How many of us would actually agree
with the fact that most of the evil practices that encircle our society are
sanctioned by spiritual leaders?
Not many of us right? That is exactly why I chose to blog on this topic !!!
I have often wondered why people actually need a spiritual leader in the first place and I eventually figured out that the answer lies in the question itself. It is because it is easy to fool a believer than to fool a non-believer. We are innocent people who are cajoled into believing that we are living a sinful life and that we are in immediate need of soul cleansing and spiritual healing.
We house opportunists for whom nothing else but money matters. These opportunists claim to perform miracles to relieve us of our pain and sufferings which we might not even have in the first place but yes……. they make us believe that we do !!! Even an idiot like me would get a hang of their marketing technique. It is the first rule of MBA…If you want to sell your product, you make your consumer believe that they need it even when they don’t !
None of the saints who lived before preached or lived a life of luxury. Be it Sai Baba, Guru Nanak, Mahavir Jain or Gautam Buddha, they all led a very humble life and taught us to be better humans and help the less fortunate. Centuries ago, we used to offer food and clothes as ‘dhaan’ to them and now we take pride in offering jewellery and money to the idols of these holy men. If these men were disinterested in material things when they were alive, how can they be interested in extravagant gifts after their demise? Also, when they were against this practice, then, why is it even a practice?
According to the spiritual leaders of modern day, these offerings by disciples are not what the idols or institutions demand for but a mere symbol of people’s faith and devotion. If that is the case, why do the religious places have huge boxes for monetary offerings? So, they basically conditioned our minds to give offerings. Now, they ll claim that a part of the monetary offerings is required for maintaining the place. Fair point...But if religious places are exempted from taxes and receive benefits from government, only a small amount is required for maintenance. So, what happens to the remaining sum of money? Is it actually utilized for helping the less fortunate? In some cases yes but in most of the cases… NO! That is the reason why people like Ram Rahim Singh, Asharam Bapu, Sri Ravishankar and Baba Ramdev are super rich without even working for a single penny.
Few months ago, people of Haryana revolted in opposition to a verdict that was delivered in favour of a victim….People supported Ram Rahim Singh only because he is the chief of a spiritual cult. He was no messenger of god but a monster who had castrated his male followers and raped most of his female followers. What did we do to him? We offered him an airlift from court to prison instead of decapitating him. How did we defend his act of rape? By calling it Pitaaji’s maafi (father's mercy). Swami Nithyananda’s Sex Tape, Swami Paramananda’s Sexual assault, Swami Divyanand’s sexual exploitation are testimonies to the fact that most of the God men in India are into the business of prostitution, selling sex in the name of Tantra, preaching celibacy while having orgies. They are no god men but fraud men who are selling enlightenment by materializing God.
It is okay to have faith but it is not okay to get blinded by faith....It is high time that we stop believing and following these ‘holy men’ because it will save time, money and help us focus on things which require our attention the most. No one has or will ever attain nirvana by helping opportunists get richer. If you really want to make a difference and gain good karma....help the needy, stop wasting food and resources. Let yourself be controlled by humanity and let humanity be your religion.
Be god loving and not god fearing because no God condones fear !
