Old Age Home for Gods
You may wonder what I am
talking about. Haven’t you seen collections of discarded photos / pictures of
Gods in temple compounds heaped upon cement platforms around trees? Gods,
represented by their photos, who have served their purpose – old pictures in
frames, broken glass, worn out frames, de-colored images – all constitute
retiree or “older-adult” among our gods who are no longer needed in Puja rooms.
They find their way in “old age homes” as mentioned above, in temples.
Some months ago when we took
up painting / white washing of our house we did the same thing. We took the
opportunity to de-cluster (downsize) our house and the Puja Room was no
exception. From nearly 40+ photos we reduced it to just about 8. All the gods
whom we ‘retired’ went to occupy some shaded place under a tree in a nearby
Hanuman Temple.
You may have seen that
temples are not different from other ‘business’ houses in re-cycling or selling
away things they accumulate, be it sarees gifted to deities, coconuts or even human hair
offerings. In Pune, I have seen that
complete raw coconuts (without removing fiber) (“Kobara bondas”) being offered
in Ganesha temples making easy to re-sell those long lasting products. Framed Pictures
or photos of ‘retired’ gods are no exception. Shops selling photo / picture
frames buy them for recycling. Broken glass goes for melting and making second
grade items.
When some persons are brain
dead their organs are harvested for use in others in transplantation. Such dead
persons continue to live through others. Similarly ‘dead’ gods also live in
other goods in some other format / configuration, decorating some politician or
young couple.
When I see a large number of
god photos deserted in temple walls I am pained. Gods face the same fate as men
as they age and are no more useful. When they were ‘young’ or new, these gods
received lot of respect; they were decorated with flowers, daily puja was done
with incense sticks etc. When I find some stray dog ease himself at such
collections where god photos are strewn or stacked, my heart misses a beat or
two.
Isn’t there a better way of
disposing off old unwanted gods whose time is gone?
