God could be faith

I am not getting into the age-long debate of “Does God Exist? ?” or “Do you belive in God” or “Your God or mine? ? “.. “If this is God.. then what / who is Devil?? “, further this post has nothing to with any religion both known and unknown to me. This is just me thinking out loud. However, if this interests you as much as it would, then do join me at my think-tank.. and we shall talk loud and clear.

Our parents take care to ‘install’ the power of prayer in our psyche from childhood. We are repeatedly nurtured with the ideas that “God” likes and favors good people – good thoughts – and good actions. So if we were to be in his good-books by doing “virtuous deeds”.. the he will come to our aid at times of adversity.As we mature chronologically, psychologically and emotionally we begin questioning the logic behind God and Godliness. God ceases to be an individual entity anymore and is seen as a “Concept”.

We start our journey of life cribbing.. I want this, I want that… followed by… This is not fair.. that’s not fair.. Why me ??… As we progress ( literally and figuratively speaking) in life we realize that “Life is not fair – So deal with it “. Along the way we try to look inward and question the very beliefs that had been laid as foundation by our parents. Not wanting to hurt the religious sentiments of parents.. we continue to perform the actives like prayer, going to temples ( ie.. your religious place of worship), not criticizing their view on God.. and so

Being a part of all the above process myself.. I am beginning to have some strange thoughts. I many not be a religious fanatic… but i start my day with a short prayer, before leaving for work, my mother ( now its my mother-in-law) applies the scared-ash to my forehead and blesses me to have a pleasant and productive day. Every time i pass by a roadside temple.. my hand involuntarily touches my heart.. as in a silent prayer. None of the above activities as pre-meditated. That’s how a typical day progresses at our house, and I donot have any qualms about it

It makes me wonder.. with all those religious discourses on God ( God of any religion), there is one thing that always comes back to me.. Faith and Belief. This is not about having total faith in (y)our religion. It’s about faith in one-slef, faith in the existence of goodness in others, faith that everything that goes up comes down.. even at the emotional level, and several other aspects of faith.

When in extreme distress, people take a vow to visit a certain shrine – do certain activities ( this is a long list and varies with each religion.. so i am not going to tell all that here) – donate materials / cattle to the shrine.. etc..etc. They believe when such a vow is taken, God comes to our rescue and shows us the way to overcome the distress and lead a more pleasant life. Things have changed for better for many such families. Are these incidents coincidental or divine.. no one knows for sure. Those who are in quest of answers to such an incident seems be still continuing their quest.

I am not baffled or thrilled on hearing such incidents.. instead they prompt me to sit back and think. I wonder, God never asks us to visit his shrine, donate materials-cattle, perform elaborate pooja , spend lavishly on temple actives. Then what is it that prompts the believers to all this. ( I am excluding the so-called-God-Men from this discussion.. Do I believe in God.. I am not sure. But i am very sure that I have no faith in people who is proclaimed as God-Men)..Believe it or not , One day on a totally boring evening.. somehow the very same thought popped up in my head.. and I just drifted with the train of thought..( darn.. I just can’t recollect the details now)..At the end of the evening.. I was left with just one word “COMMITMENT”

Yes, Commitment…. that’s what is nudging the believers to do the things they do ( oh yeah.. there is fear factor.. say.. if u don’t fulfill the vow then God will punish you and take away the good fortune… i think there are 2 genre of people here… those who fear God and those who believe in God). Taking a vow ( to God or otherwise) is akin commitment to oneself. There is no written agreement, no witness, absolutely nothing to prove that a vow has been conceived in mind. So why bother fulfilling it…

We are ordinary people with ordinary aspirations to lead an ordinary lifestyle in this rat-eat-rat world. We regard ourselves high in self-esteem and self-confidence and that’s what is motivating us to move ahead in life. So when a vow is taken , it seen more as a commitment / promise to self. When we donot take efforts to fulfill the promise we made to ourselves, then every time we say .. ” I will do this…I Promise ..” , something rings at the back of our head and call’s out “Liar”.. Never again we will be comfortable in saying.. “I promise” .. be that attending your son’s P&T meet , or talking your wife to her parent’s place.

In my opinion , during those distressing times, when we take a vow, it somehow gives us the mental balance to see our troubled situation in a more clearer sense at a different level . We tend to think and act with caution. Missing pieces required to correct our situation seem to be present right in front of us.. yet we were so engrossed in self-pity , that we failed to see. Now with new found energy in “faith” ( faith in oneself) , we face the difficulty, battle it and come out of it with minimum bruises. ( I wont say unscratched). On a religious note , I can say “God works in mysterious ways”, but I am not so sure if this is to be accepted or rejected or just let it be there.

For me faith in the things around me is godliness. If my words can give little faith to someone who constantly droops… and motivate him to stand straight and look ahead.. then I think I have lot of faith in God