India is a land of billion gods, but trillion godmen. Every nook and corner, there is a god and then there are a godman convincing or hypnotizing people about god. As an individual, I do not have an issue with God, but I definitely criticize Godman.
It’s one thing to believe in God, but another to believe in Godmen. Over the centuries, the country has progressed in science and technology. What has remained over the generations is to pass a belief in Godmen. One family to another. They pass the belief in Godmen like they are the god. They are not.
Our society might progress, but Godmen has been pulling that society many years back. There are many types of Godmen. Many come and go. Every year, in every city, there will be a new Godman. And every Godman will have a set of following. Many of them even have an international following. International followers make them even more deceiving than they look.
Problems with Godmen
There is a multitude of issues with Godmen. They use psychological tricks to convince people. People believe these Godmen know something different and they can solve their life issues. Some magic tricks here, some magic tricks there. Some spiritual lessons, some philosophical lessons.
One major difference between Godmen and saints is that Godmen do not consider service to people or society as their duty, but saints considered that. The only way to Godliness is through serving people selflessly.
Godmen in India are the major culprit to keep blind beliefs and social taboos alive. They continue to spread religion in the name of spirituality, keeping people slaves to religion. Whether one should follow the religion or not, is an individual choice. But one must examine the choice. Do not follow the godman’s advice when it comes to religion. Believe in God, but not in Godman. That’s one way to look at things.
Another issue with Godmen is that they collect a huge amount of donations and use them for building temples where they become God. Rarely, there has been the usage of such donations towards the improvement of society. When society is constantly struggling with a plethora of problems, it is every individual’s responsibility to help those in need. Godmen have personal agendas.
Belief in God
Godmen have one purpose, they pretend to spread the belief of God. The sad part is that the followers don’t understand that they don’t need a messenger of God to believe in God. Belief in God is a personal choice. How do you believe, and why do you believe? None can interfere with this belief. Many people do not even question their regular thoughts.
The problem with Godmen telling about God is that they create a blind belief about many things. All those magic tricks they show are part of the game to trick people into believing that Godmen possess some kind of special skill.
How many people question their belief in God? Very few. Most people do not even want to ask where is God if God exists? A naive question. How do you challenge a belief that has been passed from generation to generation? Of course, it’s hard. What is God? Where is God? Who is God? All those questions can lead to a rabbit hole. Most people don’t want to question that. They will prefer to live in ignorance than find out the truth. Most people want to live a good life, but don’t know how to.
Forget about questioning the belief, but can we not ask if God exists, why we are going through suffering?
Be Kind
Choose your beliefs wisely, believe in God. But also question every belief. Do not be a follower. Don’t be part of the herd. In the world, every individual is copying someone else. It’s always easy to copy or follow. But don’t. Be an individual. Be a trendsetter. This also means questioning your beliefs. If you’ve to choose, choose God over Godmen.
In the world, when we follow science in every possible way, there is no need to increase blind belief by following Godmen. In my book, Blind Alley, some of the short stories cover how blind beliefs are prevalent in small towns of India. You can also buy this book here.