Showing posts with label God. Show all posts

Two bugs: [1] Traffic [2] Festival

I can’t believe I am saying this and I never thought that I’ll be saying this so early:

Whoa! Unbelievable! For the past two weeks, I am spending 2 hrs or more in Pune traffic from office to my home. And it never took me this long even on the worst days of traffic in Bangalore (I agree that I didn't live so far from Electronic City, but still).
Distance b/w Hinjewadi and AFMC ~ 25 km.
Time taken (at least) = 2 hrs.
By simple algebra, Average speed of my commute ~ 3.5 m/s
That is slower than a normal man's walking speed.

I ran out of Bangalore cribbing about the same thing, but the traffic seems to be following me. I actually felt a little comfort in my initial days in Pune but the situation worsened gradually and now I won’t hesitate in handing over the “Poorest traffic” trophy to Pune.

The jams seem to be a result of “Ganesh festival” going on and the situation is hoped to be improving from this Monday. Festival is OK, but people just don't have traffic sense.

We in India, have a many more seasons except the regular summer, winter etc. We have a season of weddings that goes from October to April in North India. Then we have a season of festivals. Two festivals, I have seen, seem to be very state specific. “Durga Pooja” in West Bengal and “Ganesh Chaturthi” in Maharashtra! These states seem to have a copyright on these two festivals. People collect funds to celebrate. The disciples of these Gods collect the funds from their respective societies in order to have huge celebrations on these festivals. On the contrary, I have seen people consuming alcohol on the money raised for these events (the very evening after Durga Pooja). Yesterday also, I saw some groups of people taking Ganesha idols for Visarjan, but the people were dancing drunk and they were smoking while carrying Ganesha. What is all this? Do people raise funds to celebrate or to feed upon it?

I don’t believe in God(s) but I am not even against those who have faith in them. But I appeal (to those who believe) to at least show some respect to the almighty, the one you fear the most. I had been much happier to see people collecting funds for “Bihar flood victims” and investing it there only. But “raising money for celebrating a festival and then spending it on uncompromising things” is just unacceptable. This is something “We Indians really need to learn”.

As per the records/beliefs, there are 330 million Gods/Goddesses (deities) in Hindu Religion and surprisingly enough, I am pretty very much sure that I don't believe in even a single of these.

I have had many arguments with many of my friends on this topic and I am happy that none has ever convinced me enough that I change my belief. Everytime I enter into a discussion on this subject, I am taken through some COMMON questions and I believe I had answers of all those(though I believe some of these indeed very silly):

Q: How do you justify your existence?

PR: That is purely a biological phenomenon. Do you want me to explain?

Q: Then where did the first person come from?

PR: It is said that "Apes are our ancestors". Thats again biological. They gradually adapted themselves to the atmospheric changes like temperature and the availability of food. And got transformed to the so called humans.

Q: OK, lets come to the first living being?

PR: So, you are now getting into the "Theory of Evolution". Life arose spontaneously out of the inert chemicals of Earth some 4 billion years ago. Its all about atoms, cells, energy and forces.

Q: And what about before creation of universe?

PR: Do you think God existed before that too? By the way, here I think that where did this GOD come from? Who was the first God, if there are so many?

Q: There is something that makes the world go round. What's that?

PR: That's again scientific. The forces - and can you believe, the weakest force - gravitational force.

Q: There is a supreme power that governs the motion of all the things in universe. That's God.

PR: No dear, again the forces. As per my latest knowledge, its the "Dark Energy" that is responsible for the exponential expansion of universe.

Q: What is your inner self?

PR: Physically my inner self is bones, blood, tissues, cells and a mechanism that keeps me going. And emotionally its my character, my traits, my attitude. Another point, I don't believe in "SOUL", "SPIRIT" etc. :) Ofcourse, my conscience is my guide but that again constitutes my thoughts, my ideas and my moral and ethical sense (which I get from my parents and the environment I am brought up in).

Now, I want to ask a question: Who/What is God and why should I believe in him/her/it? I got varying answers from all but none of those was a concrete one. As per Wiki, "There is no universally accepted definition of God and since God is neither an entity in the universe nor a mathematical object, it is not obvious what kinds of arguments/proofs are relevant to God's existence".

I was going through the excerpts of Salman Rushdie's book - "His fictitious beloved" and found a wonderful answer for the believers of the deity, God. The following conversation between emperor Akbar and his genius minister Birbal gives me another reason to strengthen my belief (disbelief actually):

‘If you were an atheist, Birbal,’ the emperor challenged his first minister, ‘what would you say to the true believers of all the great religions of the world?’ Birbal was a devout Brahmin from Trivikrampur, but he answered unhesitatingly, ‘I would say to them that in my opinion they were all atheists as well; I merely believe in one god less than each of them.’
‘How so?’ the emperor asked. ‘All true believers have good reasons for disbelieving in every god except their own,’ said Birbal, ‘and so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.’

Hats off to this innate genius. I am a Birbal fan you see and have always admired his quick and witty responses. I have been reading "Birbal tales" since childhood and have enjoyed them a lot. After the serious and a touching (for some) talk on God, let me take you through another Birbal wit from the same book:

"A great linguist was waiting at Akbar’s court, a visitor from a distant Western land: a Jesuit priest who could converse and dispute fluently in dozens of languages. He challenged the emperor to discover his native language. While the emperor was pondering the riddle, his first minister circled the priest and all of a sudden kicked him violently in the backside.
The priest let out a series of oaths—not in Portuguese, but in Italian. ‘You observe, Jahanpanah,’ said Birbal, ‘that when it’s time to unleash a few insults, a man will always choose his mother tongue.’"

He he .. the guy was brilliant, I must say.

After saying all this, I still confess that I do remember (pray to) god at times - hard times, may be when I find myself helpless amidst tough situations. And I consider this very silly and superstitious of myself and surely this again is the impact of the surroundings where I live, the people around me and the environment that I am brought up in.

Another confession here: Though I don't believe in God, I actually enjoy visiting churches, temples, mosques, synagogues and gurudwaras very much. And sadly enough, I try to avoid temples from this list because I find them really noisy. I feel utter peace at churches, mosques. Needless to say, temples are far too ornate and noisy with so many bells around. I went Vaishno Devi a few years back and all the way in that gallery there are bells hanging from the ceiling. And people keep striking them like insane. The sound hammers the ears. Not at all harmonious. Still I feel, at least there is something that keeps these people occupied and there is someone they fear. Though people fear GOD, I find their GOD incapable to mend their ways. They keep worshipping and carry on with their vicious and inhuman acts. No divine force is able to stop them. Oh GOD, please bring them on track. Sorry to seek help from God again :)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are completely my personal views, not to raise any controversy or start any argument ;)

The basic idea is: I don't think we need to be religious to be good human beings and responsible citizens . Thers is no connection at all.