Commercialisation of Hindu festivals

09.08.06 I am afraid the festival of Raksha Bandhan as observed by the public at large has become hostage to commercial culture, where you are obliged to buy a flashy and costly rakhi to express your bond with your brother. Is a symbolic rakhi really required? A bond is always reinforced when one is in the presence of the other. The Ganapati season is coming up and so would Ganapati Mandals. The other day I passed by a place where annually the Ganapati Mandal comes up. I saw another mandal had already come up displaying motorcycle, fridge, television etc. Contribute to Ganapati Mandal and win prizes! To invoke Ganapati, we have only to recite mantras, but we have commercialised the whole thing to such an extent that we now feel that we are unable to perform pujas without a lot of money! For running a shakha you do not need any money. Only an open ground. Swayamsevaks must ensure that we do not slip into the commercial route by conducting our festivals with unnecessary pomp and grandeur. We need to be so simple that expenses for conducting our festivals would be NIL, shakha-like.