God Men or Businessmen?

India, the land of spiritualism has evolved since centuries and considered a great religious hub in Asia.  Countless spiritual leaders of India are worshiped and acknowledged by religiously inclined people from all parts of the world. Their devotees hail from all seven continents of the world. Most of these spiritual leaders have taken Indian religious beliefs and culture to a golden summit which barely other could ever reach.
Now there is another side of the coin as well. Many of the religious leaders of India are blamed for turning spirituality into a profitable business. The sacredness of spirituality has been boiled down to money making ventures which are further encouraged by industrialists, politicians and ministers. Evidently the Gurus not only earn huge profits from this business, they acquire enormous power to alter the economical, social and political situations of the country. Once upon a time India was inseparable from spirituality and nowadays it is spirituality and business means the same!

THE VERY FIRST QUESTION THAT COMES INTO THE MIND IS THE CAUSE OF SPIRITUALISM TURNING INTO BUSINESS?
Almost every Indian citizen, irrespective of their cast, creed, religion or social status, is somehow associated with spiritualism, especially the spiritual leaders. They bear blind faith about their religious masters and they can do anything and everything in order to obey the words of their gurus. As a matter of fact Guru ism has not only infected the rural parts of the country but also the urban cults who are blessed with best education. In spite of being educated countless people give up their rationality and become submissive in front of their spiritual gurus.  It is the cravings for spiritual enlightenment that drive them towards the guru culture.
 In order to incorporate spirituality in business, Gurus often exploit the religious beliefs and superstitions of the masses.

 In the name of spiritualism, wide varieties of spiritual products are sold to the commoners. These products are quite pricey and act as a great source of income for the gurus. Spiritual magazines, books, incense sticks, oils, food supplements and medicines are the most popular merchandise available at almost all spiritual hubs. Stores are located at almost all major cities and the products sell really well owing to the impressive fan following of this spiritual leader. Even in some cases some Gurus were involved in illegal activities such as human trafficking. Every now and then we can hear such news.
Most of the gurus run their business through trusts so that their names are not directly associated with the matter. Apart from selling various spiritual products, they earn hefty revenues in form of donation. Charities come from the millionaires across the globe; not to mention the donations from common people of India. As a matter of astonishment, Indians who are already poverty-stricken and dispossessed do not fall back when it comes to contributing for a religious cause.  Indeed the small donations sum up to a large amount in consequence of surplus population in the country.
Many Indian spiritual leaders are very much in limelight these days. In fact both media and masses have given them adequate coverage and worldwide publicity. Their cult of devotees includes politicians, scientists and business men. But lately they have been involved in fatal scandals although their aura remained unharmed owing to the spiritual prejudice of Indians. Some had been accused on murder charges and  sex scandals.
It is high time that Indians become conscious about the dark sides of their spiritual leaders and stop them from exploiting their religious beliefs and values. It will mark an end for spiritualism as business.
Ending with a thought that there is both good and evil everywhere and so there are both spiritual leaders who do have divine powers and love for their followers and then there are spiritual robbers.God has given us the power and strength to judge and follow what and where wright is.
( NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE )

Indian politics - correction religion politics.

Religion plays an important role in Indian Politics. They co-exists in India. Hindu nationalism, Muslim “vote banks”, anti-Christian violence, caste rivalry — Indian politics has more than enough interfaith tension of  all kinds to play as  “religion cards” during elections. 
All parties refer to them as socialist parties but are they?
Where does Communalism come then as a tool for electoral gains? Communalism is not actually a conflict between two religions but between the interests of two or more communities. It is using religious identity for political mobilisation. That is where religion becomes a tool. Religion is not a fundamental cause, religion per se does not cause any problem. Nobody is fighting whether Islam is right or Christianity is right or Hinduism is right. The main point is what the government does for Muslims, for Christians,for sikhs, for Hindus… The BJP bases its whole politics around accusations that Congress uses Muslims as vote banks and inclines towards them, does a lot of favours for them. ‘The Muslims vote for Congress and they claim we are against vote bank politics,’. But the BJP itself is basing its politics on the Hindu vote bank.

India is not a nation in the classical sense as in some countries which are based on  language and culture. But India is a bewilderingly diverse country and we have made it one nation. Declaring it a nation was easy, but in the process of nation-building, all these forces have come into play. Whatever development takes place is not based on justice. It is highly skewed. Some religious communities get much more than others, some castes or regions get much more than others. That is why this question of identity has become so important. Those who are left out use their identity to mobilise their people. Similarly, those who are privileged see a threat when other communities mobilise, so they also have to use their identity to ward off this. This is the interplay of religion and politics.
Mixing of religion with politics is dangerous because religious attitude is diametrically opposed to democratic feelings. Religion encourages fanaticism and suspends our reasoning power and we repose full faith in leaders. So if we want to consolidate democracy give firm foundations to it and make its working successful, it is necessary that the people should keep religion apart from politics.By keeping them independent of each other, we can retain secular democratic set-up. 
Finally, it can be admitted to all that politicians and political parties should be free from vitiated politics, free from religion vote banking. They should possess constructive view in respect of the masses,the states and our nation as in whole

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Invisible people- Homeless on the streets.

My article will be short, but important to those sensitive to the human condition. It is about our basic humanity and responsibility to respect our fellow humans. It is about the problem of the street people we see every day in any big city. How do we look at these nameless people? What do we do when they importune us for money? How much respect or conversation or eye contact do we have with them? What do we think about them?  
Every person has a story about how/why they came to be where they are. No one wants to be homeless, no one deserves to be in that situation. At the very least, as human beings, homeless individuals are deserving of our respect. It could be any one of us that finds themselves in their shoes one day.
When we see people who are homeless, we often make assumptions. Maybe we assume they’re addicts or mentally ill or belonging to begging mafia. And some of them are.But homeless people rarely get an opportunity to tell their life stories or explain how they ended up in the situations they’re in.
As a human being, we have a responsibility to treat every such person we encounter with dignity and respect. I feel what they truly desire, is respect. Yes, like all of us, they need food, warmth, safety and companionship, even love and compassion if it comes their way, but it is the respect of their fellow human that is most important and the easiest and minimum what we can give without hesitation.
I would like to share one  experience I have had once outside a doctor's clinic where I saw this guy siting on the stairs, rusty look, torn clothes, obviously seemed like a begger or a homeless,he was not asking for anything but only steering at the steps deep buried in his thoughts. He looked at me without any expression,without any demand but there was something that I felt right away and that thing was sadness, loneliness, lack of smile, lifeless life. I can go on and on but I like to give it one word it was DARK. So I decided to go and get some food for him and so I did, as I offered him food you know what he did? To anyone's surprise he said Beta 'son' you must be hungry yourself as I've been watching you standing here for quite long so you should eat first. Friends I have no words for such kindness. All I could do was to say no please you have it. They are not aliens or some dirty creatures,  they are all humans and they deserve love and respect. 
I have a dream of building a home for the homeless, I like to call it building hope for the homeless where these people will have a reason to smile. I hope that day comes soon.  
Ending my thoughts with a humble request to please treat each and everyone of them as fellow humans, give them some respect. There is nothing better than bringing smiles. As we all know the saying - Laughter is the best medicine. 

It's a girl... :-(

A serious issue which I want to share with my readers.
Female foeticide or infanticide, what is it? Another shameful curse to our society. Let me first explain what female foeticide means it is the selective abortion/elimination of the girl child in the womb itself, after the detection of the child’s gender through medical means and infanticide a childs murder after birth.
According to the statistics, nearly 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in the country over the past two decades. Of the 12 million girls born in India, one million do not see their first birthdays.
Girls are quickly disappearing. Anti-women traditions  have been carefully preserved over the ages. There are many communities, which regard sons as only offspring, and not daughters. Till 1980, infant girls used to be killed after they were born. Despite being banned, the incidence of feticide is on the rise.  Every year 5,00,000 baby girls are killed in India even before they step into this world. The practice is more prevalent among the weaker sections as their belief is that the education and marriage of a daughter is a financial burden on them.  Some believe that among rich and  educated class female infanticide and female feticide does not happen.But, i beg to differ, the study shows in India the ratio of girls to boys is the most skewed in South Delhi, a place where the rich and the educated live. It is here that the maximum number of girls go missing. Down from 904 to 845 in just 10 years. The Patels of Gujarat are a wonder,taditionally rich peasants, there is no trace of girls in their villages. It’s femicide, the systematic killing of women.  A holocaust going on against girls across the country.
Sometimes I think ‘educated’ people  can plan the murder of their fetuses with much more skill than uneducated people.

In India, we worship Goddess “Lakshmi” for wealth and Goddess “Saraswati” for knowledge but we kill our daughters. Are we not afraid of doing such a shameful crime? Killing a child before the birth is equivalent to a murder.
My dear fellow citizens, if the above situation provokes you, haunts you, then you should not just sit back,join hands together with organisations like "SAVE THE GIRL CHILD" and many more working  day and night to erase such crimes from the face of earth. It is not the sole responsibility of the government it is also a social challenge which we, as responsible citizens need to take up to put an end to this deviation.