Monday, January 15, 2007

The World View of an Atheist

"God made me an atheist. Who are you to question his wisdom."
(Unknown)

Iam not a very religious person. I do go to the temple once in a while but those of you who may have read my previous posts on this subject ('Swargathile Leela Vilasangal' and 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' ) would have typecasted me as a non believer.And you would have been right.

I have been inspired to post this after going through some very religious-cloaked-in-the-garb-of-spiritualism posts that I came across various blogs. Isnt it an irony of fate ( Duh!!! What am I talking about , there is no Fate ), that the more we seem to progress , the more we seem to be sinking in the mire of new found beliefs
that defy all logic. Religion indeed seems to be like the mythological Hydra , a poisonous new head springing up for every old one we cut.

The earlier century superstitions have been replaced by the new age Godmen ( and women ) , who having learnt the tricks of the trade from the less revered P C Sorcar and his ilk, would now ascend the throne, commit the ultimate blasphemy of claiming to be God himself ( or herself, depending on which con artist you are talking about ) , all this accompanied to the cheers of their delirious supporters. And the saddest part is these supporters do not consist of the rabble that formed a major part of such charlatans support base in the earlier centuries. No, the new supporters are supposedly educated men and women who should know better.

Is this our vision for 21st Century India? An India driven by IT to take on the world, still keeping one feet firmly planted in the puja room , always ready to give alms to the prayer book armed , sagely looking con artists, all the while ignoring the really needy , the downtrodden , who are not mentioned like the Elephant in The Room.

I can believe in a God who asks me to help my neighbour, not in one who demands I show my loyalty by regular prayer. I can believe in a God who says I will be saved if I do good to others, not in one who claims my only road to salvation is through my belief in Him. If God indeed be so insecure that he feels the need for me to pander to his ego by regularly singing paens of praise, "Sorry , but No Thanks".

6 comments:

Chitra Shenoy said...

Sachin

I was also thinking about the same some days back.I am a believer, but I think of God as a higher power out there to guide me and guard me.May be God is just a concept to instill self confidence in human beings.I believe if you have the will power, nothing is unacheivable.
I dont believe in God men/women luring people into their folds and advising some same old things which we all know.People should really introspect themselves on what they have to do for a better world.Just chant some prayers, sing some bhajans and then come back and torture daughter in law or cheat their best friend.What is the whole point of praying if we cant be a good human being.
I really pity that some people offer God diamonds, jewels, crores of money and what not, but they dont spend one 'phooti kodi' also on the people really suffering.
Strange are life's ways..

SRILAXMI said...

hi sachin...

rdng ur blog now. pretty cool. n the link 'sachin-ki-story' is cute.

thanx for visiting my blog and commenting. i am linking u on my blog.

bye.
SRI

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

Hey Sachin , May be the actual God wants you to do what you believe in :)rather than what everyone else is doing :D

redwaterstew said...

Wanted to write in detail on this...
will do it over the weekend. here is a Lennon song that I used to love


God is a Concept by which
we measure our pain
I'll say it again
God is a Concept by which
we measure our pain
I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in Tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in Yoga
I don't believe in Kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me...and that reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
the Dream is Over
Yesterday
I was the Dreamweaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
and so dear friends
you'll just have to carry on
The Dream is over

Amol said...

Hi!
Thank you for visiting my blog and being kind enough to praise my pitiful attempts at poetry. Love the one you left me.
As to my belief, about whether God exists or not, and about religion and godmen in general: I think religion and spirituality are two different things and as to whether God exists or not...well I am still searching.....been reading a lot about Buddha and Zen and so on and something Buddha said appealed to me. " don't believe in God or Dhamma, because I say it exists or you read it in a book, find out for yourself."He says Appa Deepo Bhav...be a light unto thyself.....don't depend on others for your beliefs, rather don't believe in anything until you have looked for yourself, ' cause then it won't be a belief anymore; it will be part of your knowledge.

Sachin R K said...

Came across this quote:

"I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time." -Isaac Asimov