From the moment we wake up to till we go to bed, we all are doing only one thing – “Questioning.” Although on a shallow level, we appear to be doing so many chores, they all come down to “Should I wake up now or five minutes later?” “What to have for breakfast?” “When will I go to college or work?”
“How to get this work done as soon as possible?” “What shall I have for dinner?” “Should I go to bed now or after this cricket match?” and so on.
This, we’re always questioning. One question that builders all Indians is “Is there God?” because when it comes to the understanding of God, especially in India, we have had a fantastic history of heritage, of belief and worship of God that it is practically impossible to stay in this land of India and miss God.
Our Faith is fragile
An Indian telephone directory is filled with combinations of names of Krishna and Rama. Even if one buys some smoke, he has to ask for “Ganesh beedi.” Funnily, the communists in West Bengal too secretly worship Kali on Durga Puja out of intuitive fear of offending a deity because of their traditional upbringing. As children, we also were taught various rituals of worship. It is really hard to find a bonafide atheist in India. The point is, although you have some understanding still the faith remains fragile. It is not strong enough to percolate into actual practice in daily life. As obvious as it, this article here is to convince you of the existence of God.
How many of you believe in God? – Story of a saint and the villagers
A saint was living in the outskirts of a village. The villagers arranged for a festival and had set up a stage for a wise person to speak about the Lord to the assembled villagers. Finally, upon their invitation, the saint arrived to give the talk. He took the mic and questioned, “How many of you here believe in God?” The villagers were simple people. They all raised their hands. The sadhu said, “I have come here to convince you about the existence of God and you already believe in God. So, what is the point of me speaking? I’m going away.” He stood up and walked away. They made such arrangements and made the entire village gather to listen to this Katha. Hearing this, they all were naturally perplexed.
Again, a program was arranged and the villagers were convinced this time to kindly attend. The Saint arrived as usual. This time he asked the assembled villagers, “I questioned you all last time. I hope there is some change. So, now how many of you believe in God?” As per the organizers’ cue, the audience kept their hands down. The Said said, “Forget it. I can’t speak to a crowd not interested in the subject of God,” and he left. The third time, the sadhu was called and the villagers were already trained how to respond. He came and once again asked the same question. The one’s seated on the right side raised their hands while the ones who were on the left didn’t. The Saint said, “The ones of the right side who believe in God preach to the ones of the left who don’t believe in him. The problem is solved. Let’s disperse.”
College – a place for transformation or degradation?
The above story illustrates how fragile the faith of Indians is in God. The condition is such that it can be changed, modded, broken, manipulated by media, by surroundings, by the people whom they associate according to the situation. The best practical evidence of this is, how young boys who grew up in a religious environment go through a complete transformation after they join college hostels. Not towards God but down the lane of animalistic living. The concern is, although they all come from a spiritual culture because they weren’t logically convinced of God’s existence, they lack the intellectual ability to defend their faith. So, when attacked by reasonings and denials of the presence of the Lord, their fragile faith is broken and thus eventually they succumb to such attacks.
In colleges, often when juniors are ragged to smoke cigarettes, as taught by their mother and family, they internally are conflicted by their conscience which says this is wrong. Yet, they proceed out of the fear of being an abnormal person in an atmosphere where everyone considers smoking is normal. Because of his inability to strengthen his inner world through
Power of conviction frightens the faithless
I remember, one of my classmates was a staunch follower of God. He not only believed in God but also practiced his sadhana. He made the heads turn whenever he walked around in college. He also would go through similar ragging sessions and be questioned from all sides. But his faith was so strong that the students who rag him would get bewildered. After a point, they’d simply let him go because they knew if they spent more time with him, they also will start believing in God. Once, they asked him what he experiences when he sees a beautiful woman. Contrary to the expected realistic answer, he responded, “Skeleton.” After that, no one dared to bother him.
On an Indian thali of sense gratification, God is like nimbu:
We also used to have Dandia nights. These nights were just for pure unalloyed sense gratification. And they’d do a small puja right before starting their full-on sense enjoyment, for which my sincere classmate would be called to do the ritual. He was completely detached. He simply performed the pujas and left the premises. The point here is, Indians often follow some religion, some dharma not as the main meal, but as a nimbu to squeeze over the full plate of Prasadam to enhance the flavour. The main meal is that of indra tripti, sense gratification, and the little sense of religiosity is like a nimbu sprinkled on the top. God is seen merely as an order provider or as the director-general of a trade centre.
To understand him through scientific reasoning is irrelevant as our understanding of science is highly superficial. However, please click the link below to read some intriguing reasonings broken down into 8 arguments based on scientific comprehension to support the evidence that The Inconceivable God indeed does exist :
