When you ask this question to arrogant educated Indians, who proclaimed being rationalist/atheist etc (which is btw, fashion only. ), they will quickly response : “Yes, why not. Indians must be freed from religious following”.
What a fatal error of judgement!
I personally don’t like many modern day Gurdoms. I really feel pity for the followers but I will never make fun of them. (Yes, I will criticize their Guru(s) as and when needed )
Why?
कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञाना: प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवता: ।
तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियता: स्वया ।।20।।
Those whose wisdom has been carried away by various desires, being prompted by their own nature, worship other deities adopting rules relating to each.(20)
यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्त: श्रद्धयार्चितुमिच्छति ।
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धा तामेव विदधाम्यहम् ।।21।।
Whatever celestial form a devotee craving for some worldly object chooses to worship with reverence, I stabilize the faith of that particular devotee in that very form. (21)
अन्तवत्तु फलं तेषां तद्भवत्यल्पमेधसाम् ।
देवान्देवयजो यान्ति मद्भक्ता यान्ति मामपि ।।23।।
Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet. (23)
Not all of us are on same mental plane. Some of us tend to worship deity. Many worship god-men. By worshiping God-man preaching principles of Sanatana dharma (however pseudo or half-baked it is), large mass of Bharat, by one or other way, still believe in Fasting (Upavas) , Ayurveda and other life-oriented sanatana practices. Of course, they are not perfect in their practices but as Krushna said in Gita, endowed with such faith he worship that particular demogod/Godman and obtains through him without doubt his desired enjoyments as ordained by myself. Anyhow, veiled by his Yogamaya (divine potency); he is not going to be manifest to all. Hence these ignorant folk fail to recognize him, the unborn and imperishable Supreme Deity. But still, via so called agents of God, they are on the path of self-realization by imperfect implementation of sanatana practices. (Mind you, I only talk about those who are still on the path Sanatana and not those who are acting like Abrahmic institutions )
For example, irrespective of their supreme imagination of Guru, irrespective of their Guru’s reality, millions are awakened to follow Sanatana ways. Imperfect, we all are. Don’t make fun of imperfection. You too were there few births apart.
Instead of making fun of our brothers imperfection, put efforts in helping them, to get a vision of supreme. Get divya chakshu for yourself first and help others.
If you think certain godman is threat to the society and you know dharma better than him-who stops you? Have you ever worked with mass? Did you approach them? Have you ever tried? No ? Then shut your mouth and watch the show.
With this post, I wanted to highlight that, as discussed in Gita, as per our ingnorance and knowing balance, we strive for center of faith.
So many of us associate self with demigods/pseudo-demigods and humans. By mocking them, we will not solve their self-realization path-Conundrum. Best, if we can work with them, those accessible in our life.
Second point is: These Gurus/Sants, irrespective of their personal weaknesses, keep mass aligned to mechanical processes of sanatana dharma. We should not ignore this contribution. If we work in this mass semi-exposed to dharma, it is easy to align citizens to various forms of dharma.
When external forces are hell-bent on breaking India, we must remain united. Our internal conflicts must not become collective weakness.
Unfortunately, we have become so fragmented and divided that breaking us by our own beliefs is now very easy. 🙁
Take care. Work hard for the sustenance of the eternal dharma.
