Real Strength
First this cartoon in a Danish magazine about a revered
Mohammedan leader, (let's not mention names, for fear of
offending the sentiments of a certain segment of organized
religion in the world) gets entire communities worked up. To the
extent that two people were actually killed in a stampede in
Pakistan a day or two ago, and entire crowds were yelling "Off
with their heads" in the manner of the mad queen in "Alice in
Wonderland." Now it is Durga's turn. A poster in Athens, showing
this venerable old deity waving a bottle of whisky with each of
her four arms, has had the Hindus all over, screaming blue
murder. Sacrilege! How could anyone think of it, blah blah blah
they went on until the proprietors of the bar responsible for
exhibiting this advertisement at their doorstep apparently
tendered an apology.
Makes you wonder about religion, about prophets and gods all
over the world eh? That if they are so weak as to get blemished
by a bit of harmless fun, how they could possibly hope to hold
up an entire community or (as the Hindus claim their gods do) -
the entire world. Truly. And more than that, if that reveller
Shiva can indulge in all kinds of stuff from liquor to dope and
still have millions of followers dancing around him, why cant
Durga afford to be seen downing a peg of whisky now and then
without hundreds of her followers jumping to her rescue?
Hindus of the world unite! Screamed some religious organisation
a few days back, concerning this "dastardly" attack on the holy
goddess. "Let yourselves be counted." OK so I guess I am not one
after all. I was born into a community of that name but seem to
identify myself like all slightly barmy people, with something
called the human race. Not with Christianity, not with Islam,
nor with the Jewish religion or Hinduism. Not even Buddhism. But
rather, with a spirit that is incapable of taking offence at
what people "think" about it or the way they depict it. Because
the true spirit underlying the human race is strong in its own
right and doesn't need any images or fanatical bolstering to
prop it up.
Group website: www.basicindia.net