Ganga is almost dead. She is not only cleaning the filth from human body but also accepting sewage from the industries. Why do we always blame the government when people are behaving irresponsibly?
Don’t you think that priests have a bigger role to play to create awareness among people about saving Ganga instead of government? End of the day, Ganga is goddess and people should know that she requires special treatment. It is acceptable to take a dip in water for washing away all your sins but why do we wash our clothes in Ganga. I visited Ganga in the year 2011 and noticed many women washing clothes. I saw men taking dip in the river, gargling and spitting there and applying soap. We and the residents of Varanasi are responsible for the pollution of Ganga river.
Many underwater creatures like fish are seen dead floating on the edge of river. According to rituals, Hindus generally take bath, drape themselves with clean clothes, apply tilak and start praying. Who is going to clean Ganga? We Hindus believe that every women needs self-beautification and “sringar” is must for goddesses too. However, the priests have become so shameless that they merely perform prayers. How do we think that goddess will be pleased with your prayers?
We have seen places where spitting of tobacco is prohibited. However, we are aware that people are not going to adhere to the rules. Later, authorities had placed tiles containing god’s pictures so that people will refrain from spitting. These tiles have also become a major cause of conflict between Hindus and Muslims. Muslims used to spit on the tiles containing pictures of Hindu deities while Hindus would spit on tile containing pictures of Quran which became a bone of contention between both communities. Few more tiles were placed containing pictures of Quran in order to broker peace between them.
Finally the problem aggravated as conflicts happened on a recurring basis forcing authorities to remove those tiles. Surprisingly, after the removal of tiles they never spit on the same spot again.
The problem is not about tiles or the Ayodhya and Babri Masjid issue but has more to do with people’s mindset. People devotionally follow all the rituals and their own religion but when it comes to maintaining the sanctity nobody is bothered. We are more busy showing about how good or bad we could be.
