The Small God of All Things

A minor news item in today’s Times of India caught my attention. The report stated that devotees from all over the world can now have darshan of the idols of the Hindu God Vitthal and Goddess Rukmini merely by clicking on a website.

This is nothing new, of course. There are now innumerable websites, where one can get a darshan of a wide variety of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. One can even perform a puja over one’s mobile phone. Music companies promote cassettes and CDs of bhajans et al, guaranteed to bring peace and prosperity to your home, by the mere act of putting the playing the CD on your home stereo.

I cannot help wondering if we are trivializing God with this display of rank commercialism. God has now become a marketable commodity – to be bought and sold like any other product. And it is not as if only mindless idiots are taken in by these advertising gimmicks. I know some highly educated professionals who are hooked onto these quick fixes to attain nirvana. How they can imagine that this shortcut devotion might actually influence the Almighty, totally foxes me.

In my opinion, religious obeisance, devotion or whatever – of any faith – is a personal communion between and individual and his Maker. A short prayer, uttered with sincerity, would make a far more powerful impact than long distance aartis, or ostentatious displays of wealth, in the guise of devotion. I read recently of a totally ridiculous, but serious, proposal to install a throne of solid gold for the Shirdi Sai Baba. Amitabh Bacchan regularly donates frightfully expensive jewelry to various Gods. It is totally ludicrous to believe that the saint would be at all impressed, or pleased, with this profligate display of material ostentation. Surely the super-bhakts would be much more certain of obtaining Sai Baba’s blessings if they utilized the same money for genuine charitable works and Bacchan should be savvy enough to realize that those expensive baubles are probably disappearing into the pockets of the temple trustees.

I am painfully aware that we live in a highly materialistic world today. The one true god is the acquisition of wealth – by any means. We hold nothing sacred; not even the Almighty. God is said to possess infinite patience, but even He must be at the end of his tether. Is it any wonder, then, that I am somewhat apprehensive about the future of mankind?