How many times have you heard something like ‘Mata-Pita Bhagwan ka roop hote hain’, ‘Guru Bhagwan ka roop hote hain’, ‘Pati Parmeshwar’, ‘Bade-buzurg Bhagwan ka roop’, etc? Chances are, if you are an Indian, you can’t even begin to imagine the count. In fact, you are so used to these that you have never paused to think about them. Heck! You share posts on Facebook, twitter etc that go ‘God can’t be everywhere so he created Mothers’. Don’t get me wrong. I love my Mother more than I love anyone on this planet.
But it is amazing how many Gods we have created on this Earth. Convenient, right? For a society such as ours, where Individuality, loving yourself, thinking about your welfare is nothing short of a crime, this practice of Godifying (not sure if that’s a word) Authority figures is so convenient. You can defy a fellow human but how do you defy God? Aren’t you scared of rotting in hell?
Defy your parents? Sin (or Paap)! Defy your Guru? Sin! Keeping things short, dare to defy anyone older than you by a decade and connected to your family, no matter how distantly, and you will have earned yourself a jackpot of screwed up Karma.
And since the SOCIETY that you always hear about, that Satan lurking in the shadows, is almost entirely made up of these Gods (paradox intended) you find yourself committing a sin almost every second if you have not already given up all hopes of being your own person and living your own life. Sigh! Godification and Fear Mongering go hand in hand.
Now, the above may read as a bit of a rant against the Gods. Its not. It is a rant against the Godification of humans. Here’s a shocker- Your parents, teachers, elders, the wise old spiritual Guru are all humans like you, not Gods.
And really, no one is doing any one a favor by making a God out of them. Take a look at the Gods around you, the Parents, the Gurus, so scared of being wrong that they stick to age old traditions and norms in hopes that what was right then will be right now and will, therefore, spare them the embarrassment of being wrong. What if they let you marry that non-brahmin Boy? And what if that is a wrong decision? Oh Horror! Gods can’t be wrong. They have to be right always, and for one to be right the other has to be wrong and so you and all your horrid newfangled ideas end up being SO wrong. This God complex, therefore, also manifests in severe Control issues. The Gods, since they know the best, get to control the lives of foolish mortals. And oh! Just try wrestling the control of your lives away from the Gods in your society. All hell will break loose.
This pressure to be God makes our elders so rigid to change and to evolving that they end up distancing themselves from us instead of moving with the times and accepting that the young may occasionally be right and may be trusted to take charge of their lives.
After all, Gods with complete control and knowledge may be revered, often feared as well as loved but you won't laugh with them, you won't tell them a secret and you definitely won’t go bungee with them. They can’t be your friends. And I suspect, my parents may prefer being my friend than my God.
Its about time that we tear down those pedestals and bring down the Gods. Being human is so much more fun. Our Gods deserve it too.
But it is amazing how many Gods we have created on this Earth. Convenient, right? For a society such as ours, where Individuality, loving yourself, thinking about your welfare is nothing short of a crime, this practice of Godifying (not sure if that’s a word) Authority figures is so convenient. You can defy a fellow human but how do you defy God? Aren’t you scared of rotting in hell?
Defy your parents? Sin (or Paap)! Defy your Guru? Sin! Keeping things short, dare to defy anyone older than you by a decade and connected to your family, no matter how distantly, and you will have earned yourself a jackpot of screwed up Karma.
And since the SOCIETY that you always hear about, that Satan lurking in the shadows, is almost entirely made up of these Gods (paradox intended) you find yourself committing a sin almost every second if you have not already given up all hopes of being your own person and living your own life. Sigh! Godification and Fear Mongering go hand in hand.
Now, the above may read as a bit of a rant against the Gods. Its not. It is a rant against the Godification of humans. Here’s a shocker- Your parents, teachers, elders, the wise old spiritual Guru are all humans like you, not Gods.
And really, no one is doing any one a favor by making a God out of them. Take a look at the Gods around you, the Parents, the Gurus, so scared of being wrong that they stick to age old traditions and norms in hopes that what was right then will be right now and will, therefore, spare them the embarrassment of being wrong. What if they let you marry that non-brahmin Boy? And what if that is a wrong decision? Oh Horror! Gods can’t be wrong. They have to be right always, and for one to be right the other has to be wrong and so you and all your horrid newfangled ideas end up being SO wrong. This God complex, therefore, also manifests in severe Control issues. The Gods, since they know the best, get to control the lives of foolish mortals. And oh! Just try wrestling the control of your lives away from the Gods in your society. All hell will break loose.
This pressure to be God makes our elders so rigid to change and to evolving that they end up distancing themselves from us instead of moving with the times and accepting that the young may occasionally be right and may be trusted to take charge of their lives.
After all, Gods with complete control and knowledge may be revered, often feared as well as loved but you won't laugh with them, you won't tell them a secret and you definitely won’t go bungee with them. They can’t be your friends. And I suspect, my parents may prefer being my friend than my God.
Its about time that we tear down those pedestals and bring down the Gods. Being human is so much more fun. Our Gods deserve it too.
