The title sounds like I am going to write about some national political party whose back bone rests on religion, but no, that is not what I am itching to write about today.
I had the opportunity to visit a temple at Kancheepuram yesterday. As with most old temples in Tamil Nadu the oldness was breathtaking, the architecture, the grandeur, the imagination that made the sculptures. With that on the one end the newness about it made me really sad, the filth that "devotees" threw in the holy abode of their beloved Lord, the pushing and shoving for darshan and so on.
That aside, this is what made me write this post. While there was a long list of devotees waiting to see the Lord, we were ushered in through a separate queue for special darshan. I believe that is a common practice in many a temple these days. With the authority that made me wonder how Brahmins were branded as meek and gentle in the times of old, we were asked to quickly enter the sanctorium of the Lord for special darshan and "archanai". This was made possible by a close family friend who had some sort of an influence around those parts.
And it pained me to see, when every holy book says that all man are equal, the kind of politics at play. It seems the scriptures are wrong. Men are not equal in the Lords eyes. Men are measured only by money and power. The more of it you have, the more closer you are to the Lord.
As if this was not enough to put off a straight thinking man, the temple entrance which housed the temple elephant had a huge sign board advertising a college. It had the image of the Saint and from his palm emerged rays of wisdom - I am sure we have all seen that in calendars hung in our homes. Only here, in the form of rays were words of praise and acclaim for the institute. It said "education fed with values" - not exactly the words, but the meaning was that.
This was meant to be a place of calm, it was supposed to be a place of quiet and peace, away form the darkness outside, but the place was as dark or even more.
And really, the shoving part, the darshan of the Lord seems to be of a limited quantity, if not why would people elbow you or shove you for a better glimpse of The Almighty. And the authoritative priest shouting "move it, move it" making it known of who makes the rules here. Stand a moment extra and you might lose an arm or a leg.
And then the poor temple elephant. If only he knew his might. The mahout prodding him with his stick and cursing the poor fellow every time for dropping a coin or refusing to "bless" the devotee. I went to take a picture and he yelled at me showing a finger like saying he would break my camera and my neck if I so much as aimed the camera at his elephant. And that's how the virtue of kindness was showed to me at the abode of the Almighty.
I always believed and still do believe that religion has done more good than bad for the world. But why the hypocricy. The temple is no more a place of purity, its pureness is replaced by human greed. If the men responsible for temples believed in a God, they would have done more to keep its purity and sanctity.
It is high time the Lord came upon us to prove his existence and sow the seeds of fear to keep men at bay.
(Please note that this could have happened in a mosque or a church as well, it just so happened I was at a temple)
I had the opportunity to visit a temple at Kancheepuram yesterday. As with most old temples in Tamil Nadu the oldness was breathtaking, the architecture, the grandeur, the imagination that made the sculptures. With that on the one end the newness about it made me really sad, the filth that "devotees" threw in the holy abode of their beloved Lord, the pushing and shoving for darshan and so on.
That aside, this is what made me write this post. While there was a long list of devotees waiting to see the Lord, we were ushered in through a separate queue for special darshan. I believe that is a common practice in many a temple these days. With the authority that made me wonder how Brahmins were branded as meek and gentle in the times of old, we were asked to quickly enter the sanctorium of the Lord for special darshan and "archanai". This was made possible by a close family friend who had some sort of an influence around those parts.
And it pained me to see, when every holy book says that all man are equal, the kind of politics at play. It seems the scriptures are wrong. Men are not equal in the Lords eyes. Men are measured only by money and power. The more of it you have, the more closer you are to the Lord.
As if this was not enough to put off a straight thinking man, the temple entrance which housed the temple elephant had a huge sign board advertising a college. It had the image of the Saint and from his palm emerged rays of wisdom - I am sure we have all seen that in calendars hung in our homes. Only here, in the form of rays were words of praise and acclaim for the institute. It said "education fed with values" - not exactly the words, but the meaning was that.
This was meant to be a place of calm, it was supposed to be a place of quiet and peace, away form the darkness outside, but the place was as dark or even more.
And really, the shoving part, the darshan of the Lord seems to be of a limited quantity, if not why would people elbow you or shove you for a better glimpse of The Almighty. And the authoritative priest shouting "move it, move it" making it known of who makes the rules here. Stand a moment extra and you might lose an arm or a leg.
And then the poor temple elephant. If only he knew his might. The mahout prodding him with his stick and cursing the poor fellow every time for dropping a coin or refusing to "bless" the devotee. I went to take a picture and he yelled at me showing a finger like saying he would break my camera and my neck if I so much as aimed the camera at his elephant. And that's how the virtue of kindness was showed to me at the abode of the Almighty.
I always believed and still do believe that religion has done more good than bad for the world. But why the hypocricy. The temple is no more a place of purity, its pureness is replaced by human greed. If the men responsible for temples believed in a God, they would have done more to keep its purity and sanctity.
It is high time the Lord came upon us to prove his existence and sow the seeds of fear to keep men at bay.
(Please note that this could have happened in a mosque or a church as well, it just so happened I was at a temple)
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