SAINTS OR GODMEN?

I have a lot of apprehensions about self styled Saints or so called Godmen. May be I have inherited this from my late grandmother or even my parents. My grandmother was very religious and prayed all through the day with rosary. She passed away peacefully with rosary in hand. She was not sick or anything and her going off was sudden. She used to say that God resides in everyone’s heart and it is we who have to make God’s dwelling place worth by being clean &honest at heart. She never subscribed to any Guru or self styled Godman. She used to say that anyone who shows off his or her so called proximity to God is not a true saint as that shows his or her wish to gain materialistic things through large number of followers. My parents, though religious, were also of the same opinion and did not join any such crowd of followers.

Let us see what makes one saint or Godman. In my thinking one who renounces materialistic things and devotes his or her time to God by following what God desires which is to do good for the society. Just saying prayers is not sufficient but it is the conduct which is needed alongwith that.  If one wants or accepts to have a lot of Ashrams or organizations named after him or her even by followers then where is renouncement of materialistic things?  By wearing crown etc to project image of being Godly is not what makes a person a saint. One needs to live in simple ways and be one amongst the others. He or she should not only preach but follow it also. Living or travelling in luxury is a much sought after materialist way. I think one who lives with family leading normal life doing expected chores but sincerely following God's directions is better than any self styled saint who craves for fame. 

Do think it over.

UPBRINGING SHOWS

A couple of days ago when I was returning from market after some chore there was an elderly lady, close to my age, alongwith two younger ones ahead of me, may be her daughters. There is a double carriageway main road between markets of two sectors.  I had to cross that to reach sector where I reside. They too seemed to be waiting to cross over. We waited for reasonable gap in the traffic to cross. As we started crossing the road a motorcycle at a safe distance suddenly speeded up and started doing zigzag pattern while driving. There were two young boys, may be even less the 18 years, on that. They were not wearing helmets. They zoomed past us making a S, starting from bottom  encircling the elderly lady in front and then dangerously going behind the younger ones on upper curve, making all of us more startled than scared. All this while they were making loud noises. Once they had passed, the boy on pillion looked back laughing and making unwanted gestures.

This set me thinking as to what has gone wrong with our younger generation of today. I have seen youngsters on motorcycles driving dangerously zigzagging through traffic, getting in whatever gap they find in heavy traffic even overtaking the vehicle in front from wrong side and then swerving in front of it. Few times even I had to brake hard to avoid hitting such youngsters. Most of the times they are without helmets. There have been reports in the newspapers about gangs of such motorcyclists causing havoc by indulging in stunts endangering others in traffic, specially pedestrians. A couple of years ago I had personally seen youngsters on three motorcycles doing stunts while driving on Noida e-way. The ones on pillion would stand up doing dance moments while ones driving would do all kind of stunts like zigzagging or lifting the front wheel. They were all without helmets. I am quite sure that parents of such youngsters are mostly not aware of what they do or those who know shrug it off saying “After all they are youngsters to have some fun.”  And if there is an accident resulting in death, such parents blame the traffic police.

I strongly feel that it is upto us  parents to inculcate habit of safe driving in our children, specially two wheelers and cars as well.  Why just safe driving, we should inculcate good habits like respect for others, specially girls, as well as doing their job, even studies, with heart into it and ensure that they do not do anything wrong including corruption.  

Is it not true that behavior of a person shows upbringing he or she has had as well as the family culture?