Nothing these days is spared of abuse and religion is no exception. I recently saw and read about this new "Golden Temple" of the south being built on a massive scale of 300 crore budget and by spending about 1500 kilos of gold. Dedicated to Goddess Narayani, this temple is the work of Sri Narayani Peetam headed by a 31-year-old godman who calls himself Narayani "Amma". Who is this Amma? More on him here
Messages by ‘Amma’ have been laid out along the path to the temple with messages from the Gita, Bible and Quran. “In this quagmire of materialism, Sripuram rises as an inspiration to man to find the divinity within him,” adds the brochure.
Pardon me! What?
Not satisfied with having reduced religion & spirituality to the level of street chicanery they now want to turn it into a money spinner also.
What is more laughable is that on the same page where the news of the golden temple appeared, there is another article that says, "Help us build eight new IITs, with money and faculty, India tells Japan"
Am utterly and completely speechless..
Messages by ‘Amma’ have been laid out along the path to the temple with messages from the Gita, Bible and Quran. “In this quagmire of materialism, Sripuram rises as an inspiration to man to find the divinity within him,” adds the brochure.
Pardon me! What?
Not satisfied with having reduced religion & spirituality to the level of street chicanery they now want to turn it into a money spinner also.
What is more laughable is that on the same page where the news of the golden temple appeared, there is another article that says, "Help us build eight new IITs, with money and faculty, India tells Japan"
Am utterly and completely speechless..
Comments
The Reason...It is easy to collect money on the name of God than other social causes.
Now whether this is right or wrong...till it is legal and taxed money who are we to say ??? In relation to this temple, I saw an interview of a Christian priest from Vellore, criticizing the expenditure to the extent of calling it criminal. He has forgotten that Vatican continues to remain the richest religous establishment.
THis is what i dislike. Our personal opinions in sensitive matters needs to be kept private in a sensitive country like ours.
Even bloggers have to exercise caution. Religion is and should remain private business.
The right to question, to analyse and to satirise is of prime importance to the freedom of any kind of society. And a faith system that requires to be mollycuddled from such would cease to one, according to me.
BTW, asking bloggers to have a constraint over their opinions is a kind of oxymoronic statement of the year..
To be responsible is fine but to confrain from expressing is not what it was designed to be. :)
Freedom, yes I am for it. But freedom also has to be accompanied by responsibility. U judge for yourself on our media whether it is 'Freedom with responsibility' or otherwise.
I still believe , Oxymoron or not...we should not bring religion to the public domain.
You are making 2 mistakes:
1. it is wrong to think of India as a poor country. India is a country with many poor people true, just as it holds many rich people as well. Hence no need to deprive ourselves of any fun. Poverty has never been endemic to present day India. It will co exist with oppulence as it has much through time.
2. there is in each one of us a desire to do charity, however what we need is a champion. You or I or anybody else doesn't necessarily come out of the daily grind to make good on this inherent charitable trait. Hence, religion or religiosity forms a powerful motivation. Under the banner of a temple complex, much money can be obtained and channelled towards whatever social cause.
dharmo rakshati rakshitah! there is much wisdom in this old sanskrit saying.
and I agree with 'a friend'... we who are schooled in the english medium schools in present day India are unfortunately moulded into becoming too introspective for our own good. A glance at other societies [or cultures, and...lets not kid ourselves, Indian culture is Dharmic culture, a christian or a muslim Indian is clearly subject to a semitic culture - not Dharmic, mind you, and may I be proven wrong! why? (this is perhaps the crux of this debate).. because Indic culture has been and remains very much inclusive, but the Semetic culture is and has always been exclusive - and hence is alien to India] ... so a glance at these other cultures or societies tells you that if anything dharmic culture begets far more societal equilibrium than the so called western arguments, which middle class India is subjected to.
Swetha, being too self critical will defeat the purpose. Let us learn to be proud of ourselves first, even if that means overbearing at times.
For, here's what I believe... there will always be the entire outside world to criticize me, but if I cease to be selfish and not pat my back a few times a day, then that spells my end.
You may or may not agree depending upon how much security your present lifestyle accords you...but here, I want you to think long and hard...the outcome of this debate is not about you or me, it is about our children and their children after them...what kind of India would we like to bequeath them!
I know my answer to that, do you?
1. I had not started with the idea of classifying India as a 'poor country..but your 1st point actually accentuates that as a fact. The disparity between the rich and poor is so overwhelming that even talk of such indulgence seems nauseating. Please...- gold plated pathways does not sound fun to me.
2. I am with you for the need of a champion of a cause and there are actually many worthy such causes if one cares to look around. Eg..The Bangalore ISKCON run Akshaya Patra that feeds more than 2 lakh children per day is a noteworthy cause. Here religion has been channeled towards a worthy cause. Can one guarantee me the same about this Amma run gold temple institution?
I don't think such opulence in the name of God/religion does anything to safeguard Dharma. Why not employ the same money in building say, a Veda Patashala?
I want us to be proud of ourselves too and would like that happening with us being self reliant. Surely not by lacquering temples with gold whose gates are hounded by 100's of beggars. Not by asking Japan & other countries to help us build colleges and institutions for us.
I am not the one to take pride in bequeathing to the next generation a city filled with golden temples but where they have to go overseas to garner a decent education.
Doesn't our self pride seems a little misplaced?