The seer and my lost faith
Posted : November 30, 2004 at 7:56 pm [IST]
These days, when I read the news details on Kanchi seer, I feel extremely depressed and down. I knew and heard many stories about the seers and head of mutts and religious shrines including one on Sai Baba in ‘India Today’. I got reminded of a film by the famous Shantaram where he depicted this aspect. I don’t know why in this case I am taking it so seriously. Perhaps I have grown old and have developed perhaps a blind faith in this particular seer. Whenever, we have talked about it, many suggest to just forget it as in our country all these things are normal. Many are sympathetic to certain extent and come out with some questions that sound their leanings towards the seer perhaps blindly.
Is it essential for Jayalalita and her advisors to prove that they are the greatest democrats? Is it necessary to get political advantage by humiliating the highest priest of Hindu faith? Is she trying to go nearer to leftists who declare themselves as having no faith in any religion?
I am not talking about only Kanchi seer. It is for all who attain similar position in any community. If the police had all the proofs of his being a murderer, they would have certainly done that. But certainly the police would not have arrested him to collect proofs for his involvement in murder on doubts. The police could have always put some persons to watch the going-ons in mutt. As he is a z-category personality, he can’t leave and run away. He is surrounded with all the guards as soon as he comes out.
In Sunday HT, Vir Sanghvi puts certain questions and comes out his own conclusions. Let us look out at the questions.
Did he (Shankaracharya of Kanchi) do it? Is Jayalalita playing politics? Would any Chief Minister frame a respected Hindu Holy man for murder only to win votes? Would Jayalalita - whose devotion to Hinduism is sincere and genuine- go so far as to arrest the Shankaracharya unless she was sure that there a strong case against him? Should the Shankaracharya have been treated like a common criminal? Should the Sangha parivar have turned the arrest into a political issue? Does Jayalalita pose a danger to Hinduism? Why was Jayalalita the BJP’s ally at the last election? Is the BJP right when it says that no government would have dared arrest a minority religious leader? And why Hindus, by and large, remained unmoved by the arrest? Would Muslims have been more vocal than Hindus have been? Does the failure of Hindus to behave as Muslims would have show the Hindu community in a poor light? Is Hinduism in danger? I get more and more confused by these questions. I myself faced a situation like this where the police behaved in similar manner on order from a Chief Minister. I still remember that nightmare.
I don’t know if Hinduism is in danger, but I certainly feel that things in these mutts must change and Hindus should find a way out to decide who can be their top Gurus. Should these Shankaracharyas, if they can’t maintain the basic requirements of a seer that they preach, be allowed to lead the followers in millions?
I feel Kanchi seer must prove that he is innocent. There is no point in spending days and months in custody as Sankaracharya. He must give up the title or show his inner strength to go to Himalayas for penance and spend the rest of his life there. He must set an example and maintain the sanctity of the position and remain worthy of the confidence that millions of Hindus place blindly in him. After all once he was he chosen as Shankaracharya, he can live a life of a common man with all the weaknesses for wealth and women. He is to serve the humanity. He is to sacrifice the lusts of life. No one forced him to become the Shankaracharya. He himself chose that. I pray him to set some example. He can’t wait up to the judgment by a court. He must give judgment about himself and decide his course.
- Indra
Category: Religious/Social issues |
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