Dearer Endearment

God and Inflation

One might wonder what the two have to do with each other. Some might think that it is about God helping us dealing with inflation. No, I have something else in mind. All religions prescribe some way or the other to help us take our requests to God and also ask us to nurture hope of getting our requests accepted and answered.  Have we ever thought of how much the price of such requests have gone up over the past few years? How much burden of inflation do we have to suffer to reach the omniscient? 

Long ago when population was less and things cheaper, I would assume, it would have been easier to get attention and requests fulfilled. Whether it is an offering [candles, oil, fruits, sweets etc.] or whether it is a pilgrimage it has only become costlier to be heard and seek the blessing of the almighty. Often it is also the satisfaction of a priest that decides the satisfaction in the rituals performed and possibly satisfaction of the worshipped deity, here also what used to suffice few years ago is considered a pittance today. Not so long ago, a friend asked if ‘priests were beggars’?  If we don’t treat what priests do as a service and don’t consider it to in anyway help us get ourselves closer to God or be heard by God, well then, they are possibly beggars in disguise! So are all of us who also believe that we offer some service that is worthy enough to earn us our money.

 

Some might argue that to keep pace with inflation both the quantity and quality of offerings have suffered. Then the question is whether we have found yet another shortcut to keep the almighty happy for less? Some might also argue that it is not in the offerings but the honesty of feelings behind the offering that matters. I don’t know any way to measure the honesty behind offerings nor do I know how it has changed over time. Though, offerings do tend to keep track with changes in earning capability but not essentially with inflation. It appears more of a subjective interpretation of what we assume to be sufficient to please and get the desired result, rather than what possibly is demanded of. How would we know what is demanded off anyway! 

However inflation in these matters is not entirely avoidable. Installing deities at home, offerings, pilgrimages all have become dearer than before so much so that some can’t afford it. Behind all this is wisdom. Whatever wisdom is available at our disposal constantly makes this active choice of how much, how often, worth of it, whether desired results are met. Is God at the mercy of our individual wisdom or is our wisdom at the mercy of God – it is for people to observe.