Celebrate 145;subversion146;

We8217;ve all heard the counter-theories, that 8216;conscience8217; is nothing but a socio-political construct, a spiritual imposition me...

We8217;ve all heard the counter-theories, that 8216;conscience8217; is nothing but a socio-political construct, a spiritual imposition meant to keep us in check, that religious precepts are the injection needles. What we need to question, though, is the operation of this conscience. There8217;s a master template for sure, that is universal: Do not harm others by word or deed.

It is when we get to the 8216;field operations8217; of the spin-doctors that we run into trouble. The spin-doctors, of course, are the sacerdotal class, the professionals of religion. In simple language, the priests or clergymen of every patriarchal faith are there others, of influence?. While important social constructs like law and accountability have grown from religious belief, the petty do8217;s and don8217;ts of 8216;religious practice8217; seem to have harmed more than helped. We would not have the caste system, the suppression of women or racism otherwise, would we?

In these days of dogma and bloc-thinking, it seems crucial that we remember the subversive elements who refused to toe the establishment line. Let8217;s call it 8216;erupting humanity8217;, the breed that refuses to meekly lie down and get arranged in priestly pigeonholes, but seeks to understand the 8216;laws of life8217; individually, using the human intellect as a tool and not as a vessel. A terrific example is the Mother of the Universe herself, Kamakshi Amman, who apparently appeared as an 8216;ugra avatar8217; or fierce apparition, to rid the world of a demon. Brahma the uber-patriarch 8216;advised8217; her to simmer down and marry Shiva in his aspect of Ekambareswar 8212; but she refused! When pressured, she politely but firmly told the entire gang of gods that if 8216;He8217; needed a wife that badly, they should hold a yagnya and summon forth a 8216;golden doll8217; Bangaru Kamakshi and park her besides Shiva. Are you surprised that almost no god-fearing Hindu is told this feisty ancient legend?

I really can8217;t understand the priests. They themselves accommodated this splendidly 8216;disobedient8217; story in the living pravaha or flow of tradition, it was they who ensured that this story was kept alive from generation to generation. Why, then, did they keep it lowkey and let their own mothers and daughters be squashed? Wheel north, fly across the land to Punjab. Here8217;s a 16th century Sufi verse: O God, do not mind my faults/There is nothing worthy in this unworthy one. Pity me/To the worldly, their worldly pride, to fakirs, the wrap of renunciation;/I am neither a recluse, nor worldly;/Let little people laugh at me! Says Husain, God8217;s fakir, My friend is the Terrible One. Does it really bother you that it8217;s by Madho Lal and his lover Husain whose verses were apparently not included in the Guru Granth Sahib because the authors were gay?