Einstein was right

Albert Einstein was right when he said that only two things were infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and he was not sure about the former. There is no other explanation to building a temple for Gandhiji in Nalgonda district. Metaphorically Gandhiji must be turning in his grave at Raj Ghat in New Delhi after hearing about the temple and people offering various Hindu rituals like Kumkumarchana et al. Not surprisingly, the people behind the temple administration are also spreading rumours that the students, who wish to go abroad for higher studies, could worship Gandhiji at the temple to get visa.

In a country where hero worship is common and temples have been built to even the filmy heroines, it is not surprising for many. However, it is hard to digest the fact that a temple was constructed for the Father of Nation. If the people behind the temple had read the autobiography of Gandhiji “My Experiment with Truth,” they would have thought twice before building such temple.

There was hue and cry when a hillock was named after Gandhiji in Vijayawada in early Seventies with a monument and a library to highlight his literary work. Gandhi Hill, as it is popularly known, contains also a photo exhibition of the Freedom Movement, hundreds of books authored by Gandhiji and a number of Gandhians in the library, a planetarium and a toy train atop the Hill for entertaining children.

The monument highlights Gandhi’s eleven vows—Non-violence, Truth, Non-stealing, self-discipline, non-possession, bread labour, control of palate, fearlessness, equality of all religions, use locally made goods and remove untouchability. Several people objected to it and even ridiculed the idea of making him larger than life size. The group of Digambara Kavulu blasted the idea. Cherabanda Raju wrote, “Parvatalemiti, Puja Mandiralemiti, Aaradhanalemiti, Aarbhatalemiti. Ee desaniki maro Gandhi vaddu. Ee desam marosari mosapovaddu.”

If we recall what Sri Sri has said in Seventies, the future generations would be made to believe that Gandhiji raised his hand stick and roared at the British to leave the country and the British were frightened and left the country. No wonder the history would be rewritten to suit their interests. In early Seventies, setting up of a memorial was objected to. Surprisingly, now there is hardly any response from any corner over the temple for Gandhiji.

If anybody wants not to follow the high principles of a towering personality, just place him on high pedestal and make him a god. Then one need not follow the principles enunciated by him. One could escape by saying that the great man stuck to the principles because he was god. “We are ordinary mortals. How could we follow him?” This is the great escapism. I tried to talk to some of the people who were running the temple. They said that they were employees and they do not know anything. Not one of them was wearing Khadi clothes leave alone working on charkha. This is how ultimately the principles of Gandhiji are consigned to flames.