I remember when I was little I used to go to temples, see all the deities one by one, lay down my prayers, and put one tiny shiny coin of 50ps in those huge belly-sized donation boxes royally placed in front of each one of them.. When I look back, I can clearly comprehend the reason why I used to do that.. It was perfectly clear in my head, and I had a completely logical explanation which made absolute sense then.. I used to think those were piggy banks of each god and that all of us supplicants who submitted our grievances were "supposed to" (u know like that was mandatory) bribe them with a little something if we were to be granted a favourable outcome for our requests/complaints/wishes... There were times when I used to run short of coins by the time I reached the last deity, n I would promptly append my prayer request with, “Sorry, next time I’ll make sure I’ve even valued coins to give everyone” or “Please collect your share from Ganesha, OK?” (Since Ganesha never failed to get his share from my kitty owing to his placement in temples).. To think that all this hokum made perfect sense to me then is quite a wonder to me now.. I can only describe it as the naivety of an 8 year old.. But the fact that this kind of appeasement seems quite logical to many ('many' would be an understatement) fully-grown adults makes me again wonder, in fact leaves me baffled.. Is it because they are as gullible as a little child or is it plain stupidity ...N sadly I can only go with the latter now that I have a perfectly rational brain !!
I wish I could get into these people's heads and rack their brains a little to find the answer to why in the world they would not only think but also believe with complete conviction that the so-called gods (whose existence n the practice of putting faith in them is again debatable) would actually shower them with blessings if they pour them with gold, silver or pieces of paper.. I totally get it when people donate into charity boxes of religious institutions thinking the goodness would be returned somehow, somewhere, sometime in their lifeline.. But splurging your hard earned money on these so called exorbitant "offerings" does not make any sense to me on any levels of logic that I'm capable of thinking.... Gods, if u r somewhere or anywhere around I only have one thing to ask of u.. save these block heads from shelling out their money on things that u guys r actually least bothered about.. Enlighten those dim-witted brains not to expect your philanthropic wand to cast magic over their lives, just because they just dropped off a sack full of bankrolls in front of your clay|stone|silver or gold statue in some temple, church, or even worse to make some gold and silk 'veil' to cover your mosque! I guess it is very evident that someone's behaviour irked me that I ended up puking all this.. Well, there is nothing more pathetic than such people parading right in front of u, n 'flaunting' with pride their so called bribery list and expecting u not to mutter under your breath ‘moron’! Our people are so eager to pour money on so many antics to be on the good books of these benevolent gods - bonsai-sized gold n silver idol replicas as gifts, jewelry for the goddesses, beautification of idols inside temples n churches, 'Kiswah', n a gazillion other religious practices, and even building new palatial abodes for the so-called almighties, in a world that is supposed to be home to the 20,000 odd children who die due to poverty every single day! Have heard the adage that helping hands are holier than praying lips.. n we live in a world where people are under the delusion that bribing hands are the holiest!
*P.S. : If the note has hurt any briber's religious sentiments, it is entirely intentional !!
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