Adjacent
to the Kanhaiyanagar metro station is an astrologer’s office. It is housed in
one half of a Shiva temple. What draws one’s attention is that the first floor of
the temple has very intelligently been converted as his residence by the
astrologer and since a Brahman cannot have toilet attach to his residence, the
toilets and the bath is constructed at the other end on first floor directly
above the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on the ground floor. It is saddening
to find God at mercy of his creation. The whole structure is built on
public space encroaching upon the pavement and the service lane. While God’s
authority has been misused to construct a residence for self, faith has been
put to question by constructing a toilet on the first floor. This is just one
example. There are thousands of such illegal structures throughout Delhi and it
isn’t surprising is that nearly each one of the structures encroaches upon
public space. In fact, in a small stretch of just 20-25 kilometer to my office
in Central Delhi, there are over hundred such structures that encroach upon
public space to the consternation of the common commuter. And these belong to
every religion that is professed in India. The priests and religious gurus have
taken their religious rights granted under Article 25 to 28 of the Indian
Constitution much more liberally in absence of any administrative control while
God fearing populaces remain mute spectators to such misuse. Some of these religious
places are quite famous- the temple at Jhandewalan or the mosque at the
Connaught. It is interesting to note that many of these religious structures
have come up only recently; nonetheless they claim to have an ancient past.
This is a clever ploy to capture public space and imagination- much alike the
notorious deals of the land mafias. It is painful to see that even God
remains a mute spectator to the wicked craftiness of His creation.
Gods also appear to have developed camaraderie with
the residents of the numerous illegal colonies of Delhi. How else do we justify
the fact that all places of religious congregation stand on illegal land much alike
these colonies? A temple or a mosque is constructed illegally and then a whole
colony is constructed around it illegally. Thus God is drawn unwittingly into
the crime of His creation. It is indeed saddening that in Kaliyug, God
finds Himself at the mercy of His creation.
Moving around Delhi, one comes across small temple built
at the main gate of nearly every society, just opposite to the sentry gate. God
thus finds a place parallel to the sentry of the Society. If this is the
respect a society or a race bestows upon its God, their respect for elders can
well be adjudged.
Delhi has plenty of trees and it is common practice
to dump old images and idols of Gods at the trunk of trees by the religious minded
pupil, who replaces these with newer ones every year. However, while discarding
the old ones, not adequate care is taken for their proper disposal. These
images/idols etc are just dumped at the roots of the nearby trees (Pipal,
Banyan, Neem etc) leaving them at the mercy of stray dogs. Is it morally,
ethically or religiously right?
In
this week of Navratra, we need to ponder upon the morality of our acts. Religion
is a matter of faith. If we play such dirty tricks with God who we have never
met, one can well imagine the level of our hypocrisy and deceitful behaviour
with fellow human beings. How do we square up these un-religious activities and
still claim to be real follower of God? Time for God's intervention to deliver divine justice.
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