Saturn is a beautiful planet. The rings that surround it give it a unique and mysterious look and the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft goes around Saturn and studies it. Carolyn Porco leads the imaging team on the Cassini mission. But the Shankaracharya knows it better. He calls it the kroor (cruel) graha. And he says that if women worship it, it can affect them by giving them the ultimate punishment. Come on now, which woman would not be afraid of rape? What better way to frighten us into submission? Why didn’t anyone think of it before?

Now don’t get me wrong. I am an atheist. But I support the fight of women who want to visit temples. Temples that put us down. That tell us that we are lesser human beings. That we are polluted on some days of the month – and so we cannot enter on all days of the month. (Logic FTW!) I support the women because it is a human right and I secretly hope such breaking of tradition would slightly loosen the stronghold of religion. Also as an atheist I may not be bothered about entering a temple, but as a human being, the insensitivity towards the crime of rape certainly makes me angry.

And for those of you who say, ‘no, it is not because women are polluted they are not allowed inside the temples. It is because if you allow women to enter temples then the atmosphere will be vitiated and the men will be distracted,’ I say, Stop, already. For heaven’s sake, don’t treat women as a distraction. As a friend says, we exist for far more reasons than making your world beautiful or for distracting you. It is this attitude which keeps emphasizing women are in some way the cause for the misbehavior of men that perpetuates a rape culture. It is this attitude that tells a woman what to wear, where to go and when to go. It is this attitude that sends a school girl back home to change her dress that was a few inches shorter than what it was supposed to be and would therefore distract her fellow male students. Why women are held responsible for what men feel and why are women blamed for the crimes committed by men are questions that do not occur to the patriarchal minds.

Shankaracharya also made a comment about drought visiting places where an unworthy person like Sai baba is worshipped. Of course, I don’t believe in miracles and I don’t believe in the divinity of Sai baba. But still how juvenile this man is? He thinks he is the centre of the universe and that the universe punishes and awards people according to his whims and fancies. It is understandable that in our early days when human beings were in the infancy of civilization, the planets fascinated and frightened us and we called them gods worthy of propitiation. Is it sensible to still hold on to such a juvenile view in the light of what science has discovered?

Isn’t it far more fascinating to know that Saturn has 60 moons, wonder why Saturn has so many rings and isn’t it uplifting to see the images of Saturn. Why then do we have people who spout nonsense about a planet being able to get a woman raped?

I am not even angry with this 94 year old man. Instead I pity him. He has been worshiped and raised to a stature of Shankaracharya but he has forgotten how to be a human being. He must be flabbergasted to see the reactions, the protests. Sai is unworthy, right? And women can’t enter temples right? What is all this fuss about? Well man, get a life.

For starters read about the planet Saturn and see the images. If that doesn’t fascinate you, if that doesn’t hook you, then go back to your cave.