It is mostly so because it is ingrained in us by our ancient culture.
We
in India all grow up in a mystical culture that is uniquely respectful
to our ancestral and ethnic belief system. Of course it is similarly
true for other cultures around the world too. But more so here.
Thus, wrongly
or rightly we all grow up faithfully believing in some ethereal thing
or the other, under the aegis of some spiritual guru or the other.
We all grow up within a believing social milieu.
Hence,
even though the person through whom we were handed down this peculiar
thought process or belief system may have been held and proven to be
rather misguided or so very wrong, people just are unable to let go.
For a very long time, maybe a lifetime, the
believing lot that has become habitual to it, keeps holding dear even
the absolutely fabricated, false and fanciful teachings of an alleged
‘great self-realized’ guru’ or a self-anointed avatar or a
self-proclaimed messiah.
People cannot let go habits. They inbreed in us like rabbits.
More or less, it is our deep faith-based societal learning and leaning which later on proves to be our undoing. And we keep failing and floundering in the same quagmire over and over again.
We in India are for the most part a deeply believing lot.
The Census of 2011 undertaken
by the Government of India and published in 2015, proves it so fully
and factually. For, as per this officially released governmental data,
out of a total population of 1.21 billion (in 2011) only 0.24% of Indians went on record to say that they were non-religious.
As per the official data itself more than 99% of Indians are religious.
Furthermore, the PEW Research Center based in U.S.A., in its 2015 survey found that 8
out of 10 Indians i.e. more than a billion+ people of India, hold
religion to be a very important part and parcel in their lives.
No wonder spiritual gurus are believed in with such faith; even blind faith!
The most recent UN data estimates that the 2019 population of India is 1.37 billion approximately. It means that 1 of every 6 people on the planet lives in India. There is 1 birth every second, and 3 deaths every 3 seconds in our country. As per the 2015 figure released by the ‘UNESCO Institute of Statistics’, the Adult LITERACY RATE of India is 72.1%, and the youth literacy is 86.1%.
So, no matter how backward India may be Indians are yet rather educated.
That being so, the question naturally arises thereof as to why, despite being educated, do
most people yet believe blindly in silly superstitions and nonsensical
uttering or littering of many a little-minded, little-some guru of India?
Perhaps it so because people in general do not have the answers to ‘That Which Is’.
In other words, human beings are rather fragile beings, knowing little
of where we come from, whither we go, and whereof we have been.
Not knowing the answers to ‘What Is’,
most of us in one way or another and unsuspectingly or unknowingly fall
prey to many a charlatan along the way; who proclaims he is in the know
of the Alpha and the Omega.
In
the West, this nutty kind of an individual is prone to self-anoint
one’s self with messianic pretensions. In the East many a
self-proclaimed Buddha is apt to make a ‘buddhu’, a fool out of
people. In our dear beloved native land, self-declared avatars or the
so-called incarnation of this or that goddess or god abound. Like a
blood hound, they are ever ready to milk us dry, out of our well earned
money and till then our rather well kept mind. And this unsavory kind,
in this or that robe is always lurking nearby, or around.
Of late many notorious ‘babas’
or god-men in India, and priests of this or that kind abroad, have been
widely reported to have sexually abused minor children of their own
flock and following. What is surprising is that even many of the
educated followers of these devilish deviants still hold that the same
god-men have been mischievously framed and wrongfully blamed!
Stranglehold of even bad spiritual gurus over people is beyond belief.
What
is the way out of it? How may we rid the society of these bad apples,
seemingly always present within the spiritual traditions of each and
every faith? Is it really possible to do so, or is it merely an
over-simple wishful thinking, and rather staid?
Frankly, the only way out of this sorry state of spiritual affairs is to raise our own metaphysical knowledge and awareness to a much deeper and a higher level. And thereafter or thereupon also seek the Truth ourselves - but under an able master and guru.
That being so, one may logically wonder as how can then one be sure that one’s chosen spiritual preceptor is really a true guru,
and enlightened one at that? Does it not make one fall all over again
into the abyss of blind belief? For, mostly it is thus the very case
that in general a spiritual aspirant is first and foremost asked to
believe in a particular faith or fella rather moronically and
mindlessly, before one is expected to see the results tellingly and
tangibly.
Believing is easy. ‘Knowing’, so uneasy.
Therefore, most people believe. And hold faith dear.
The one who makes one believe so deeply in faith than reason, is usually a bodily being, a person. This one may call himself a messiah and an avatar or a guru. In time this seemingly righteous one, who makes a believer and a spiritual aspirant a similarly zealous one as himself,
such a person becomes hallowed a big name, with far fetched claims. The
poor and simple follower unwittingly becomes bewitched with, and
thenceforth, beholden to this ‘lost’ one, if not a nutty one.
It is a vicious cycle.
Very few people are able to outgrow or overcome it.
Personally, I would advise a sincere spiritual aspirant to willfully nurture a vegetarian lifestyle and keep on with one’s endeavors, meditations and prayers by oneself - till fate finds, and karma make one meet the guru who can show him or her the Way.
Believe not blindly in nobody, and in nothing! Better a skeptical and a sagacious non-believer than a silly and a stupid blind believer!
May all be blessed with the Way.
