enlightenment......

It happened to me as I was returning from a tourist destination with my in-laws in tow - a night long ride on a lousy Volvo with broken seats and hot air (literally) coming from down under my seat which somehow negated the AC "effects" of the bus. My father-in-law happened to be someone of high importance in the telephone exchange back home in Calcutta but for the last decade taken greatly to religion devoting most his time in religious and philosophical pursuits which somehow didn’t go down very well with me.

I was not actually planning a long conversation on this lousy bus that too at wee hours of the night so I was tapping away the buttons on my newly acquired psp wildly when my father-in-law broke the silence and laid the foundation of a communication piece that has somehow taken some mind share off me these days - topic was not arbitrarily chosen, and I feel deliberately taken as religion & philosophy. It started interestingly, when he suddenly asked me, "Are you an atheist?"

Now I AM an atheist-at least according to the dictionary. Basically I don't believe in worshiping God, in religion or idol worship. I do, but, willingly partake in all the social and cultural activities which have a religious inclination. This I do as per the advice of my parents, firstly because these are abundant in India and secondly to avoid antagonizing my parents and stay away from societal controversy and consternation. Considering all this, I DO believe in a power above myself and that the universe is governed by a higher energy force, this I do for my own reasons.


So, getting back, I answered my FIL’s question in the affirmative and explained to him that I believe in the omnipotent energy, of which I have seen proof, and this belief I require for strength when my mind is weak or when I falter.


He then explained his point of view with the help of the Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita (OMG). Having said that, I must clarify that though a thorough religious person himself, he took a purely philosophical approach while speaking to me.

It would be quite impossible to retrace the exact discussion owing to my rather poor memory and the fact that we digressed a lot in the course of the discussion, which was obvious I guess.

But at the end of it I wished to summarize the conversation. That resulted in the following:

The concept of 'God' is a man-made one. Every different religion is the result of the limitation of the mind of man in the way of 'conceptualizing' God (same old wine in a new bottle concept – but something that I had never given a thought).

For eventually every religion in essence preaches the same thing- 'God is and omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient manifestation of our belief.'

Religion is a tool for initiation into the 'philosophy of life'.

The various contorted consequences and unfortunate abhorrence in the name of religion is a result of the decay and limited cognitive and perceptive abilities of man's mind or a shrewd mind with an ulterior motive.

So I guess in the end, I was enlightened!!!

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