Fatal faith

Hindus worship traditional and personal gods. They have as many as 33 million gods and they can choose who they want to worship, including fellow men.

Farmer Bussa Krishna of Konney Village in India’s southern state of Telangana has been worshipping a foreigner, an American, for four years. Krishna even built a shrine in his house where a life-size statue of his god is placed. He prays to his personal god every day.

How Krishna came to worship Donald Trump started with a dream wherein the US president appeared and told him that his Indian cricket team will win against its rival from Pakistan.

When India won against Pakistan in a championship match, Krishna was overwhelmed with joy and felt Trump was a god for his correct prophesy.

Gods are supposed to be invincible and be the ones to protect devotees from harm or misfortune. So it shocked Krishna when Trump caught the coronavirus disease 2019 as the US leader announced last 2 October. Trump’s wife Melania also got infected.

Krishna was not disappointed and never felt embarrassed of his god getting sick. Instead, he got so depressed of the prospect of death befalling the President and First Lady.

Krishna spent his time praying to other gods for the recovery of Trump and his wife. Unfortunately, his depression was so great that he locked himself up in his room and refused to eat for days.

His depression became obvious to his family and friends when he posted a video on his Facebook page crying and wishing for his idol’s recovery. He then went to his parents house in another part of Telangana where he reportedly died of cardiac arrest on Sunday.

Ironically, it was on the same day that Trump announced his full recovery from the virus in Washington and that he would resume his election campaign.

The god seems to have failed to protect his only devotee but maybe it’s not his fault because he never heard Krishna’s prayer for protection.

Blind faith can sometimes be fatal.