When it comes to worship , most of us pray for self rather than for anybody else. The next level of thinking is to pray for family members and then only for others. It takes time for ordinary citizens to raise to the highest level of praying for the entire world by crossing all boundaries. The water tight compartments will automatically vanish once that level is achieved. Such a person will always pray for communal harmony by sacrificing the materialistic way of life.
Sacrifices may be big or small. It simply means whatever you are prepared to give up. It may be because of a prayer or the net result of thanking God for answering the prayer. Whether God asks for it or not is immaterial as long as the belief remains unshakable. Such acts can not be called as ignorance as it trespasses into the religious freedom enjoyed by the individuals or groups. To worship or not may be left to the individual. But it should not be misunderstood as an opportunity to criticise the belief of others.
Atheism is not new to the World. But the Modern world should try to behave better than ever. Hurting others through libel and slander may give momentary happiness for atheists but the fact remains that the believers continue to grow in numbers regardless of such verbal attacks.
Social Media is supposed to unite people and guide people with the noble purpose of shaping their lives. Unfortunately they entertain avoidable debates that are defamatory and cause social evils. Such controversies may blow up to any proportion and divide people. The recent allegation appeared in the Social Media is about making poor remarks on Lord Shiva and the reaction of the public shown above is understandable.
The actor in the movie is said to have criticised the Hindu ritual of offering milk to the deity as waste. Thinking as if they serve for the poor, crocodile tears are shed for them. If the allegation is true, let them answer few questions. Why do they celebrate their birthdays and New Year with pomp and fare in star hotels and expensive resorts ? Can't they spare the money for the cause of poor children? How many of them have served for this cause off the screen? They are too happy when their fans pour milk on their cutouts when their films are released. Is there a single actor who described this as waste and advised the fans to divert the milk to poor children? Let them tell that the film world is doing charity work throughout the year. While they mint crores of rupees from both affordable and non affordable section of the public, how many of them have thought about sparing even a small portion of their income towards charity? How many of them visit the slums regularly and offer help to the poor? They merely appear at social functions ,that too to get publicity. Some of them appear before TV cameras at the time of launching a social programme and never bother to continue and carry it forward. If this be the case, why at all the advertising media be after the celebrities and offer them in crores?
We rarely react to controversial issues as it is a worthless attempt to change the attitude of critics whose mindless act hurts the sentiments of millions of believers. However, we think it is necessary to answer the pointer raised here-- whether the milk offered to a deity is a waste . Let the critics remember that we live under the mercy of Nature that gifts us many things of which rain is the most important one. Failure of monsoon immediately affects the animals and birds and they try to migrate in search of water. They perish if they fail to identify the water resource in time. Man ignores even his pet animals at that stage in order to protect himself. Where from he get milk if the entire race of cows face the drought? He can not think of feeding his own baby, forget about feeding the poor children for a moment. When the God is so merciful to us and the cattle , what is wrong in thanking Him as a mark of our gratitude?
If the film makers are really interested in feeding milk to the poor, let them stop all lorry loads of cattle going towards the butcher's shops. Can't they live without eating mutton and beef when the poor struggle for a square meal a day? It is time for them to think and act before they preach through their films. The society has already been stabbed by viewing the immoral acts shown on the screen. Let them realise that the cinema is a strong media that can build lives of people. Such cheap acts can only ruin their image and at the end of the day their own fans may call it a day by boycotting such movies.
