'The problem is that religious nuts around the world have exported everything that is beautiful about a human being to the other world. If you talk of love, they speak of divine love. If you talk of bliss, they speak of divine bliss. If you talk of peace, they speak of divine peace. We have forgotten that these are all HUMAN qualities. A human being is fully capable of love, joy and peace. Why do you want to export these to heaven?' (Sadhguru in his book Inner Engineering)
We live in a culture where we really love our Gods. So much so that we are not happy with the ones we have and need to invent more and more of them. As a result, when we have a great person in our midst, we turn them into Gods. Any great figure from the field of arts, sports, politics and any other field of human endeavor, we cannot wait to attach terms like 'divine' and 'godly' to them and start venerating and worshiping them.
While respecting someone and giving them their due for their contribution and hard work is one thing, turning someone to Gods is full if it's drawbacks and pitfalls. How?
(Now, some people might argue that everything is divine will and we are all children of the Gods and so all greatness is an expression of the divine will. Fine, but the fact is that we are humans and live a human life in a human world. So every act of greatness has to be seen against the backdrop of our humanness if it is to be rightly grasped and appreciated. Also, if everything is divine will then even every failure, every act of mediocrity and every evil deed is also due to the divine will, isn't it?)
So, coming back to the drawbacks of making everyone a God...
Every human being is born as a small, naked, crying baby. We are all born like that. Just like death, even birth is a great leveler in a sense. Every human being is born with the weakness and limitations that a human birth brings with it. Great people become great not in the absence of but in spite of these weaknesses and drawbacks. Everyone who achieves greatness does so through good old fashioned hard work, determination, perseverance, sacrifice and the support of those around them.
When we attribute divinity to someone and treat them like avatars we at once diminish the importance of their efforts and the efforts of those around them.
'So-and-so is born divine. He had to succeed.'
'XYZ has the spark of God. Of course she was going to become great.'
Sounds familiar? The so-and-so or the XYZ were not destined for greatness because of any divine spark. They, like any one of us had multiple options and chose to work towards greatness. Do not undermine the importance of their decision and hard work by attributing it all to a divine birth or a Godly spark.
What does it mean?
It means that we all, every single one of us has the ability to become great and achieve the same heights that those greats achieved. It is about the choices that we make and the path that we take. If we chose, we can become great human beings like them. Yes, great HUMANS, and not Gods. Humans who are great but are still subject to all human failings. And therein lies the real importance of the greatness of any human.
Putting them beyond our reach...
Every great person in any field would like others to not only respect them but to follow in their footsteps. But attributing their greatness to a divine spark or a Godly birth prevents us from doing that.
'I really respect ABC but I cannot be like them because they were Gods and I am a common person.'
'We can only hope to come near your level. You are blessed and divine.'
In the process we deny ourselves a chance for greatness that can rival or surpass ABC or any other great. We also deny ourselves a chance to learn from the greats.
A convenient excuse!!
In fact for some people it becomes a convenient excuse to not try and become anything like the object of their devotion. It leaves them free to use the names and legacy of the greats while not imbibing their fine qualities.
'I really respect and worship them but I am just a human and cannot become like them.' (And so, I will continue to use their name and legacy to forward my agenda while also continuing with my wrong deeds. After all, they were Gods and I am just a human.)
Unrealistic expectations...
Another big pitfall of making someone a God is that we deny them the chance to be a human and burden them with unrealistic expectations. Being human means the right to be wrong sometimes. It means that sometimes, in spite of our best efforts sometimes we fail.
In other words, putting someone on a pedestal means unrealistic expectations from them. And we all know that expectations lead to disappointments. Unrealistic expectations lead to unbelievable disappointments.
Be it a great in any field, or our elders and teachers, allow them to be humans and while there is nothing wrong in having expectations, make sure the expectations are realistic.
The greatest tribute...
That we can pay to our heroes is to be like them as much as we can be and to imbibe their fine qualities. That is what almost all of them want. We can do this only by first acknowledging their humanness and the fact that they are no different from us but from amongst us humans.
To sum it up
Respecting someone and their achievements does not mean worshiping them and making them Gods. It means appreciating their hard work and everything that they did to get where they are. It starts by acknowledging their humanness. It also means doing our best to be like them.
Last but not the least, it also means allowing them to be humans and live amongst us humans and accepting them with any human weakness that they are bound to have.
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