The Mandir Industry-Commercialization Of Religion

Religion in India works like magic. You cannot trace the start and you can, in no possible manner, speculate the end. The concepts of limits and boundaries do not apply. People here will believe almost anything in the name of God and will reject the most obvious of facts in His name. In this post of mine, I will try to restrict my essay to Hinduism. In no way do I intend to offend or mock the religious sentiments of any Hindu or any person of any other religion. It is just an observation. One which I must write on, or otherwise I’ll get that feeling in the stomach you know… J

I went to Ujjain recently. A religious city located in central India, Ujjain re-defines religion in today’s urbanized and ‘fast’ lifestyle where we have space for multi-plexes, apartments and shopping malls but we literally struggle when it comes to building a religious monument. My faith took me to the Mahakaal Mandir in the city , which is one of the twelve jyotir-lingas of Shiva. Im not an atheist. I went to Ujjain with the sole purpose of worshipping the great and almighty king of Ujjain – Mahakaal. And so I did and it felt simply awsome. You are a different man when you are surrounded by so many people who too feel different, when they are at a religious monument.

My observation during this tour was that an underground business has been evolving (not developing but evolving as evolution is uncontrolled) over the years. All the deposits in the form of cash and jewellery are said to be donated and distributed to and among the poor. These are also the guidelines of a temple with an honest administration. But similar collections at other temples are actually a healthy source of income for the so called ‘caretakers’ of the temple. I remember seeing a photo frame of Maa Durga at a Sai Baba temple placed specially during the days of Navratri. Things are bearable as long as they stay limited to keeping the photo frame there. But in addition to the frame, there is a separate donation box for Maa Durga. One gets an idea that Sai Baba and Maa Durga are having a conflict of interests and hence separate donations are needed for both. First, why put a photo frame of some other God or Goddess at a temple dedicated to one single God? Second, why should devotees be forced to donate separately? Isn’t God one? And does Maa Durga hold importance only during the nine days of Navratra? Is she in a sort of hibernation mode for the rest of the year?

I don’t mean to sound rude and ridiculous. I don’t want to offend anyone but I must appeal to all of you to understand the point. Don’t miss the logic. The concept of God is a mode of income for everyone today. Right from beggars to pundits to the ‘care-takers’ of a temple.

I also see people doing stupid things and feeling so good about themselves. Normally, an educated person would think twice before drinking water from a tap or pot at any public place. But when the same person enters a temple, he/she drinks from the tap saying – “Ah! This is water served inside God’s home. It can’t be impure.” One question, do harmful bacteria and viruses know that they are supposed to take a U-turn once they reach the temple premises? Or do sand and dirt particles vanish once they enter the pipelines inside a temple premise? This is so stupid but yet we do it.

The full scale commercialization of religion has affected not only India, but most parts of the world. The idea is to blackmail or even threaten the followers into spending money in the name of God. The general belief is that if you give a hundred rupees to God, he'll give you two hundred back. It seems stupid to me. Sounds like a fixed deposit with no receipt but mindless faith. Religious channels gain TRPs and make loads of money. The setup is quite simple. An enchanted looking figure in the simplest of clothing sits on the stage in-front of a microphone and delivers a speech about religion and humanity. His voice should be soft yet dominating over the Mic. People fall for such a guy or even girl and start following him. He shall open a medical store in his Ashram's name where medicinal cure for diseases lik AIDS, Cancer etc. can be found. I wonder why people die at all? Why not approach these stores and get a new life?

Recently, a very entertaining drama grabbed my attention. Though normally someone in a critical condition in a hospital is not entertaining, but what if that person claims to be God? Yes indeed, Sathya Sai was dying in an ICU. And people were praying for him. People were praying to God to save God's life. Laugh my f*cking a** out on it and that's what I'm going to do every time such crap plays on the TV. Pardon me for my bad language but those words were needed to communicate to you, my exact expressions on this topic. Bundles of cash and kilos of gold were found in this God's house. What a God..Oh God! And people believe he's going to come back from the dead. I mean..what the fuck is going on? Educated or not, people just love to act stupid.

The Mandir industry functions at a rate which will compromise many of the biggest industries in the world. And they do it without marketing, advertising and heavily paid MBAs. But it is in the name of religion that all this is considered to be ‘acceptable’ by the people. If someday all the wealth being donated throughout the length and breadth of the country is calculated, you and I better be ready for a shocking and mind blowing morning headline in the newspapers. Now in case someone comes to you asking for a business idea...you know what to tell him. ;)