By Ruma Dubey

Ganesh Chaturthi was deeply distressing.

While all of us in Maharashtra were reveling in the arrival of the Lord, the violent situation in Haryana  and Ghaziabad and Noida districts of Delhi, that too over a ‘Godman’ was very disturbing. The God of Knowledge is being celebrated all over India with so much fanfare so where has all this knowledge gone today?

Godmen/women have sprawling business empires with interests in cosmetics, food, run schools and colleges, hospitals, shampoos, hair-oil, detergents, toothpastes and even herbal medicines for all ailments.

They are today worth millions and they come across more as business magnets and hungry for limelight rather than even remotely interested in anything spiritual. The fact that business and spirituality is being mixed, with the business cashing in on the brand image created by spirituality, it makes wonder about the true purpose of these Godmen.

It is baffling how they generate so much fanaticism; what makes people have this blind faith in these Godmen, where logic and knowledge simply do not work?  Be it the bling or accusations of rape, molestation or fraud, embezzlement, hawala, drugs; nothing shakes the faith. Even after a Supreme Court finds the Guru guilty, people simply do not accept the truth; hardcore evidence does not cut any ice.

So that brings to mind the question - what does a spiritual guru mean to us today? In an ideal world, in which probably our parents lived, a spiritual guru was one who guided us onto the path of knowledge, wisdom and helped us find the purpose of life. His teachings were more about delving into oneself and cleansing one from all the “mayajaals” of life. He preached a life of detachment – it did not mean living away from the loved ones but learning to live a balanced life like a mountain on the shores rather than a boat on a wild sea, threatening to drown any time. One teaching which every guru, from almost every faith indoctrinated was learning to stay away from the lures of everything materialistic. Spirituality in one essence meant all that which took us away from the material to the sublime and eternal.

Yet, today, there are bigger- than-God Godmen all over Punjab and Haryana. Noticed one thing – not a single politician came out in the open, neither criticizing nor applauding the Court’s verdict. These Godmen are prosperous  today only because of the politicians; they both feed off each other – the Godmen need the politicians for obvious clout and protection/money while for the politicians, the ‘followers’ are vote banks as the people will blindly vote anyone that the Godmen recommend. Thus they both need each other, like parasites.

Why do these Godmen become God for so many? Simply because they are there where the Govt should have been. Poverty, kangaroo courts, humiliation; so many things which a common man needs, the Godman through his political and influential connection provides. Food, education, healthcare, even social justice. Thus he lifts them up when they are at their most vulnerable or worst in life and that turns into faith and then fanaticism. If the Govt cuts off the wings before the Godman takes off would this happen?  

Nothing sells like religion in India. And the Godmen are making the most of this weakness. It is ultimately up to us, we need to have the wisdom to discern between what is right and wrong. Spirituality is all about unbounded love for all and world; so where is the place for such hatred and violence?