Subu on Religion

Of Faith and beliefs !

(By the title above, I mean that the views expressed below are strictly the writer’s own opinion though they might at some points bear resemblance to many great thinkers living and dead.)

No article on religion should or rather can begin without Karl Marx’s famous line “Religion is the hope of the hopeless, soul of the soul-less and opium of the masses”. Well speaking of religion one has to touch upon various related concepts. To go on, questions on religion question the existential nature of God and finally even the validity of rituals in religion.

To me God is a divine word. It is the very utterance of the word which infuses a strong sense of confidence in me. To be honest, I am neither an atheist, nor agnostic and surprisingly not even religious in the strict sense. I prefer taking religion in a highly liberal sense of view. God’s existence (whether he does or not) has never really troubled my soul and neither am I a rebel when it comes to matters of faith. But then again I follow my own ways of looking at it, the way my heart dictates and my mind justifies.

Putting this line up with a disclaimer again I will opine that somewhat I reason out, God must be Man’s creation than Man being God’s. At least the form and varieties we look up to him presently. Man is a born rational. And society, its organization, norms and continuity establish this fact. Because if something is not rational, it cannot possibly last that long. And so also is religion, through the personation of God. That God has been commoditized many a times for personal gratification is of no surprise.  But then everything exhibits anomalous behaviour during the stages if its maturation.

Every system is created with a purpose and so also Religion.  It is not just a body of faiths. It is a carefully crafted system to control and regulate the society. It gives us a sense of humility, no matter how successful one is through hard work one says ‘Sab Bhagwaan ki den hai’, a sense of participation in the collective wellbeing of society (recall Ganesh chaturthy, RathYatra, Christmas Celebrations or Eid).. bringing all high and low equal before the eyes of God !

Coming to rituals, I am not a person who would strongly advocate the essentials of ritualistic procedures and more so when it concerns religion. Yet, personally rituals bring a sense of disciple in life. In a typical Hindu society which is laden with multitudes of rituals, if one gets up early in the morning, takes a bath and sits down to pray, one cannot completely do away with the scientific benefits associated with the same. So also, when on certain days of the week people are barred from eating non-vegetarian food, it is to ensure man remains merely Omnivorous and doesn’t turn out to be largely a carnivore. The balance of food chain needs be kept in mind.

It is the manifestation of the mind that establishes certain types of rituals in one society absent in another. Tribal men worship trees, not hard to understand why ! Thus it is the mind which sacred-izes a polished stoneinto a ‘Salagram’ , the rising sun as God and still more the four legged Bovine into ‘Gai Mata’.

To conclude religion existed even before present man did.. It rose from the family hearth being worshipped as fire and continues to this date to ease and smoothen our busy mechanised world. And such a view on religion I consider is rational, scientific and Secular !

Alice in Wander-land !!

Alice is eighteen years old.
Alice has just completed her higher secondary education and awaits to start a career.

One day, while she is quietly resting under a tree in her garden, she notices a white rabbit clothed in crisp attire with a pocket watch hung to its side. Busy as the rabbit looks, Alice's curiosity leads her following the rabbit down the hole. She expects to find answers to her problems and assumes the rabbit hole will lead her into a bright future. The rabbit meticulously guides Alice into an admission in a reputed college and hence ends his role..it hurries off.. Once inside Alice looks around, strange new world, with newer still the expectations and hopes. As she just begins to explore the place, she experiences a deep deep fall.. A tunnel that seemed endless and into a pit, leads her into a hall.. Around looks Alice, doors and doors lined and lined.

Aah the doors of opportunity, thinks the girl to herself. !!
She finds a small key.. that wouldn't open the first door.. Efforts still needed exclaims she to herself..
She finds a Bottle of knowledge..that says.. "DRINK ME".. She absorbs all the contents.. and shrinks small enough to squeeze through the first door..

Still more doors.. Alice confronts.. A second door here... She finds a cake beside that says.. "EAT ME".. Devours the cake soon Alice.. and grows so large, her head hits the ceiling..
Alice is too large.. she needs to get past some door, but she is too large to... She is in search of a larger door.. a larger opportunity.. nothing less would suit her purpose..

Alice wanders about.. strange new creatures...and wild are her thoughts..
As Alice walks around.. she comes across a Tea-party... Invited as soon as she is, joins the partying souls.. Yet remains a gap.. a void which Alice cannot comprehend..
She has chosen her life.. her life inside the tunnel...
She has no choice.. but to work, wander about and party...

Years hence, Alice thinks to herself...of the garden and the burrow hole.. and tells herself..

"A hole lead into the tunnel..
I took the one the rabbit traversed
and that has made all the difference.." !!

The debate continues !

For those of us who have read "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov and those who read about the proposed amendments of the IPC, Capital Punishment, still remains a subject of heated debate and accute brainstorming. To begin with whenever I come to think of it, I have mixed feelings in my heart and mind regarding the issue itself and its consequences at large !

Capital Punishment or as we might have heard several times in bollywood cinemas.. "teenso do ke teher.. To be hanged till death", is not as simple as it sounds..

It involves, deliberately depriving someone.. of his right to live.. LIFE as we know is God's and only God's gift ! Once taken away, the whole humankind put together, with all the money of the world pooled together may not help in restoring the same.. So, is it humane on our part to think of taking someone's life away.. that too legally !

If God is the one.. who grant's life to his creations.. who are we to think in mortal terms to be able to exert a decision making role in the same? But then again, how many of us, would want criminals like Ajmal kasab to be alive? Is there any Indian who is actually willing to forgive such a man..to deny himself of the right to teach a lesson to such ruthless people on earth?..Then again.. they posing greater threat to nation, through possible air hi-jacks and the kind if kept alive in confinement.

As I plunge deeper into the subject, I feel Death is a quick painless punishment for anyone, who will think deserves only that. If I were wronged by anyone.. to the extent that I wouldnt ever forgive him.. I would rather chose the option of.. "Itna. tadpao.. ki koi maut mange.. lekin maut bhi naseeb na ho" !! Why let him have the easy way. ?

But then, I am not a legislative, neither authorised to opine on legal terms. Yet, as aperson of practical outlook, I feel there are better solutions to such problems than meets the eye.

As we all know, and as justified by science too, criminals and the kind are often people of different genetic make-up altogether(Heard of extra X chromosome in persons with criminal tendancy?) many of them, have been tormented, tortured and outcast by the society driving them into aggression and unsocial behavior.

In such a situation, the solution should be more humane.. aiming at changing their thought processes and teaching them the right thing to do. Imprisioning in barely animal ambience would only make matters bad to worse.. many of them need counsellers.. medical attention.. psychologists.. n in some cases even psychiatrics.. Why not try these simple processes out? The expenses would be a fraction if it helps in teh long run.

Let us remember that, punsihment is never given to compensate a victim.. No person on earth who has been deprieved of a close one.. has been tortured or gone through mental agony can be compensated. Punsihment is only a deterrant.. a reminder to epople who attempt such things in future what the consequences can be. So it is time.. to deliver justice quick and fast, along with a better approach to handling these unwanted elements of the society.

Apprehensions Surrounding the Lok Pal Bill:


Intended Audience: For all the citizens who are aware of the present Indian political scenario, who wake up every morning these days to switch on the news channel and witness endless debates on the 'proposed vs drafted Lok Pal Bill'

Some questions surrounding the same:

a) Does any of the versions of the Bill look promising enough?
b) Does any one in this country be it a political leader/ administrator personnel or even the Loka Yukta representative deserve unchecked power?
c) Do the prime representatives of the party supporting the move look fair on their integrity level?
d) If a panel needs to include different people from different backgrounds, to ensure looking at a problem/case from different angles in order to ensure a just move, what is the whole point of involving both Prashant as well as Shanti Bhushan in the committee.. can we expect different views from them?
e) Does democracy mean sitting on a podium inspiring masses to do so without food and water, on the pretext that you are fighting for the right cause .. Be it Anna Hazare or Ram Dev(who many opine should rather stick to teaching Yoga than dabbling with politics !!) , wasnt there a better means to prsent their voice apart from forcing the system to do something.. It is something like a child forcing his parents not to enforce eductaion else he would go without food and water... Or even on the other side to teach them a lesson to invade a huge crowd in the wee hours and start intimidating a mass of gathered crowd. remember we still shun the Jailenwalah bagh tragedy. Thousands of people thronged the premises of Tihar Jail on 16th August in support of Anna.. The activists who got it started in the first place had the Gandhian quality of being able to gather the crowd, provoking the masses.. But how many of them actually knew what it was all about? The big difference between being gandhi and being Gandhi-like lies in the fact that while Gandhi had the will and power to start and start a movement at will, I hardly suppose any of these men can stop the mob if it gets out of hand? Can they? and if in the chaos something goes astray staking the lives of thousands who is to blame?! auto walas, sweepers.. students.. government employees all gave whole heartened support to Anna.. But talking of Delhi Autos.. who refuse to go on meter! or government employees who don't understand what service actually means?? What I wish to point out here is that corruption free attitude begins with one self.. I as a student must have downloaded thousands of free softwares (I am sure even Mr Arvind did in his IIT days..).. am still a regular user of torrent and songs.pk. So am I not corrupt? are we ready to give it up first before raising the fingers altogether at the system. But then again because I am corrupt should it prevent me from raising my voice against corruption? what should my stand be?

Well, its just a grim reminder of the present state of facts. I don't know whether it is appropriate but still I would like to switch on the media every day to find happy and cheerful news which would levitate my spirits..when I turn the pages every morning.. I would rather read about the efforts of our leaders having brought about changes in their respective portfolios(No matter how far that has been overshadowed by their general flaws and fallacies in politics).

I consider myself an aware citizen of the country.. aware of the several scams and consequently the respective committees set up to look into the same.. BUT ! at the the same time I am tired of the same.. I am tired of the parties pointing figures at each other.. (be the charges legitimate or frivolous).. It might sound a tad bit wonderland.. but through my days of life I do want to watch the people striving to improve their lives .. be it themselves or through elected representatives. !!!

Competative Edge

Competition improves performance, is a fact tried and tested and needs no further verification.
However, that competation can percolate down to such levels of the society and such diversified groups
of people to enable and encourage them to work and earn better needs to be stated with an instance here.

I am a regular commuter taking buses to and fro my workplace five days in a week. There are several alike me who take
up the tedious task of aboarding the public transport to reach their workplace. Neverthless there is always a lookout for better buses!
what qualifies them better than others is based on several chosen criteria by the working class.
a) Buses that are predictably on time
b) Who take up the total travel in as less time as possible.
c) Buses with amicable conductors who offer to tacitly provide you better seats on regular travels by the same one (the concept of brand loyalty comes to play even here!)
d) and never the less are a little comfortable and well ventilated for the fresh morning travel.

Satisfying all the above criteria are a few of them, I a witness to two prominent buses namely "Ray Saheb" & "Raj Kamal".
Both of them have a regular group, rather a hoard of travellers eagerly waiting for either of them to arrive and take them to
their destination. By some tacit rule of law, both of them tend to keep a gap of 10-15 mins between them to avoid collision in terms of regular customers (ie: Clients !)
Today by some stroke of the law, both of them arrived in quick succession only to the overwhelming relief
of the fellow passengers awaiting them with a glitter in their eyes. (Options always seem to appeal..)
Thoughout the course of travel both seemed to take over the other one, reaching stops at more or less same time,
The respective helpers yelling at each other with triumphant spirits to express their zeal to deliver better !
What a competation Sirjee !!

Justice delayed is Justice denied !

In an era of movies and more movies, where subject of every nature has successfully found its way into the Bollywood, there seems to be an abated interest to portray movies on law and order.
Where is the age where cinema houses saw themselves making remarkable pieces shot in the honorable court of law. Make shift court-rooms remained a vital part of every big studio. Judges and lawyers were held in high esteem and so were their titles 'Wakeel-Sahib' and 'judge-Sahib'. Is all the reverence now lost?
The constitution makers carefully laid down the rules of the constitution such that the judiciary remains separated from the influence of the legislative and executive . Did they actually achieve what they set out for? In the present day scenario, is it justified to entitle better privileges and higher perks etc to judges of High Courts and supreme Court. A couple of days ago, a civil liberties lawyer by the name Prashant Bhushan, son of former Union law minister Shanti Bhusan, raised some doubts over the sanctity of judges. When the constitution declares articles 14-18 valid and meaningful, why are the elite classes so skeptical about the RTI act which should apply to all classes equally. Why cannot some degree of transparency be expected of them, no matter how revered a position they hold and how noble a work they carry out. Even the most pious of women in Indian epic had been questioned on her sanctity, then why is Prashant's statements termed frivolous? why cant the section the government with the discretion to pronounce judgments bear the brunt of public apprehensions?
Are qualities which the public holds in high esteem simply 'imaginary' or they still persist in people who haven't been able to make a mark in contemporary times. Where are the lawyers, who back in those days, in movies in Eastman colours were willing to defend victims of corrupt laws and legislation. Do still some philanthropic officials exist or are they exist species of the extinct era, large and limited to imagination and some archeological findings of bones and skeletons. Where is the age of lawyers , judges and elites who indeed wore their hearts on their sleeves..were pious, just and above all had a human heart.
It just makes me ask myself.. Do we actually live in a social, just, democratic society? or such words used only to camouflage our shortcomings of being able to establish such a society?

........

I know not where my soul is..

My thoughts so numb, my feet so tired..

I look at things, yet see them not.

Even the picturesque looks bleak and blank





Every word heard seems a noise,

whats melody and whats cacophony?

I look around.. blank my gaze,

The world celebrates, I know not why..





Unusually today my eyes are heavy

my spirits so low, and throat so dry

I glance across the windows so dull

The clouds are grey and so the sky



I struggle to walk a couple of yards,

It feels an absolute oberration.

heavenly looks the floor under my feet

I sit upon it, my savior, my friend



what is it....? A passing time in muse

or silent contemplation of thee..

With sombre thoughts in shades of blue,

I close my eyes, sleep..a deep sound sleep

upon which I choose to fall back on !