ॐ नमः शिवाय !!भगवान शिव को सत सत प्रणाम !!
Last sunday i had an opportunity to visit Deoghar or Baidyanathdham or one among the many abode of Lord Shiv and one of my friend. The occasion was "mundan" of my bhanja Aadity. I reached there at 5.30 pm from kolkata and had a plenty of time to see the town until my relatives would come from Ara. There were mid-way when i had arrived. I had a reserved auto at my disposal. I was excited to see the town- particularly the temple. As my auto drove through the roads of Deoghar , i was no longer finding it likable. The roads were full of ditches and garbages were more evident in this centre of Hindu pilgrimage. The road better say streets leading to the temple were more frustrating. The drains were open on either side , encroachment by shops and pandals were commonplace. Anyway i reached the temple gate to find a heap of slippers and shoe beside the main entrance before the metal detector standing smartly to protect the Protector of All!!. Anyway i bowed before the Lord and meandered my way out to find myself in the crowded market made by shops installed on the encroached portion of already narrow streets. Finding nothing except special tasty PEDAS i made my way towards fresher areas.Found a restaurant ,ordered some stuffs and then coffee after coffee . At around 10 pm my relatives reached and we had a tough time finding a hotel because we were 14 and the next day was a very pious. As a result, all rooms of all hotels were booked. Finding nothing i took everybody to SBI holiday home where care-taker told us that all room had been booked. Disappointed we tried our luck in SBI (my bank) training centre where on the telephonic request to the AGM ended our trouble and two rooms were given to us for night stay. I was just delighted with this touch of one-ness.
Next morning we were early. Parked our vehicle 300m short of temple. The narrow streets were full of people people and people- of all sorts. Before we could find something , the lurking Pandas found us. We need some so allowed ourselves to be hooked by one. He directed us to take bath in a near by pond named Shiv-Ganga. The pond was so dirty.All sorts of garbage were thrown in there and a sea of people were bathing therein. Ieeeaaaaaaahhhhh. Anyway we dipped in the holy pond to wash off sins and came out feeling dirty,then headed towards the temple. At the gate the rush was just killing. It seemed that God himself had came out in flesh and blood in the courtyard of the temple and people are dieing to see him. The maddening craziness of people was just evident. I ask even if God comes in all his glory "Is this Indiscipline acceptable". Well ! we went ahead with our schedule. Our Panda or priest arranged a barber who just chopped off the hair of Aaditya and got more than Rs. 400/- for a hair cut! Ridiculous! The pandijiee who made us pronounce some Mantras got us promised to pay Rs.2500/- anyway the deal was sealed at Rs.1101 plus 51 from each of us.Corruption at its best!! No body spoiled the hindu civilisation more than these castes. Lies, superstition and fear of people were being sold brazenly. The long serpentine queues of seasonal devotees armed with water in dirty plastic bottles were vanishing in the ocean of people jostling against each other and ready to curb under feet and fight the fellow beings at the mouth of the temple to pour "JAL"(bought @ of Rs. 25 or 51 per paua i.e 250ml )and seek blessing of Lord. I had also queued up and realising the mistake quickly opted out. Offered my prayer somewhere within my self and came out.
What terrorised in the place where i should have found peace and love is the "NASA" or the intoxicated state of people. In those eyes, there were no love for God . There was only fear. There were losers and those who fears to loose. There was only one mission. Pour "JAL" and a belief that this will eliminate all their troubles. Rubbish! I am not a critic of my own culture or tradition. But what if only customs remain as a hard and fast rule without any meaning. The soul of prayers and the sanctity of the place was missing. This cannot be a pilgrimage.It can only be a garbage - a divine garbage.This is the condition of our almost all pilgrimages-major or minor.
Please help discover tr ue humanism and hinduism. And our religious places must be free from false pandits and must have peace.Their sanctity must be protected.Let a searcher of Shelf reach to His abode and not the beggars as we all are.
Note: This is writers own views. Bhawaan Shiv Sab ko Sad buddhi dein!
Last sunday i had an opportunity to visit Deoghar or Baidyanathdham or one among the many abode of Lord Shiv and one of my friend. The occasion was "mundan" of my bhanja Aadity. I reached there at 5.30 pm from kolkata and had a plenty of time to see the town until my relatives would come from Ara. There were mid-way when i had arrived. I had a reserved auto at my disposal. I was excited to see the town- particularly the temple. As my auto drove through the roads of Deoghar , i was no longer finding it likable. The roads were full of ditches and garbages were more evident in this centre of Hindu pilgrimage. The road better say streets leading to the temple were more frustrating. The drains were open on either side , encroachment by shops and pandals were commonplace. Anyway i reached the temple gate to find a heap of slippers and shoe beside the main entrance before the metal detector standing smartly to protect the Protector of All!!. Anyway i bowed before the Lord and meandered my way out to find myself in the crowded market made by shops installed on the encroached portion of already narrow streets. Finding nothing except special tasty PEDAS i made my way towards fresher areas.Found a restaurant ,ordered some stuffs and then coffee after coffee . At around 10 pm my relatives reached and we had a tough time finding a hotel because we were 14 and the next day was a very pious. As a result, all rooms of all hotels were booked. Finding nothing i took everybody to SBI holiday home where care-taker told us that all room had been booked. Disappointed we tried our luck in SBI (my bank) training centre where on the telephonic request to the AGM ended our trouble and two rooms were given to us for night stay. I was just delighted with this touch of one-ness.
Next morning we were early. Parked our vehicle 300m short of temple. The narrow streets were full of people people and people- of all sorts. Before we could find something , the lurking Pandas found us. We need some so allowed ourselves to be hooked by one. He directed us to take bath in a near by pond named Shiv-Ganga. The pond was so dirty.All sorts of garbage were thrown in there and a sea of people were bathing therein. Ieeeaaaaaaahhhhh. Anyway we dipped in the holy pond to wash off sins and came out feeling dirty,then headed towards the temple. At the gate the rush was just killing. It seemed that God himself had came out in flesh and blood in the courtyard of the temple and people are dieing to see him. The maddening craziness of people was just evident. I ask even if God comes in all his glory "Is this Indiscipline acceptable". Well ! we went ahead with our schedule. Our Panda or priest arranged a barber who just chopped off the hair of Aaditya and got more than Rs. 400/- for a hair cut! Ridiculous! The pandijiee who made us pronounce some Mantras got us promised to pay Rs.2500/- anyway the deal was sealed at Rs.1101 plus 51 from each of us.Corruption at its best!! No body spoiled the hindu civilisation more than these castes. Lies, superstition and fear of people were being sold brazenly. The long serpentine queues of seasonal devotees armed with water in dirty plastic bottles were vanishing in the ocean of people jostling against each other and ready to curb under feet and fight the fellow beings at the mouth of the temple to pour "JAL"(bought @ of Rs. 25 or 51 per paua i.e 250ml )and seek blessing of Lord. I had also queued up and realising the mistake quickly opted out. Offered my prayer somewhere within my self and came out.
What terrorised in the place where i should have found peace and love is the "NASA" or the intoxicated state of people. In those eyes, there were no love for God . There was only fear. There were losers and those who fears to loose. There was only one mission. Pour "JAL" and a belief that this will eliminate all their troubles. Rubbish! I am not a critic of my own culture or tradition. But what if only customs remain as a hard and fast rule without any meaning. The soul of prayers and the sanctity of the place was missing. This cannot be a pilgrimage.It can only be a garbage - a divine garbage.This is the condition of our almost all pilgrimages-major or minor.
Please help discover tr ue humanism and hinduism. And our religious places must be free from false pandits and must have peace.Their sanctity must be protected.Let a searcher of Shelf reach to His abode and not the beggars as we all are.
Note: This is writers own views. Bhawaan Shiv Sab ko Sad buddhi dein!
