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

[Murali V]

*sarve jana sukhino
bhavanthu<http://akaaraha.blogspot.com/2007/05/sarve-jana-sukhino-bhavanthu.html>
**Regards,*
*V Murali*
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:19 PM, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com> wrote:

> Let's work for a better world dear Murali. We don't seem to have enough
> time.
> Let's rush.
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>