God and his devotees

Vrindavan

Lassiwala at Vrindavan

Lord Krisna's playgrounds

The morning started off beautifully today with the blissful taste of khoya from Punjab proudly distributed by my Sikh colleague .  A relatively quiet morning as most colleagues are off  on their annual leave. I am still thinking about yesterday’s strange incident. A highly respected monk of the Ramakrishna order was challenged by a young man on his Hindu identity right in full view  of  host of other visitors and members. The young man belonged to a minority community and wanted Swamiji to cast off his robes and become part of his tribe.  Swamiji was his calm self when  he narrated the incident to  me. I was shocked and found it difficult to imagine that such a thing could happen in a neutral environment like ours. On enquiry I found the man was a bit of a loony who had the habit of staring at young women and disturbing other people now and then.

Incidentally the writer, poet Sunil Ganguly’s latest post in his weekly column in ABP confidently upholds the views of a dedicated agnostic. God sells and it makes commercial sense to add the word God in titles  of scientific publications  like “God delusion”. The idea of God is completely a matter of feeling. For the vast  majority God is the best psychological counsellor constructed by the human mind to help the human mind sail through the ups and downs of life. The concept of God is also extremely commercially viable . I am a believer because it gives me a sense of happiness and comfort . I get extremely emotional when I stand in front of my favourite form of this human construct. I get the same feeling when I stand in front of the mighty ocean or look at the horizon through vast stretches of uninhabited areas. Sunil Ganguly writes that he has lived and enjoyed life pretty well without bothering about God . He rues the fact that there has been some marvellous literature /music written  and composed  around God but nothing comparable celebrating a Godless world. The religious compositions at times bring unexplained tears to his eyes . But God is big business everywhere. If you have visited Vrindaban or any holy place  you will understand what I mean by it.

I was visiting Vrindaban for the first time in my life . While walking along the lanes of the ancient town I realised it was more a place created by my mind , I was looking at the place through my heart and emotions .I  had temporarily  lost my reasoning faculty during the period of my brief visit to the old temple. We had a Brahmin guide with us who took us to another knowledgeable pundit. We realised after sometime that the pundit was actually giving us a marketing presentation (minus ppt)  on the different divine investment schemes available for devotees . We were too old and too spiritually corrupted to give in to such pep talk. The man was taken aback when I curtly told him I do not have any “gotra”. Vrindaban has been completely taken over by real estate sharks and every day a new temple is  built adding to the fold of town’s strong 5000+ existing temples .

Mathura is like a fort complete with gun toting security personnel and uncomfortable body frisking by gang of  Mayawati’s disciples . The security at Jama Masjid by comparison is extremely relaxed. Nobody checked us while we walked around the huge monument. All this to protect God’s place  and the well being of his devotees.