The Commercialized God

This essay depicts something very crucial about our society. Recently during a visit to a very well-known religious place, I met God. Yes, indeed I met God. The only thing was I had to pay a lot of money for it which I didn't, now there was no hope of getting a glimpse, just then I was given a route to enter & meet Lord(maybe by the Lord himself!). And I did. During the entire process, I found Economics playing its rules as usual.

1. Some essential Goods('thali' that has flowers, sweets & few more things) had to be purchased. This was not at all mandatory but worshipers considered it a Good practice. Indeed we did. Demand & Supply laws were functioning here too. So also the Scarcity notion.

2. Certain basic services were being sold, the most essential one was that of purchasing few flowers for paying respect to God. We did this too.

Now comes the 'most essential' part; Meeting the Lord face to face. Here I was obliged by a vendor(who was selling scared things & flowers) with an excellent offer. It was to pay him a handsome amount to go through an entrance that takes directly to the main area of worship & no traffic of worshipers would be seen. In Economic terms, Black Economy.

India's Black Economy is a well-known fact & has become too huge to be underestimated. Analysts suggest we already have around 75000-80000 crore Rupees kept in Swiss banks which if brought back to India can help us clear all our debts with the Loan lending International Organizations(such as WB, IMF, etc.). And this is just one component of the phenomenon, not to forget the vast unorganized sector of our nation.

Now, being in such a position to choose an option; I had 2 alternatives:

1. Grab it, Pay some money & Meet God peacefully.
2. Refuse it, Go to the General entrance, Wait for my turn , spend few hours & Meet God.

I chose the 2nd one. Two reasons governed this behaviour of mine & of a few other souls who refused to go for it.

A). Unethical: I believe going to God through an entrance which you didn't get by pursuit but money shall never let you get blessings of God.

B). Black Economy: I know, a small refusal from my side won't remove the Black money that has been generated in this nation & which is being actively deployed to Terrorist networks & other Anti-Social activities but I felt that making a small contribution wasn't a that bad idea. So did so.

Now the question comes, Where is the Commercialized God? Answer lies in the points above itself. The temple is one of the richest in India but still charges some money(around Rs. 50) for entrance to meet, pray & take blessings of the God "who is for everyone & no one's commercial property". Not just this, the instance of Black marketing within the very premises of Temple exemplifies the deep rooted "Moral Poverty" of the people here in our own India.

Charging money for a Thali isn't incorrect but black marketing & charging money to let the worshipers meet their very own Lord is very much incorrect. God cannot be & must not be "sold" to people who shall pay the amount nevertheless. Price Discrimination & Product differentiation, as Economists understand, are not eligible for God's worship, Is it? I agree, these people earn their livelihood through this, but is it a viable answer enough to justify Unethical economic actions? Or simply out it in this way, What will those poor people do who cannot afford paying an amount that equals their day's wage? Does this mean that we must discriminate & let only the affluent or rich pray God peacefully & rest others to take a look at the Idol for a few seconds & that too in a rush?

Economics is very crucial, but using its principle in places of sacred worship is regrettable. What these black marketeers do is they 'attach a high value to worship God peacefully' thus prompting people to pay higher for something that is both illegal as well as unethical.

Also, we see here that First the Demand(D) for entering quickly is higher than Supply(S) of it, thus D>S = Scarcity & in scarcity Prices(P) always tend to go high. And Second that people look at the Opportunity Cost & not the accrual at that moment. Opportunity cost here means that the worshipers always come with a wish(or "mannat" as we may call it). This weighs much higher than the amount that one shall be paying then.

Excellent Economics, but at the wrong place. Do put forward your views/arguments/doubts.