Thursday, June 5, 2008

What is your God?

[This, unlike other blogs is not an effect of frustration. Proof: I've been listening to Illayaraja since morning and even as I write this]

All this of "What is God?" or "Who is God?" started when I was about 15 or 16. As always, I was wandering in my 'imaginary' (or is it real?) world when all of a sudden, a proverb that once was told by my grandfather (May his soul rest in peace) when I was a kid, struck me - "Sivudi aagnya lenidae cheemainaa kuttadu kadaa". Roughly translated it would mean, "Without Siva's (God's) consent, even an ant wouldn't bite". This might sound trivial, but, at that point, those words shook me out of my belief system and thrown me into a state of madness and chaos, from which I'm yet to recover.

The point here is, "So, if the ant bites you, it's not the fault of the ant, but of Siva (God) since, He, knowing that the ant would bite you, He let it to bite you". Let me magnify this instance, so that you and I are on the same lines.

"If I steal 100 bucks from you, it's not my fault but God's, as knowing that I have the idea of stealing from you, he wouldn't stop me (or couldn't stop me ... He is called the Almighty, isn't He?)"

"If a terrorist (Hitler, Osama, Bush, ...) decided to claim life of innocents, it's not the sin of the terrorist per se, but of God's, since knowing his (terrorist, not God) intentions, he was nothing more than a silent spectator" (Doesn't he have the least courtesy or the moral responsibility to let others know of this ... and this is the entity whom you stupid fucks pray to, in the mornings, or in some cases, only on special occasions like, festivals).

OK. Since I'm out of examples now, I stop now ... If you've got my point read on; if not, get the fuck out of here, there's not point reading this blabber.

This point, somehow got lost among my other thoughts, until my 3rd semester of B.Tech which was triggered by the fact - "How can the culture that believes in God's justice (after death) produce artifacts of social justice like Manusmrithi (Manavadharmashastra) and other to-be-followed-strictly 'law-books'?" Does this mean that the civilization has failed to make the commoners realize (or is it believe?) the power of God that they have come up with the doctrines of social punishment and social conduct. Even the logic - "Every action in current life affects the next cycle of birth and death" failed to convince the masses.

Now, comes an important issue. Most of us are familiar with the (in) justice done to Sita by (Lord) Rama. For the benifit of the ignorant, here it goes: Fearing the public judgment, Rama questions the chastity of Sita and asks her to prove herself. She goes through the ‘Agni-Parikshaa’ and comes out clean.

  • If he is God, He'd somehow come up with the idea of convincing the people that Sita is unpolluted. For example, he could bring out his Maha-rupa like he did during Gitopadesha for Arjuna. That will definitely bring faith into people and remove the doubts (or) since He is an incarnation Vishnu, and Vishnu knows 'everything'; so, he knows that Ravana is under a wrath of a curse and hence cannot pollute Sita; he could have let everyone know that fact through Aakaashavaani or some other means. If an insignificant mortal like me could come up with a few alternative, why didn't (or couldn't) the Almighty come up with some justified solution? [My personal opinion: I feel that he himself was not convinced that Sita is pure. He conveniently found an excuse of 'what people might think or say' ... Why the fuck do you care? You ARE the Almighty]
  • And also, note that this is the same man who would do anything for the wishes of his father (and his step-mother), but when it comes to supporting the woman who has left all her loved-ones to spend her rest of her life with him (Sita), he fails her. Now is that what God would do? Keep aside, for a second, the fact that Sita is his wife. Would God punish an innocent being for the 'greater good' of many beings? If he is God, would He not be capable of coming up with a strategy of convincing everyone? Would you accept if you were chosen for torment (by none other than God) for the benifit of man-kind? (I definitely wouldn't). At this point I would like to ask a question to all the feminists out there. Do you really consider Rama to be God? Do you think that he is an incarnation to Lord Vishnu? If the answer to either of the above questions is 'Yes', you are a disgrace to the word "Feminism".

Yeah! Yeah! I'm coming to all you 'Hare-Krishnas'. How empty you must be (inside) that you accept (Sri) Krishna to be your God? His life taught us "Fight injustice through injust means", i.e., "Mulluni mulluthone thiyyaali" [rough translation: Use a thorn to remove a thorn]. Just because a person was unjust doesn't mean you can defeat him through unjust means. No person with a conscience would accept it. Some how, it is very convenient to you people. [idhe nemo Vishnu maaya ante ...]

All of this (and a few others which I can't remember right now) lead to a strange kind of confusion. And then began the re-evaluation of the entity called "God". The result:

  1. I detested the idea of God.
  2. I felt that's really stupid.
  3. I realised that God exists (This might come out as a shock to most of you, but, this is true. It's only that my idea of God is totally different).
  4. It (God) is definitely subjective.
  5. The current status - there are still a few unanswered questions, but, I guess, Hope is good thing.

I'll shut the fuck up before I turn into non-pessimistic person. A quick question though:

Who is your God?

Or rather

What is your God?

16 comments:

  1. before that, you need to ask yourself some questions.
    Who are you ?
    Why are you who you are ?
    Why do you need a god ?
    Why is there the need for a being(an entity) external to you ? Is it because of insecurity ?
    Is it because we find ourselves grossly incompetent when it comes to searching for answers for so many of the mysteries in this world ?
    And is that the reason that we look to have faith in another (created)entity to have the answers to all these questions?
    Why do we ask these questions ? Why cant we take things for granted ? Ignorance is bliss rite ?

    ps: nice post :)

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  2. arey tried to comment but god interfered by cutting my LAN connection.. but am not gonna give up!!! :P

    therefore, here's the comment...

    enlightening post!! nijamgaa...
    a lil bot more explanation abt. krishna would have helped deliver the punch better!! writing style is awesome! liked it!

    and for the question what is god? i decided that god is the creation of some old gray haried man and didn't think much about me...
    a few samples of what is god...
    for snakey: chuckie is god!
    for dpalli: voodoo is god!
    for baibabu: creek is god!
    for me: i am the potu god! :P

    bascially, intha erri kaamedy ni lopala ettukuni serious questions ki answer cheyyalenu... so for all the serious questions will follow what u said.. so ilaage continue cheyy... u've got followers now mr.Mosho baba!! :D

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  3. awesome post....liked ur style of presenting it.
    And how come u forgot tht Rama shot vali from behind a tree when he is fighting with Sugreeva ALONE!!!
    He, who is considered as the IDEAL God(well my Sanskrit Lecturer preached that), failed to justify that.

    I believe in this saying "Even Gods are'nt perfect!!" and ur post justifies it again I guess :)

    Whos/whats ur God ki I have two answers.
    Siva is my fav. god.
    and I believe in the concept that everybody has god in themselves...and I believe in the God in me more than anyone :D

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  4. do it.

    it's a pin-prick
    there will be no pain.
    and I will start to recede.


    you will realize that to live, you need a wall.

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  5. @abhay: first question ki answer ledu naa deggara ... survival purpose endo artham aithe probably oka lead vastademo. second daaniki answer purely scientific - nee life lo jarigina sanniveshaalu nee mind meeda impact padathaayi, which make you who you are; it's a reactive mechanism. migitha questions ki answer - An entity called God is created out of fear. It might have grown sophisticated over centuries (as the thought process became sophisticated). This becomes very clear if you look into the creation of Gods - be it Pasupati (--> Rudra --> Siva), be it Shani or be it the serpent God(esses). In the Vedic times, people use to fear gods like Indra, Varuna, ... and hence pray to them.

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  6. @puneet: nee yabba! mosho baba endi bey loude ...

    anyways, krishna gurinchi chaala raaddam anukunna bey ... vaadante chedda chiraaku naaku ... kaani appatike chaala pedda essay ayyindi kada ... i was afraid it'd scare everyone away

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  7. @satish: ohh yeah ... that wud have been a very good example. gurthu raaledu raa aa time lo ... thanks!

    One clarification regarding "Even Gods are'nt perfect!!" - The intention of my post was not that. All I wanted to say was that the fucked up society added all sorts of flavours to the idea of god that we seem to miss the whole point of God. I just wanted people to re-evaulate the entity called God ... what is he? what are his properties?

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  8. well thts my way of covering mistakes actually ;)
    so I gather more info and support my statement :D

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  9. I finally got the chance to reply to this post...i've been wanting to do it since the first time i read it, so here goes...

    first i wud like to clarify tht wht i am abt to write abt my god(rather my idea of god) is entirely my idea, not from any books or speeches
    To me, God is an answer to all the unanswered questions in the Universe...u'll know wht i mean after reading whole thing
    I dont actually beleive tht god exits, rather i liked the concept of god so i beleive it...my definition of god wud be - someone supernatural, who is resposible for all the things currently have no explanations, like birth of universe or evolution or wht ppl call LUCK. The idea of someone watching ur every action creates a kind of feeling(fear if u r doing something wrong and happiness if u r doing something right). I dont beleive in the saying of shiva's order. but i do beleive actions in one life affect the next one or happenings in this life r consequences of the previous one.
    Wht my main point is...God doesn't do everything for u. He gave a brain which can think and ppl choose their actions. u face the consequences for ur actions...either in this life or the next. Ppl usually ask, if god really exists then why he lets bad things happen(roughly put). accordiong to me, god is only there to moniter...if he does everything, then thr wont be any human beings, only smiling robots all over the place programmed to do only good things all life.
    According to ur example, if u steal a 100 bucks...u know it is wrong, then u'll face the consequence of stealing it...and for the person from whom u stole, may be he did or did not deserve to be stolen i cant say...he might have done something wrong(in this or any previous lives...i am not one to judge but i think god is the one who judges everyone)
    I know thr a lot of 'may be's in my post but this idea has answered my questions even a little...i beleive it because like having answers to everything...i may not convice everyone or anyone at all but this is wht i chose to beleive.
    And for all the puranaas, i donno whether they actaully happened(becoz of the some flaws) or they r just stories created by society to keep ppl under control, as i said, my idea of god is simple.

    Finally wht i want to say is, irrespective of whether god actually exists or not, i'll beleive tht he is thr with the said qualities and resposibilities...if he is actually thr, then no problem, if he is not thr, still i dont mind coz i only beleive coz i choose to beleive

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  10. Excellent post btw,
    i forgot to mention in the prev post :P
    very good presentation of ur thoughts ;)

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  11. Knowing you for quite sometime, I'm amazed at how much frustration each of your posts can muster. Where does it come from? And to drag me down and out of my amazement are the comments from your friends which most of the time have nothing to do with your posts or basically screw up the very idea of you posting a blog.
    And somehow I am also amazed at how much patience you have or how much your need for attention is. I'm not able to make out which, but I can say one thing about your posts. They are redundant in nature. If you have something to post, address the present not ancient prehistory of mankind( I hope you understand that this is a figure of speech, hyperbole to be exact). Maybe then your insights(irony) should make sense.
    I'm sure there is nothing left to guess as to what my identity is.

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  12. Oh, and btw your moral structure is all but flawed. For one because you have not taken into consideration the technology or socio-economic and political situations that existed then.
    And two because you are not a person in that situation.

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  13. @Anonymous: That's exactly the argument of my blogs in general - How few things (that are framed ages ago and) are no longer relavent considering the current socio-economic situations.

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  14. That's exactly the argument of my blogs in general - How few things (that are framed ages ago and) are no longer relavent considering the current socio-economic situations.


    Dear Sir,
    Your authority is unparalleled in this subject but the problem is are you lamenting or doing something about it or are you just ridding yourself the frustration you seem to experience? Now, if you are really looking for peace, please find the point of conflict in your mind first and then start dealing with it. And Why do you think they are not relevant. And considering the present socio-economic situations, they are required. you will only know if you move your arse out of the company and wherever you are staying and take a look around. Around Mysore and other places in Karnataka.

    Because you are not a person in that situation whatever the need is to keep the notion of GOD alive will not clear to you. Again , how will you know if you live in the safety and comfort of your A.C. office and your house. Stay in a place where nobody gives a and about you and my friend you will see why it becomes relevant. Again how will you know if all you know is comfort and have lived in it. I personally think you hate our room, job and yourself for whatever the state of the world you see.

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  15. and if you are doing it for any purpose than voicing your thoughts, the integrity you talk about in other blogs will be nothing short of hypocrisy.

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