Govinda Govinda
Only He can save now. Govinda, Sharanaangadi!!
2 days back, this line screamed on all Indian news portals. "Amitabh Bachchan to offer jewels worth Rs 100 million at Tirupathi" - or something similar. Rs.100 million?! It took me a little while to count all the zeroes in that number. A 100 million questions came into my mind.
To what extent should we really take devotion to?And many more. To me, it sounds like utter extravagance that is needless. A 100 million could do so much to the society. I understand that Amitabh was battling for life (or did he really? media hype?) and was indebted to God for having brought him back to good health. I like him immensely as an actor and also wish him well. Nevertheless, he could have donated the same amount in the name of The Lord to so many needy organizations. Many of these organizations find it difficult even to obtain funding for daily functioning. He could have donated the same money to so many old age homes where the elderly population of India lives because their children cannot take care of them. He is aged 63, he is also old. He could have thought a little about the plight of the many less fortunate old people living a sad lonely life, more so without their choice.
What is a better way to exhibit devotion?
What are the alternatives to such extravagance that serve no purpose other than creating a headline?
I vehemently oppose any such donations. Do good for your fellow human beings. Provide for the less privileged. True devotion lies there. His Godliness resides in one and all of us. Serving the less privileged means serving Him. And being able to do that is a deed of the highest order.
posted by Rubic_Cube @ 1/18/2006 10:04:00 AM
9 Comments:
The people who make donations to religious centres are in billions (may include yourself, may well be as little as that Re 1 coin put into the aarathi plate). These institutions thrive on donations, not just on faith. Faith is in the donor for the institution to make good use of it. So maybe Amithabh trusts the institution (TTD in this case) to make good use of the donation for the faith he has. "Do good for your fellow human beings", very preachy, nobody has the right to decide what is good for another human being, except for self. "What is good" is related only to self not somebody else.
anon. thanks for your thoughts. donating in cash is fine. but in the form of jewels? how do u foresee using those in the good work that these institutions do?
Good question with an answer in itself. The answer becomes available on posing the question to your earlier statement "He could have donated the same money to so many old age homes where the elderly population of India lives because their children cannot take care of them." How would he if all that was jewels and the old age home was ready to accept the money as jewels itself :-)
And then do what? Use those as a security against more liquid resource called money? KISS, Dude! Keep It Simple. In olden times, when there was no money, these objects were money. Not anymore. Imagine gifting a diamond studded piece to the orphanage when they actually need money OR something more relevant like books, clothes etc!
I partly agree. He should donate for charity. But at same time, I feel TTD is doing an excellent job with respect to its funds. So many schools and hospitals for the needy!
I dont want it to go to the parliament, so that they discuss whether saurav ganguly should be in the team or not!
RC
I agree with you. If he has got the money to donate and help others, I think GOD would have been more happy to see him help the needy and poor with what they need rather than decorating his own idol with a set of diamond jewellery. TTD might be doing a good job of charities. But honestly speaking, I don't think the staggering 100 millions worth of jewels is going to do any good for the people of this earth other than seeing your GOD decorated with some stunning jewellery - Wallpaper material !!!
If the offering was indeed made in exchange for ‘better’ health – then this devotion does seem to have been stretched a bit.
May God bless Amitabh (for whom I have fought my father many a time!) - but if only wealth were a way out of our self-created karmic-stream – then the wealthiest would be the healthiest. Jab jab jo jo hona hai, tab tab so so hota hai ....
Of what use is a meager Rs 100 million in ornaments anyway, to the already wealthiest, perfect, complete Lord Venkateshwara – who needs nothing. All this was and is His anyway. Tera Tujhko arpan kya lage mera) ...
If an offering is made without the sense of ‘doer-ship’, even a leaf, a flower, fruit or water would be accepted by the Lord (Bhagavad Gita)
On a different note:
True devotion is surrendering oneself unreservedly to that Higher Power, in complete faith and by concentration. What remains afterwards? In place of the original ‘ego’-I, this perfect self-surrender leaves a residuum of God in which the transient ego-I is lost. This is highest form of devotion (para-bhakti).
Anon:
No action is absolutely ’good’ or absolutely ‘bad’ for action itself is in a ‘relative’ world, not in the absolute. Action is a but relative manifestation of REALITY. having said that, from an absolute standpoint, action performed without the sense of doership is GOOD - for it is untainted and unaffected by ego, fate or freewill.
On the second note, it would be highly discomforting to think that institutions thrive on donations or faith. Donations or not, faith or not, the Supreme will manifest to sustain any righteous institution (including the world).
Good. He could have done something different. For one
I could mention compensating Spastic Society,
ostensibly to help whose fund raising effort, he
organised the Miss Universe or Miss World show at
Bangalore some years ago, and the cheque he eventually
gave after months of dodging, bounced!
Donating money or expensive gifts to Gods, and the
simplistic notion that motivates it - the bigger the
better - stems from man's assumptiion that since he is
corrupt, so is God, and that showering such largesse
makes God condon him! This con game suits all
including, in particular the social parasites who go
under the lable of priests. In the principle of Karma
that is the bed rock of Hinduism, neither a covert
corrupt practice which "prayashitha" is , nor, an
overt corrupt
practice which indulging in showering lucre on God,
have any place, really.
God is beyond feeling, beyond emotions, because really
God is a principle. The only way we can respect Him is
to be true to ourselves.
Persevere in your effort.
- Narasimhan Uncle
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