Vaishno Devi Trip
Religion in India, especially Hinduism, for me is about a single line - Missing the wood for the trees.
Of all the practicing Hindus in the world 90% don’t have a clue about it and the remaining 10% think they do. (Of course, I can only talk about Hinduism because I don’t know about the others.)
It is the responsibility of being handed the legacy of the world’s most exhaustive database of knowledge and wisdom that should make each of us to learn more about this religion or the way of life, as it truly was.
Unfortunately, the patrons of the religion have failed Hinduism miserably.If the last 5000 years have been constant and serious misrepresentation, misinterpretation, and miscommunication about the Vedas, the Bhagwad Gita and other scriptures due to reasons as varied as lack of effective communication tools, too much of distortion by invaders, and the caste system, with the concentration of this knowledge in the hands of a privileged few, the 21st century will be guilty of screwing up Hinduism due to either total apathy or misplaced jingoism.
Vaishno Devi is no exception to the long list of religious places denigrated from an 'auspicious' place to a corruption filled, money making, commercialized dump, where the presence of ‘god’ has ironically destroyed the tranquility of the place, razed all the forests around it and driven away all the wildlife. The list will probably include the hills surrounding Tirupathi, or the ones in Kerala surrounding Aiyappa, etc. Somehow the presence of Café Coffee day on top of the hill near Vaishno Devi failed to gladden my heart and make me feel proud of “developing” India.
The story was the same as everywhere else – Presence of touts, 'guides', willing to cheat anyone to make a fast buck, the gun – totting security personnel, the ubiquitous temple official, whose palm can be greased to allow you in a little ahead in the queue, the famous 'jugaad' (a term, which I have predictably picked up from its rightful birthplace, Delhi) that can get you through the queue because you know the great grand nephew of the brother in law of the army officer who once knew some official related to the temple.
India has always been about paradoxes. Religion just exemplifies this:
Bribing the temple official to get 'ahead' in the queue.
Dumping all the black money in the Hundi.
Throwing everything we know in any nearby river, spewing chemicals in the seas, all the while worshipping the “holy ganges”.
The list is endless…
I don’t know zilch about religion. But more importantly I don’t pretend to.I don’t go donate generously to any temple. But I pay my taxes.I don’t worship the Tulsi tree or Ganges everyday. But every time I see a plastic cover when I’m trekking, I pick it up, blood boiling.I don’t make it a point to go to all religious places or perform all the pujas I don’t know about. But I sure as hell wouldn’t bribe any pujari to 'see god'.
There is a reason why we were the greatest civilization in the world once upon a time. There is a reason why our scriptures had more scientific research than NASA could even dream of. There is a reason why Hinduism believes that all living things are sacred. None of us know these reasons, or care to know. And instead of enlightening us with such knowledge, the so-called guardians of Hinduism go around protesting against Valentine’s Day.
Till we come to understand our religion better, we shall religiously (pun intended) undertake holy pilgrimages, ruin the local forests there, cause stampedes, push and shove each other in the queue, dirty our rivers, confuse misplaced fervor with spirituality.. all the while chanting…
Zor se bolo - Jai Mata Di
Of all the practicing Hindus in the world 90% don’t have a clue about it and the remaining 10% think they do. (Of course, I can only talk about Hinduism because I don’t know about the others.)
It is the responsibility of being handed the legacy of the world’s most exhaustive database of knowledge and wisdom that should make each of us to learn more about this religion or the way of life, as it truly was.
Unfortunately, the patrons of the religion have failed Hinduism miserably.If the last 5000 years have been constant and serious misrepresentation, misinterpretation, and miscommunication about the Vedas, the Bhagwad Gita and other scriptures due to reasons as varied as lack of effective communication tools, too much of distortion by invaders, and the caste system, with the concentration of this knowledge in the hands of a privileged few, the 21st century will be guilty of screwing up Hinduism due to either total apathy or misplaced jingoism.
Vaishno Devi is no exception to the long list of religious places denigrated from an 'auspicious' place to a corruption filled, money making, commercialized dump, where the presence of ‘god’ has ironically destroyed the tranquility of the place, razed all the forests around it and driven away all the wildlife. The list will probably include the hills surrounding Tirupathi, or the ones in Kerala surrounding Aiyappa, etc. Somehow the presence of Café Coffee day on top of the hill near Vaishno Devi failed to gladden my heart and make me feel proud of “developing” India.
The story was the same as everywhere else – Presence of touts, 'guides', willing to cheat anyone to make a fast buck, the gun – totting security personnel, the ubiquitous temple official, whose palm can be greased to allow you in a little ahead in the queue, the famous 'jugaad' (a term, which I have predictably picked up from its rightful birthplace, Delhi) that can get you through the queue because you know the great grand nephew of the brother in law of the army officer who once knew some official related to the temple.
India has always been about paradoxes. Religion just exemplifies this:
Bribing the temple official to get 'ahead' in the queue.
Dumping all the black money in the Hundi.
Throwing everything we know in any nearby river, spewing chemicals in the seas, all the while worshipping the “holy ganges”.
The list is endless…
I don’t know zilch about religion. But more importantly I don’t pretend to.I don’t go donate generously to any temple. But I pay my taxes.I don’t worship the Tulsi tree or Ganges everyday. But every time I see a plastic cover when I’m trekking, I pick it up, blood boiling.I don’t make it a point to go to all religious places or perform all the pujas I don’t know about. But I sure as hell wouldn’t bribe any pujari to 'see god'.
There is a reason why we were the greatest civilization in the world once upon a time. There is a reason why our scriptures had more scientific research than NASA could even dream of. There is a reason why Hinduism believes that all living things are sacred. None of us know these reasons, or care to know. And instead of enlightening us with such knowledge, the so-called guardians of Hinduism go around protesting against Valentine’s Day.
Till we come to understand our religion better, we shall religiously (pun intended) undertake holy pilgrimages, ruin the local forests there, cause stampedes, push and shove each other in the queue, dirty our rivers, confuse misplaced fervor with spirituality.. all the while chanting…
Zor se bolo - Jai Mata Di
posted by Sandeep at 2:26 PM
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