DONATION TO DURGĀ IS A BRIBE

By Niraj Bidawatka

I have been regularly visiting the local Police Station since the last couple of months in connection with my complaint against the high-handed functioning of the Office Bearers of my housing society. On one occasion, when I went there to take stock of the action that they were taking, I was informed that the work is temporarily stalled due to some snag in the computer hardware. “The computer has stopped working,” said the official. I thought that it was just an excuse to procrastinate the action on my complaint.

However, after two days, I found that the computer was genuinely not working. When I re-visited after four or five days, the police official, who was supposed to make the report, was frantic. I asked him about the cause of his being so upset. He said the computer, which was nearly fifteen years old, has completely broken down and has to be replaced by a new one. I quipped that this was not a big concern and that he should buy a new one immediately. He said that he is looking for a donor, who could pay for the new computer. I was surprised and asked him as to why should he look for a donor, when the government will pay for it. He said that the police department doesn’t have money. Well I didn’t discuss the matter further with him because I was focused on the execution of action on my complaint. He informed that my work would be done only when the new computer arrives.

Somehow after a week or so, when I went back to him, they were enthusiastically unpacking the new computer. I was informed that it would take a couple of days to install all the requisite software and only then, can my work be taken up. I then started asking about the configuration and price of the new machine. He replied that the engineer knows about the technical side and that his main concern at the moment was to look for a donor, so that he could pay the vendor. He averred that if they went by the routine procedure, it would take a long time to get the funds released for the new computer but since they did not want citizens’ pending complaints to get delayed, they had arranged the computer on credit. I wished him best of luck in his pursuit to find a donor and left.

The point to ponder is, “Who will give donation to the police?” The answer is crystal clear. One who is on the wrong side of the law and wants undue favors from the police, will give a donation to them. No one would donate out of love to the police men. Ultimately, it is a criminal who would be eager to give a donation to the police. So this donation is actually a bribe.

Durgā devi is the superintendent of Krishna’s police department. Krishna has entrusted her the job of guarding the material world and controlling the miscreants. She gives trouble to the sinful demons and the weapon that she possesses is the trident, through which she keeps things under her control. She is the material nature, which gives the three types of miseries. These miseries are meant for reforming the conditioned souls in order to direct them back to Godhead.

But those who are too much attached to matter and want to lord it over, become worshipers of Devi Durgā. It is akin to the criminals eulogizing and worshiping the Police Officer, so that he may not give trouble. Actually the criminal is not a devotee of the policeman, but is making a show of devotion, so that his nefarious activities may continue unhindered. Meat-eaters, wine drinkers and such sinful persons are generally worshipers of Durgā-devi. Their acts of giving donations to her and thereby pleasing her (Durgā) are nothing but a form of bribe.

Such demons do not want to surrender to Krishna because they very well know that if they do so, then they know that Krishna will cleanse all their sins and take them back to His eternal spiritual world. But they do not want to get reformed just as petty thieves and criminals detest any form of rehabilitation. They want to remain sinful and compete with God. Their intention is to become God, or Īśvara, the Supreme Controller. They do not want to serve God and remain sub-ordinate to Him. Therefore they worship demigods such as Durgā, Shiva, etc. Rāvana was a devotee of Shiva whereas Hiranyakashipu worshiped Brahmā but their aim was to kill Vishnu and take His position as the Supreme Controller.

The criminals and terrorists want to kill the Head of State and take their position. In achieving this objective, they are ready to offer donations to various police and army personnel. Similarly, gross materialists worship Durgā-devi, so that she may not give them trouble in the form of ādhyatmika, ādhidaivika and ādhibhautika kleśa’s.

One question that may arise at this juncture is that whether Durgā-devi is corrupt like our mundane policeman. The answer is no. She is honestly executing her duties and one can observe through historical facts that the so-called devotees of Durgā are ultimately killed by her. The glaring example is that of the rogues who wanted to kill Jada Bharat. Jada Bharat was kidnapped by a few rogues, who wanted to offer him as a sacrifice to their worshipable deity Durgā. But when they were about to kill Jada Bharat, who was a great devotee of Krishna, Durgadevi immediately killed the rogues. The point to note is that she killed her own devotees in order to protect Krishna’s devotee. The rogues were, in fact, devotees of Durgā and therefore they wanted to please her by offering Jada Bharat’s flesh to her.

Krishna is the worshipable deity of Durgā and other demigods. ekale isvara krishna ara saba bhrtya: There is only one God and He is Krishna. All others are His servants. Thus Durgā is the maid-servant of Krishna and she becomes extremely angry when His devotees are given trouble. Her job entails making everyone devotees of Krishna by giving various kinds of miseries. But the intelligence of those who are grossly sinful (adānta gobhi), is not awakened towards surrendering unto Krishna (matir na krsne) and they try to adjust their miserable condition by giving bribes in the form of donations to Devi Durgā.

The police force gives trouble to the criminals. But if the criminal is intelligent, he will come to the conclusion that he should give up his nefarious activities. If he does so, then there is no question of the police giving any trouble to him. But, one who is less intelligent will try to give donations (read bribe) to the police. Such an arrangement will only give temporary solution. Thus the permanent solution is to give up criminal activities altoghether.

The less intelligent people observe that Durgā, or the material nature is giving them trouble. So they come to the conclusion that they should serve Durgā so that she may not give any more trouble. But this is a temporary arrangement akin to the criminal mentioned above, who gives a bribe to the policeman. But they fail to observe the root cause of the problem. They fail to identify that the material nature is giving them trouble due to their engaging in unrestricted sense enjoyment.

Ye hi samsparsa-jā bhogā duhkha-yonaya eva te (Bg 5.22): As long as one is engaged in sense enjoyment, one cannot expect peace because such enjoyment is the source of miseries. One cannot expect permanent respite from the police while simultaneously being engaged in criminal activities. The real solution is to give up sense gratification and surrender unto Krishna, the controller of Durgā, or material nature. Mām eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te: Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (7.14), “Those who surrender unto Me, can easily overcome material nature.”

Thus, instead of giving bribes to the material nature, Durgā, one should surrender to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Durgā-devi is extremely pleased when she sees someone serving her worshipable deity, Lord Krishna.

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