namotasa bhagvato arahato sama sam buddha sa
I will narrate my journey in pursuit of a religion
The plethora of choices
I am a Sindhi. When I was a kid, I was made to attend the pooja at home, or sometimes my Dad would take me to the temple. Dad would lift me up so that I could ring the temple bell and I loved the idea of getting prasad. Anyway, I never understood a word priest or Mom said during Aarti, especially the language priest spoke during prayers was a nutcracker. During Deewali all the idols of different Gods were nicely decorated and the family came together. We had customs I didn't understand, customs such as dipping gold and silver coins in milk like liquid and touching God's forehead or sitting quietly during prayers. The customs that I understood very well was eating sweets after prayers are over and touching feet of all elders who would give kharchi or money. What I also understood was that the lights or candles should not go out as Goddess Laxmi would be visiting. So if there was a power cut, it can be problematic. In the town I grew up, electricity was not supplied for a few hours in a day. However the electric department was kind during festivals such as Deewali.
Different people worship different Gods. I came to Mumbai last year and people worship Lord Ganesha a lot. It was the time during Ganesh Chaturthi and I was advised to go to Lal Bagh, a place in Mumbai where they have a gigantic idol and people come to worship from all corners of world. So I planned to go there along with a few acquaintances from work. I got up at 4 a.m. and I traveled with a friend. We thought "local trains would not be crowded at this hour, lets see." It turned out to be otherwise, the trains and stations were jam packed. By the time I got out of the station I got scared seeing the vast number of people waiting for darshan. I changed my mind, took a taxi back to the guest house where I was staying.
Once I was invited to hear 'Satyanarayan katha.' This time I thought I would carefully listen to the entire story and try to understand the meaning. The underlying theme as I understood was "If you worship the God Satyanarayan, incarnation of Lord Vishnu, prosperity will come to you. However if you are slack and negligence in your devotion, you would be penalized and misery would come to you"
So if you were to pick a God of your choice to worship, which God will you pick? All the Gods have supernatural powers and who are humans to compare divine entities like Gods?
One approach can be to follow your parents or priest and stick to one God for worship. You commit yourself to God, you are faithful, devoted and you let God watch all your activities. You confide in God through thick and thin, you go about your life and ensure that moral code is maintained. You have faith that your God will take care of you, protect you in tough times.
The proliferation of Babas
In India there are so many popular and unpopular Babas, the teachers or God's messenger. If you watch TV you would know of limitless teachers. Or worse, there are some Babas whose ashrams got raided and what was unearthed: hot babes and loads of cash.
Then there is Baba Ramdev who is a skilled Yoga teacher and wants to hold politicians accountable for public money hoarded in Swiss banks. Anyway in Baba Ramdev, I see a lot of desire and ambition. These days there is "Nirmal Baba". Earlier he was a businessmen and apparently he has solution to all your problems. All you need to do is deposit money to his bank account.
Anyway I, a lay person, am not skilled to evaluate the teachings of any Baba.
In summary, the problem of choice remains and is now compounded: what religion to choose and which teacher to follow?
My choice
I was a rebel and in my teens, I would say to a friend visiting temple during exams "Aren't you mean? You just show up in the temple when in need. Anyway, have you ever seen God? Have you seen his magic for real? Like they show in Ramayana and Mahabharata. When God is fighting the devil and his arrows would multiply in mid-flight or sometimes catch fire. Or Surya Putra Karna, the son of sun, will bring out his Bhramastra, the nuclear bomb that can destroy the whole planet?"
Until I see for myself, I am not believing any God and I will only get the marks that I study for. I declared myself an atheist.
I will narrate my journey in pursuit of a religion
The plethora of choices
I am a Sindhi. When I was a kid, I was made to attend the pooja at home, or sometimes my Dad would take me to the temple. Dad would lift me up so that I could ring the temple bell and I loved the idea of getting prasad. Anyway, I never understood a word priest or Mom said during Aarti, especially the language priest spoke during prayers was a nutcracker. During Deewali all the idols of different Gods were nicely decorated and the family came together. We had customs I didn't understand, customs such as dipping gold and silver coins in milk like liquid and touching God's forehead or sitting quietly during prayers. The customs that I understood very well was eating sweets after prayers are over and touching feet of all elders who would give kharchi or money. What I also understood was that the lights or candles should not go out as Goddess Laxmi would be visiting. So if there was a power cut, it can be problematic. In the town I grew up, electricity was not supplied for a few hours in a day. However the electric department was kind during festivals such as Deewali.
Different people worship different Gods. I came to Mumbai last year and people worship Lord Ganesha a lot. It was the time during Ganesh Chaturthi and I was advised to go to Lal Bagh, a place in Mumbai where they have a gigantic idol and people come to worship from all corners of world. So I planned to go there along with a few acquaintances from work. I got up at 4 a.m. and I traveled with a friend. We thought "local trains would not be crowded at this hour, lets see." It turned out to be otherwise, the trains and stations were jam packed. By the time I got out of the station I got scared seeing the vast number of people waiting for darshan. I changed my mind, took a taxi back to the guest house where I was staying.
Once I was invited to hear 'Satyanarayan katha.' This time I thought I would carefully listen to the entire story and try to understand the meaning. The underlying theme as I understood was "If you worship the God Satyanarayan, incarnation of Lord Vishnu, prosperity will come to you. However if you are slack and negligence in your devotion, you would be penalized and misery would come to you"
So if you were to pick a God of your choice to worship, which God will you pick? All the Gods have supernatural powers and who are humans to compare divine entities like Gods?
One approach can be to follow your parents or priest and stick to one God for worship. You commit yourself to God, you are faithful, devoted and you let God watch all your activities. You confide in God through thick and thin, you go about your life and ensure that moral code is maintained. You have faith that your God will take care of you, protect you in tough times.
The proliferation of Babas
In India there are so many popular and unpopular Babas, the teachers or God's messenger. If you watch TV you would know of limitless teachers. Or worse, there are some Babas whose ashrams got raided and what was unearthed: hot babes and loads of cash.
Then there is Baba Ramdev who is a skilled Yoga teacher and wants to hold politicians accountable for public money hoarded in Swiss banks. Anyway in Baba Ramdev, I see a lot of desire and ambition. These days there is "Nirmal Baba". Earlier he was a businessmen and apparently he has solution to all your problems. All you need to do is deposit money to his bank account.
Anyway I, a lay person, am not skilled to evaluate the teachings of any Baba.
In summary, the problem of choice remains and is now compounded: what religion to choose and which teacher to follow?
My choice
I was a rebel and in my teens, I would say to a friend visiting temple during exams "Aren't you mean? You just show up in the temple when in need. Anyway, have you ever seen God? Have you seen his magic for real? Like they show in Ramayana and Mahabharata. When God is fighting the devil and his arrows would multiply in mid-flight or sometimes catch fire. Or Surya Putra Karna, the son of sun, will bring out his Bhramastra, the nuclear bomb that can destroy the whole planet?"
Until I see for myself, I am not believing any God and I will only get the marks that I study for. I declared myself an atheist.
