OH MY GOD - Part2
In continuation to my previous post; if one believes in God I believe each one of us should have answers to fundamental questions:
1) Who do you worship
2) Where do you pray
3) How do you pray
4) Why do you pray
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Who is God? If one is born a Hindu; one is spoilt for choice unlike most of the religions where it is a unary decision to who to pray. There are zillion gods and goddesses mentioned in our scriptures; Which in turn has spawned so many stories; myths and legends that one can publish one amar chitra katha every second. I have no complains whatsoever; after all we get to savor delicious and different prasad(sweets) from all over the country :).
Considering each one of them is a god or goddess; It is safe to assume that I can worship anyone; like we can use any synonyms of a word in a sentence as long as it is a valid synonym listed in some dictionary of the world. I Grew up in North India and saw live the Ram Lehar Frenzy and; Lord Rama will win hands down as the most popular or worshiped deity. But whenever I try to pray to Lord Rama; somehow the image of Arun Govil appears and even worse it is not a jpeg image but a flash file with Ravindra Jain Music as the background music. If were to meet Lord Rama when I go to heaven ( If I do go there); I Just hope that he doesn't look like Arun Govil.
The next popular would be Sherawali Mata and I remember accompanying my parents to Durga Puja Pandals and enjoy the amazing food stalls and other game stalls. All that was fine but the moment I use to come near the idol; the lion used to leave me shit scared. I thought it would pounce on me anytime and punish me for all the mischief I used to do as a kid.
Being Marathi; Lord Ganesh and my family have a special connection. I was born on a Ganesh Chaturthi and was named after Lord Ganesha. As a child; I used to love drawing Ganesha coz it is so much fun drawing Ganesha; especially on my answer sheets in miniature format. As someone who epitomizes good beginning; good luck and knowledge; Lord Ganesha is the god I pray to every day. It also helps that no human can play Lord Ganesha thankfully so there is no chance that Arun govil interferes my prayers.
They can be 'dramatized'; 'depicted'; 'eulogized';
'Avtarised' in many forms and sometimes personified as a cricketer but each and every
personification is indeed sacrosanct. I personally hate the personification of
god to a mere cricketer but if were to have one. Whether they should be "merchandised' or’ copyrighted' is debatable
and questionable but definitely not illegal. To shout from the rooftops on
why Radha is being called Sexy or to abuse Salman for carrying Lord Ganesha or
to draw objectionable cartoons of gods is idiotic. To mock one's god is
sacrilegious. To shed bloodshed over who to pray is betrayal of god and in turn
betrayal of your religion.
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2) One of the first religious trips for me as a child was to Haridwar. It also happened to be the worst one. Out ticket was waitlisted and hence could not board the train and I think we finally reached there in an overcrowded train or a bus don’t really remember clearly. What I definitely remember are the massive crowds I saw for the first time; the fact that my dad got pick pocketed ; staying in an ashram where I was on satvik bhojan diet for a week :(; running around frantically all over ashram and thankfully faster than the monkeys behind me. The only good memory I have of that trip is finally having my chole bhature in chotiwala.
After few years there was a trip to ashtanvinayak; 8 temples of lord Ganesha spread across the city of Pune. I just loved that trip for that fact that there was adventure; excitement; fun and frolic; curiosity and sheer joy in exploring new places. There was a boat trip to see one temple; there was a 500 steep climb to see a temple inside a cave and each ganpati was so different from the previous one! If one hawker served hot bhajiya at a place; the other one served delicious water melons!.And a chance to meet so many people in the bus; boat or train!.
My parents tell me when i was 1; they kept me in the lap of Shirdi Sai baba idol.
I think i will consider myself fortunate if I can catch the glimpse of the idol after standing in a 4 hour line. Fortunately or unfortunately; discounting the numerous trips I have made to shirdi; mostly unwillingly; These two have been the only religious trips I have been to. If i were to make one; I feel unless I am sure that I will be enjoying the journey and not just be happy about the fact that I have reached the destination; I am ready to pack my bags and make one ASAP. It’s like this - If you were to meet a friend; even your friend will be unhappy if you have to undergo so much pains just to see him or her and say hello. If Your friend is aware of that; he or she would say you could have just talked to me on phone or smsed me!.And he or she would have still been equally thrilled. Possibly more..and that is precisely why you can pray to sai baba if you want to at your home and Sai Baba would would still do good for you. And God is definitely everyone's friend for life.
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3) Walking distance from my maternal grandparents' place was the Lotus Temple.
Besides the amazing architecture; I feel there can't be a more terrific place to pray then that. Just close your eyes and pray and you would be at peace with the world. The same feeling you get when put your awesome headphones and listen to music. My dad has designed a lot of churches and hence i was able to visit a lot of churches which I always used to look forward to as It almost matched the serene ambience provided by Lotus Temple.
I feel if the large religious complexes can increase the size of their prayer hall to accommodate more people; instead of devoting the space to merchandise stores; it would help more people to come in ; just close their eyes and pray. I wonder whether people have time to even close their eyes in front of Sai baba Idol these days.
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4) Why do we all pray? I think it's a binary decision. Either we seek forgiveness or we seek something that would make us happy. And when something happens that hides the mistakes we think we have done and doesn't give us trouble we thought was coming your way or when something happens that gives you unexpected happiness; we attribute this to God and his mechanism of performing miracles.
That is why the concept of confession box in churches fits in beautifully I guess where in a person can just go and talk fearlessly and seek forgiveness. We all make mistakes in life because we are humans and not gods after all and that is why are more comfortable sharing it with god or the people who have devoted their life to god; sometimes not even with your family and friends. The temples might not have an explicit confession box but you can still go and be conscious and think about the mistakes; if you fear telling someone about it.
When I was in 8th standard; I wrote a "love letter" addressed to god to do some "Miracle". I think it will remain the most stupid thing and the most ROFL moment I will ever do in my life. I realize that I have stopped writing hand written letters after that :). But what I have not stopped doing is wishing for more miracles .my wish list has become more prudent; it includes things which I think I deserve to get considering the hard work or dedication I have put in for something; it includes wrongdoings which happened with me; my family and my friends that should be rectified.
And there is still a default wish list that Includes the likes of Sonali Bendre; Juhi Chawla; Genelia; Yami Gautam ;Ileana and the latest entrant being Priya Anand ( who played Sridevi's niece in English Vinglish). - 2012 has been an awesome year for for this wishlist as well:)
OMG! I think I have written too much Gyaan and I am myself tired; wonder what people reading this would be going through..
Eat.Love.and Definitely Pray!
In continuation to my previous post; if one believes in God I believe each one of us should have answers to fundamental questions:
1) Who do you worship
2) Where do you pray
3) How do you pray
4) Why do you pray
Who is God? If one is born a Hindu; one is spoilt for choice unlike most of the religions where it is a unary decision to who to pray. There are zillion gods and goddesses mentioned in our scriptures; Which in turn has spawned so many stories; myths and legends that one can publish one amar chitra katha every second. I have no complains whatsoever; after all we get to savor delicious and different prasad(sweets) from all over the country :).
Considering each one of them is a god or goddess; It is safe to assume that I can worship anyone; like we can use any synonyms of a word in a sentence as long as it is a valid synonym listed in some dictionary of the world. I Grew up in North India and saw live the Ram Lehar Frenzy and; Lord Rama will win hands down as the most popular or worshiped deity. But whenever I try to pray to Lord Rama; somehow the image of Arun Govil appears and even worse it is not a jpeg image but a flash file with Ravindra Jain Music as the background music. If were to meet Lord Rama when I go to heaven ( If I do go there); I Just hope that he doesn't look like Arun Govil.
The next popular would be Sherawali Mata and I remember accompanying my parents to Durga Puja Pandals and enjoy the amazing food stalls and other game stalls. All that was fine but the moment I use to come near the idol; the lion used to leave me shit scared. I thought it would pounce on me anytime and punish me for all the mischief I used to do as a kid.
Being Marathi; Lord Ganesh and my family have a special connection. I was born on a Ganesh Chaturthi and was named after Lord Ganesha. As a child; I used to love drawing Ganesha coz it is so much fun drawing Ganesha; especially on my answer sheets in miniature format. As someone who epitomizes good beginning; good luck and knowledge; Lord Ganesha is the god I pray to every day. It also helps that no human can play Lord Ganesha thankfully so there is no chance that Arun govil interferes my prayers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) One of the first religious trips for me as a child was to Haridwar. It also happened to be the worst one. Out ticket was waitlisted and hence could not board the train and I think we finally reached there in an overcrowded train or a bus don’t really remember clearly. What I definitely remember are the massive crowds I saw for the first time; the fact that my dad got pick pocketed ; staying in an ashram where I was on satvik bhojan diet for a week :(; running around frantically all over ashram and thankfully faster than the monkeys behind me. The only good memory I have of that trip is finally having my chole bhature in chotiwala.
After few years there was a trip to ashtanvinayak; 8 temples of lord Ganesha spread across the city of Pune. I just loved that trip for that fact that there was adventure; excitement; fun and frolic; curiosity and sheer joy in exploring new places. There was a boat trip to see one temple; there was a 500 steep climb to see a temple inside a cave and each ganpati was so different from the previous one! If one hawker served hot bhajiya at a place; the other one served delicious water melons!.And a chance to meet so many people in the bus; boat or train!.
My parents tell me when i was 1; they kept me in the lap of Shirdi Sai baba idol.
I think i will consider myself fortunate if I can catch the glimpse of the idol after standing in a 4 hour line. Fortunately or unfortunately; discounting the numerous trips I have made to shirdi; mostly unwillingly; These two have been the only religious trips I have been to. If i were to make one; I feel unless I am sure that I will be enjoying the journey and not just be happy about the fact that I have reached the destination; I am ready to pack my bags and make one ASAP. It’s like this - If you were to meet a friend; even your friend will be unhappy if you have to undergo so much pains just to see him or her and say hello. If Your friend is aware of that; he or she would say you could have just talked to me on phone or smsed me!.And he or she would have still been equally thrilled. Possibly more..and that is precisely why you can pray to sai baba if you want to at your home and Sai Baba would would still do good for you. And God is definitely everyone's friend for life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Walking distance from my maternal grandparents' place was the Lotus Temple.
Besides the amazing architecture; I feel there can't be a more terrific place to pray then that. Just close your eyes and pray and you would be at peace with the world. The same feeling you get when put your awesome headphones and listen to music. My dad has designed a lot of churches and hence i was able to visit a lot of churches which I always used to look forward to as It almost matched the serene ambience provided by Lotus Temple.
I feel if the large religious complexes can increase the size of their prayer hall to accommodate more people; instead of devoting the space to merchandise stores; it would help more people to come in ; just close their eyes and pray. I wonder whether people have time to even close their eyes in front of Sai baba Idol these days.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) Why do we all pray? I think it's a binary decision. Either we seek forgiveness or we seek something that would make us happy. And when something happens that hides the mistakes we think we have done and doesn't give us trouble we thought was coming your way or when something happens that gives you unexpected happiness; we attribute this to God and his mechanism of performing miracles.
That is why the concept of confession box in churches fits in beautifully I guess where in a person can just go and talk fearlessly and seek forgiveness. We all make mistakes in life because we are humans and not gods after all and that is why are more comfortable sharing it with god or the people who have devoted their life to god; sometimes not even with your family and friends. The temples might not have an explicit confession box but you can still go and be conscious and think about the mistakes; if you fear telling someone about it.
When I was in 8th standard; I wrote a "love letter" addressed to god to do some "Miracle". I think it will remain the most stupid thing and the most ROFL moment I will ever do in my life. I realize that I have stopped writing hand written letters after that :). But what I have not stopped doing is wishing for more miracles .my wish list has become more prudent; it includes things which I think I deserve to get considering the hard work or dedication I have put in for something; it includes wrongdoings which happened with me; my family and my friends that should be rectified.
And there is still a default wish list that Includes the likes of Sonali Bendre; Juhi Chawla; Genelia; Yami Gautam ;Ileana and the latest entrant being Priya Anand ( who played Sridevi's niece in English Vinglish). - 2012 has been an awesome year for for this wishlist as well:)
OMG! I think I have written too much Gyaan and I am myself tired; wonder what people reading this would be going through..
Eat.Love.and Definitely Pray!
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