrong I was.

When we shifted to Mumbai, we used to stay in a rented apartment. On the roadside there was a huge banyan tree and under the tree was a stone smeared with vermilion. I remember passersby quickly praying to the stone while on their way. Someone offered flowers, others lighted essence sticks (agarbattis) or diyas (earthen lamps). By the time we moved out of the rented premises, the stone god had a small home for itself was enclosed by three tiny walls and a roof.

I visited the area few days on the occasion of Dasara (Dusshera in Hindi). The sight left me shocked. The banyan tree was no more. Instead there was this ugly looking huge temple structure, occupying the entire footpath and encroaching upon the road. Outside the temple was a queue. A queue so long that it would have taken an hour to enter the temple for darshan. The streets were dotted with flower shops and puja offerings. There were beggars too.

Now this is what I call economic development. From a ubiquitous stone, someone built this huge temple structure. And now people were queuing up outside! It provided livelihood to scores of people who sold religious wares outside, and also a gang of beggars who would chase you until you pay them.

Never mind the obstructions in traffic or the unclean kept surroundings. This is the age of neighborhood school, neighborhood supermarket and neighborhood God. No longer do we have to visit places far away, there are facilities everywhere, making it so convenient.

Soon a temple trust would be formed to legally squander the money people offered to God. Nobody is concerned about the fate of the money they donate to temples. We have been taught not to question something that is a matter of faith. Nonsense! Building and running a temple is the best profession. Selfish this may sound, but prove me wrong.

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Hundreds of liters of milk is wasted daily in offerings to lord Shiva. This figure spikes every Monday, a day supposedly sacred for Shiva. On Mahashivratri day, while devotees celebrate the marriage of God Shiva and Goddess Parvati, this wastage reaches its highest limits. Devotees compete with each other for offering milk, and sometimes as high as one-hundred-one liters of milk is showered on the shivlinga (object symbolizing Shiva).

Many years back, the rumor of ‘milk drinking Ganesha’ saw a squandering of thousands of liters of milk in a single week.

Does God need milk to be pleased? Do we – Hindus in particular – need to squander valuable resources in order to appease the deity with material goods? To me this looks as simple as either:
a. bribing the God (because I want something)
b. fear punishment from God (because I did cheated)
c. incorrect interpretation of religion (It is our duty to feed the God)

I’d rather feed the hungry little boy sitting outside the temple. I’m sure God will prefer that.

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Woke up today at 5 AM and geared up by 7 AM for another ordeal – commuting from home to office – Dombivli to Kurla by suburban local train. I had to go to the railway station early, since my quarterly ticket expired yesterday and I had to renew it. The ticket window for First class travelers does not have a queue, but the second class queues stretch until eternity. Today however that queue was very short. At the same time, the platform was less crowded and when the 7:48 Titwala train arrived, everyone boarded it effortlessly!

It was only when I got inside the local train that I realized something was wrong. It just couldn’t be so comfortable on a weekday. Ah! righto! Today is optional holiday for the occasion of Muharram.

I was amused by the way all this happened. The whole system in Mumbai works with clock like precision and the sequence is so seamlessly integrated, that you reach destination wholly by reflex action. So Mumbai’ites, being in a state of perpetual race against time, are more-or-less oblivious to things happening around them.

Kurla, a suburb dominated by Muslim population wore a different look. I’m not aware if the population there comprises of Shia Muslims or Sunni Muslims. I’m not aware if Sunnis follow Muharram at all (I know Shia’s do). Hell, I’m so ill informed about this religious day, that until last year I believed that one wishes ‘Happy Muharram’ or ‘Muharram mubarak’ or something like that. No dear Priyank, it’s a day of mourning for the Muslims.

Return journey in the evening from my office at Kalina to Kurla railway station took forty-five minutes against the usual twenty minutes. On the way was a procession of mourners – who I believe were Shia’ites mourning the death of Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, commemorating the Battle of Karbala. It is interesting to note that I have seen on the same street a procession of Hindus on Ganeshotsav, Jains on Mahavir Jayanti, Neo Buddhists on Buddha Pournima and Sikhs on the Guru Nanak Jayanti. (And every time, I reached the railway station late!).

There are many more “odd” things visible in Kurla. The holy cross church and missionary school running in an area barely populated Christians. A saffron flag or banner suspended from the window of an Islamic madarssa run on first floor of a crooked building with a Shankar Vilas Hindu Hotel – which is no more than a tiny tea stall – on the ground floor. A number of tiny little ‘durga cosmetics’ or ‘pragati stores’ managed by a bearded man with a white cap. There is even a पुणेरी पाटी (placards with slogans written in a style particular to Pune) saying ‘काम नसल्यास दुकानासमोर उभे राहू नये..’ (Don’t stand in front of our shop if you not dealing with us).

I don’t know how all this works in our country. But it does make me feel proud of our social system.

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“डार्विनच्या उत्क्रांतिवादाच्या सिद्धांताने पृथ्वीवरील जीवसृष्टीच्या निर्मितिचे गूढ उकलणे अशक्य आहे”, असा दावा करत अमेरिकेतील शालेय अभ्यासक्रमात ‘इंटेलिजंट डिझाईन’ सिद्धांताचा समावेश करण्याचा प्रयत्न तेथील परंपरावाद्यांनी केला होता. या सिद्धांताप्रमाणे पृथ्वीवरील जीवसृष्टी ही विज्ञानावर आधारलेल्य डार्विनच्या उत्क्रांतिवादाच्या सिद्धांताप्रमाणे झाली नसून ती एखाद्या अद्भुत शक्तिने घडवली आहे. ख्रिस्ती धर्मात ईश्वराने सहा दिवसात पृथ्वीची निर्मिति केली असे सांगीतले आहे.

अमेरिकेचा एक चेहरा आधुनिक असला तरी गेल्या काही दिवसांमध्ये तिथेही परंपरावाद्यांची संख्या मोठ्या प्रमाणात वाढत आहे. स्वतः राष्ट्रपती जॉर्ज बुश यांचे यासंबंधीचे आचरणही विवेकीपणाला सोडचिठ्ठी देणारे आहे. त्यामुळे स्थानिक सत्तधार्यांकडून यासंदर्भात काही होईल, अशी मुळी अपेक्षाच नव्हती….
- लोकसता, शनिवार २४ डि., मुंबई.

न्यायलयाने मात्र सविचार निर्णय देत शालेय अभ्यासक्रमात ढवळाढवळ करणार्या ख्रिस्ती धर्मवाद्यांच्या या प्रयत्नाला धुडकावून लावले.

आपल्या देशात काही असंच् सुरू आहे - फक्त विषय विज्ञान नसून इतिहास आहे.

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