The Almighty and the Bitter Truth

(This article does not aim at hurting anyone's religious sentiments. Kindly take it in the right spirit.)

I was on my vacation, a welcome break from the daily deeds. My family had gone to Maharashtra to attend a wedding and so it was a major part of our itinerary to visit the famous temples in Nashik and ofcourse Shirdi.

All was going great till the writer inside me observed around; the numerous beggars or the poor ones and the reluctance to pay them something.
I do not support giving alms to the able bodied, neither do I appreciate begging but still, for the handicapped poor ones, the old and about to be dead ones; I couldn't simply turn a blind eye.

And beat that, the overflowing streams of milk that eventually fell into a gutter ;the sight killed all the "shraddha" I had. "You get this pooja done, you will achieve this" ;the last I checked the almighty wasn't a materialistic human like me.

Inside the temple, people were literally fighting to get a view of the deity. C'mon, just having a look will not change your fortunes.
And then, offering money to the deity;now that is of no use but for filling the temple's coiffures. Lets face the fact that the Lord is not going to go to the Supermarket to buy things for himself or His family.

And what I found actually amusing was the fact, there was an outlet for the poured milk and they had just for the aesthetic value, made an idol on it; people were worshipping it !

Well, I am nobody to mock at someone's devotion but blind faith irritates me especially when I find the same people ignoring the needy.

All through our Upanishads and Purans and other major religious books, God has been projected as the epitome of love, care and help. Someone who is selfless and keeps others before himself.

That prasad you bought, that money could have been put to a better use. Someone could have had his full day meal out of that money spent. That milk you just poured, you could have fed a child with that. The "chadar" you put on the lord's feet, it could have helped a poor in winters.

But no, God has more importance than His Men.
As a child, I grew up listening to Abou Ben Adhem and the stories about how God likes those who help His creations.

I have grown up with the same ideology. I buy stuff at temples just because it supports the small time businessmen, My God likes me for that.

He does not want the goodies or the money; He knows and values my love for Him. He likes it more when I feed a poor. He is my friend who is always there, irrespective of what I have to give to Him.
He loves the poor as much as he loves those who offer alot to Him.

Because He is the Lord; He isn't you or me.

(Confused Genius has pledged that whenever she will be asked to perform a pooja for any cause, she will instead go and feed the poor or support a child's education. And yeah, to support the Pandit, a small havan would do.Maybe you should do it too. )