Yesterday I visited Shirdi, to offer prayers to Sai Baba. I had been to the place, last time, many many years ago. This post is prompted by yesterday's visit to the shrine.
Just after the Babri Masjid demolition, I, as an eighteen year old teenager, decided that I will never ever visit a public place of worship. And I stuck to it for a long period of time. The point was, I thought faith is a matter of personal choices and is best exercised in the private domain. Bringing it to the public domain only causes great damage to the fabric of a peaceful and secular society. Mind you, when at home, I offer prayers every day, since childhood. And I feel good about it. However, after many years, I again started visiting temples, even if just to keep family members happy.
In the past few years, I have now visited three of the most renowned temples in India. Tirupati, Palani and Shirdi. The most striking thing that I have observed after being to these places, is that religion has become grossly commercialised. To me, as a faithful, this trend kills the feelings with which you go to any place of worship. And that is, to seek peace and tranquility. What you do get is:
1) Differentiation based on your standing in the society / the money you have. VIP passses to bypass every queue of order. A gross violation of the belief that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Unless you have some influence, you are sure to be hugely disappointed with the rendezvous with God.
2) Long queues through which one has to tiringly wade through for hours to get a glimpse of the deity. By the time you reach the deity, you are not even thinking about the deity; only how to keep your place in the queue.
3) Touts prevail (and rule!) all over the place. These places wail for professional management!
I much rather prefer the Sai Baba temple in Chennai on ECR Road. The place is amazing and I would encourage everyone to visit it. It is a place where I felt like going, again and again, because of the peace and tranquility that it affords, in this fast paced world.
Not sure whether I will visit any famous shrines in the near future. May be only if, I can obtain a VIP pass! Or maybe not! Ultimately, the home, is the best temple!
Jai Sai Ram! Take care.
