Bountifully blossoms faith

 The whole of India is abuzz with religious celebrations currently. Come the month of Margashirsha, the holy of the holiest according to the Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter XI, and our motherland seems to be abuzz with ceremonies celebrating faith.

This week began with the "dhwajarohan" at Ayodhya.  It signified n dignified in a way the culmination of the centuries old Ram Janma Bhoomi movement. It, moreover, marked the completion of the Ram Mandir project at Ayodhya.

This morning, the P.M. participated in the public mass recitation of the Bhagwad Geeta and the Vedas, while towards the evening, he unveiled the seventy-seven feet high bronze idol of Shri Ram.

Most interesting are the places of these ceremonies, from the North (Ayodhya) to the South (Udupi) to the West (the Gokarna Math in Goa). Literally, the whole of India seems to be abuzz with religious fervour. 

Goa is the most significant of the three. In a way, Ayodhya has always been the center of such religious animation (and animosity, too) for centuries. The South is well-known for its religious observance. Goa, however, has a clear Christian influence due to the Portuguese colonisation.  Why, it has the remains of Saint Francis Xavier. The mostly Catholic churches and basilicas there are as famous as the Mangeshi temple. 

The tallest statue of Lord Ram in such a place is extremely  significant. It shows that the fount of faith flows literally across the length and breadth  of India. 

Does this exuberance clash with the secular framework of our multi-religious country? I do not think so. Well, look at the swearing in of the "nine mantras" by the P.M at both the ceremonies this Friday. Clearly they have a very democratic progressive inclusive profile.

There is nothing constitutionally wrong in the majority faith being thus celebrated because none of these religious events belittled the minorities' faith in any way. In fact, the P.M. also attended the three hundred and fiftieth Shaheed Diwas, honouring the martyrdom of the Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur. 

As it is, the term "secular" was introduced in the Preamble during the Emergency which, too, has reached its fiftieth anniversary  this year.