[Reader-list] When was the first time you were told there is God?

[Murali V]

If some thing has made you laugh and feel happy, I am happy. That is my way
of living.

Regards,
V Murali

On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com> wrote:

> "You make me laugh Murali," says Jahanvi. There is a bit of childish
> rashness and irreverant matter-of-factness ( though
> totally misplaced) the way you make an offer. The options are not available
> like some commodity in our nearest shop, or Mall
> if you will. There are many such experiments that are going on all over the
> world. People have also set up "gated communities" and profess to be
> citizens of another world that belongs to another day. Can you suggest me a
> list of communities in India itself that are experimenting the way i have
> suggested? What i would venture to suggest to you "personally" is to find
> out the reasons why such communities are still segregated and away from the
> public knowledge. Are they really communities that profess no faith, and if
> they do not, what is the nature of their faith in the first place. We are
> fortunate enough that people in so large a number are gracing this
> discussion forum; one rarely gets such dedicated readers who also spend time
> responding to fanatical proposals (and run for alarm at the slightest
> provocation).
>
> With faith and religion are attached many other issues that have already
> been debated in hallowed intellectual circles but their conclusions have not
> been able to percolate down to the masses like us. The problems are as much
> psychological as they are cultural. Take for example today's kewl college
> going brats. They wear Che Guevara T-shrits and claim to belonging to no
> religion live and act like hippies of 70s though fall far short of that
> because of reasons too obvious to merit a mention. Now one might ask is this
> the kind of "thing" that i am proposing. Certainly NOT! These guys don't
> even know who Che was, somebody would as well tell you that he was a Harlem
> pop star of the 60s or 20s if you will or just a "pop star." Moreover, they
> would shoot a nearest temple at the first instance, whether for the sake of
> girls or to crack an entrance test. I was shocked to see many kewl guys
> fitted in branded jeans chanting Hanuman Chalisa when i dragged myself out
> of curiosity to a temple in Delhi.
>
> Things run deep under kewl T-shirts!
> We need to understand many such paradoxical webs, not individually
> but "communally" through such a forum.
> Best
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 9:24 AM, Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> What you propose is already available in a faith called "Way of Living".
>> One has to attempt this philosophy and things would be for the good.
>> Murali V
>>
>>   On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 2:35 AM, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>>  Dear All,
>>> I know this won't go down well with most of you but here it is:
>>> Religions are the basic source of strife and as long as there will be
>>> religions
>>> (belief in this God and that) there will be such hostilities. By
>>> professing
>>> one religion
>>> i simultaneously create an other being who, by inference, is either
>>> follower
>>> of some religion
>>> or a pagan. The basic contradiction in all religions is that despite
>>> their
>>> moral-ethical discourse
>>> regarding oneness of all humanity they are the principal segregators. All
>>> the saints who have
>>> walked the earth deluded themselves with such fancies.
>>>
>>> Religion is not just a system of belief but also an economy. We depend a
>>> lot
>>> upon our religious capital
>>> for our subsistance. A person who professes to be a member of certain
>>> community (primarily religious)
>>> also depends upon it as a kind of umbilical cord and draws sucour.
>>>
>>> By now earth has soaked so much blood because of religious strifes that
>>> sometimes i wonder isn't it time
>>> to abandon all religious badges and create a ethical moral code drawn
>>> from
>>> all the religions and start believing
>>> in one community: that is Human.
>>>
>>> I think we need to believe in our brother next door and one walking on
>>> the
>>> street or the worker on a Metro site.
>>> We need to believe that for the survival of humanity we need to believe
>>> in
>>> each other and not on some transcendental
>>> agency. I wonder why we haven't learnt from our history. The primary
>>> reason
>>> why we have failed terribly in creating a
>>> community of all human beings that walk the earth is because we are
>>> afraid.
>>> Afraid to believe in somebody who is in
>>> front of us in flesh and blood. I remember a man sitting in Blue Line who
>>> was highly uncomfortable when a profusely sweating migrant labourer got
>>> in
>>> and found a seat, to his great relief, by his side. It is certain that he
>>> didn't know of the
>>> religion of that worker but the stench of his sweat and his dirty clothes
>>> were enough for him to get up and keep standing
>>> for the rest of his journey. I wonder when we have such intolerence for a
>>> 'fellow' human beings' honest sweat how would we
>>> ever begin even thinking about such a Human community. The perils that
>>> face
>>> the earth now are reasons enough that we
>>> start believing in each other and work for the future of humanity by
>>> shunning all our sectarian tags. But strangely we are busy
>>> inventing/refurbishing new messiah who would deliver us from the mess
>>> that
>>> we have ourselves created on this earth.
>>>
>>> I wonder what stops us from creating a new religion of Humanity.
>>>
>>> The advice that comes from scholarly circles regarding all this religious
>>> intolerance is : Tolerance!
>>> That we need to tolerate each other. Tolerance is another form of fascism
>>> or
>>> nazism, what ever. I won't agree with substituting
>>> the word toleracne with "respect" or "compassion". Why tolerate the very
>>> root of strife in the first place.
>>>
>>> And yet, sadly, things are not as simple as that. But  a time comes when
>>> we
>>> have to call a spade a spade.
>>> We have to shun God to love human beings. There is no other way. Just
>>> visualize the situation: Two guys are standing in a big stadium in front
>>> of
>>> each other, just a metre apart but with their faces 'heaven'wards. Why
>>> are
>>> they afraid to see each other directly.
>>> Why does the need arise to travel so many light years and then come to
>>> ones
>>> brother standing just a meter away.
>>>
>>> I know it is plain foolishness to ask somebody whose bread and butter
>>> depends upon religion to shun it and enter the fold of Humanity where
>>> people
>>> believe in people and work with mutual responsibility. But we
>>> need neo-believers who are foolish enough to
>>> believe in such a possibility and are ready to work for it. It's a
>>> long revolution but a possible one.
>>>
>>> But, the roadblocks are mighty hard to surpass. Take for instance my
>>> case:
>>> I have a primary school in my neighbourhood, a government one. And
>>> every morning even before i have got up their assembly begins and the
>>> chants
>>> of sacred Hindu mantras begin. All this atma and parmatma stuff. Though i
>>> don't dispute the sense inherent in the prayer yet aren't we or rather
>>> the
>>> supposedly and proffessedly secular government entering into the business
>>> of 'mass conversion'. When i have all these religious prayers embedded
>>> into
>>> my consciousness right from my childhood can you imagine how much i would
>>> have to suffer to convert back to the religion of humanity if i convert
>>> at
>>> all and not turn into some religious fanatic. Less said of the schools
>>> run
>>> by one religion or the other the better.
>>>
>>> Though the proposal seems indecent yet i think there are madmen enough to
>>> believe in this long long revolution.
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>>
>>
>>
>