We don’t need more temples
Our god resides within.
We don’t need any more temples. We don’t need our faith to be bought and sold in the market. We don’t need to get ensnared by fear
We don’t need any more temples. We don’t need any more idols. We don’t need any more gods or an old one put on the altar. The lamps that are being lit at his feet are creating shadows where hatred would breed fostering more division.
When I talk to people across caste and creed, I see their needs creeping up their bellies and choking their throats. We need a country where people do not go to bed hungry. We need a country where children are provided with the right conditions that help them blossom to their full potential.
On my train to Varanasi this time, I met five children — four girls and a boy. The eldest, nine; the youngest, four. They live on the streets, earning coins through gymnastic tricks. “My granny taught me to bend like that. If I can’t do it, she beats me,” chirps the youngest girl. “Will you give me some water?” she asks, extending her begging bowl. I tried to control my tears as I poured the water, watching her hastily gulp it down.
I wondered, why aren’t their parents taught about birth control? The eldest boy seems responsible for all the girls. Can he protect them from lustful gazes as they bend and what about those abusers who will grab them forcefully? Where is the god who will protect these children, teach them boundaries, and empower them with an authentic voice and a strong body?
No, we don’t need more temples, more idols to worship. We don’t need to resurrect the carcass of the past.
If you revere the past, bring back the education system of this land. Bring back the wisdom and the transmission system that taught us about the connection between us mere mortals and the cosmos and stars. Clear the colonial cobwebs from our eyes and help us remember; that this is the land of seers and shrutidhars. We don’t need a show of gods and goddesses outside; when we consecrate the body temple where divine consciousness resides, we can serve the divine within us and become an instrument for the divine. We don’t need the garb of religion for that.
Honestly, I am scared. I have noticed unprocessed hate and rage brewing and otherwise well-intentioned people ready to lash out at another because their faith has a label different from theirs. Was the ethos of this land this extremist since the beginning of time? Despite the history of separation, riots, wounds, chaos, and partition, my country has also celebrated diversity forever. My country knows the world is a family. We know how to include another in love and compassion.
We don’t need more temples. We need clean food, clean air, clean water and an abundance of resources for all. I want streets filled with celebration when farmers get their dues. I want to celebrate when colors aren’t about identifying differences between human beings. I want to celebrate when all adults are literate and empowered to make a respectable living for themselves, and their families, and contribute meaningfully to their community.
We don’t need any more temples. When we consecrate our body, we can connect to the creator within the heart, the womb, and the brain. We don’t need religion for that. We don’t need a God to create more division. With the utmost respect to everyone’s faith, for me, only that is divine which unites humanity and doesn’t create more separation.
Do we really need to spend crores and create yet another temple to revere that divine force within all of us?
