Name your price..

"Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, 

Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani !"

This is a shloka ( verse) from the Bhagwad Gita that is often considered the essence of the Holy Book and of the philosophical and spiritual foundation of the Hindu way of life. This Sanskrit shloka is usually translated into Hindi as 'karm kar, phal ki icha mat kar' or 'carry out your duty, don’t worry (or care?) about the result.' 



I am a sincere believer of existence of god, and I often pray at the temples, mosques and gurudwara. It must be pure and selfless love for the existence of the almighty. Recently, for my birthday I wanted to sponsor a Langar,which is basically offering food to the deity and then feeding it to the masses. Since I am a believer of the Sai Baba so decided to keep one at the Sai Baba Temple. My family has been organizing similar Langars before, but this time it just didn't feel right. The feeling I got from the people working at the temple, was very artificial. Getting a chance to serve in the temple is an honour. But that is hardly the feeling that I could gauge from the people working there. All they were looking for was how much would they be tipped after the offering was done.So is it really about the belief or is this a profession in itself?

Around two years back, I went for a pilgrimage to Tirupati Balaji, down south of India. He is known to be the richest god in world, considering the amount of money and gold people donate. Everything these days comes with a price tag, so my visit as well. In short, just to skip the line which takes hours to an end, you can choose to pay Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 or Rs.1500 to see the deity and pray. What about the common man who stands in the line from a day before so that he gets his chance to pray to his god. In today's world everything is commercialized.

I come back to the verse from Bhagwad Gita which means carry your duty and don't worry about the result. The man who is dedicated to his work and family and has the love of god is the true worshiper. He need not visit the god in the temple for the god resides in his heart. Maybe its time we stop putting a money worth to everything, including belief!