Spirituality without Morality

More than 70 cases of theft have been recorded in the temple constructed and consecrated by none other than Narendra Modi in honour of Lord Rama at his mythological birthplace of Ayodhya. Huge amounts of money donated to the temple by devotees have been stolen by people who hold high offices in the temple administration. And they are all men associated with RSS, the organisation that is upholding the ancient civilisation of India and also writing moral science textbooks for schoolchildren of the country.

Similar thefts are taking place in many other prominent temples of the country.

At the same time, a family in the same state, where the Ayodhya Mandir is situated, was arrested for cooking something that looked suspiciously like beef. The arrest followed a lightning-fast move by the intelligence wing of the state. It’s easier to smell what’s cooking in the kitchen of your perceived enemy than to see what’s disappearing from the extravagant temples.

When a country has a leader whose spirituality is mere showbiz, you can’t expect the citizens to be much better morally and spiritually.

 Beyond the thefts in temples and probes in poor women’s cooking pots lies a more profound crisis within the character of India’s evolving spiritual landscape. The country is constructing more and more temples, spiritual corridors, and striking religious symbols like the Shivalinga. And the number of devotees flocking to these places is rising day by day. There are record-breaking donations too at these places.

At the same time, there is an alarming weakening of institutional integrity everywhere: in politics, courts of justice, academics, anywhere at all.

Religiosity has become a transaction. Faith has been reduced to the ritualistic act of giving and seeking material returns, rather than internalising ethical values like honesty, empathy, and dharma. When religion becomes performance, the sacredness of the space evaporates, reducing a temple to just another high-revenue venue ripe for exploitation of all sorts – including blatant theft.

Historically, a deep-seated fear of spiritual retribution or karmic debt acted as an invisible psychological barrier against stealing especially from a deity. The rising tide of inside-job thefts proves that for those working within these systems, the temple is no longer a holy place. The temple is just a cash desk, a golden goose. Moreover, when a temple was consecrated by a person whose utter lack of morality is too well-known, what value is the place supposed to possess spiritually?

Outward projection of religious identity – that’s just what India’s current leaders want. It has nothing to do with spirituality. It’s all power-politics. A big game in which the pawns are meant to be sacrificed for the sake of the King and his loyalists.

Grand architecture, mass festivals, and political signalling: that’s what spirituality has become today in India. The identity of being religious is more important in this game than morality.

The entire national system is rotten.

Spirituality is a personal affair. Religious identity is a political idea that lies out there on the street where religious chants transmute into murderous war-cries.

Here are a few cartoons that appeared on social media these days.