The coin of kindness

Such sweet words are music to our troubled, lonely souls. The piper plays and we follow. Great consequences do too, sometimes. Religions are born, that lead to crusades, `holy’ wars, inquisitions and conquests in the name of the guru. Cults are born that lead to mass suicides. Revolutions are sparked, that change the political map. Great empires are overthrown. The fact is, we need heroes, we need so desperately to lay our willing, eager hearts at the feet of Someone Worthy. In India, our culture elevates the parents and the guru above even God: `mata-pita-guru-devaha’. As the Husband used to be held up to the wife once, as the Manifest God, however unworthy he actually was.

Please don’t mistake me: I could never presume to say that all gurus are bad, that to belong to a congregation or sangha is wrong. Indeed, plenty of our wise, idealistic godmen and guresses play the game of `duniyadaari’. They have a deeper agenda of social work and so they set up shop on top to bring in the devotees. Thus a guru always has several very wealthy and influential adherents, who are able to benefit each other in incalculable ways. Everyone’s happy: the devotees feel better after pursuing whichever yogic techniques have been re-packaged by their particular guru. Chanting and music (several gurus are adept musicians) cannot fail to both soothe and energise — and how can it hurt, to chant God’s name? It can only create positive vibrations. Meanwhile, funds are mobilised. Print and TV, ever in search of supplement subjects, play their intended role, and a critical mass is reached that allows the creation of schools, hospitals and ashrams. The devotees experience genuine, direct healing, which addsto the guru’s mystique. (Funny thing — when you feel loved, you’re healthy, you can get `miraculously’ cured, because feelings are chemicals. As the yogis knew, the body is its own pharmacy: good feelings repair and sustain the harm done by bad feelings.)

All of this is as helpful in social betterment as a sincere NGO — some gurus have even registered such bodies. As for those teachers offering `feel-good shortcuts’ with Page Three endorsements, why, what is wrong? Tears burn human eyes just as much when shed on a down pillow as on a grass mat.

But perhaps there are some stubborn souls who cannot be purchased, however love-starved, even with the coin of kindness. Purely as an analogy, with no sectarian vibes, call it the difference between a Vaishnava and a Shaiva. Krishna-love is the path of `surrender’, as pop gurus know very well. It is loving, sensual, rich, worldly and congregational. There is festivity, glamour, `aan’ and `aishwarya’. Tenderness exudes from every pore of Krishna’s personality, but also shrewdness and deal-making. Whereas a Shaiva is often a cat that walks by itself. The path can be lonely. Hidden harmonies reveal themselves only after hard choices are made and stern prices are paid. But what ecstasy `o know that your soul, the only thing you really own, is yours as God willed it’.