Sympathising With The Catholic Priest
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
9 August
2023
"Mere Haathon Ke Tarashe Hue Patthar Ke
Sanam;
Aaj Bhagwaan Bane Baithe Hain Butkhaanon
Mein"
(The idols I carved out of stones/ Are
installed as gods on thrones)
A Catholic
priest in Goa was booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments for his
alleged remarks about the Maratha warrior king Shivaji, during a sermon, said
police.
A group of
at least 100 “Shiv Premis” including members of Bajrang Dal, Rajput
Karni Sena among others thronged the Vasco police station in South Goa on
Friday night, and staged a protest outside the police station, demanding
immediate arrest of the Fr Bolmax Pereira, the parish priest of St Francis
Xavier Church, Chicalim in South Goa.
Father
Bolmax Pereira from Goa
----
Earlier
this week, in a purported video, the priest had said in a sermon, “There are a
few people for whom Shivaji has become a God…Yes, he is a national hero. We
have to honour and respect him. What he has done, the battles he fought to
protect his people…for all that he deserves respect. He is a hero, but not a
god…We have to have a dialogue with our Hindu brethren and ask them ‘Is Shivaji
your God? or a national hero’. If he is a national hero, let it be at that.
Don’t make him a God. We need to understand their perspective. If we live in
fear, we will not be able to rise again”.
Did this
priest say anything wrong? Did he insult Shivaji? Did he abuse him? Didn't he
call the Maratha King a national hero? He justifiably refused to call Shivaji,
a god. Hinduism is already overburdened with an army of gods. How many more
gods do Hindus need? The religio-political atmosphere of the country is so
vicious at the moment and the lumpen elements among Hindus are so brazen that
sanity has lost its place and sensibility has gone for a toss. Till 2012,
Shivaji was a venerable Maratha king and warrior. Even textbooks in Maharashtra
mentioned him as king Shivaji or Chhatrapati Shivaji. Then Maharaj was added to
his name and soon Shivaji was included in the pantheon of Hindu gods. Today,
Shivaji is a cult. Now he's worshipped like a god and if you don't use the
suffix Maharaj to his name, people get offended just like calling Bal Thackeray
sans 'Saheb' is considered to be insulting in Maharashtra and even most of the grovelling
dailies, published from Maharashtra, write Balasaheb Thackeray. Coming back to
the steady 'evolution' of the Maratha king, Bombay's CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus) is now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).
Deification of individuals is a favourite pastime of over-sensitive, slavish
and indolent Indians. Decades ago, a firebrand Bengali writer Nirad C Chaudhuri
wrote in his book ' Autobiography of an unknown Indian ' that " Indians
seriously lack a sense of proportion when it comes to respecting a person. They
grovel and go ga-ga over a famous personality. This might be an outcome of
being enslaved for centuries. Indians often behave like poor slaves without a
skerrick of amour propre." This explains our proclivity to deify a person.
Politics has further intensified this unworthy tendency. These are potentially
bad times for all those who think sensibly and rationally.
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sympathising-catholic-priest/d/130415
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