Reflections

Of men and godmen

A 'godman' was recently arrested in Kerala, and several pieces of incriminating evidence were recovered from his 'ashram'. I'm sure the citizens of this country recall the arrests of other such 'godmen' in the past, who were eventually proven to be criminals and tricksters.

When are the people of this country ever going to learn??? It is they who allow these criminals to rise to fame, power and wealth, and, then, express shock and anguish when they are proven to be no different than a wolf in a sheep's garb.

I fail to understand why people need a 'middleman' to reach out to god, assuming one exists. What makes one believe that a mortal, who is no different from you or me, is the God incarnate?

If you honestly believe there is a God, up there somewhere, a God who created everything, and is also the reason for everything, one who is aware of everything that is going on, and is capable of influencing everything, then, logically, you should have no difficulty in bringing your problems to his attention--all you have to do is just say it, and he will know. There is no reason for you to go to a specific place of worship to reach out to him--he is omnipresent., he has to be, for, if he isn't, then there's a fundamental problem right there with the concept of God. But, I guess I am digressing.

My point is that if God created all men equal, then why do we allow some of us to lead us to believe that they are closer to God than the rest of us are? I have not studied religious texts in any detail, but what little I have read tells me that regardless of whether or not God exists, religions exist for a very good reason. They teach us many of the same things that we learn in personality development programs and management classes. And, I believe God is merely a metaphor for all those desirable qualities in humans.

I'm digressing again, but what I really want to say is that these days I see every other person who has studied religious texts changes his wardrobe, his name (so as to make it sound divine), and goes on to preach what little he has learnt, and in the process manages to gather a huge following of spiritually starved people! And, I suspect these very 'teachers' tend to cross the line at some point, thereby leading his/her followers to believe he possesses special powers, and voila, a godman is born.

By that token, one too many management gurus should have been conscrated by now!!!

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