Day in and day out when you insult man, you insult God for man is God. Despite your prayers and petitions to the Almighty, you stand bereft of spirituality for your ideas of God are stunted by your myopic vision of man all around. And this is the bane of religion as it is largely practised. Man stands nowhere in the scheme of things despite pious protestations of the devout.
Everyday we see the abuse of religion, everyday we see the abuse of man. Religion is largely politicised to suit the nefarious ends of the so-called spiritual people in power. And at a more commonplace level, we see the divorce of ritualistic religion and doctrinaire creeds from genuine human concern. No one should be so deified for being so-to-say spiritual or for donning the ochre robe that he begins to harbour a false sense of superiority over commoners and rubs it in when the situation arises.
No wonder Swami Vivekananda had forewarned devotees from overdoing their devotions towards monastics so that the latter might maintain their sanity. Of course, it must be said that Swamiji held the ashram of sannyas (monasticism) in the highest esteem and had charged his world-renouncing followers and the lay devotees to dedicate themselves to nation-building and the service of man the world over after having first thrown overboard their ego into the sea.
However, in practice, by the law of averages, the reception of some amount of ill-treatment from so-called spiritual people seems to be the inevitable lot of all and this can be dispensed with as being one of those aberrations that infrequently jar the harmony of an otherwise symphonic whole. The problem sets in, however, when such aberrations become more frequent and it is then that a spiritual movement runs the risk of isolation from the masses. Such isolation spells death to a movement and this was why Swami Shivananda used to say that Sri Ramakrishna would continue to bless his Mission so long as his devotees remained threaded in mutual love. The direct disciples of the Master used to say that the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission were held together in love.
It, therefore, becomes imperative for the laity and the monastics to see to it that devotees and the people in general do not suffer from rude treatment at their hands for such behaviour is not only spiritually untenable but also socially unacceptable in a free and democratic country. Thakur was an unlettered person and hailed from an economically poor family. Care must therefore be taken that in no way an ordinary person, devoid of academic degree or economic wealth, is shown scant respect on account of his lack of worldly attainments. At the same time the rich and the powerful must not be so very specially attended to that the social discrepancies thereby carry into the Order as well. We should never forget that honour should be given more or less equally to all and not more to a select few who wield power in society by dint of wealth or political clout. If it is argued that such are the ones that help run the social service schemes by their donations and the like, then it must be remembered that good and civil treatment meted out to them as it is to all as opposed to special favours shown to them will enhance the prestige of missionary organisations as being truly spiritual and will help them to strike roots in the democratic consciousness of man which in turn will help flourish the welfare programmes of these missions.
Everything said and done, one more simple thing needs to be attended to. Let devotees and monastics welcome all with a welcome-smile, in no way a counterfeit one but a winning smile based on genuine reverence for all, nay, adoration of the immanent God in all. Let everybody feel that he is special in the eyes of the monks of the Order, even as the devotees felt in the presence of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi. We are all Mother's children, are we not? Then why hurt someone, cause him to feel inferior and humiliated by superior snobbery and so alienate him when a little love is all he seeks in this storm-tossed world of his?
Let us ponder over these issues and become worthy children of Thakur-Ma-Swamiji. Let us then embrace the world as our own as Holy Mother has exhorted us to do. And, once more, let us reflect for a while. After all, what does it cost us to welcome all with a smile? Let us from this moment have a wonderful change in attitude. Let us warm up to each other with a blissful heart, a merry face and a winning smile and Thakur will be pleased for does he not reside in the hearts of all? Let man for once be the focus of this new spiritual movement and 'let all other vain gods disappear' as Swamiji had thundered in 1897 in his prophetic speech in which he exhorted his countrymen to serve the living mass of humanity in India for the coming 50 years in his bid to awaken the sleeping leviathan to life and freedom. Let us go back to the Master and 'set our watches right' as he was wont to saying.
A major corrective step needs to be taken by us all urgently if we are to survive as a collective force for good and if we are to feel sure in our hearts that we have not let down Thakur who never lets us down. And in this grand spiritual venture, sisters and brothers, all of you join us. Together we shall surely overcome the deficiencies of the day and bring forth a brighter future on the morrow. May Thakur bless us! May Ma protect us ever! May Swamiji guide our faltering steps to fruition! Victory to humanity!
No comments:
Post a Comment