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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the shades of life…….

Recently I was reading an article on an old newspaper that roughly equated every human being’s happiness chart to the English alphabet U, with the narrow tips representing the emotional & spiritual highs of youth and old age and the trough in U i.e. the obvious depression representing the vagaries of mid-life crisis.

Ah! Youth! The age of idealism - when the world was my oyster. I relinquished every luxury in order to change the world and romance, of course, conquered all. When my wife/girlfriend played a major part in my life and I was prepared to spend hours and hours hoping to catch a minute with my partner. At that age it is not possible for me to imagine that a good night’s sleep would become more desirable as age catches up with me. This is the story of life obviously when I was young. The recklessness, the urgency, the extremes of emotions felt. When people are in it, it is often wrenching and tumultuous. But it’s often love felt at its purest and happiness bordering on euphoria.

Again in old age, I believe from observing people around me - people are struck with ailments of old age and stuck with the age old marital partner. But there is a deep contentment among them for having stuck it out so far. They have a sense of achievement and both partners know that one or the other would die soon. This gives rise to a kind of detachment and appreciation for life. Just the thought of being alive is a big high for most of us, I believe.

Finally onto the period that I’m getting into - the mid-life. After reading that I will soon be in the deep flat end of the ‘U’ of happiness - I wallow in self pity. Less comforting is the fact that it would be some time before I start climbing the thin limbs of ‘U’ on my way to serene old age. Middle-age is probably a time when we lose our dreams and begin to accept the reality. We consolidate - we adjust somehow in our lives, careers, jobs, relationships and so on. We try to be happy – somehow trying desperately to pretend to be happy when deep down we know we wanted that little extra in our lives – that could have but did not ultimately materialize. People turn to philosophy and religion comes to the aid of many disillusioned souls who frantically try to mind the meaning of their unexciting lives.

But then again I believe all is not lost. These examples suggest that life eventually comes to a full circle. Or at least a full ‘U’. Somehow this Indian never gives up.

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