I have been thinking about things to write about lately. No particular reason to start from this topic. But, here it goes...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My recent trip to India was during Sept-Oct 2009. The whole family, my parents, my brother and I, went for a trip to Kashmir. This was a very special trip as we were all going together after full 10 years. Our last trip together was to Nepal in 1999 summer when I finished my 10th. Before that we used to go for a trip every year. But since then, my brother and I just got busy with our studies. It so happened that we were in Srinagar during Karva Chauth. And similar to when we were kids, my mom sat us both down and told us stories about Karva Chauth. Almost all those stories involved some lady fasting for her husband and breaking the fast for some reason. That made the "goddess" of Karva Chauth angry and then something bad happened to the husband. The lady did the Vrat (fast) again and everything was back to normal. There are similar stories for almost all such poojas I have attended. During this whole exercise, all I was thinking was how can a God get angry at his/her disciples for not worshiping him/her? Obviously, I didnt say this to my mom. But later on, somehow this topic came up ... and I told her that I do not think anyone, who expects you to worship him and gets angry and punishes you for not doing so, should be considered God. In my opinion, such a person is a monster! As expected, my mom did not like that.
Why would God use fear to get our respect and love. God is supposed to be more intelligent than all of us. He should know that fear cannot get him any love or respect. To me God is someone who is always my well-wisher, who always wants the best for me. Just like a parent, someone who punishes me, if I do anything wrong to anyone, to teach me the proper way to behave. Just like a parent, who does not expect anything in return. And just like a parent, whom I love very much. However most of these poojas are performed on devi-devatas and I heard as a kid that if you are pious enough in your life, you go to swarg and can become a devata yourself. So, if you think about it, it's similar to : if people think that you are a good person and a good leader, they will vote for you and you will become a minister. The minister has no attachment to me, why would he worry about my welfare? He may, if he is actually a good person, or if I bribe him or if he thinks that he can get my vote again if he does something for me. Also, as they say, power corrupts. These devatas are no different. They are just people with really good karma. They have absolutely no attachment to us. That's why they need to be bribed to do something for us. They are not Gods ..... In fact, I do not think the word "God" has a plural form .. but that I will leave for some other post ... some other time :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To clear any confusions, I am not against God. I really love him. I am against worshiping someone just to avoid him causing damage to me; or just to get benedictions by doing something to please him. I am against worship out of fear.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Well said Sanchit! This debate has been going on in my mind for a really really long time. A few days ago, I came across this quote, which totally sums up my perspective on this issue.
ReplyDelete"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." -Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and writer
I felt overwhelmed that I had arrived at the same conclusion as that of the great philosopher, but also felt slightly disappointed that he beat me to this profound statement by just 2000 years! :P
That's a very good quote, Cosmos. But, it is a bit different from what I tried to write. According to this quote, you do need not worry whether God(s) exist and whether he(they) are just. But these questions are as important as the origin of life or the origin of the world. I have full faith that God exists and he is just. But, I am against worshiping someone just because he is powerful. I am sure you have heard cases when a person can perform some magic and everyone thinks that he is God and people start worshiping him. I agree that he can perform some magic, but so can so many other magicians. What matters is whether he has the desire to use his magical powers for the good of the people. In hinduism (from what I understand) there is God and there are demigods (devatas): ministers who take care of making everything run smoothly. I thoroughly believe that God is just and has our welfare in mind. But, I am not so sure about the demigods. our relationship with demigods is usually just give and take. If we do not worship them, they get angry and cause damage to us. If we worship them, they get pleased with us and give us benedictions. This does not make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteOh yes Sanchit! I understand what you intended to say in your post. As I have mentioned, the quote reflects "my perspective on this issue". :) And yes, our perspectives are very different!
ReplyDelete