Religious Tourism or Capitalizing on Fear?

Yes, we all read, heard, seen, discussed, created theories, shared opinions and did a lot more over the recently concluded Mahakumbh. Once in 144 years. 660 million People. 4,000 hectares. Yes. That many people, across that much of land in a span of a month in a once in several lifetimes kinda affair. That’s the power of religious tourism. This blog isn’t however about any of that. No sarcasm, no witty statements, no facts & figures, no conspiracy theories, but a firsthand narrative of experiences just a couple of 100 kilometres away from this land, over a trip aimed at visiting a dozen temples, offer prayers, service and go with an honest, yearning mindset, but returning with mixed emotions.

Navigating the rough waters of deceit though faith

This episode is a very recent one and hence as fresh in the mind as if I am still living it and involves a religious trip planned and undertaken with gleaming eyes and innocent minds to discover some new places, unravel the mythology behind some strongly worshipped Gods and come back to our mundane lives with a sense of wonder, awe and enchantment on knowing a lil more from the volumes & volumes of our rich and ancient history. While the place, the vibe, the actual monuments which are characterized by impeccable artistry, craftsmanship and finesse are absolutely magnificent and leave you in a state of amazement, making you unwilling to leave the spot for as long as you can muster and the flavors of the local foods fill your stomachs and hearts, the human element that comes with it is a show spoiler and puts a dent in the overall experience that one signs up for.

Over time we have all had our run-ins with several versions of service models – Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or even more recently, with the EV Cars in full bloom – Battery as a Service (BaaS), however, this trip brought about a different variant of BaaS – Brahmin as a Service / Baba as a Service. Yes, you read it right. Blatant selling strategies to convince you, no, actually force you to employ a local Baba for tagging along with you and helping you perform rites and rituals – most of which you weren’t even looking to perform.

Picture this – you reach a spot of religious importance, sacred and pious, but even before you can let your faith and devotion wash you over and get lost in the moment or take in the awe of the place you have travelled far and wide and made several sacrifices to get to – you are welcomed by a swarm of almost goon-like individuals, surrounding you, nagging and almost hounding you to take their services, which by their self-proclamation are the only doors to enlightenment.

Concepts that the best B-Schools and self-help books only try to teach you in multiple ways are seen here in action, out in the open and evidently. For instance - cross-selling and upselling! The moment you finally give-in to one of these characters, you seem to unlock a cross-selling pyramid starting with holy flowers, followed by sweets offered sacredly, religious scriptures, milk, ghee and other artefacts. Before you realize, you’re holding on to a basket of items, that would overshoot even your online shopping cart quantity and holding onto them for dear life in between large hordes of people.

If this cross-selling isn’t enough, now comes the time of upselling, when you’re at the shore of a holy river, or right at the cusp of the God’s idol in a temple. Under the garb of donating for the well-being of your parents, or some loved one who’s passed away, nudging and poking on your emotions and sensibilities to the extent of almost making yourself believe that you’re guilty of not caring enough or too attached to your money/possessions and inducing fear into your heart and mind that if you were to not donate to the said priest at the said temple on the spot, a big curse will fall onto not just you, but your spouse, kids, parents and family at large.

Something which starts of as a harmless Rs. 10 to Rs. 20 donation – maybe not even as a charity, but out of empathy to help this person out, before you can control it, snowballs into a blow up of multiple hundred or multiple thousand rupees, which again if you refuse to or are unwilling to spend, then you are made to feel guilty of committing a sin. What’s even worse is that even if you are willing to fall for this and decide to spend on the suggested charity, good deed, rites/rituals – you do not end the chapter there, instead, you are presented with tiers of customized packages to select from and as you may have guessed it, the higher package you select, the supposed better person you are. You could choose to feed 1 priest, or 1 cow or make the 3 or 5 or 11. You can tweak the duration from a one-time activity to a recurring activity for a month or a year, but obviously, they have caught you now, so why not make it a multi-year combo package and milk you out for a good 3–5-year deal?

Don’t get me wrong – when the heart is pure, the emotion is true, the devotion is deep, and the intentions are noble – all of this is fine. Why just 1, 3, 5 or 11 – one could adopt a whole village and sponsor them for eternity, but pouncing on people at an opportune moment, at the cusp of their prayers and coercing them into cutting you literal paychecks is just shameful. If minimalism, sacred sanctity, letting go and adopting a spiritual path is the way to go, then these people in effect are the ones who should be guiding us, mentoring us, leading by example and enriching us – and not instead acting as predators always on the lookout for the biggest score and then onto the next one.

I don’t say this without any basis for it. The very person who followed us like a shadow, the moment we got out of our car, eventually got us into doing a certain ritual and paying him a hefty sum, wasn’t some poor sage surrendered to spirituality, but one whom we caught pressing several others for money, right in the middle of the most sacrosanct ceremony and immediately after leaving the temple on a very expensive bike, with all riches adorned which one is specifically taught to let go off.

Enlightenment, is no light matter and is across multiple religions said to be the ultimate destination in a person’s spiritual journey and is attained by only a few people, after making immeasurable sacrifices, displaying and embodying undying devotion to God and having a pure soul, devoid of malice - & yet, you find several unqualified clowns selling the idea of “Tatkaal Moksha” to several million impressionable, uneducated devotees who walk into these quarters. Yes, you heard it right, not a Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato instant delivery of goods & services, but a quick commerce parallel of attaining salvation and covering the last mile in an expedited fashion.

Having spent a lot of money – some by choice, some without an iota of a choice, it was sad that as a group, as a collective we came to a conclusion, that no matter what someone now says throughout the remainder of the trip, we will just put on a hard stand and blatantly refuse every similar offer, no matter what quantum of sin they try to scare us with or what tactic they use to increase their wallet share with us.

It’s an unfortunate situation to find yourselves in, especially when the background of the trip is to travel to discover spirituality, to serve, to discover parts of you, you didn’t know about and go about at your peak generosity – and in the end finding yourself to be more insecure and guarded than ever before – keeping your belongings close, sticking close to each other to avoid shady characters out to take advantage and misbehave with the female members and a little toddler in the group, having dozens of thoughts run through your mind, instead of going ahead with peace and tranquility. Food for thought?