Goddesses and Rape: The Issue is That we Have Raped Devotion Itself!

There is belief and there is seeking.  The greatest tragedy that has befallen the Dharmic seeking of the Truth is that it has been equated to Religion’s pursuit of belief.  Belief is for the lazy, the dishonest and the deceptive minds.  So many go to a Church or a Temple and say prayers to GET something out of “God”.  The idea is that this bloke “up there” (on a rotating and revolving planet no less!) somehow created this Universe (and obviously hooked himself (her/it?!!) to this planet for no reason) can probably give us something that he may have missed out in the first place.  Given how most of the 7 billion are praying him to change his original design by offering something new, quality of this God’s output is shabbier than that of local flea market in Delhi!!

With such a deceptive and wheeling-dealing mind we have reduced Dharmic seeking to Religious belief and its underlying caricatures.  We now go to temple – whether our local one or ones like Vaishno Devi – to look for “stuff” – visa, raise, money, kid, car.. whatever we feel we should have.  We have made super Gods out of simple beings like Sai baba – who was probably not a great tool for a seeker.

It is in THIS context that Goddesses have survived in India.  Decidedly the only culture where feminine is still worthy of being called Divine – thanks to the obsession of Abrahamic beliefs with exclusive words like “Only” and “Him”.  The vulgarity of belief systems has been well and truly entrenched in the so-called (now) Dharmic realm of another set of believers – who think they are following Dharmic pursuits but in reality are anything but.  Read – Vulgarity of the Devotees.

When we have approached devotion – any devotion and specially of the feminine in such vulgar and deceptive ways, it should be a surprise that the Goddesses are even present in our society.  They are mere tools and not approached as Divinity.  In fact, where is the divinity in whatever we approach these days?  It is sad that we have reduced every pursuit or divine to such a low level that spirituality has become a caricature now.

So many “Hindu Activists” are so shallow when it comes to serious spiritual pursuit that one is amazed.  One guy who has absolutely no humility and was flaunting his collection of guns and right to carry arms – simply because of his right to fight tyranny and the justification that our “gods had arms too” – proudly says that his “Guru” is Hanuman and does not need a live Guru.  All I could tell him was that please understand Hanuman first by being with Him for a few seconds.  That will be enough to tell you how you are denigrating the epitome of devotion itself!

Hinduism’s Goddesses in the popular culture are saved by these activists.  They are brought alive and fought for by such minds.  Which pretend that they are Dharmically oriented but live out the vulgarity of what the belief systems manifest.

So, is it any surprise that this society of India loves Goddesses and yet rapes women?  Women being raped has nothing to do with the hypocrisy of Devotion to Goddesses.  Rapes happen when Devotion is reduced to Deception.   The question is NOT whether we rape women.  The question is that we have raped Devotion itself!  Rape of women is just a manifestation of that.

To properly understand what I am saying, I highly recommend watching this video and see the same thing explained in a very nice way.

Featured Image: Artist : Pawan Natekar