There are those who say
Guru ji must still occupy
The hollow of a tree.
They reckon without the quicker
Magic of new-age connectivity.
Higher than any steeple,
Temple or tree top ranges
Invisible the command of
Whatsapp to go’s encrypted
Number, which only market-
Friendly guru ji is privy to.
With such knowledge, what
Pusillanimity to carp that
Money and gadgets are inimical
To the quiet of communion
With the Truth of hereafter;
Such primitive spirituality
Justly evokes bumptious
Laughter. Thus decimate
Trees and river-banks all you
Wish and send the birds
To oblivion, and the law to
Graze on sand, just so long
As people know you are
The one with the bandwidth
To god’s ultimate spectrum;
And such belief is best induced
By gurus who are visibly hot
In fat cat followers who hold
Government on the back
Of their thumb. What is a guru
Who travels on foot and
Peregrinates for that crumb.
Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.
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