Does God exist? Are temples abodes of God? Does God lie somewhere between the rational and irrational? Does metaphysics dealing with the abstract such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space, hold the answers? These will always be topics of discussions between believers and the non-believers. In a stressed world, its inhabitants wanting to eke out a living and wanting to assign a meaning, would always take the path of least resistance that borders on escapism. Does crass commercialisation justify the means that allows people to practice a faith that relieves this stress for them? There is also a contest of wisdom between science and religion for many. Some of us believe, science is the rational and logical explanation for creation of the universe, whereas others believe, religion is the “leap of blind faith”. Is then, blind faith God? In a more physical sense, a need to rationalise one’s own existential paradoxes, makes one over-dependent on the unknown.
This unknown is variously described as God. To see him or her as one amongst us but immensely more superior and more powerful than us helps us in many ways. For one, the unknown can be a bench mark and for the other, its attributes can now be justifiably defined and assigned. This logic However, gives birth to several Gods, probably in conformity with the Hindu scriptures which claim 330 million Gods in the universe, though eight deities of material elements such as the “Sky”, “Earth”, “Wind”, “Fire”, “Stars”, “Water”, “Sun”, and the “Moon” and twelve personified deities such as Vishnu, Aryaman, Indra, Tvāṣṭṛ, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Savitṛ, Vivasvat, Aṃśa, Mitra, Pūṣan, Dakṣa are extolled. Interestingly, except for the deity Vishnu, and a fire temple of the Parsis, none of the other Gods have temples dedicated to them.
The human intelligence and clairvoyance have morphed various forms into ‘other’ Gods with varying powers. Since they were envisaged as one amongst us, they were also shown to be talked to or even cajoled into providing deliverance for us on various counts, the genesis for commercialising our godly pursuits.
Coiled inside each and every one of our body’s one hundred trillion cells, the six feet DNA contains a four letter chemical alphabet that sends out precise assembly instructions for all the proteins from which our bodies are made. What makes everything in our orderly world work so well together? It is amazing to look at the earth’s position in the universe and its intricately choreographed geological and chemical processes working together with such precision and efficiency, to create a safe place for humans to live. Is this all carved out of faith or corroborated by science? May be both, depending on what one wants.
The Kings of yonder have built temples as congregation centres, essentially to control their subjects. People huddled in temples were spoken to, addressed, and made to believe that their acts of non-conformity would earn them the wrath of Gods. The super natural aura created, allowed the people to be controlled. In ancient times, temples were built only for Shiva, the creator, preserver, and destroyer. It was much later that other temples came up, because people’s greed made them focus on immediate wellbeing, when they started creating various other forms, which they could use to benefit themselves. Temples that came up in the last 1100 or 1200 years, created different types of energies and different kinds of deities, resulting in Gods who blessed wealth, Gods who could help out of fear, Gods to help procreate, Gods to help achieve success, and Gods to help every kind of physical want. In a sense, faith and belief were taken over by and human greed.
A Temple, or any other shrine are all built for peace, tranquillity and meditation for transcending to other worlds. However, we today build them like shopping malls and complexes with concrete and steel, probably for the same purpose, since everything is now commerce. Temples were maintained through donations from royal patrons and private individuals. They were given money, gold, silver, livestock and income from grants of land including whole villages. Such gifts were thought to provide deliverance or ultimate liberation for the donor (Punya). In the process some temples became very wealthy, often invested in land and hired tenants. Soon, politics invaded these wealthy temples and the wealth creating Gods which completely alienated the truly faithful.
Temples and Gods must lead people to traverse from “which is” into “which is not.” From darkness into light. Not become ambassadors of realisation of wants. Oscar Wilde in one of his expansive moods said, a prayer of a man to a most just God should actually be ‘Not ‘forgive us our sins,’ but ‘smite us for our iniquities’. Prayers must never be answered, for if they were, they would not remain prayers, and would become correspondence. A God can be malevolent as well as benevolent. The world is full of myriad temples, churches, shrines and other sacred places. Some of these places are splendid creations built to great architecture and scientific temperament, inspiring wonder in all and then there are others that arouse the mysterious and mysticism. It is a travesty that we have built temples in modern times and converted the ones built in ancient times as places that grant wishes.
An ancient temple, widely believed to change one’s destiny, abode for Lord Brahma, is said to provide intense positive vibes is located in Chennai. The Chidambaram temple representing the five elements of the universe is revered for the secret of life that it holds. The Balaji temple also holds a mystical value for its visitors and the promise it holds of granting their wishes. Are they rooted in belief or do they really deliver? A prayer for overall wellbeing, prayers for peace in the family, a prayer for successful match making, prayers for health, or even prayers for recovering lost assets all cost money. The list can be endless. The place or ones faith is immaterial.
Our lives are merely stages in the progression to ultimate enlightenment. The temple is a place where God may be approached and where divine knowledge can be discovered. All aspects, be it of Hindu temples or the Churches of the Christians or the Mosques of the Muslims or Gurudwaras of the Sikhs, must focus on the goal of enlightenment and liberation. That is the pathway to true salvation.