https://t.co/Di3EN2rYP3
Only
Money
Raj Kumar Baral
I could
never understand the meaning of God nor could I be assured on His existence.
When I was a student or as a teacher I have heard a lot about Him, sometimes as
the Creator of the entire universe who with the decrees like, "let there
be light, hill, oceans . . .", (in Christianity) could create anything of
His desire and as the Nurturer and Destroyer at other times in different guises
like Vishnu and Mahesh in Hindu mythology. Again, declaration of His 'death', (though
metaphorically, which I learnt later) had baffled me seriously in those early
days as a novice theory learner.
My
understanding about gods, if they really do exist is— they transcend the
worldly things, have transcendental values and they can’t be evaluated in terms
of any material things. But I find my understanding gone ashtray when I go or
happen to reach the vicinity of temples and religious shrines like
Pashupatinath or Daksinkali, where I am found rounded and surrounded by some
shopkeepers who want to sell their pooja
samagri (materials for worshipping) by hook or crook. In observation, almost
every time I see the same amount of materials; flowers, coconut, leaves of
flower etc. in their plates but there is a fierce competition among themselves
in selling even by lessening the price. The shop-surrounding looks like a place
for perfect competition. To attract the
people/pilgrims (?) like me towards their shop (not others), they heartily ask
to wash hands with the water offered by them. Such incidents instigate multiple
questions: what is the actual price of those materials for worshipping? Do
they, in fact, have any price? Why is there competition in lessening the price
while selling their worshiping materials? More seriously, do Gods themselves
have prices? Do expensive worshipping materials make Gods happier than the
cheaper one? I don’t have answers of these questions till date.
This is
not the only incident that baffles me. The advertising agencies too are found
busy in reifying religion and deities being motivated by economic boon and
social recognition. Not only an object but the idea of spirituality itself
becomes a commodity when it is valued vis-a-vis exchange value or sign-exchange
value. Similarly, 'images' of deities have been tattooed on arms and sold on
t-shirts, shoes and billboards.
In 2012, one of the California-based
multinational companies, for example, used icon of Lord Buddha on the shoes,
the perishable object, perhaps to accomplish the vested interest. The incident
outraged the Tibetan and the Buddhist community since the company used the
images for promoting a range of shoes with the Lord Buddha's images. Tibetans and Bhutanese
Buddhists have written to the company, Icon Shoes, to express their disgust.
They have flooded the company's Facebook page with protest notes.
The International Buddhist Community had to issue a
note addressing to the concerned business houses, designers and production
companies immediately stop using any type of Buddhist images on any of their
goods. The community requested the concerned companies to pull-out all existing
catalogs from their retailers or online shops and stop selling such goods which
is against the sentiments of all Buddhist around the world. Additionally, they
also informed that they wanted any companies to repeat such a disrespectful act.
Similarly,
the image of Jesus Christ has been used to influence the individuals to wine culture.
The myth of Christianity— Jesus mixed water and fire to make the wine, has been
misused to promote the culture of alcoholism. The board (in the picture) shows
Jesus holding a can of Budweiser between the
phrases, "King Of Jews" and "King Of Beers which is
ultimately backing the same vested interest.
Such incident, that had taken place in the early year of 21 st century in Baltimore, Maryland, created havoc and that was eventually defaced with white paint after complaints from a local radio station, but similar incident recurred after few years as a propagandists' business formula.
Such incident, that had taken place in the early year of 21 st century in Baltimore, Maryland, created havoc and that was eventually defaced with white paint after complaints from a local radio station, but similar incident recurred after few years as a propagandists' business formula.
In shops
around Kathmandu, one can see jumble of the religious things like the book of Veda, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Swasthani, the statue of the gods and
goddesses and the everyday necessities together. During Tihar festival at
Lagankhel area, even I had seen the posters of deities in frame just under the
pieces of recently killed buffalo or pig—both for the same purpose, i.e,
selling.
In all
these instances mentioned above, what seems dominating is the influence of growing
capitalism that has corrupted human society. What satisfies the modern people
is the materialistic gain in the quickest even at the cost of selling the gods
and spiritualism. Using icons of deities, tattooing them and printing them or competing
for selling the worshiping materials or selling their images as other goods of
everyday needs; or visiting their shrines contrary to their philosophy with some
declaration for donation have eventually promoting the same selfish agenda of
backing capitalism through consumerism. Therefore, now I conclude, every other
thing has become pale and fragile under the influence of capitalistic ideology.
Baral
teaches at the Central Department of English, TU, Kirtipur
