Divine ignorance!

India is a land of various religions and their network of related casts and communities. This large scale religious diversity also has its share of controversies. The latest one to hit the wrong notes in the divine sections is the issue of the “Paryaya” among the ashta mutts in South Canara in Karnataka. Paryaya is a coalition setup between the eight mutts in the Udupi region with this very diplomatic way of sharing power to run the affairs of the Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi. The stumble block to the smooth transfer of power has been that the succeeding administrator, Sri Sugendra Teertha swamiji of Puttige mutt has violated an unwritten code of conduct to be followed by the seers. The apparent mistake is that he traveled abroad and crossed the seas in order to do so. I cannot see another way of getting to the US without crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It is called the Samudra Yana. The controversy still lingers on and a solution is yet to be reached. But the only thing that has not stopped is the war of words between the successor seer and those against him. Their spats in public has not only damaged their reputations but also reduced their following and credibility. The seers of these mutts are the guardians of the brahmanical knowledge base. It is a very ironical to see people of apparent high level of intellect behaving in such a mundane and atrocious conduct.
I do not see why such a trivial issue like traveling abroad should come in the way of worshipping the god and take over the reins of administration. We have seen one of the most respected, broad minded and the face of Hinduism to the world, in Swami Vivekananda who traveled abroad to make his epic speech in the World Parliament of Religions way back in 1893. No person with a sane mind can make a mockery of Swami Vivekananda’s visionary knowledge and ideas. The young scientific minds of this country would argue as to how crossing the seas can make an individual impure or not fit for the act of worshipping the almighty who according to the scriptures and other popular philosophies is supposed to exist everywhere.
It is high time that we break the shackles of these kinds of unexplainable, unscientific and mindless thinking patterns and move on to become more practically oriented. That is exactly what happened in the 12th century when soci-spirutual leader like Mahatma Basaweshwara accomplished this herculean task. He strived to break such nonsensical ritual practices and caste divides to unite all people under an umbrella of a philosophy which focuses on practical and productive living which also had spirituality interweaved into it.
It is disappointing that a community that is known to be the intellectual cream is tight lipped at this kind despicable conduct by their gurus. I am surprised to see that eminent personalities, social thinkers and Gnanapeet awardees like Sri Girish Karnad and Sri U R Ananthamurthy who always had an opinion about anything under the sun are now in hibernation about this issue.
As India moves to be a world power, our religious leaders should also adapt to the new living patters of their followers and not create such unwanted and ludicrous controversies which do not contribute to the growth of our society. Spiritual leaders are seen to be role models, and this kind of public altercations by them sends a wrong message and sets a negative example. I would like to quote Sir Charles Darwin who said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Seers are you listening?