Religious sentiments hurt The incident at Rachol involved two students from a prestigious Bits Pilani, Sanny Agraval and Bhojraj Sirkarwar .They are intelligent students for securing admissions not some imbeciles to be ignorant of the gravity of the offence and be absolved of their behaviour
Familiar as they are with their religious practices but pretended to be innocent of their sacrilegious act. In some temples the prassad is just a piece of coconut, sweet, or even sacred water and one has to even pay for it. The sacred offering is not a sweet catering to tastes, unless the ladu prassad offered at Tripuati but it is a spiritual ritual loaded with faith. and not taste. Nowhere does one hear of sacred offering being defiled with scant reverence.. It appeared to be a deliberate act and not a spontaneous, impulsive act on the part of well educated, sound students and not mentally deranged individuals. They received the sacred host, then spat it out because of taste and further stamped upon it ,either to hide or just to trivialize it. That simple reasoning is not justifiable at their level. They knew very well that they could not receive it in the first place. It is a first of an incident when otherwise non believers have merely walked away with the sacred host. They have underestimated the gravity of sacred defiling of the sacred host and such an act is blasphemous and condemnable. It is fortunate that emotions and passions were not inflamed with violent behavior and simple apology cooled down tempers on the advice of the P.P. The catholics are forgiving by their faith and they demonstrated in practice but that does not condone the irreverence to the sacred host held in great reverence with fundamental spiritual significance. That they merely transferred their practice to another religion with which they were not familiar with is no excuse. they are fully accountable for their actions. The police did well in controlling the incident and limiting it. In these days of surcharged atmosphere of religious intolerance Goans have displayed once again resilience by accommodating it. Elsewhere in the country with narrow ,parochail feelings, the place would have been on fire setting off communal riots. It is ill advised that publicity should be limited and culprits be allowed to go scott free. The college to which they belong should be informed for necessary disciplinary action and also because they have brought the institution in public disrepute Th parents too should hang their heads in shame. and impose restrictions and disapproval The incident has highlighted the teaching of forgiveness as the central tenet of catholic belief and has displayed the peaceful nature of Goans not to have been provoked in the face of unforgivable provocation. Besides it helps the faithful to renew their faith in a peaceful manner. God forgive them for they know not what they do. The exemplary role of both the P.P and police, faithful in limiting the incident needs to be applauded. Nelson Lopes Chinchinim