Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Rs. 10 God

I hate writing cynical rants, as I am a cynical person and want atleast my writing not to be so. However, this trip to Tirupati to see the other Balaji woke up the slumbering cynic inside me.

I was saddened to see humans selling priceless god for an "appropriate" price. For Rs. 10 one can get an additional serving of prasad, for Rs. 50 an additional laddu and for a princely sum of Rs. 100, the head priest would let you inhale the divine smell of the robe that the Lord wore the previous day. I found the whole thing obnoxious to say the least, though I must admit I was a silent recipient of all the above travesties.

Don't get me wrong, I am an intensely religious person in the silent sort of way. This mindless perversion of religion by the proponents occupying the highest chairs is saddening and shocking. It reminded me and for the first time in my life nod my head in approval to the lines Sivaji (Oh, I mean Sivaji Ganesan and not the Boss) spoke in Parasakthi.

It is symptomatic of the way things are around us, wrong people in important positions abusing their power to serve their selfish needs.

As I saw Him amidst all these pimps of a great religion, I muttered a silent prayer for Him and His well-being!

3 comments:

D LordLabak said...

hear ya....

Utopianb said...

"It is symptomatic of the way things are around us, wrong people in important positions abusing their power to serve their selfish needs." - - - Well said oracle... I had similar feelings when I visited Tirumala last year...

Saras said...

came away with the same feeling after my visit to tirupati too...
another place you can relive the ungodly experience is jagannath puri... :-(