Rosie and Annie were on a trip
across what was organised as a walk through the world of Islamic art and
Literature. They were travelling across Pakistan ( Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar
& Islamabad ) , then onto Quetta and Kabul, moving through Mongolia, Turkeministan
before ending up in Turkey.
It was a long journey, but both had
agreed to travel by road rather than fly. They entered Pakistan, their first
leg, through the Wagah border. Their agents had arranged a series of Litt.,
fests for them to participate enroute.
They had invited Daniel too. But
Daniel accepted to only perform his musical output across select cities that
Rosie and Annie were visiting, refused to travel by road.
Invariably Annie pushed Rosie and
Daniel to discuss anything and everything while she made notes – during one
such session Annie pushed them to discuss ‘Spiritualism’ – just when they were
visiting the Babar’s tomb in Kabul - and to her delight the debate soon became
an animated conversation.
Rosie : The thing about human relationships is that they are all
frail and filled with potential accidents. You meet, you love, you laugh, you
even cook together – all fine, sooner or later, you may face an accident
capable of changing the entire equation. Suddenly the truth is you are no
longer compatible, this could be as sudden as the way your relationship started
in the very first place – most relationships start with an accident and
abruptly with an accident.
Daniel : But, one may ask about Mom & Dad ? they have been
married for 50 years ? and still manage a smile ? well, they just have quietly survived
several such accidents and yet said , so what ? let’s keep walking.
Rosie : But then that of relationship is a dying breed.
Daniel : Bold, passionate, rebellious, experimental with a sense of
revolt and anger built in. Rules are broken, promises are susceptible to subterfuge,
faith, loyalty, trust become theoretical – but no matter what when it comes to commitment
of survival – the unsaid rule is we are in it together and we will walk
together – if not holding hands – at least sleeping in the same room, together.
Rosie : Materialism is a strange bedfellow among married couples
but its corollary is even more strange.
Daniel : And then there’s spirituality.
Rosie : ( Smiling ) In a material world, spirituality is like a
coffee shop. It’s like Starbucks without coffee but replaced with Yoga or a
Choir – spirituality too is packaged in the hands of a stylista - the guru is a
rock star, an expert gymnast, good at mouthing popular rhetoric, she has a make
up room, an air-conditioned vanity van, a fair bit of abracadabra and she makes
all the right noises, grooms herself well, has no problems wearing a Rolex, relaxing
by the 5 star pool, nursing a vodka shot or visiting the local pub with her
disciples just to ensure she has a huge following – she thrives on demagoguery
and exploiting stereotypes – all in the name of god.
Daniel : For the uninitiated, that’s a scam. For the guru and the
disciples it’s materialism at work. Spirituality is but an excuse.
Rosie : So what is it? Is there anything called true spirituality ?
Daniel : Spirituality used to be a sacred space
Rosie : Ok
Daniel : It was a mechanism of discovering the divine
Annie : Hmmm ( both turn around and smile at her )
Rosie : Divine is such a collective cacophony ! What’s divine
really ?
Daniel : In my opinion there’s divine about divine. The feeling is
as good as Stephen Hawking theorising the galaxy using physics or a rhetorical
yogi expounding the mystery of the Universe – except Stephen Hawking spends
hours and years to research, work out mathematical theorems and challenge
stalwarts of quantum Physics to develop a new theory of the Universe with no
real material expectations.
The Yogi guru’s simply carry out
a series of gymnastic exercises and some very contemporary rhetoric to ensure
they have a fairly large access to the material world.
To me someone like Stephen
Hawking is probably is more spiritual than the even the greatest of the great spiritual
guru.
Annie : Why are most spiritual gurus so effeminate ? so pancy and
so self righteous ? so full of themselves ? why do spiritual gurus detest
dissent ? Why do they hate critics? Hate questions about their personality or
character ? why do they always end up as sexual predators ?
Rosie looked at Daniel and waited
for his reply
Daniel : Position of power can be a great aphrodisiac. And the role
of naïve human’s in search of enlightenment can manifest itself into a sort of ‘
spiritual concubinism’ – the devotee and guru turning lovers is but a natural
benefit for both.
Rosie : ( taking a cue from Daniel )
So essentially the spiritual guru
is a polygamous, sex addict. Has charisma, rhetoric, gymnastic expertise along
with power.
In such an environment is the devotee
or are the devotees willing lambs ?
Daniel : Beyond doubt
That's when Annie announced to her Husband Rosie and her dear friend Daniel that she was soon to join a Reiki group once she returns to India - both Rosie and Daneil were too stunned to react.
