FAITH ENERGY

FAITH ENERGY - The greatest force on earth.

Religious faith is perhaps the most powerful voluntary expression of human emotion. Billions of people demonstrate their faith in God represented by various names, forms and religions in every part of the world. The number of devotees is growing year after year demonstrating increasing faith in God. Devotees invoke divine intervention to answer their prayers and to redeem them from situations not capable of being solved by human intervention alone. Some important pilgrimages are:

Haj (the largest annual pilgrimage in the world signifying people’s ‘Submission to Allah’). Has the participation of over three million people from all over the world. This annual event has lived and grown for over fourteen centuries beginning sometime in the 7th century (AD).

Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra: Attracts over 2.5 million pilgrims annually. The magnitude of this event can be measured by the number of cooks and helpers (650) employed specially for feeding the participating pilgrims.

Maha Kumbh – This 44-day festival of faith once every 12 years in Allahabad (Sangam – the confluence of three sacred rivers – The Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati) attracts over 70 million pilgrims. Some visitors have dubbed this as the ‘greatest show on earth’.

Tirupathi-Tirumala Devasthanam: Daily pilgrim visits range from 50,000 to 100,000 throughout the year. The annual Brahmothsava attracts over 500,000 pilgrims.

Sabarimala: One of the most visited pilgrim centers in the world with an estimated 50-60 million devotees every year. Unique feature of this center is that people of all religions, castes and classes throng there with equal faith and devotion.

There are also hundreds smaller pilgrimages and events that add to the massive base of faith-based human endeavor.

It is a marvel that the power of faith makes multitudes upon multitudes of the old and week and the young and frail make the pilgrimage without hesitation or complaint upon incredibly tiresome and long journeys and difficult environmental hurdles. This emotionally charged act is beyond imagination. What fuels them can be aptly described as ‘FAITH ENERGY”.

We can confidently claim that there is no other force known to mankind, that moves emotionally charged people to places near and far and reinforces their hope – hope to have their prayers granted. Pilgrims and devotees throng religious centers in millions disregarding risks, illness, disabilities, distance and inconvenience. Those possessed by this emotional energy seem to develop the stamina to withstand and suffer any kind of obstacle. Is it not “FAITH ENERGY’ that drives them?

If ‘FAITH ENERGY’ is the most powerful motivating force, how else can mankind harness this for the betterment of the population on a social plane? If any of our national programmes (such as conservation, population control, health, adult education, infant mortality, etc) can ride on this motive energy, one can possibly attain large-scale participation and greater success. Many a social cause was linked to religious practices even in the Vedic age. Why not now.

Think about it. It can take us miles and miles forward in our national construction.