Man has been able to carry out business and trade in almost every sector thinkable and even God has not been spared from this. The business which is done in the name of God and religion has always been a lucrative one. Sects and classes are divided in name of religions and people are made to believe that the way of life their religion encourages is the ultimate one and any other opinion is not even considerable. The branches of this business vary all over from practices at churches to the brahmanical age old rituals of propitiation, from the strictness taught in Islam to the courage and valor which is present in Sikhism and many more. Each one is trying to sell God they have created at the best negotiable prices.
This vast industry could be seen as a collection of sales team and supervisors who manage the entire operations required for carrying out these religious tasks. One thing to notice is the attire which these people choose to wear, all these different sales personnel have their own fashion trends and they try to be unique from the rest. These so called Gurus wear clothes which are clichéd which makes them all appear almost the same. A religious guru according to them means a tall, well built male bravado with an unusually angled and a highly organized face, keeping a beard is a must but long hair or a hint of baldness is left upon fate of the genes to decide. Along with good acting skills a peaceful face is always considered a bonus.
I have no intention in generalizing the ongoing trend because there are many genuine people out there too who make it sure that they stay true to their words, but when the market is so big and in times of global crisis and economic slowdown, the so called devotee or the ‘consumer’ gets confused easily. With every religion pitching their idea of self and divinity, the consumer is stuck in a dilemma of what to buy, how much is it worth, whether or not it comes with a lifelong guarantee of solace and happiness and many such things. I undoubtedly know its wrong in my place to compare religion with marketing but what am I left with? For a child in India, religion falls on you or you fall into it. You are either born a Hindu or a Muslim and this alters the way you see the world, what you eat, what you wear, how you dress, and the way in which you interact with other elements of the society. There is a constant tussle happening between people on how they go on to define their religion but apparently religion defines them. We are so engrossed in creating an image for our religion that the fundamental teachings of self consciousness, discovery of inner self, suffering of others and spirituality as a whole term holds less importance in our lives.
Through this article let me ask you a simple question, can you choose any one favorite finger in your hand? Do you sometimes feel that you prefer the index finger more over the ring finger? I hope you don’t. We require each finger together to make it into a fist and achieve any impossible task. Such is the case in our lives, we should not let religion come in the way of our thinking and let it create a feeling of ego inside our brains. In other words if you let your religion control you, you will never be in control. From Gautam Buddha to Vivekananda, from Albert Einstein to A.P.J Abdul Kalam, there is one common personality trait; these overachieving gentlemen always paid less attention to religion and more on spirituality. I hope this aptly explains my point to you all, we should be God loving but at all times should refrain from being God fearing.
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