“Mitra! If you steal a pencil from your friend, God is going
to watch you and prick your eyes”
That was my wife trying to instill the fear of God in my 10
years old daughter. Does God exist? Is God real? Should we believe in God?
Good morning fellow Toastmasters and guests,
It was the year 1991, the month was December. I was doing my
+2 at that time. I was seriously preparing for my half-yearly Chemistry
examination. No matter how hard I studied, it was hard for me to understand the
complex atomic structures, molecules and compounds. Finally, the D-day arrived…
Chemistry examinations. Those were the days when I go to God for pretty much
everything – when I lose my pencil, I ask God to find that, when I’m not
getting a bus in time, I ask God to send that, when I don’t do my homework I
ask God to bring rains to get me a holiday. Since I haven’t prepared well for
my exam, I went to temple to pray to God. I promised God to shave my head for
him, if he somehow makes me to score 80% in Chemistry. As a token advance, I
even deposited Rs.5 in the Hundial and sealed the deal. I whitewashed my
forehead with the ashes given by the priest. I reached the exam hall and
uttered a few verses from Kanda Shasti and got the question paper in my hand. I
closed my eyes praying to God again and opened the question paper. The moment I
saw the question paper, my head started to spin. I became dizzy. Most of the
questions were very tough and I couldn’t even understand some of the questions,
let alone answering them. I started scolding God for not honoring our gentlemen
agreement. I went back to the temple in the evening. How many of you have seen
Annamalai movie… and remember the famous “Ashok! Mark this day in your
calendar” dialogue? I did pretty much the same thing and parted ways from God.
Since then, I’ve started questioning the existence of God and started
appreciating the power of humans.
Deaths
I feel that the concept called “God” was originally invented
by a smart guy to unite people in the society and stop them from doing barbaric
acts. But, look at what actually is happening today. The same concept called
“God” is killing several 1000s and 1000s of people today.
Close to a 100 million people have died in the last 1000
years due to religion – that is equivalent of killing 300 people every day, in
the name of God. Every day, you see news about Hindus killing Muslims and
Muslims killing Christians. Nobody in this world has seen God, but look at the
number of deaths happening because of God. It is not only humans who are
getting killed, but poor creatures like goats and cows are killed in the name
of sacrifice to God. Is God really uniting people or dividing people?
Blind Belief
There are many individuals who take people’s blind belief to
their advantage. Asaram Bapu, Swami Nithyanandha, Swami Premanandha and even
the popes are involved in scandals such as rape, murder and child trafficking.
People donate a lot of money to religious trusts, which get misutilized.
People blindly believe in God and don’t provide proper
medical care to their kids resulting in death of young children. Blind belief
results in people not doing their job and expecting God to perform a miracle to
improve their financial condition.
Where was our God when 30 innocent people died because of
stampede, when they came to take a holy dip in Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh?
Where was our God when 2000 innocent people died because of the stampede in
Mecca, recently? Blind belief shuts off reasoning capacity of people. Why would you assemble in such large numbers
in a place without proper safety measures?
Purpose vs Practice
In those days, people used to walk to the hill top to
worship God, which kept them fit. Today, we are going to the hill top in an A/C
car. Those days, people sacrificed their personal pleasures in the days that
lead to a special function or festival. Today, even the Sabarimala devotees are
smoking and eating unhealthy food. Those days, festivals where used to force
people to keep their homes and surroundings clean. Today, when there is a
festival the surroundings of a temple become a junk yard.
The concept called “God” was invented to keep people united,
to keep people disciplined and to keep the surroundings clean. We forgot the
purpose of “God”, but we keep having blind beliefs.
Conclusion
God does exist, not in temples but in the minds of humans
who treat others with respect, courtesy and dignity. God does exist, not in
temples but in the hearts of people who help others, people who care for fellow
human beings and people who do their job. God is everywhere, he is in the water
bodies that are kept clean, he is in the air that is unpolluted, and he is in
the surroundings that is kept clean. God is in you and God is in me. Will you
start following the REAL God instead of the dummies in the temple?