The gruesome tale of 123 persons throttled to death in the terrible stampede that took place in the devotees’ congregation at the premises of Narayan Sakar Hari –alias Bhole Baba in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh is nerve wrenching. It is a sad commentary on the naivete of ordinary folks among the Indian society as much as it is a poor reflection on the sense of responsibility and caring that we are supposed to exhibit at large social gatherings. Very unfortunately , it reflects upon a deep discernible degree of selfishness ingrained in many of us.
The incident that took place at the so called ‘religious’ gathering of devotees of Bhole Baba in Hathras has virtually shaken the conscience of the nation. He is absconding and evading the police. Several questions are cropping up at the same time after the disappearance of the revered Baba.
Why do people throng the abodes of such types of Babas , many of whom turn out to be frauds or charlatans later? How do many of such Babas or Godmen attract hordes of people into blind obeisance and following, even after many past precedents of such Godmen turning out to be thugs, murderers or rapists and getting convicted therefor? Why people of all classes and shades—men, women and children–educated, semi-literates or illiterates surrender their souls to such Babas and get duped by them? Why adequate arrangements are not made by the state administration outfits to regulate the flow and movement of persons at such gatherings? Why are our folks so insensitive to suffering and sorrow of others in such situations? Why are the members of our society so much inclined to hero-worship? Why are we so damned emotional that we lose sense of objectivity and rationality and flock to charlatans masquerading as holy men to be deceived and exploited by them? Was there a conspiracy angle to this incident as pointed out by the state Chief Minister?
Why do we not learn from past incidents and our own past mistakes?
Why is a large proportion of our society so much steeped in superstition?
The answers to above questions need to be found and explained to all. So that such gory incidents as the recent Hathras stampede do not recur. The unfortunate death of 123 persons due to suffocation in the stampede tells a lot—about our herd mentality, blind faith, displaced sense of logic, superstitious nature and last, but not the least, our inhuman face. Our society members coldly skip their moral responsibility towards their brethren when in crisis situations like the recent stampede, they start running them over to suffocation and death to save their own selves. Imagine, only if all of the devotees had stood still and not panicked, no stampede would have occurred and no precious lives would have been lost. More than this, our feeble moral strings and low sense of humanism come in evidence when we consider the possibility of lack of proper regulating arrangements for the gathering or act of mischief mongering by anti-social elements , as suggested by the conspiracy theory.
Human life is a saga of happy and sad situations, sweet and sour experiences, successes and failures and , in general, ups and downs. Life is complex and the future uncertain. The true nature of life has to be understood to live it well, to live it fruitfully and with fulfilment. Happiness and sorrow are a part and parcel of everyone’s life. They are like two faces of the coin—each possessing its own importance in the tumultuous journey called life and each contributing to spiritual development of the human individual in its own way. But many of us are weak minded or driven by surges of emotion and illogic. We are unable to confront the grim realities of everyday mundane existence and seek silly emotional refuge in such types of Godmen thinking of them as holy men of God , out to relieve us of our miseries and fulfil our worldly desires. We get trapped in the vortex of lies and glib talks delivered by them at our grave detriment.
We need to understand true religion which is the religion of humanity. And this true religion called humanism is universalistic—above sects, cults and multifarious dissonant faiths. Humanism is righteousness or dharma which is oriented to welfare of all humans and living beings. It is embracing and practicing virtue which is characterised by caring, sharing and selflessness. This is also the essence of Sanatan Dharma which has no room for illogic, superstition, blind faith or unscientific content. Because it is an eternal, universal ideology based on the divinely revealed Vedas which facilitates our spiritual evolution and takes each one of us to our ultimate goal of salvation.
