Renowned psychologist, Dr Wayne Dyer, warned against holding on to a single way of doing a task and recommended innovation as psychologically healthy as against a rigid or standardized way of doing things. This failure to be innovative can alienate many with new ideas that they perceive as more efficient and yielding better results and satisfactions.
Critical thinking appears to be absent from our intellectual tool box. For many it appears that what our ancestors planted here are not to be modified but to be left as it is. Few would understand that even our stories in the scriptures can change with the philosophy being intact. For example, to teach that greed is bad, the story to be told to bring out this moral cannot be restricted to “The Dog and the Bone.” Not surprisingly, telling the same story would bring the reaction from students … “I heard that story before.”
The doubles vendor is the bast example of innovation. Fron the single barra with some chutney served from a basket, the double vendor has demonstrated over the years that he has the creative enterprise in his blood to innovate and adapt. Not surprisingly, the double vendor has incurred the wrath of the ‘organized’ fast food sector with its exorbitant overhead expenditures. Can this innovation be applied in our mandirs?
I went to the bandara for my friend Niranjan Bhaggan. The rituals were held inside the house and on the outside, under tents, there was live singing. I went to another home recently and there was a similar arrangement. It should be optional to view devotees and the pandit engaged in worship. I am of the view that a pooja should be private and not for the full view of all. However, those who want to view the pooja should be extended the opportunity.
To sit in the congregation and view devotees forming a long line and going up to the pandit who chants mantras and guide the devotees in making their offerings for several hours is beautiful but torturous for me at the same time.
I am not at all blaming our pandits or the devotees. If there are anyone to blame it has to be the management of the mandir. Only Saturday last I went to an all-day (6am to 6pm) Hanuman Chalisa chanting and while the chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa was going on, devotees were given the option to go to the dining area for a meal.
The issue here is innovation and critical thinking. Without innovation or change, businesses lose customers. It explains why ever so often shop fronts are renovated and counters are redone and the space for shopping is widened. If not, business houses are going to lose customers to their competitors. May be this lack of innovation explains the poor attendance in the mandir in recent years.
If our leaders in the mandirs are not innovative, then death would be the certain outcome. Are there mandirs with large turnouts? If so, then others would have to employ the strategies they are using? If not, it is now for the leaders to become more creative and innovative and this must be done by conducting surveys among the young Hindus to find out their areas of interest. I am certain that if these surveys are conducted and the findings implemented, the attendance in the mandir will certainly improve.