God Inc., Religion Ltd.

I am not a regular visitor of places of worship. The only time I do visit is once an year on my birthday after several requests from amma. The past week, eventhough it was not my birthday, I accompanied my friends to a famous shrine associated with the 'krishna consciouness cult', here in Bangalore. I had faint memories of visiting the place as a school kid with my parents. But, over the years, it had changed a lot. What strikes as soon as you enter the compound is how well maintained the whole setup is. The feeling I got was similar to entering a corporate office rather than a temple. Later I were to learn that its not only the exterior that gives this feeling. Infact, most of the big temples fail to give me that feeling of devotion. Its those nondescript small temples in the countryside which evoke such feelings usually. No amount of huge buildings or gold plated deities manage to do that.

The entry point was the biggest example of the 'business of religion'. A guy sitting at a counter called out to us and offered us a pass. By buying that pass for Rs.250, we can go straight inside and have the 'darshan'. Else, you have to stand in a long queue, chant 'hare rama hare krishna' at every step till you reach the temple door. Its a process which takes 30 minutes. By paying some money, you can sidestep that and get a direct appointment with God. Now, is n't that something exciting? Am reminded of how some bollywood stars gets a direct darshan of Thirupathi Balaji using their VIP status. They might be having delusions about buying a place in heaven too.

And so, after a long wait in the queue, we walked inside for the 'darshan'. I could see some people clicking the deity with their mobile cameras. And one of them was promptly driven away by the security. The ropes to regulate the queue were arranged in such a way that once you get the darshan, you are forced to walk straight to a counter selling devotional books and cds in all languages. While I was wondering at the business mentality at play here, I never knew that this was just a start. What followed was shocking for me. The ropes and barricades lead the 'involuntary' you expertly through an array of shops spread over several huge rooms. There's no way you can get out without passing through each of these shops. The items ranged from pastries to household stuff. There were shops selling bags, toys, stationaries and even a vegetable market! Everything you need to setup a small temple at your home are also available here. It was nothing less than a supermarket, all inside the temple complex. The Gods probably occupied 5% of the total area of the complex.

When everything around us is commercialised, we can't expect religion alone to stay away. Infact, Religion Inc. makes much more profit than most of the big corporates. Donations continue to pour in. Sinner billionaires donate a part of their billions in the hope of cleansing the blood from their hands. No higher authority dare ask a religious establishment on the amount of donations that they recieve every year. No questions are asked on how all that amount is spent. Its a free ride for many. When Baba Ramdevs become billionaires overnight, we can be sure that there's something wrong with the way many among us see their relationship with God. Atleast some does think that God can be bought.

And its best to end with this song from motherjane, which I've quoted in some old posts too..'

motherjane- 'Soul corporations'

The cross maybe the ultimate metaphor

For religion sold as a brand

A sacrifice exchanged for the almighty dollar

with the tacit blessings of the Vatican

we all have guardians trading faith for power

businessmen by whom we swear

betraying everyone from eshwar to allah

with their holy wars for market share.

We're losing our religions, entrusting our gods

to corporates that prostrate before balance sheets

Unsuspecting pawns inititating brethren

into the oldest MLM to stalk our streets

Behold the soul corporations, the spiritual supermarts

dispensing salvation with a price tag

mocking the truth that resides in our hearts

Paralyzing the human conscience with practised art

And of the various hues of desecration

this makes them the hardest to beat

the unsure can't endure the liberation

the pious don't discern the need

for if there's a truth to be told

religion's just a shadow of god

illuminated by thought and understanding

sullied by the ambiguity of words.

[you can listen to the song at motherjane.in]

Two incidents

This post is not meant to defame any religion. These are just word by word account of 2 real life incidents.

Incident No-1
It was a saturday, some weeks back. I met my old schoolmate after a gap of almost 5 years. We went around the city in my bike and was coming back home in the evening. Somewhere near majestic, we were stopped by a traffic policeman who jumped out of nowhere to the middle of the road. Over the years, I've developed this technique of avoiding the morons in khaki and white by speeding or going through the right side of a bus at places where they usually stand. This time, it was a new road and I was caught. Now, it was time to open my usual bag of tricks, which I use when I get caught. Fat policeman with big round belly asks for license, rc book etc which I promptly hand over. Then he sees my 'Kerala registration' number plate. Seeing this, he demanded money. I narrated my 3 yeard old (fake) story of being a newbie in Bangalore who came hunting for job from Kerala. He asks me to show him my wallet. The sight of 100 rupees lights up his eyes. I refuse to part with it saying its the only money we have for our dinner. Then he hurled a load of abuses. More pleadings later...

Traffic policeman-What is your name?
Me-Praveen
T policeman- HINDU?

10 seconds of shock, hatred, anger later, I nodded my head in the affirmative. I stopped myself from talking back thinking about the royal screw up that these guys are capable of dishing out.

And then surprisingly, at that very minute, he asked me to leave. Without paying any fine. Yes, that happened in Bangalore, capital of 'beef banned' Karnataka. And, my friend who was with me and who was watching all this conversation, happened to be a muslim. While we were riding back, I matter of factly told him, 'Imagine, if he had asked you that question'. And, then he told me about some incidents in Mangalore, where he's pursuing a career in medicine.

Incident No-2
Three of his classmates(A muslim couple and their common Hindu friend) went out on a Friday morning. After having a jolly good time at a mall there, the muslim boy went to the mosque leaving his beloved with their friend. As these two friends were walking on the streets, a group of men came rushing and asked both of their religions.They told the truth. And, the thrashings followed, both to the boy and the girl. The men belonged to the notorious 'Sri Ram sene'. Apparently, these men are against people of these religions mixing together, especially if its a male and female. The two of them sustained a lot of injuries. And this was not one isolated incident. My friend narrated to me quite a few.

I leave it at that. Judging on these two incidents, I leave it to you.

Unrelated PS- I was 'born' a Hindu. I eat beef. And I've ways of getting it here in Bangalore eventhough some bigots are hell bent on preventing us from eating it.

your crusader Praveen

A business called religion

There was a time when churches were meant for prayers and worship alone. Its still the same in most places, except Kerala, God's own country. Now Sunday masses means an opportunity to release an 'idaya lekhanam'(circular) filled with falsehood and which is meant to help the political and monetary ambitions of those at the top of the church hierarchy. These circulars are read out during the sunday masses in churches that fall under that particular sabha. And it has nothing to do with God. There were such circulars released by various churches during elections asking the devotees to vote for a particular candidate. Later they used it in the self financing colleges issue to further their propaganda against the Govt. Its a known fact that most of the colleges in Kerala under one or the other church. And now, the latest of those circulars comes out to condemn Professor T.J.Joseph, the man whose arm was cut off by islamic fundamentalists for the simple crime of setting a question paper for his students.

The question which caused all this controversy is a simple dialogue between God and a guy named Mohammed in which the students were supposed to add the necessary punctuations. Its borrowed from a famous book by P.T.Kunjumuhammed.

Here's the translation for the same-

" Muhammad : God, God.

God : What is it you idiot.

Muhammad : How many pieces will we get if we cut one Ayila(fish)?

God : You dog I have told you so many times that there will be 3 pieces.

"

Prof T.J.Joseph after his arm was cut off

There's nothing to suggest blasphemy in the whole dialogue. But, the fundamentalists thought otherwise. They took revenge by cutting off Joseph's arm. And if that was not enough the management of Newman college(where Joseph was working) dismissed him from service. The next week the church during the sunday mass, comes out with the circular supporting his ouster. A place meant for prayers is being converted into one for false propaganda. And it was sad that in none of the churches were this was read, no true believer rose up and said "this is wrong" and showed his finger to the 'religious businessmen'. The poor professor is being made a scapegoat in the murky games that goes on in the background. A lost arm, a lost job and lost pensions, still he's smiling. His interviews shows you the picture of a learned man with liberal views, not a fanatic who will spit venom on a religion. And the students of his class for whom he made this question paper are still supporting him. Its only the uneducated fundamentalists and educated religious pimps who find fault with him.

The whole episode did send shock waves through our increasingly fake secularistic mindset. Religion in modern times is becoming more of a burden than a boon. Intolerance is at its heights and any small deviation from the accepted line of thought is branded blasphemous and the person who originated the thought is hounded till his grave. A song, a slogan, an advertisement, a movie poster, a poem or even a simple question paper as in this case, can whip up that cliched 'hurt religious sentiments' in many of us. The Govt in Karnataka has banned beef saying its against Hinduism. What about the many Hindus like me who doesn't give a damn on what these bigots think and would prefer munching on beef? Even in our company bulletin board, I've seen (educated) people defending decisions like this, in the name of religious sentiments. And then there are those ugly boards in front of some Kerala temples which scream 'non-hindus not allowed'. Why don't we just throw away those boards and allow anyone who wants to pray to get inside? This kind of religious blindness is the biggest plague that has affected modern society. Religion has also become an excuse to flaunt. Celebrities increase their market value by secretly leaking detals of how much money they offered at a particular religious place. Come to think of it, almost all the ills of modern soceity can be retraced to their origins in one religion or the other. Certainly, God won't be happy to see us using his name to further our own secret selfish propagandas.

These lines from motherjane's song 'soul corporations' makes perfect sense in this scenario..

The cross maybe the ultimate metaphor

For religion sold as a brand

A sacrifice exchanged for the almighty dollar

with the tacit blessings of the Vatican

we all have guardians trading faith for power

businessmen by whom we swear

betraying everyone from eshwar to allah

with their holy wars for market share.

We're losing our religions, entrusting our gods

to corporates that protrate before balance sheets

Unsuspecting pawns inititating brethren

into the oldest MLM to stalk our streets

Behold the soul corporations, the spiritual supermarts

dispensing salvation with a price tag

mocking the truth that resides in our hearts

Paralyzing the human conscience with practised art

And of the various hues of desecration

this makes them the hardest to beat

the unsure can't endure the liberation

the pious don't discern the need

for if there's a truth to be told

religion's just a shadow of god

illuminated by thought and understanding

sullied by the ambiguity of words.

PS- Am not an atheist. But I believe religion is something personal, which is not to be flaunted and not to be fought over. And my religion won't be affected just because somebody somewhere drew a picture or wrote an article or made a film which throws a little mud on my religion. My religion won't be affected if some people ate beef or pig. If anyone thinks such things can be bad for his religion, then he must be worshipping a foolish God and a crappy religion. So, here goes for all you fundamentalists...shove your religion up your arses..

your crusader Praveen

Aghoris:The reliogionistic cannibals

Warning-The things that you are about to read are not for the weak hearted. It can be highly disturbing. Reader discretion is requested.

Aghoris, I first heard this word some months back from a video that I got as a forward. Aghoris are a sect of Hindu sannyasins who are mainly found in Varanasi around the banks of the sacred river Ganga. They call themselves as the worshippers of the 3rd eye of Lord Siva. What sets them apart from other religious sects is one horrible ritual which is an integral part of their belief system-eating corpses. Now, you know why that warning was put up there on top of this post. The sight of an Aghori itself can scare you no end. They cover themselves with the ashes that comes from the burning of dead bodies. The whole body of an aghori including the face will be covered with this ash and that gives them an eerie albino like whitish appearance. The hair and beard are grown to great lengths. The Aghori sect is very few in number but all the existing members are staunch followers who are prepared to carry out all the gory rituals required of an Aghori.

In Varanasi, many of the dead are not burned or cremated. Many of the poor people prefer to immerse the body in the Ganges. The water of this holy river is believed to have purifying powers which will remove all sins from the dead man and provide him moksha. These bodies which are immersed in water usually flow downstream. The Aghoris are settled in such places. They wait for days on end for a dead body to flow downstream. Once they spot one, they jump in to take hold of the body. Usually the Aghoris operate as single. The body is brought ashore. The items for an elaborate pooja are set. The divine lamp is shined. Now, the Aghori will proceed to sit on the stomach of the dead body. The chantings will start. After this elaborate ritual starts the gory part. The Aghori takes a knife and cuts the body parts one by one. Then he proceeds to bite off and eat it. In the video that I saw, an Aghori eating the hands of the dead body was shown clearly. It was so intolerable that I could hardly eat something peacefully for 2 days.

An aghori drinking water from a skull-another of their strage rituals

I was left wondering on what's the basis behind this ritual. The video didn't utter a single word regarding that. I did a short research on the net and checked out some old NGC videos too. From all those sources, I got the following reasons for their shocking rituals. The Aghoris don't have a concept of pure or impure. They believe in the oneness of things. So, they never distinguish anything as pure or impure. A rose in full bloom and a smelly corpse are given the same status by the Aghoris. One of these is not given a higher pedestal just because it appears beautiful or is pure than the other. So, to disprove the popular notions of purity, Aghoris accept such disgusting things like corpses and consume alcohol, behaviour which are considered unacceptable by normal people. They believe that since everything on the face of the earth is created by God, rejecting a particular creation of God is same as rejecting Him. Some members of this sect are even accused of practising necrophilia, the meaning of which am not writing here explicitly.

The American Aghori Kapalnath

Of the very few followers of this sect, a man named Kapalnath is the most famous. An American by birth, his original name is Gary Stevenson. He's popularly known as 'American Aghori' and there are many scary stories going on around about him, many of which he himself has denied. Whatever be the case, its a wonder that such things exist in the civilised society around us. A thing to note is Aghoris are found not only in India but at other parts of the world too. Many people are seen defending this sect by saying that they are not commiting any crime, they are just eating corpses. Not a crime by the books of law, but a crime in the true sense if the word called 'morality' still exists.

If you are not very weak hearted, do checkout one of the video clips here.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=W0bGrvKVxac

PS-Due to my recent researches on the Aghoris, my roomies have started calling me an Aghori :(

PPS-Forgot to mention about the upcoming Tamil move 'Naan Kadavul' being directed by Bala. It deals with Aghoris. Checkout the awesome soundtrack by Ilayaraja. Especially the song 'Om Siva Om' which captures the mood of the subject. The album is also lyrically excellent with some though provoking lines. My favourite lines are from the song 'Pichaipaathiram'. Waiting for the movie to do the rest of the research work.

Your crusader Praveen

Pick this flick 8-Khuda Kay Liye

I never had high opinions about the Pakistani film industry. Whatever clips I've seen in youtube from their movies looked amateurish and a pale imitation of bollywood. That was until yesterday when I watched the path breaking Pakistani film "Khuda Kay Liye". I had heard a lot about it being one of Pakistan's best movie ever. Still I didn't have much of an expectation. The only reason I found to watch the film was the presence of Nasseruddin Shah. The movie directed by Shoaib Mansoor takes you from London to Pakistan and then to USA. The film opens with a shot of a sad lady in a US hospital. Before you can understand what its all about, the action cuts to Pakistan.

In Pakistan, you get to see the story of an affluent family. Mansoor(Shaan) and Samad(Fawad Khan) are two singers who become quite popular locally. At the same time, their uncle is living a wealthy life in London, having married a British lady. His daughter Mary(Iman Ali) is in love with a British native Dave. He disapproves of their relation with such fickle reasons like "A pakistani male can marry anybody, but if a female marries from outside, it will create problems within the community". But, all of a sudden he agrees to her marriage and takes her to a visit to her home country before her marriage. There, Samad is on his way to become a religious fanatic, having quit singing and grown a beard after some ill advice by an Islami Mullah. The Mullah talks at length on how music is just another vice like drinking which should be avoided by true followers of the religion. Samad even asks his mother to wear a burqha. Mansoor is shattered and he leaves for US to study music. Meanwhile, Mary's father fools her into marrying Samad after taking her to a village near Afghanistan. The scene where she is forced to marry him will have you seething with anger. Mansoor joins a music school in Chicago where he falls in love with Janie. They get married soon. Thats when tragedy strikes in the form of 9/11 and he's arrested as a suspect just because he was having a muslim name.

The scenes of Mansoor's torture are well-shot. He is made to write his feelings on the wall after the torture. Still, he writes "I love USA". But, after a point he realises that they just want him to confess as a terrorist and won't believe whatever he says, even if its the truth. Thats when he changes "I love USA" to "I love USAMA". Its a poignant scene when he says "afterall, USA started it". The writer has indeed got his history right. Mary tries to run away from Samad but she's caught. But she writes a letter to Dave about her plight and as a result the British government rescues her from the hell hole. She takes her father and her husband to court. Thats where the best part of the movie happens. A Maulana(a brilliant cameo by Naserruddin Shah) delivers a speech on how the principles of Islam are twisted by the so-called learned scholars and clerics to their own advantage and spread hatred around. He convincigly disproves the notion of Islam's disapproval of music with some brilliant examples. He also talks on the inequality of women and such matters. In the end, you'll feel like standing up from your seat and clapping. After winning the case, Mary going back to the village to teach the illiterate young girls is a master stroke. She could've chose to go to London and live a luxurious life. But, she wants to set an example. The transformation of Samad back to his old self is also heartening. You will have a smile on your lip when he comes with his modern outfits and a cap turned backwards to sing "allahu akbar" at the local mosque.

The film works at various levels conveying a flurry of messages. Many might not have forgotten the news of Lal Masjid closing all music shops and banning all music education in Pakistan. These kind of retrograde steps are due to some twisted notion of the religious texts. The scene where a tortured Mansoor says that he doesn't know a single word of the arabic writings in his locket tells a story. He says he can read it but doesn't understand the language. And this is the case with many other people. In such a scenario, getting misguided by elder religious clerics who are hell-bent on spreading hatred is relatively easy. Another one important aspect of the film is how the plight of women are filmed. Women are considered unequal to men in Pakistan, most evident from the dialogue of Mary's father that I mentioned above. The Pakistani women are mostly uneducated and even those who are educated are not allowed to cross the boundaries of their house to interact with the soceity. At the end of the movie, Mansoor's lover Janie reads a letter that he wrote while he was in jail. The letter ends with the words "I can't hate all Americans because some of them have done injustice to me. In the same way, please don't hate all muslims because some of them have done have to your country". A superb movie! Must watch! The movie also has a great soundtrack with some chart topping songs like "Bandya" and "alla hu".

Quick 3 Recos
3 more recommended movies
1. V For Vendetta- A political commentary scripted by the Matrix makers, Wachowski brothers. Set in a futuristic England, it tells the story of 'V' who single handedly fights against the totalitarian regime. He wears a Guy Fawkes mask to cover his face that got a bad burn as a result of a Government purging experiment gone awry. Hugo Weaving gives an amazing performance without ever showing his face.

2. Infernal Affairs- Cantonese language film which inspired Martin Scorcese to make 'Departed'. You will see scenes straight out of this one in Departed. It has the same plot. But, somehow I liked this more than Departed.

3. Good Morning, Night- An Italian film directed by Marco Bellochio which chronicles the kidnap and murder of Aldo Moro, the former prime minister of Italy by the terrorist group 'Red brigades'. Watch out for an awesome performance by Maya Sansa, the female member of the group. Also, Roberto Herlitzka playing Aldo Moro evokes a lot of sympathy. Beware, this is a real slow movie.

pic courtesy-muziqpakistan.com

your crusader Praveen

Rama!Kya hai yeh drama?

O Lord! R u hearing this? Last year, the Indian government said there was no one called Lord Rama and so there was no Ramsethu. Karunanidhi even went a level higher and asked whether Rama was a civil engineer to build such a bridge. After such absurd comments, yesterday there was another WTF comment from the attorney representing the Indian Government in this case-'Lord Rama destroyed the Raamsethu himself to prevent the lankans from crossing over to India.' This statement is a clear contradiction of the Government's earlier statement that Rama never existed. How can a man(or God) who never existed build and destroy a bridge? Eventhough, they took back that statement about his existence later, this incident is a clear indicator of how the government is trying to fool the people by distorting history and facts.

The UPA's current renewed interest in the Sethusamudram project is connected with the farcical trust vote that happened two days back. This sudden interest is a favour in return for karunanidhi and his men's votes for the UPA in the trust vote. Just like Shibhu Soren being escorted straight from his prison cell to the ministerial palace. Shame on you filthy politicians. You are India's cancer.

checkout the post I wrote last year about Sethusamudram and Ramasethu

your crusader Praveen