Food For My Thought

         Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa, as I know, is the only great person who boldly answered the question “have you ever seen God?” There are many people who follow and believe the spiritual leaders who even seldom think of answering this question. I can also include another category that has turned spiritualism into a way to mint money. Amongst these people, there are many who even though can’t answer the same, can guide people to walk in a path of righteousness. A common factor amongst the above categories is the ability to grab people and their trust.

         There is lot of difference between worshiping god and following a spiritual leader. According to Vedas, a leader or GURU is the one who is suppose to guide people to walk along the way of righteousness. He can only guide us. Guidance of this sort has taken different direction and even the stereotypes have acquired different meaning and form. The whole arrangement has taken such a form, that it has begun to annoy the learned or even the youth, who are inclining away from the social constructs that are built for the refinement of the society in its own little ways.

          A couple of my close acquaintances, including me, claim to be agnostic. I personally believe that God exists but I don’t trust in the conventional approach of praying god by lighting incense sticks like how the prayer is being done since times unknown. At the same time I don’t say that those conventional methods formulated by the greatest of the great people to be wrong.

          Recently there was a ‘HOMA’ (Hindu ritual where the disciples offer certain things to God by tossing them into the fire that is set up in a square, raised platform), that I was part of. There was a lot of smoke in the house that someone walking outside indeed questioned us “is everything alright”. I was baffled because sitting amidst that amount of smoke, no one coughed even a single time !! This s something we have to think deeply about.

           I strongly believe that there is a scientific reason for everything that our generation call “superstitious”. It’s just that we are not aware of the reasons behind them. It could be attributed to many things, may be people who passed them onto us didn’t bother to pass on the reasons along. But not all such beliefs are attributed to scientific reasons. This may seem to be heterodoxy but something of great and vital significance should not be ignored. Probably we would have the reasons for every such practice if people who passed them onto us had passed the reasons along rather than passing onto us and expecting us to accept and follow merely in tandem. This may due to that fact that people who aristocratically claimed themselves to be the superior class of our society, compelled the rest to follow without questioning.

           When I was small, I used to wonder why along with the bells in the temple there used to me drums those were automated to play when needed. However, I didn’t bother to find out the reason behind it. I was just like others who just agreed to follow without being aware of what lead to it. But now that I found out accidently that high decibels help one rivet all his attention so that he can’t even think of anything else. This reason I found out, turned around my way of looking at everything around.  I don’t declare anything that is termed “blind belief” to be void as soon as I hear it. As the name itself connotes, not all the practices have reason.

           There are numerous such practices which are soaked into science and followed. We may feel “It doesn’t make any sense”. But the real reasons, even though illogical, will indeed baffle you when you learn it. Also there are many practices that don’t have any reason but are framed to favor some class of society. There is a need to get rid of such practices but rest shouldn’t be harmed in the name of eradicating the “blind beliefs” from the society.

There definitely exits certain words or places in every part of the world whose name would have changed is form or pronunciation the matter of time. Likewise there are many such superstitious beliefs which are evolved according to the metal condition of people who followed it. And it might have changed to extent that it actually lost the real reason of such practice. I believe these kind of practices that have changed their real form and rational motive through are to be classified “blind”. But the irony is, such classification is difficult due to the variances among people about these practices.

          All I want to convey is we should try analyzing everything around us before jumping into any conclusion. If prayer can mentally make someone strong and help him to be confident to do something, there is no harm in it. If you don’t believe God exist, it doesn’t mean you must argue you are right. We have to respect everyone’s belief. But offering everything to god without helping people in need is not right. Prayer must not be blind but it should be in a right way. Pray god but give everything you want to offer God to someone in need. God, who we believe gives us everything doesn’t expect us to return them. If any practice can please people around us, there is no harm in accepting it even if it is not what you want. If yours parents want you to pray, go ahead and do it. If not for pleasing god, at least for pleasing people around you.  As I always say, keeping others happy is the way to be happy.

P.S.: I still believe in agnostic spiritualism.