Places of worship

Lots has happened over the past couple of days. I have travelled to Shirdi by road from Hyderabad and from there to Jamnagar. It’s quite a journey.

All through there have been various thoughts in my head. Since it is my blog, I suppose I can put them out here!

First of all, my fundamental thoughts regarding places of worship - what is their purpose? Do temple authorities (management) have any duties towards the place they are located in (i.e. city/village etc.)?

AFAIK, places of worship are there for primarily two purposes: a) To provide an atmosphere of peace and quiet so that visitors can clear their mind and recharge spiritually.

b) To provide spiritual learning and profess the teachings of the lord of the place.

What I find to be amazingly strange at places of worship now is that neither are achieved. They are not peaceful as hundreds and thousands of people visit these places on a regular basis. They are now surrounded by more security than you would have seen at the average work place and definitely more than is warranted. This is the immediate atmosphere of the temple and the atmosphere outside it, I don’t have to describe. There are hundreds of vendors trying to seek your attention and sell u stuff that is neither needed for your visit nor things that you can use. As a visitor, I find their behavior to be intrusive and I find it to be highly unwelcome. So the first target of achieving peace of mind goes out the window!

The second target of professing the teachings… well that also I must say is barely if at all done. Yes, there are books u can find and read up, but there is literally no one who actually shares any of the teachings. The visit to the temple and surroundings is more like a crowded museum visit (with few artifacts to see) than anything else. One more thing surprised me. That the place could go completely against the teachings of the great person it is dedicated to.

Sai Baba in his avatar on Earth essentially left behind a few lessons for the modern man.

1) Treat everyone as equal cuz in the eyes of God, everyone is. - No favoritism based on financial status!

2) A truly secular belief that “Sab ka maalik ek” - a collectiveness and connectedness to the single entity - God!

3) Give to those who need for sharing is what spreads love, joy and creates more well being.

4) Sai Baba led a very simple life and taught the virtues of simplicity. In fact Baba quite often spoke against excesses!

5) Baba was a man who practiced Yoga (various kinds)

Unfortunately in Shirdi now, we have special Darshan (for those who pay money) and VIP passes to see Aartis, which were not there a few years ago. The temple top and other parts inside the temple are coated in gold (excesses!), there are no community lunches/dinners served (and definitely none for the really poor), did I already mention the intrusive security - ur inability to bring in cell phones whereas even video cameras were allowed just 6-7 years ago. Obviously, the temple authorities are not in conformance with the teachings of Baba himself. It has become more of a commercial place with quite a pull rather than a place of spiritual freedom. There is no one really preaching what lessons Baba left behind, so there is no Yoga, there are no sessions where stories of Baba are read alound, there is no place one can go and learn more about Baba and his teachings. Perhaps the reason I am being so critical is because the place is deviating away from certain core philosophies and needs to be checked!
Unfortunately, this is the case with just about every place of worship (at least Hindu holy places) I know of.

Coming to second question of the role of temple authorities on the city/town village, I believe it has far more bearing than anything else. Rather than just make the town about the temple, developing the town in other ways with the cash that comes in is not just useful, I believe it is very Godly. If we assume the role of providing and creating infrastructure is that of the Govt and private sector, the temple authorities can and should definitely invest in the people. Grow the economic conditions of the people around… Provide basic things like loans, create alternate livelihoods than those purely dependant on the temple, provide healthcare, education etc. The temple should be a place of worship, not the center of commerce and trade! But since so much donation comes in anyway, it is appropriate to use it the same way Baba did! I am sure were he alive, he would have invested in precisely the things I mentioned!

Among all temples, Shirdi can do this because it is in accordance with the teachings of the leader it is built for. I wouldn’t expect this at any other place.

 

Why we are so reticent?

I have been wondering for a long time now, why is it that I am so reticent, why is it that I don’t blog about my thoughts about so many things (and trust me i have plenty!). I thought about this for a long long time and while I was doing this, I observed an uncanny resemblance with several others… They also began their blogs but seized to continue it. I am not sure what their reasons could be… I am sure they range from:

a) Too busy

b) Not motivated enough to write

c) I share my life with my friends anyway, why do I need to blog about it?

I suppose for me it was something quite different from all these. I, as a person, have been changing quite a bit. It’s not to say that what I once saw as black, I now see as white but yes i do tend to see a lot more grey and the myriad shades of it everywhere! (No I am not colour blind!) I suppose I was looking to create some sort of blog which projected the right side of me! I mean what if tomorrow some cousin of mine or some other relative happens to come upon this blog? They would see that I have not been consistent with what I think or that I have been to wavering with my interests.

I wondered where this fear came from. Why was I afraid of being seen for who I was, in totality with all my flaws? I tried to go over all my life and I realized something very interesting… No news is better than bad news! - that is incidentally how most things have been categorized throughout my life. I have never really been the one to share news as such with friends or family unless they were close by when it happened. I am not the sort of person who would call up and talk about what I did. I suppose it all comes from there! That if I do document my life, it will be documented for posterity.

Incidentally this same line of thought I have seen in a larger context. Whenever some one does things… they are criticized, torn apart and so forth by people at large, even if they did try to do it with all goodness. Humans have the amazing ability to assign their own generated reasons for someone else’s actions. This is the primary reason, I think, we do not have too many public figures in this nation of a billion. None from the middle class at least! It is better to be unknown is the feeling there is, rather than have brickbats thrown on you every so often! Which is why there is a huge apathy amongst youngsters for any social causes, political movements etc. Perhaps it stems from generations of being burnt for such things, but it has definitely dwindled!

Once this realization dawned, I understood that I had nothing to be afraid of but myself! After all, I am writing this more to express myself and I believe the world deserves to/needs to/should hear what I have to say. After all, I am depriving myself and several other potentials of the opportunity of sharing my thoughts. Who knows what positive impacts it may have?!

Hence I have decided: I shall break these shackles of reticence! I shall start communicating on a regular basis. Write about what I read, what I feel, what interests me. If need be, I will need to create separate blogs for all the ideas that keep coming into my head if they don’t quite fit into this one, but let us see.

 

A post in time

"It is the most wonderful time of the year…"

Yeah it is… I am starting my blog here aint I?

It's good to get started atleast now as there is a lot to say and it's good time to say it. I will try and keep this blog entertaining and informative although I can not promise which will be given a priority.