Arrey Rama Arrey Krishna!

Arrey Rama Arrey Krishna.

This article has been published on "The Viewspaper" already. A thought to echo the beautiful lines "Tu naa jaane aas paas hai khuda" (You're not aware, but the lord is around you). I loved writing the piece, a thought that always had been hounding me found its spirit in black and white, ready to bre shared. Hope you love reading it too.
 http://theviewspaper.net/arrey-rama-arrey-krishna/

Religion confuses me and then of course there is also the fear that any related discussion on a public domain might upset a hornet’s nest, no matter how innocent and well- meaning the thoughts and ideas be. Is it better to feel stifled and safe than to speak out and face the music?

I belong to a Hindu family and am blissfully married into a Sikh family. My daughter, I lead myself into believing, belongs to no religion. And maybe that’s how I would want it to last. While she has had assignments to do throughout her first year in school, I admit, I deliberately made her miss the “Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaii, Hum Sab Hain Bhai Bhai” (We are all brothers) one. I did not want her to know anything about religion. I would rather want her to know that every living creature, be it humans, animals, insects, plants just about anything is all equally precious and need to be cherished and taken care of.

In fact I would want education and knowledge to be the sole religion world over and then if people would still want to outdo one another, they would end up transforming it into a world which is worth living in. If this is not to be and I am to abide by a force beyond the worldly ways I would want to reincarnate my God into someone I could live my life with and not have him live it for me instead, governed by a set of rules and regulations.

My idea of God is totally different. God for me is my most treasured friend. He is all around, watching me and watching over me all the time. So much like my conscience. My conscience that keeps me away from doing what is wrong. Wrong? Food for thought, because what might be right for me may not be so right for you. Debatable.

But isn’t the thought of letting your conscience decide what is wrong or right, a little more comforting than a bunch of religious fanatics twisting the content of scriptures?

There isn’t a greater restraint than your own conscience I feel. I have idols of almost all the Gods and Goddesses adorning the walls and shelves of my living room, but I give lesser thought to where they can be placed, the direction, the height, the position et al. And that’s because I love to have them around more as my friends than as an invisible force telling me the “righteous” way of living my life.

I would rather not let her (my daughter) have roots that are only meant to tie her down. I would in fact want her to follow a religion that knows no rituals, is not nation specific, transcends boundaries and traverses borders.

I am not an atheist. I am a firm believer of the invisible might. I love going to temples just as much I love going to a Gurudwara, Mosque, or Church. But it still scares me to introduce my four year old to “religion”, maybe because of what we have made it today.

Religion as it has been made to be today makes me feel that my little wonder may be better off without it. If I can teach her to be compassionate, humane and true, she will have all of the almighty’s blessings, even if she hasn’t read a scripture all her life and hasn’t sung praises of the Lord. She will be his special child if she can share her blessings both in cash and kind with the likes of her.

I have been a believer of God, all my life and want her to be one as well but the world as it is today makes me scared of the prospect of her being manipulated in the name of  “religion”.

I am happy she was born to parents who are tolerant of all religions and every belief and who are sensitized to the truth of how the faith and beliefs are being twisted and misconstrued to suit personal gains and settle personal vendettas. I wish I could leave a more tolerant world behind for her. As for now I feel it’s best to be a good human being than be anyone else.

Religion as I understand is meant to set you free and not chained down to living your life by the rules. The only rules to rule us, I wish, were only that of being compassionate, tolerant and giving.

I went to dine one night in a plush restaurant. When I walked out, I had packets of leftover food in my hands. Just about to leave I noticed two peering eyes looking at us. A wrinkled old man, dressed in tatters, with a pair of thick rimmed, thick glass spectacles. Gray hair, drooping shoulders and a back that was very bent. A stick in his hand to help him take another step, crooked knees and dusty bare feet.

He presented a dilapidated picture, but he wasn’t begging. Something made me ask my husband to walk up to him to hand over the food to him. Normal.

What happened next stirred my soul that day. Unlikely, unnatural and I know not why, my husband put his arm around him and asked him his name. He replied “Bhagwan” (meaning God). I stood there looking at his fragile body and weathered look and then at the detached crowd around, what stark contrast. And I did feel “His” presence around me that day.

From that day on my belief that God is all around us, in every one, in everything, became stronger. Of course I would serve him better if I could do a bit to feed a famished toddler, clothe a cold but bare old lady for a cold winter night, help the gray haired grandpa cross a busy street, and treat my help’s children to a new set of stationary. This is the religion instead I want my little girl to follow and this is the way I want her to follow her quest to seek God. Today’s strife torn world would then be such a beautiful world to be in. Amen.

Shubhani Pathak