For wrong reasons, godmen seem to be in the news. We wonder who these people are and what forces them to frantically follow these self-styled godmenIJ Why do so many people believe in these dubious men and women to the extent that they are even willing to die for themIJ I think the more prudent question to ask is not why so many Indians
believe in these men, but why lakhs of people of this country feel the need to believe in themIJ
With more money and more property at stake, more people have become God-fearing, so much so that our politicians, celebrities and players become devotees of these god men. Some god men have temples in name of some Hindu god but inside the temple it’s the images of self styled god man who is actually worshipped.
These days, gods seem to be in news for all the wrong reasons. From financial fraud to rape and even outright murder, their self-appointed leaders seem to be grabbing national attention on a fairly regular basis. Those of us who don’t subscribe to this kind of blind, raging faith find the phenomenon baffling. We wonder just who these people areIJ And what is forcing them to fanatically follow these god men, when common sense and logic should command them to do the exact oppositeIJ
Mankind’s weakness to believe in a god or higher power is well known. With society being in constant change in last few decades due to socio economical factors, the people have become mentally weak and capacity to reason has deteriorated further, then they go to god man because no god listens nor give verbal advice or councelling or blessing to its devotees. The women folks fall victims to these god men and get sexually exploited. All these god men are great psychologist and they understand the hidden psychic of persons coming to them for blessings.
Then the devotees develop blind faith once he or she finds solace in the worlds of the Baba.
It’s not difficult to understand why, India has had a long history of gurus or spiritual guides – the learned masters who helped people attain higher. Mostly due to people’s ignorance and low IQ, they were exploited by these Baba-Fakirs. But one fails to understand why so many well educated and intellectuals are also devotees of these godmanIJ Big film stars and Bharat Ratnas are also strong believers of these god men, whyIJ Some god men have been exposed but others remain protected because of money and political power. There are three types of god men in India, Class I, Class II and Class III. Mostly those in third category and very few from second get exposed.
These god men are encouraged in the beginning and the administration keeps quite. Be in Odisha with Sura Baba and Sarathi Baba, the administration and political party were aware of these organizations but never tried to stop it. In Odisha there are more numbers of temples in Government land than parks! All these Babas have been exposed by ladies not by CBI or Police. Why one should wait so long for the Babas or god men to become so powerful with millions of followers and super richIJ All these years what our Vigilance or Tax department were doingIJ There are two alternatives-let it continue and public should go to court and fight their own case or society should stop these nuscence. Politicians are interested in vote banks. Where
vote is there their support is. Wearing saffron cloths, one MP inaugurated a slaughter house in Odisha! They can go to any extent to glorify their image and catch votes. Ram Rahim Baba’s activities started long back when Congress was in power. Some renowned Hindi film stars also acted in his block buster films, now they have gone into hidings.
This cocktail of deep dissatisfaction and blind faith, however, turns truly noxious when you mix politics in it. God men wooing gullible individuals wouldn’t be much of a problem if politicians didn’t use them to catch or influence voters.
When the two mix, things get messy and explosive, and that is why we need to constantly question this unholy nexus, because faithless opportunists present as big a threat to a thriving democracy as fraudulent prophets.
(The writer is former Joint Director, SAIl and lives in Bhubaneswar)