Customised Gods and Traditions

One has to come out of the cocoon one day … 

I feel degeneration of human and moral values arises out of our utter selfishness and self-serving trait. We justify our acts by employing logic which is a handy tool to justify everything, at least apparently. We even put the garb of holiness, sacred-rituals to justify our unnatural and immoral acts. One such example I found in our Hindu society. In Vedic times when land and cattle were the prize possessions, our learned ancestors, (this is no sarcasm, in fact they were. I bow before them in reverence, not because of any religious sentiment but because of their wisdom) were aware of the closeness of composition of milk of human beings and cow. They wanted milk of the cow for themselves but at the same time were also aware that this act of theirs would deprive the calf, its natural, moral and legitimate right over the milk of its mother; so they designed a sacred relationship with the cow – they declared cow as their own ‘mother’, thereby circumventing the moral dilemma. We worshipped her through the ages and then suddenly discarded, only to feed and treat her as ritual, more often at the directions of pundits or jyotishis to ward of ill Grih/Nakshatras or for future prosperity or welfare of our own.

In the present era, irrespective of religious affiliations, people who could make donkeys as their father are very ‘successful’ in every walk of their life. Hindi idiom, ‘Gadhe ko baap banana’ gained currency because of this trait.

Recently there was a news that a son cremated a dog as his ‘father’ and ‘solemnly’ performed the ‘last rites’ to claim insurance money whereas his biological father was very much alive and living abroad. … 

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-28/india/29712607_1_cremation-ground-death-certificate-remand

“Man fakes death of NRI father for insurance money

Jatin Takkar, TNN Jun 28, 2011, 06.19am IST

KURUKSHETRA: Love for moolah can drive one to invent bizarre ways to acquire it. A Delhi resident was arrested here on Sunday for faking the death of his NRI father to claim Rs 50 lakh insurance money. To make the death look real, the son cremated a dog at the cremation ground in Pehowa in this district and also performed 'last rites'.

The accused, identified as Chetan Oberoi, a resident of Vikaspuri in Delhi, planned this disgraceful act at Pehowa in June last year, with the help of six other persons, police said. The matter came to light when investigating officer of an America-based insurance company Phool Singh approached Pehowa police for confirmation of details.

Subsequently, police investigated the matter and then the shocking incident came to the fore. A team of Pehowa police arrested Chetan from his apartment in the Capital on help of a priest, Ram Lal, at the Pehowa cremation ground. The last rites after the so-called death were performed by priests Hemant and Roshan Lal, who also helped perform the rituals of 'pind daan' of Janakraj. Pehowa-resident Satpal Singh signed as witness in this fake death episode, police said. Meanwhile, a case has been registered with Pehowa police station on January 23 against Chetan and six others for making a forged death certificate.”

We see normally the ‘deeply religious’ people visiting temples, mosques etc., i.e. their respective places of worship with reverence but routinely doing everything immoral, unethical, unnatural; indulging in activities which are forbidden in their religion, rather in every religion and law of the land. But they do such things openly, clandestinely, brazenly and with impunity thinking that no one is watching them!!! …

They have customized presence and existence of God according to their own convenience.

Quo Vadis?

-BBC-India lost $462bn in illegal capital flows, says report: "India has lost more than $460bn since Independence because of companies and the rich illegally funnelling their wealth overseas, a new report says.", "The illegal flight of capital through tax evasion, crime and corruption had widened inequality in India, it said."

-Unholy nexus breeding unauthorised colonies: "The history of unauthorised colonies, which otherwise spell weak structures, overlooked building by-laws, huge corruption and hapless people, is a long one in the capital. And it is the nexus between the police, politician and civic agency officials, which refuses to be broken." – Asian age

-Alphabet soup: "as long as the political will to do so is missing — and using the CBI to file and withdraw cases is merely one of the perks of being in power at the Centre — closure will elude us when dealing with high-profile accusations of corruption." – Indian Express

-India’s image abroad: "misappropriation of funds and wasteful expenditure in organising the CWG is a reflection of how the virus of corruption has spread in our political and bureaucratic system and how politicians and bureaucrats work hand-in-glove in robbing taxpayers of their money."

-More power to the people: "The Lokpal Bill offers fresh hope for citizens fighting corruption in high places. Even the office of the Prime Minister is not exempted from its purview. But will political parties pass the Bill?"," the office of the Lokpal, when it is set up, should be made powerful enough to deal with corruption in high places.", "there is a need to set up independent institutions like the Lokpal with the requisite powers to investigate and prosecute politicians and corrupt bureaucrats. At present, the Central Vigilance Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation and other bodies do not have that kind of powers. They have also lost credibility in the public eye. Existing institutions like the CVC are meant for officials only while the CBI is seen as a handmaiden of the ruling Government."

-Gujarat whistleblower hassled for exposing scam: "A whistleblower, who after implicating his seniors in a bogus billing scam, got his dying declaration video graphed"

……seems endless…..no respite from such items from our daily soup of bitterness. Where are we going? How long shall we endure this? With each passing day this quagmire of corruption and despotism widens.

We are living in an age of universal deceit, religious fanaticism, bigotry, greed and corruption with cannibalistic trait growing day by day.

Corruption has permeated deeply in our society as a result of unholy nexus between bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time.

There is no way out other than to stand up and strive to stop this menace to carve a better world for the posterity otherwise coming generations will not forgive us for the mess we have created for them.

The silver lining, yes the silver lining – there is no dearth of nice people around us who have lived and still have a longing to live a principled life against all odds. I was fortunate enough to share certain amount of time and space with them. To begin with - I salute Sh.Chander Bhan Arora whom I consider an epitome of virtues. He had been my senior colleague in Railways and we were together for nearly seventeen years from 1978 to 1995. He was true, absolutely faithful to his assigned duties, never demanding or wanting anything other than his due. Whatever he got in life, he earned it. He was a sportsman of distinction – a weightlifter – who represented Northern Railway and Indian Railways several times. But he was so humble that he used to blush when he was asked to recount his achievements in the field. Certainly these qualities make him larger than life figure, difficult to emulate… but a strong guiding force, a living example, a beacon … illuminating the path ahead…………