God is Watching......Behave

As per the Hindu religion each day of the week, is considered to be the day of a particular God or Gods. Tuesdays are for Hanuman, Fridays for Goddess Durga, Saturdays for Ganesha, and so on and so forth.

Thursdays are Shirdi Sai Baba days and every Thursday a certain Sai Baba temple in Bangalore is thronged by devotees. I too try to visit this temple on a Thursday whenever I can. The traffic inside the temple conducts itself in an orderly and respectful manner as would most people in a holy place, however, given the numbers the temple houses, it is very commendable.

What is amusing is the traffic outside the temple. The temple is on a busy road and most devotees visit to attend the morning aarti, which coincides with the peak hours of office traffic. Needless to say there is an ever widening stream of vehicles on the road.

Observing the traffic would be like watching a herd of wild buffaloes on a rampage. Each one in a greater hurry than the other to get by.

Interestingly, as soon as this crowd passes by the raised open doors of the temple, the entire cross section of vehicles slows down, almost as if flagged down by a traffic policeman.

I realised there that God is the strongest law, in India! It has been the most effective medium of power propagation by governments for centuries now and unfortunately the most misused too.

For a brief five seconds a parallel set of vehicles almost crawl and their drivers bow in obeisance with their eyes closed. The ones in a hurry, bow in the direction of the temple with their eyes firmly riveted on the traffic ahead. Some kiss their fingers and continue driving. Flying kiss to the gods above I wonder? Each one pays his/her respects to the Gods in a manner in accordance to the time at hand. But each one does too!

Once I noticed, a biker smoking a cigarette while driving. When in front of the temple, he took the cigarette out of his mouth, hid it behind his back, bowed for a split second and zoomed past. The second he passed the temple, he exhaled, letting the smoke out and instantly put the cigarette back into his mouth.

That brief moment of control, of self discipline, of refraining from a wrong, was induced by the fear of God.

In a country where flouting rules, is as common as the Matar in Matar Paneer, there is no cheat code cooked up for God as yet.

Traffic even stops to let devotees, fresh out of the temple, with vermilion on forehead, flowers or prasad in hand, cross the road in peace! As if, we the devotees, were carrying a bit of God within us from the temple and deserved the respect.

Technically, that is not untrue after all, for we all do carry a bit of God within us. Yet it takes the physical presence of the temple of God, to make people realise that, to drive self discipline and respect for others into people!

A little bit of self discipline would mean so much more order and harmony within and between individuals. Is it too much of an asking?

Why does it take a physical entity to remind one of the divinity within oneself and within others around them. The divinity in our conscience that watches every violation made towards the self and towards others.

The conscience, a tiny voice that speaks up at the end of the day, at nights, in moments of solitude, loneliness, in moments of introspection, in moments of repentance.

We cry foul over a country and a system that has a long way to go in comparison to our recent holiday destinations abroad, a country that still does not offer amenities, facilities and luxuries to its majority. Why blame the 'system' and expect to be directed, when as a people we are too weak to accept the decrees of the system inside us.

The ultimate governing body is sitting inside us, we just need to acknowledge it more often, submit to its mandates, and for once not think of ourselves as all important. We just need to acknowledge more often that in the larger scheme of life we fit in as an ancillary and the same force that drives the universe is present within us to make us play our part in the universe. There has to be a convergence of the forces within and outside, else there will be what we see ever so often - conflict. We need to learn to submit more often.

As the author of this bit, that I am sure seems preachy at this point in time, I don't claim to be the ideal world citizen, but definitely a more enlightened one.

A seemingly insignificant incident, a traffic jam, has led me to think and rationalise. It has made me contemplate about self discipline, about double standards in following discipline, about laws and lack of it, about people and their sense of responsibility towards themselves, towards others, about God - the watchman, who is all prevailing yet acknowledged as per convenience, sadly as in the case of most law keepers.

And so, in a way contradicting myself, I say now, that even God, the most widely accepted disciplinarian, is followed as per convenience.

I have realised and care to make a difference. I can only hope that several others also have and for those who have not, it will help to remember that the policeman is within us. You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape yourself.