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"It's Secular Bigotry to Say Religion Provides for Sexual Misconduct"

News18.com
September 2, 2017

https://in.news.yahoo.com/dera-scandal-apos-apos-secular-104130920.html

Devdutt Pattanaik, writer of modern Hindu mythology, speaks on ‘crony spiritualism’, which, he says, has nothing to do with religion but with the nature of secular democracy and vote bank politics as practiced in India.

The conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in rape cases has once again turned the spotlight on the damage that the charlatans, who pass off as godmen, do to the spiritual culture of India. Devdutt Pattanaik, writer of modern Hindu mythology, talks to News18’s Eram Agha on this form of ‘crony spiritualism’, which, he says, has nothing to do with religion but with the nature of secular democracy and vote bank politics as practiced in India. Edited excerpts:

Q: Hinduism is said to be a religion with 33 crore Gods. But do godmen have a place in Hindu scriptures?

A: Godmen is a pejorative term created by the media. Every religion, not just Hinduism, has holy men who claim access to an alternate reality — call it spiritual, mystical, magical, or divine. We call them shaman, priest, yogi, guru, mullah. Some are sincere, others are charlatans. Some try their best to help their tribe, flock or followers; others exploit the power they have.

Q: India’s soul is said to be in its spirituality. Bikshus live a frugal life, surviving on alms, so that they can devote all their time to spiritual practices. How much damage do these charlatans inflict to the spiritual culture?

A: Self-realisation has nothing to do with wallet size. This association of poverty with spirituality is a false one. A spiritual person can be a hermit (who has renounced material world) or a householder (who has embraced material world). I still have to find a scientific technique to affirm if a person is an authentic godman or a charlatan. It’s all a matter of opinion, an assumption, just like celibacy, which cannot be proven. Many godmen do wonderful social work, and give dignity to poor people who have been discarded by mainstream society. But simultaneously they may be doing things in their personal life that make them less than holy or worthy of respect. We need to appreciate that bad things can be done by people who also do good things. Life is complex. Simple binaries are for stupid people who cannot handle complexity.

Q: This is a sentence from the court order on Gurmeet Ram Rahim: “Such criminal acts of the convict, who is stated to head a religious organisation, are bound to shatter images of pious and sacred, spiritual, social, cultural and religious institutions existing in this country since time immemorial, which in turn reflects irreparable damages caused by the acts of convict to the ancient heritage of this ancient land…” Do you agree?

A: It is the court’s opinion. And I respect their opinion. But it does sound rather melodramatic. We, as a country, have a history of ministers, bureaucrats and judges who have taken full advantage of their position in the government and done horrible things while in office. It has not taken away people’s faith in the government and the judiciary. There are so many parents who physically and sexually abuse their own children. Have we lost faith in parents? All rapists of women are heterosexual men. Does that mean we have lost faith in heterosexual men?

Let’s not get hyperbolic about these things. Leave that to soap operas. A man who was respected by a large number of people took advantage of his position and behaved in the most inappropriate way. He was caught and punished but the process was not easy. Can we ask the court why it took 15 years to convict him? Who takes responsibility for the delayed justice? Can we say our courts also cause irreparable damage to civil society by their slow inhuman processes?

Q: Many of these so-called godmen with criminal intent use mythology as a cover for their sexual crimes. Ram Rahim reportedly invoked Krishna and his Gopis while coercing — and raping — unsuspecting sadhvis. Does Indian mythology sanction such “salvation” through sex?

A: If you do a simple online search, you will find stories of sex scandal involving Tibetan lamas, Christian evangelists, Catholic priests, Islamic educationists, and secular journalists. I think there is a kind of secular bigotry in saying that a religion provides the framework for sexual misconduct. A rapist uses various tools to entrap his prey. Mythic imagination is one of them. Politicians use their power. Goons use threats of violence. Since we tend to equate holiness with celibacy and sexual continence, it bothers us when holy men turn into sexual predators. These incidents have more to do with power, than with faith. In fact, it is a classic case of loss of faith in the man who inspires others to have faith.

 

 

 

 

 




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