No offense intended toward any religion; No desecration intended; just rational thoughts.
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Does this happen only in India? We have idols of various Gods bathed and anointed with turmeric, milk, curds, honey, butter etc. We see people pouring litres and litres of milk into the anthills while about half of all the Indian children are undernourished. What I see from the abhishekas (bathing the idols) is nothing more than precious nutrition going down the drains.
Recently, a distant relative of mine was boasting that he donated Rs.30,000 toward jewellery for the idols of the village temple. What I do not understand is - his village does not have a primary school; there is no proper sanitation facility; forget about medical facilities. The average income per household could be just about Rs.3000 per month if not lesser. In spite of this, there were so many villagers who contributed toward construction of a huge temple. When did God ask people to build Him temples while they are still struggling for the basic necessities of life?
Some years ago we had visited the historic place of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, India. This place has incredible structures of ancient Indian architecture, with mind-boggling precision of workmanship. As we wandered about inside the vast temples admiring the great work of art, we stumbled upon quite a few obstructions - the poojaris (priests), who demanded varying sums of money to perform particular types of "poojas" (religious rituals). I failed to understand the basis of their audacity in speaking about the prices of poojas. I strongly believe that their contribution to keep the morons moronic, in darkness, is huge. Grandly dressed devotees who seemed to be well educated, blindly kept pouring the money into the poojaris' pouches. I'm sure that they barely understood the verses recited by the poojari as part of "pooja". How do you know if the poojari is reciting the correct lines or not? Not that I'd any day want him to tell/request God anything on behalf of me as if in a business environment where in praying is outsourced.
So God can get angry and I can't? Don't they preach that you should remain calm, forgive others for their sins? Then why do they say that God will get angry and punish you in most horrible, unbearable ways if you do something wrong, or break your promise of "breaking 100 coconuts" or any such bribes? If God is bigger than you, isn't God more magnanimous than you to forgive sins?
Godmen now. When has the general public questioned the credibility of Godmen; reason, logic and science behind the "maaya" (it means something like magic) the Godman display to fool people? Is it the weak mind that requires some place to hide it's refusal to think and finds a crowd that follows the religious magicians?
Why do people perform temple ceremonies and lavish festivals, adore and worship idols but don't have the minimum common sense not to hurt fellow humans or not to cause inconvenience to others by blocking roads, playing blaring music, etc? I'm sure even God would not like such cacophony.
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The other day I accompanied my friends to a temple that is an hour's drive away, solely for the ride. I was talking over phone and wandered off away from the crowd of devotees into an area not open to general public. Suddenly an old gentleman sprung up from nowhere and started to yell at me for the crime I committed. That's what his religion and God taught him, to be on toes to admonish youngsters without a discussion, reason and explanation?
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PostScript:
Don't tell my mother that I wrote this
*****
Current Song :
Bruises by Chairlift
"For you-ooh-ooh-ooh
Do-doo-do-do-do-do-doo
Do-doo-do-do-do-do-doo ..."
