Faith and sex are tricky things. At a distant point in the history of India, Indians could handle both with ease, confidence, and even panache. Is it not the same country that gave the world the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Kama Sutra?
Alas, in the hodgepodge,
blaring, impatient, poor, grimy and confused India of today, the vast majority
of people have lost their sense of faith, sex and much else.
Now, much of what we
call faith exists in the form of archaic or (seemingly) incomprehensible
rituals that the countless multitudes of this country “practice.” And the
practice is largely orchestrated by semi-proficient pundits, maulvis, gurus…
And as for sex, the
less said the better. It is visible either through a ballooning of the
population or the (often) crass pelvic thrusts of a Bollywood gone bonkers.
When the two forces
are mixed—faith and sex—what you get is an explosion that shatters the fragile
fulcrum of both. That is what happened in the recent case of Asaram Bapu and
the allegations of sexual excesses on the erstwhile revered guru.
In the ancient times,
the golden age of true rishis, munis and siddhas, people could see, emulate and
worship their examples. Those gurus were able to live their entire lives in
sattva and tapas. Sometimes, they also showed weaknesses. But they either chose
to atone for their follies and sins on their own, or they were punished
adequately through divine interventions and other means. The ultimate faith of people
in the ability of the human form to achieve the highest ideals of godliness was
finally restored.
Today, you have the
courts and the media, and the constant clamor of the masses to punish the
perverts, the wayward gurus who are taking undue advantage of people’s “blind”
faith.
So, while the people’s
faith in earlier times was based on exemplary lives, divine conduct and
compassion of the highest order, these days the faith hangs precariously from a
flimsy thread of haze that extends far into the forgotten centuries.
In matters of sex, we
seem to be faring even worse. For most Indians it is a dirty word associated
with taboo, decadence and, of course, population. They may secretly crave for
it and quietly approve of the titillation that Bollywood and the media & advertising
industries afford them, but they remain unaware of their own glorious past and its
interconnectedness with everything divine. They have allowed it to become an
instrument of shame rather than a means of higher aspirations and fulfillment.
With the current
miasma of abysmal ignorance, gut-wrenching poverty and horrendous corruption, it
is difficult to imagine how one could restore India to the sexual, spiritual and
abundant well-being of the past. Of the heritage and culture we so often quote
in the media but of which we happily continue to remain neglectful…
Thankfully, there are
a few, too few I would say than we need, who are taking the pains to bring the
lost sense of wholeness, true faith and balance to our lives—through studies of
the ancient Indian texts and practices, through Yoga, through the power of Chakras
enshrined in the human body, through the limitless potential of the mind.
Ironically, more research and work in these areas is happening in the Western
world. So, while the majority of Indians are busy aping the worst of West, a
few souls in that very West are dedicating their lives to reclaiming the best
of our magnificent past.
What can we do to
minimize our reliance on fake gurus for our intake of faith? How can we
persuade ourselves and others to take the long and arduous road to seeking a
true guru rather than fall prey to the get-blessed-quick lure? And even if we
don’t find a real guru, why can’t we be our own guru?
