Sai Baba passed away on Sunday, April 24, 2011 and his passing away is being mourned by millions of people around the world. Seeing some of the scenes and coverage a few thoughts came to my mind.
We are told that thousands of people are gathering at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, India, to pay their last respects. It is very clear that given the size of the gathering mourners, some kind of queue will be formed and that it could potentially take hours if not days for everyone to file past and get a final viewing before the last rites are performed. At the same time, we are shown images of VIPs who are dashing to Puttaparthi and are given preferential treatment in getting to the final resting place before the ordinary crowds gathering outside.
I wonder how does this reconcile with the teachings of Sai Baba? Or am I mistaken in thinking that equality of all people is not a basic principle that not just Sai Baba but all other religious / spiritual leaders profess? Clearly if the VIPs were to queue up like ordinary people then there would be some level of chaos, either security issues or mass hysteria (imagine a Sachin Tendulkar or a Amitabh Bachchan getting into a queue). So, on one hand we have practical considerations of crowd control but on the other hand trying to follow the path laid down by Sai Baba. In a setting such as an airport such considerations do not apply and VIPs are happily escorted through Security checks while the rest of us wind our way through the queue.
The same situation arises in cases of VIP darshan in any significant temple of note, Tirupathi and Siddhi Vinayak are just two well known examples. Again, we have VIPs getting to commune with the deity when ordinary people (whose need to commune with the deity is at least on par with the VIPs) wait, very often in not a very comfortable situation.
I am not questioning anyone's faith, simply the hypocrisy of VIPs bypassing everything, even in religious/spiritual matters.
What prompted this blog post was actually a photo of Sachin Tendulkar (who is a deity in many eyes himself!) at Puttaparthi, visibly grieving at the passing away of Sai Baba. Again, I am not questioning the genuineness of Tendulkar's grief just the fact that he gets to grieve before others.
I hope this post provokes the reader to respond with your point of view.
11 comments:
It seems even more crazy when one stops to consider the fact that, it is the Faith and Belief coupled with love and adulation of the common man that propels the spiritual gurus into limelight. It is the common man who makes them the God-men! Yet he struggles to get a glimpse. The VIPs and stars are added later by the marketing genius surrounding the spiritual guru, a totally symbiotic relationship, in most cases.
VIPS and their ilk standing in crowds would cause huge security and man management issues in India, but at the same time, I agree, their getting preferential treatment over the 'aam janata' does stick in the throat a bit - and this is true of temples in India - dont know, in the current security scenario, whether VIPs abroad also face the same 'preferential treatment' - would be interesting to check.
...take a few minutes to watch just a couple of videos of Sai Baba' 'chamatkars' on Youtube and all such thoughts of spiritual teachings and preachings of this man will never cross your mind again... !
I think in the end all comes down to money and power. The so called VIPs are rich men/ politicians and are obviously powerful. Common man is always the sufferer everywhere in this world, whether its developed or developing or the African countries. It might be the case that the level of exploitation varies. Because of the population and events in India all this is very easily noticeable. By the way instead of preferential treatment I am putting it as exploitation.
We all exploit whenever we get chance. When you term common men, all this is very relative. Same problem faced by 2 guys a DM and a SE... who will get more attention :) So I guess this is something we all have to live with, it is just that we don't know on which side we will be and if we are on the wrong one.. we feel sad.
Hope I am making sense Nilesh. :)
"...take a few minutes to watch just a couple of videos of Sai Baba' 'chamatkars' on Youtube and all such thoughts of spiritual teachings and preachings of this man will never cross your mind again... !"
That is so right!
Come on Nilesh, you are not going to hold Sachin to these exacting standards...
Bottom line - phenomenon of Sai Baba, his followers and the whole show around his death simply demonstrates once again what is wrong with Indian society. But anyone with open eyes and thinking mind, know all these issues. So I hardly find anything new or any insights into problems of Indian society. Neither do these things educate us much how to solve many of these issues or what problems India is likely to face in future.
However, it is true that change starts from simple things and in that sense it is important that Media, Blogs and Public Expressions point out what is wrong here. That is the value of this post.
speaking of seeking darsan of the Lord... many stand in queues... why VIPs get to faster and better darsan is your question??....
for the Lord there is no one VIP... these VIPs are materially VIPs becoz of their education, wealth or designation... the Lord does not consider it at all.. one must come to seek darsan of the Lord without any 'upadhi"... He appreciates and waits to take darsan of a true devotee who is trying to please Him by serving Him or His devotees... for the Lord these VIPs if are not true devotees are Very Insignificant (raised to infinity) Persons.... then why do mandirs initiate such a system for VIP coupon or ticket??? .... take it as a fund collection drive to maintain the mandir... or those who are really sick, in a real rush to reach the station / airport, or something so urgent should be allowed for a faster darsan... rest all those who avail of such a facility are not gaining any special attention from the Lord.... for the Lord would love to see His devotee who has stood in the scorching heat chanting His holynames continuously and then finally reached the altar to bow down and express his love towards Him....
no devotee is ordinary in the eyes of the Lord... he might be ordinary to the material eyes of the society...
not commenting on Sai Baba... as dont know anything about his spiritual teachings... read only about his social projects like hospital and drinking water scheme... hope his soul reaches a better destination...
hare krsna !!
The Irony is wonderfully captured Nilesh.
Democracy shall end up creating class definitions. It is this dichotomy of absolute freedom which enslaves...that inevitably shall create a first amongst equals situation.No escaping that...either u are the one pushing or being pushed.
Folks.. thanks for all the comments, keep them coming..
My intention was to use this event as an example, I don't want to digress into whether Sai Baba was a truly spiritual person, etc., so am not responding to the YouTube video bit.
@Umesh, I have no intention of holding Sachin to anything, the poor guy is burdened enough with the cricket expectations that are heaped on him.
I also don't want to get into other forms of preferential treatment (deserved or otherwise) meted out to VIPs.
My point is very simple. We have a situation where followers of Sai Baba (replace with your favourite spiritual/religious icon) who are supposed to follow his teachings are clearly violating them at the very time when those teachings should be on top of their minds.
Check today's TOI report - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Cops-Trust-clueless-on-handling-surge-for-Sai-Baba/articleshow/8086189.cms
and why the 'full state honours' for the funeral ? He is wrapped in India' tri colour, gun salutes, etc. What is the criteria to provide this in India ? Any thoughts on that ?
i would have been offended if it was a celebratory event or a marriage do that Sachin attended jumping the queue,but here he was perhaps in a kind of mood that lays to rest any debate about his being given preference over others.For once, he would have hated to be amongst the privileged.
Vibhav Rao
@Vibhav, I had no intention of singling out Sachin, however his photo was splashed all over the media which was the trigger for the post.
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