Its advantage Nature

Some of the holiest of places for a number of us were washed away in a freak of a natural disaster in the last few days. Places where people go to ask for forgiveness, blessings, jobs, children, return of a lost loved one, peace for the ones they know will never return, became the cause of their own deaths. These were places which have been with us since the beginning of time itself. They have been known for their powers of healing, of solace. They are supposed to have been established by men of God who wanted to spread peace and spirituality to the rest of us. We who have no time to establish a gradual and consistent relationship with the Almighty. We who want to hop skip and run to "holy places" for instant gratification. 

Kedarnath Aerial view during the floods (courtesy economic times)

Kedarnath befire and after the flash floods (courtesy spiritIndia)

Hemkund Sahib (courtesy globalGujratnews)

The road to Hemkund Sahib washed away (courtesy Babushashi)

These were places which have been "made convenient to access" so that every year an increasing number of "devotees" can come and worship their respective Gods. This has been achieved with the help of a number of facilitators like builders, religious trusts, local residents who are there just so that we all have food to eat and places to stay when we go there in thousands everyday. The state governments provide all possible support to these good Samaritans because its a democracy and their motto is "of the people, by the people, for the people". 

Does this look like a mountain side city fabric ???? (courtesy hindustantimes)

Were these places chosen originally for their central location and ease of access? No. Were these places suitable for such large scale and rampant "development" (for the lack of a polite word to express my true inner feelings) ? No. In fact, I do have to use the word which is appropriate. Rape. We, as citizens and as  governments,  have raped these places of all the dignity and respect they deserve and got at a certain point in history.

I believe Nature and not Shiva was the God there. Nature was the one we should have worshiped. It was the very ecology of these places that provided peace and solace to us. We sensed spiritual presence from the purity of air and water there. 

 

Giant Shiva statue in Rishikesh flooded (courtesy ibnlive network) (for the life of me  I'm unable to move this to the center)

It is very insensitive and politically incorrect for me to say this, but when I first heard of the disaster, I had this really strange sort of a happy feeling which you get when you finally get revenge. I am very pained and sad to see the loss of human life in this tragedy. But, if this is how we measure the enormity of a disaster, then all those departed souls served their purpose by grabbing us by our eyeballs. Nature used the only tool or voice it had to express its rage over its mindless exploitation. I salute the force and strength of this voice and pray that it be heard.

A few more questions trouble me. Where are the numerous "guardians" of Hinduism now? Where are the organisations and pundits who proclaim it holy and auspicious when a marble statue "drinks milk" or "cries" ? Why don't they find a religious interpretation to this destruction and say that this is God's way of telling us that we be more sensitive to our mountains and rivers and trees? How do they condone wasting several crores worth of oil and milk as ways of veneration on one side and not derive a meaning from this HUGE catastrophic event on the other? How can we, as a historically educated and developed civilization, still keep faith in such organisations and keep pumping our hard earned money into them? how can we give them the right to be our spokesperson? 

I've done so earlier to as many people as I can and want to again use this blog as a medium to urge people to not support these pseudo-spiritual organizations. Please do not use helicopters to go to Vaishno-Devi. You never know the din of the chopper might trigger a landslide.  Please visit these sensitive places of worship as sensitive and intelligent human beings and not like sheep with a herd-mentality. God has created us to be "us". Let's be.