Celebrating is good. It’s fun, feisty, and joyous, with lots of food, singing and dancing going on. It is claimed that celebrations bring people as one, all differences forgotten as they stand together as one. Religious celebrations are these moments where we get an opportunity to reflect and mend our ways in order to do good for the betterment of humanity.
However, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the hollowness of these religious festivals, once we take pains to uncover the sordid truth beneath the smooth, glossy surface.
What goes on behind the fake contrived smiles, the extravagant intricately-embroidered outfits, the singing and dancing, the matching jewellery, the soft swish sounds of the anklets, the prayers, the smoke of the incense sticks and camphor, the fresh flowers despite a droughty spell and the tropical fruits? The imagery of the devotee, his eyes closed, his palms pressed together in utmost devotion, is a powerful one which has been staged time and again for the sake of reinforcing the power of prayers.
For others, the symbiosis with the Almighty is so powerful that they can’t control the flow of tears due to that momentary connection they feel….
But why am I so increasingly cynical about these public displays of so-called devotion?
The answer is simple really.
Once the festivities are over, most people will go back to their normal behavioural patterns. The wife-beatings, the back-stabbings, the lies, the gossips, the scheming, the corruption, the thefts, the promiscuity, the materialism, the abuse of alcohol and drugs, child neglect, the swear words, the selfishness, the hypocrisy, the arrogance, the jealousy, the greed, the pettiness, the sarcasm will all rise up in unison and throw a thick veil of darkness on the supposed moments that people felt one with the Almighty. They will not hesitate for one single second to cater for their own selfish needs and this leads us back to our slimy, vermin-filled reality of each for his own….The religious pedestal has now sunk into dire waters, with waves of hidden political agendas which have now engulfed true devotion.
No wonder I feel incensed (even more than the thick suffocating smoke of the incense sticks) when I witness these futile acts of devotion, which are just an act, totally devoid of any real feelings whatsoever. It is all part of a deliberate scene in the act of our lives, the need for conformity to put us all in the right spot in the limelight.
I’m sorry. I just can’t buy into this mass religious worship where I hear some people bitching over whose outfits were the most dreadful and cost what, others commenting on the amount that some people ate, over much work was done by whoever, about how much money that somebody has brought, about who has worked the hardest, who has got the best and worst voice etc etc….and the list is far from over. Competition is indeed rife! This is only the tip of the iceberg, but enough to make me realize that nothing has indeed changed during these religious festivities. It seems as though the human evil has been temporarily corked up in a giant champagne bottle which would then pop and fizzle out everywhere, at the end of the celebrations.
No wonder I find it extremely liberating to sit on my own, from time to time, and meditate, cut off from the rest. The cut-throat competition does get a bit daunting but then, how long can one cast pearls in front of swine? Those who have the courage to denounce these practices find themselves ostracized; so common have these practices become. Prayers should be from the heart, not superficial just as a means to show off. Anyway, while awaiting better times with a vision of a real spiritual transformation, I prefer to be on the move and do something worthwhile instead of surrounding myself with empty sacred chants. After all, ‘hands that help are holier than lips that pray!’
(Disclaimer: This is not a generalization.)
Filed Under : Poems by Bhawna Atmaram
Sep.29,2010
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