Baptism of pugilist Sarita Devi and our society's outlook

Samarjit Kambam *

Sarita Devi arriving at Imphal Airport on 11 August 2014

There are two groups of people in the world – one group a believer of God and another group a non believer of God known as atheist. Atheists think that we are nothing but atoms in the void. The believers are God fearing people whereas atheists don't give a damn. There's a world of difference between the two groups.

To the atheists, religion is an institution that freezes the mind from rational thoughts as well as a waste of time and resources, just as Karl Marx once said, "Religion is the opium of the masses" a small phrase but is gradually transcending as a certainty. The atheists believe that religion is the root cause of racism, clashes among groups of different religious sects, chaos and emergence of religious fundamentalism and religious fanatics.

Every religion in the world preaches goodness. In Hinduism, the lotus which is the National Flower of India is considered a sacred flower, as a religious symbol wherein a pristine message is towed that the beautiful flower growing out of the mud is a symbol of the great truth that the highest arises from the lowest. Collaterally, Christianity preaches that one with almost nothing produces the thing of the greatest value.

However, it is through religion that we have witnessed genocides and wars. Awakening or decadence of the human mind is the result of the way people practice religion. It is also very saddening to learn that the sublime religion called Hinduism has been made a mess through politicalisation with Hindutva as a political tool thereby leading to increase in number of Hindu fanatics and fundamentalists and going against the very secular themes of democratic Indian Constitution.

The phenomenon called ISIS is also the residue of perverted practice of Islam. Great scholars of Islam have stated time and again that violence was never propagated by the works of Prophet Mohammed. So security and fulfilment elude all of us through wrong practice of religion.

At the prevailing scenario where the Meiteis are longing for their roots, it comes as a shocker to the Meitei society when the world renown boxer in the flesh and blood of Laishram Sarita Devi was baptized at Evangelical Church, Thoubal on 11th June 2017 along with her mother. In western countries where the outlook of the people are very liberal, one doesn't raise an eyebrow when one coverts from one religion to another.

Late King of Pop Michael Jackson converted to Islam. Same applied to pop diva Madonna, actress Lindsay Lohan and the likes. Whereas in some conservative societies, we have witnessed a son killing his own mother for becoming an apostate, a father killing his daughter for converting to other religion or a brother taking the life his own sister in the name of honour killing for eloping with man belonging to other religion.

Ours is a society where a diva who has been worshipped by the people can become a non entity in a single day. Mention may be made of Irom Sharmila Chanu once christened as the "Iron Lady" and now has been taken more as enemy of the society. The struggle, physical and mental pain she endured for the past 16 years against AFSPA 1958 has been forgotten, erased from the public psyche. This is Manipur.

Interestingly, the rating of the public's affinity on Sarita Devi has gone down dramatically since 11th June. It is a true to the bone fact that a person who follows a particular religion abhors other religions whereas every religion in the world preaches tolerance and not to abhor other religions. Even in this age of mammoth technological advancement where the world has become a global village, the 'selfish gene' inside us still cannot be wiped out.

What adds more to the paradox is that even highly educated ones in our society still can't get rid of this 'selfish gene' caused by the religion they practice. These are the perverted forms of religions, perverted by the very ones who practice them even though there is goodness in every religion. Here, many questions arise whether we are embracing the goodness of our own religion. The ironic truth is that only a handful of people in the world absorbs or practices the good things preached by the very religions they follow.

In our society, hardcore Meitei Sanamahists are hammer and tongs against Hindu Vaisnavaites with each sect abhorring one another. To the Sanamahists, Hinduism is a religion not associated with them in the past centuries.

It was during king Pamheiba's time where the secret holy book of the Meiteis called "Puya" was burnt to ashes and the people were forcefully converted to Hindu Vaisnavites after he was brainwashed by Santidas Godsai, a religious Bengali preacher from Sylhet, Bangladesh who possessed great dexterity in chemicals. However, some secretly worshipped Sanamahi and now the number of Sanamahists have increased considerably.

Sarita's conversion of religion to Christianity has become the main topic in circulation these days. It has become the latest recipe of discussion and pelting of comments in various social media domains, particularly 'dislike' comments. We don't actually know why she converted to Christianity. There may be many factors behind her conversion.

She and her mother might have been thoroughly influenced by relatives and peers who practice Christianity. Though every religion preaches goodness, she might have stumbled across something in Christianity that makes her life more meaningful, that makes her heart go in tandem with her conscience. Maybe she might have read some portion, if not whole of the Bible and developed an attachment with Christianity.

Maybe she might have stumbled across some verses from the Bible through booklets, scriptures, pamphlets in hard copy or through electronic media that gave her enlightenment and self actualisation which she did not find in the previous religion she practiced.

Science is based on facts whereas religion is based on faith. She might have lost faith in the ibid religion she followed. Maybe she might have experienced bad experiences or incidents during her childhood days that still traumatise and taunt her with the very religion she practiced earlier. Her act may be a publicity stunt or her motive may be to give awareness to the public that all religions are same.

Another one may be to give a hint to the people of Manipur that her's is a message to strengthen the bond between our hill brethren and valley people. There are so many 'maybes'. We still can't decipher a clear picture behind her motive of getting baptized.

Many are of the opinion that she, like pugilist Mary Kom has developed a penchant for more popularity. Mary Kom, of late, has traversed many western countries and was given befitting reception to every foreign country she visited.

Just like her, if Sarita's aim is to attain fame and to be warmly welcomed by people of European and other western countries after becoming a Christian, then she can be categorised as a pure opportunist which may be considered as conversion to Christianity for convenience which really is an insincere act more so in keeping with the social class she aspires to. If that were the case, which in my opinion is very unlikely, she won't attain any spiritual enlightenment by embracing Christianity.

There are forced conversions and voluntary conversions. Since Sarita Devi and her mother's is more of a case of voluntary conversion, it can be taken as pure personal choice. Besides, it has been enshrined in the Indian Constitution that anyone can practice any religion he or she aspires which is a fundamental right. Every religion practices goodness, universal brotherhood and humanism.

And humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasises the value of human beings individually and collectively. It also refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom. So, whatever religion we practice, if we follow the religion by propagating the good messages and preachings with humanism keeping in the forefront, we should be able to tolerate whenever a Tom, Dick or Harry becomes an apostate or converts from one religion to another for every religion preaches tolerance.

It should be kept in mind that the ultimate goal of we the homo sapiens is human flourishing; making life better for all humans and as the most conscious species, to promote concern for the welfare of other sentient beings and the planet earth as a whole. The focus should be not on who practices which religion but on doing good and living well and making the world a better place for those who are to come after.