GOD – Mythology or reality?

It has been a very tiring week for me up until yesterday when I finished my Chemistry examination. I am satisfied by my performance and am confident that I will pass. Now coming to the the title. That is the question on most of the people’s minds. I wanted to write this post as an answer to SU’s post. While mentioning Atheism and Theism, every religion wants to prove only that god exists. And if questioned what/who is GOD, they quarrel among themselves saying that their perception of GOD is better than the rest. Now according to me, that is like saying, “My imaginary friend is better than yours.” Now let me make something clear before moving on to the depth of the topic.

I am an Atheist!

Now that I have expressed my point of view about this topic, it would be a little better for you to understand my views even if you don’t agree with or respect them. Now coming to the topic. People whom I know might know how I converted to an Atheist at heart. But people who don’t usually ask two questions with respect to religion.

1. What religion do you believe in? – None. I don’t believe that there is some “power” controlling the workings of the universe. In short, I am an Atheist.
2. You weren’t born an Atheist right? What were you before you converted? – A Hindu Brahmin.(I haven’t converted legally though. Just for the sake of my loved ones.) I don’t really know even if that matters. That is because I think there is only differentiation based on species. Not on something that doesn’t even exist.

I want to accept one fact though. I did convert to Atheism very recently. Not because my troubles were too many or because I followed what another person said. I have had experience with the latter with reference to my close friend Abhilash. My mother asked me whether he told me something that made me disbelieve in GOD. The answer is NO. The first reason for my answer is that he is not someone who forces himself upon someone else. Secondly, I don’t let other people think on my behalf.

There were a series of realizations following which I accepted the truth that there is nothing governing over the goings on of the universe. I will be writing about many such realizations. So if anyone feels that this post is not worth reading further, I suggest you stop now. Moving on, there were four situations which thankfully led me to the truth. They are also inter-connected.

Praying for something all my life:

Now this might sound a lot like I thought this way only because I didn’t get what I prayed for. But I assure you it is not so. I had prayed whole heartedly to “GOD” that I somehow PASS in the examination. But that did not happen. Before you come to conclusions, I want to say that the amount of work and my paper presentation were not up to the mark. I know this because I applied for the photocopy of my answer script and analyzed it. First Realization – It was entirely dependent on me. I cannot blame anyone. To this, many of you will reply, “Only prayer will not lead you anywhere. You need to work accordingly.” To that I reply, “Even if you don’t pray, the amount of work you put in will lead you somewhere.” This is because there is no entity to listen to whatever you say to yourself.

The discussion I had with my friend Abhilash:

Now don’t be misled into thinking that he altered my mindset. I assure you. He did not. The discussion was about how god was created. He produced a very funny explanation that GOD was created because of lonely philosophers who did not have anybody to share their feelings with. To avoid this, they created an imaginary friend called GOD and made people believe that the imaginary friend was not so imaginary after all. However, I don’t believe all philosophers were loners. But I stated my view. God was created to explain the vast mysteries that nature had posed in front of us. An example would be the Aurora Borealis. The northern lights phenomenon. They said the “Valkyrie” made a trail of lights when they rode forward in the Norse mythology. And what do we call them now? Think. Realization two – GOD is a fictitious explanation to the unexplainable.

History of religions being region specific :

When I listen to the discourses given by Hindu pandits and the sermons given by the Christian pastors, I observed a pattern. How come there were no temples all over the world if god existed everywhere? And why would the apparent “GOD” in christianity protect only those that believed in him and not other religions? Last I know, Jesus was only the messenger of GOD. Anyway, that is for you Theists to decide. It is not that I do not respect the beliefs of other people. I only wish that all of you be awakened to the facts and not the myths. Realization three – GOD is not who the people claim it to be.

My performance in this semester’s examination:

This is the last situation. This situation did not exactly make me realize anything new. But I can say it played an important role in establishing the fact. This semester, I have performed very well in most of my exams. The ones I did not perform well, I can only say I hadn’t expected it would turn out that way. Which is entirely the fault of my under-preparedness. Here all of you need observe one point. I did not pray or in any other way ask a supreme being to help me. The result is as you see it now. Before I used to blame that “power” for all my mistakes. But now I found there isn’t anything that I can blame it on. Even if I did, it would be like creating a person who doesn’t even exist, in my mind and then blaming him. Final realization – Nothing controls the workings of the universe. All that happens is because of logic. There is nothing more factual than logic. An example to prove that is given in this link. Man was not created by GOD and women most definitely not from the ribs of a man.

That concludes my post on my perception of GOD. I say that the principle of GOD is myth and will always think so. I still put the Tilaka on my forehead just to make my dad, who is a very orthodox person happy. Signing off, an awakened human being, Pavan a.k.a Anniyan.

PS: This post might not convey my exact feelings as the length and the medium also matters. A phrase said in a letter can mean many things when read from different perspectives.

Note to my brother: If you happen to read this post, please don’t mention about it to mom and dad. They would feel bad if they came to know about my views of god.

Once upon a time – (Chapter 2)One more day in the fish market!

Continued from the previous chapter, The two poles of a magnet.

As the bus was nearing another stop, both of their minds thought the same thing. “Are we there already?”. Hurriedly making their way through the tightly packed bus, they finally manage to get down at the intended bus stop. Looking at each other’s faces, they smile sheepishly wondering whether the other saw the dazed look each one was wearing throughout the journey. “I guess he didn’t see me.” thought each one and started their usual bus stop to school chatter.

That reminded Aditya that he had forgotten his homework again. He was beginning to think that the teachers were getting bored of giving him punishment. Well, he was partly right. The teachers were bored of punishing him. They needed to change the punishment in the hopes that he will someday learn.

Kiran noticed that Aditya hadn’t done his homework again. He never usually did. He said – “Why don’t you do your homework Chinnu? Aren’t you tired of getting punished over and over everyday?”. Aditya looked blank. He didn’t have any particular reason. He said – “Look Kiran, I know everyone wants me to do my work properly so that I will get good marks and come up in life. But I am not able to set my mind to it. Something about it makes me feel weird.”.

To this Kiran replied – “I think you lack concentration. My grandpa always used to tell me that studying or doing anything related to studying is to be done in the early morning hours.” Aditya was confused. He always was when it came to studies. But Mathematics was one subject in which he excelled. He even liked Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They were full of very interesting concepts and theories. He studied each and every theory and the working of different machines that were mentioned in the text book.

But he also hated the subject as much as he loved it for one single reason. His teacher insisted on learning all of it by heart. He even fought with his science teacher arguing that the concepts are more important than the words. But she wouldn’t listen. All of them would just say – “Kiran, make your friend understand the subject properly child.”

Kiran was as annoyed at this as Aditya himself. He too thought the concepts mattered most. But somehow he could not understand the concepts that clearly. Though he excelled in remembering things very well. He learnt each subject by heart. He was number 1 in his school when it came to studies.

Seeing the gate to their school wide open and children fighting to get there in time like a flock of sheep being herded by a German Shepherd. They looked at each others faces one more time and said in unison – “One more day in the fish market!” That was how they pictured their school. A fish market where everyone had to wear uniforms.

Making their way to their class, they stopped their chatting and started walking earnestly. They then assembled with the whole school for the daily assembly where the whole school would recite prayers. Not only this school, but all of the schools stressed on this part of the daily routine. Though each school prayed only to the god the chairman belonged to. To which religion the children belonged to was not even a matter. There, in the young children’s minds the seeds of racism and castism are planted.

Finishing the assembly, all the children feverishly headed to their respective classrooms. Seated and awaiting for their teacher to arrive, the children started to talk and shout and do many other things expected of children their age. Silence fell as soon as the teacher arrived. A pin dropped by mistake could be heard from a good distance. This marked the start of another day at school.

Hi guys. Sorry I could not post earlier. I have many things to attend to. However, I will be posting at least once in three days. Waiting for your feedback.

LOVE:Boon or bane?

Whenever people talk about love, they fantasize about a romantic situation, filled with chemistry between two human beings. But what we fail to understand is the responsibility that comes with it. Love according to me does not mean being more closer to a person than any other human being. It means sharing your life, soul, thoughts, joys, sorrows and most of all, responsibilities. Love at first sight does not exist. Love is an ultimate form of friendship. Love at first sight in almost all cases is just lust.

When mentioned about this to people, they find it hard to accept because the hormones play a more vital role in their thinking capability than strong emotions. Ever got the feeling of something stuck in your throat when you want to talk to your loved one? Feel like crying out “Don’t go!” when he/she is about to leave? THAT my friends is love. I am not posting this thread to tell the world about love, but the responsibilities that come with it.

Nowadays it is considered “Hip” to have a boy/girlfriend. Sex has become so common that a glass of milk costs more than a session of sex. All this is caused by the rage of hormones coursing through our body. Think for a second people. Love is not a means of having sex. It is an emotional bonding of two people. Well there may be thousands of people who would want to prove me wrong. Well… all I can say is… You don’t have to prove to me anything. Just use the sixth sense of thinking that has been given to us before doing anything. Remember: We are not animals.

Of course i will be allowing negative comments about this post… It will show how rational people can be.