Mountain of light

They have been two interesting stories in the media recently that have caught my attention more than the others. First is the Shiva lingam in Amarnath and how the lingam this year is an artificially made one and the other one is a Kannada actress of yesteryears claiming to have somehow entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Ayappa temple in Sabarimala. Lord Ayappa is a bachelor God and as per the temple authorities, if the actress indeed managed to do what she is claiming then the temple’s sanctity has been spoilt and it will have to be cleaned.

What is happening one may ask? As per my limited understanding of the Hindu mythology, these are sure shot signs of the Kali Yuga, when spirituality and morality degenerates considerably and attains new lows. I mean look around us and Kali Yuga is all pervasive. Our rulers are taxing us unfairly (FBT anyone?), people are stressed out by their jobs and are looking to go to retreats to escape their work (Ananda Spa?), relationships are breaking up all around me, people are getting intoxicated to alcoholic drinks (to the King of good times) etc. Increasingly as I read about it, if this is not Kali Yuga then nothing else is. This Yuga will only end when an Avatar will arrive on a white horse (ok a white Ferrari) and save the world.

So, I thought to myself who in the current crop are potential avatars. Two people come to my mind immediately. My top candidate is George Bush who wants to save the world even when his own country’s Supreme Court tells him his military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay are illegal. He just wants to save his people, as simple as that. There is Rahul Gandhi, although not in the same league yet as George Bush. But he still wants to save the about to be most populous nation of the world. He is so committed to his goal that he even refused the Prime Minister’s position when he was 25 years old. Apparently, a divine voice told him that even Avatars have a minimum age limit, and it is certainly higher than 25. Therefore, he is biding his time and keeping his mouth shut until his destiny finally embraces him. There are ofcourse a whole bunch of other people – politicians, rockstars, billionaires, religious heads etc and the thing with them is that sometimes I feel that they think that saving themselves is equivalent to saving the world. So I can never be sure whether they are actions are towards the general good or towards boosting their own PR image.

My personal take on this whole issue is that I do not agree that the entire humanity is going through Kali Yuga. Each one of us has our own Yugas and we need to deal with them at our own personal levels. My Kali Yuga is different from yours and I will be in it shorter or longer than yours, depending on how I deal with it.