GOD SEEKS RETIREMENT

GOD SEEKS RETIREMENT

My Dear Children,

I am taking the liberty of addressing you as ‘children’ because that is what you think you are. As far as I know you are the children of the creation. I do not claim to be the Creator of the creation. The world has been trying to solve this mystery. The Big Bang theory or the Black Hole or the God particles have been making rounds for long enough.  

 So far you have tried to find me everywhere. Unable to find me anywhere and be face to face with me you used imagination and created me with a face and body of your imagination and gave it a name. As a result of your imagination running riots, you have created over 330 millions of God and Goddesses in my name.

You were good enough to find a place for me to live in. You built Temples, Mosques, Churches, Gurdwaras and synagogues for me. It served twin purposes –one- you could come and meet me whenever you wanted to and two- I could not escape as you locked me in when you were away and there was no security guard around. You appointed a man called priest to keep a close watch on me and take home all the offerings you game me.

Since no one saw me in person, each one of you made up stories of your personal experience and narrated them to those who cared to listen. You described yourself as theist. Some were confused and called themselves as agnostics. Still some like Richard Dawkins totally debunked your theory of god and called themselves as atheist. Some became atheists for political reasons like the communists.

It is really strange that I was never threatened by atheists or agnostics as much as I was scared of the theists. All wars have been fought between and among theists of different paths only.

Now that you have found my (God) Particles, it will not be far when you will find me also. Before that becomes a reality I think I must take leave so that you may install him in the houses you have built for me.

There comes a time in the life of every person to call it a day. The head of the family or the founder of an organization has to hand over charge to the next in the line and retire respectfully. In my case I do not really know who the next in the line is. In fact if I have to raise this point there will be many claimants. I do not want a bloodbath before I go. I do not want a bloodbath at all. I want you to settle the matter amicably. May be a system of rotational head will help.  

With these few words, I hereby announce my retirement.

Yours lovingly,

(By whatever name you know me.)

   

  

PAIN IS EXCLUSIVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

PAIN IS EXCLUSIVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Aruna Sanbaug, dies after 42 years of lying in vegetable state. She was a survivor of a rape attempt when she was just 27 and dreaming about her married life with a doctor. Her co nurses took care of her for all these years in an exemplary manner, except that they could not share her pain, literally, I mean.

It is said that pain and grief are reduced and happiness is increased by sharing. It may be true in some sense. It is also said that when you laugh world laughs with you but when you weep, you weep alone.  

Pain, bodily or otherwise is exclusive personal experience. It can be described, explained and pin pointed but cannot be shared. Say I am suffering from a severe back pain. I can describe it, explain how I feel and pin point the area where exactly I feel it but I cannot make anybody else to share it with me. I will have the consoling, encouraging and remedial prescriptions from members of the family, friends and physicians but as far as the pain is concerned I will only have to bear it. Same applies for any emotional pain such as loss of life in the family.

Thousands of people are lying in the vegetable state in hospitals and homes. Thousands of people are grieving for the loss of life in families. There are hundreds of pain killers for bodily pains, medicines for treating depression and there are hundreds of yoga gurus teaching yoga to reduce the pains but there is no way one can share the pain with anybody and reduce it.

How often did we feel if, only if for a brief period and only a fraction, we could share the pain of our beloved parents, spouse, children and friends!  No way. We may have some idea of the severity of the pain but are totally helpless in reducing it by sharing.

Aruna also had the

   

ON BELIEVING IN GOD

ON BELIEVING IN GOD

It is said that Jesus Christ once had doubts about the existence of God. His faith was shaken because of the all round miseries and injustice. The demon King Ravana on the other hand always believed in the existence of God but did all ungodly things with the blessings of Lord Shiva boon (though with a caveat). He brought upon himself Rama’s displeasure knowingly as he thought that was the only way for him to get pardon for his misdeeds and thus get Nirvana.

We ordinary mortals keep on wavering between two extremes, believing and not believing in God. I am not competent to decipher the scholarly words of Upanishads and the very simple interpretation of those by our saints, sages and spiritual Gurus. And so I will like to deal with the subject in the way I understand it.

We remember God when are in some distress and do all sorts of rituals to please Him.  But if that does not help, we start cursing Him for being the reason of our distress because we think we have every right to do so as a Believer. As a believer we assume that no ill will fall upon us as the Protector is protecting us. Since it does not happen, we start cursing him and thus, indirectly negating His existence. The swings take us to the side of the non believers. This happened in Kathmandu when some 30 members of a family including extended family were killed in the earth quake on 24^th of this month particularly because at the time of the disaster they were performing ‘Saptahiki’ at their residence when the house came crumbling down engulfing the lives of most of the family members. At the same place all family members of a non believer were safe in their house. We start losing faith in Him when we are faced with such helplessness.

When we see other people suffering, we convince ourselves  that it is because of their Karma of the last life/lives. This does not apply to us as we see we have done nothing wrong, knowingly that is, in this life and so might not have done so in the previous life/lives also and thus God is not just with us.

Now when we are bestowed upon the good things of life, we give credit to our good  Karma in the last life/lives and hard work of this life and therefore take it as our rightful gain where God has nothing much to do except that He kept the accounts properly. And when we see people getting good things of life, we start suspecting their means of appropriating them. We start calling them names-thieves, corrupts without any proof. It does not occur to us that they too had good Karma of their past life/lives and honest efforts of this life.

 Fact is we have no clear answers and that is the reason why we keep on wavering from one extreme to another. The very foundation of our Faith is laid on the ‘assumption’ that there is one supernatural power who controls lives and punishes people for bad things and rewards them for good things. Among these people ‘we’ or ‘us’ are not included because we did nothing wrong and do nothing wrong. It is only ‘they’ who did and do wrongs.           

DO WE MISS WHAT WE NEVER HAD ?

DO WE MISS WHAT WE NEVER HAD?

On the face of it the question looks superfluous. Yes, of course we always miss what we never had. But why?  Barring, perhaps for food, we do not really need anything, else not clothing, not even shelter. Early humans lived liked that. Animals still do. A new born child also does.

These days  Chitrgupta Park, my walking abode, is getting face lift.  Daily wagers have  parked there in the vacant land, living with their families in make shift plastic huts they have built for themselves. While they are busy in working in the park or other daily chorus, their kids move around in tattered clothes laughing or crying unmindful of the fact that there exists a world totally different from theirs where there is everything that a human can aspire for comforts. They do not miss any of these comforts because they have not had it so far, that is.

These kids have never experienced those comforts and may never will. Like their parents they will also grow up, toil as laborers, have families and their kids too will also be moving in tattered clothes unmindful of modern day comforts. It will be only during those growing up years that they will envy those who enjoy a life that they will never have and sooner than later they will, like their parents will accept it as their fate. They will then never miss those comforts because they never had it and will never have it.

It therefore appears that we miss only what we had. The more we had, the more we miss. The less we had, the less we miss. The more we miss, the more envious we are of those we who have. The less we miss the less miserable we are. Outwardly it may look that those we have less are more miserable but the opposite is more true. On closure look the ‘haves not’ seem to be laughing their way all the time and the ‘haves’ grumbling most of the time.

The true happiness lies in cutting down on our needs and sticking to the bare minimum.

At contrast to the daily wagers above,  I know such a couple who lived in all comforts till their fifties and have now settled in a village cut off from the hurly burly of town and city life, with a thatched hut with bare minimum possessions, growing their own food in the farm they have purchased, no electricity, no fridge, no gas connection and only a BSNL mobile connection to keep in touch with the outside world.  They seem to be quite happy.  

      

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS

CLEANILINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS

This has been said long, long ago but in different context. Presently it is interpreted as physical cleanliness –personal hygiene including the cleanliness around us. Since we live in a material world, we think, talk and act materialistically. By cleanliness we mean there should be no dirt or garbage around. It is another issue we ourselves are responsible for the dirt and garbage sitting around us. But then there are always people available to remove our dirt and garbage, we need not much worry about the creation part of it. What is important is the removal and disposal part of it. And since money can do anything all we have to do is to collect from those who can pay and distribute it among those who can remove and dispose this garbage. Those who can pay and are also the chief creator of this garbage, will not pay it voluntarily, we take it from them by way of taxing them. This is Government Job.

But there is another type of cleanliness, which was in vogue long, long back when it was said cleanliness is next to Godliness. Then, they meant it by inner cleanliness –cleanliness in our thinking, speech and action-MANSA, BACHANA, KARMANA. Then they were not much worried about physical cleanliness as there was not any garbage or dirt created and the surroundings, rivers, wells, tanks, lakes, air-all were clean.  It was the emphasis on this type of cleanliness that ensured physical cleanliness. If we are clean in our thoughts, speech and actions, we will not create any dirt or garbage around us. We will ensure that we do everything in our control to create minimum garbage and pollution and remove/dispose it without anyone telling us or taxing us to do it.

But that is not going to happen because there is no  authority in the world that can force you be clean in thoughts, speech and actions unless you directly cause some serious damage to others. You will keep on polluting the atmosphere with your dirty thoughts, foul mouth and reprehensive actions and no one will be in a position to touch your hair.   

I am in no way representing the cleanliness drive of Modi Government although by itself it is a laudable effort. This type of cleanliness drives was driven in the past by similar sounding names and therefore I see no reason why the past efforts failed and why this one will succeed unless we ourselves clean our thoughts, speech and actions.