Spiritual journey of an atheist

2008-08-12T17:41:00.007+05:30

He opens his eyes and looks around to find vast landscape of huge pine trees. Next to him is a broken chair, he lays there speechless. The plot of land he lays on seems to have eroded with a lot of unidentifiable debris at some distance from him. His memory seems to befriend him; he knows not how he got here. There is not a recognizable soul around. He is desperate to search for civilization but lays there motionless. As night falls, his worst fears begin to grip him. His imagination knows no bounds. He is scared out of his wits.

He starts hallucinating a scary picture – It has started raining, the loud thunder and lightning, the lions roar. There is not a single soul in this god forsaken land. He cries for help, but to no effect. Finally with a loud thunder he comes back to his senses and asks for divine intervention. Convenience of the modern world, remember him when you need him, for all these years he was a stranger.

He looks at the watch in his hand, a gift by the special one. There are memories attached with it, but broken it is now, like the dreams that have shattered. He stretches out to hold on to a broken piece of equipment, resembles a lot like his mobile, the first one brought out of his own earnings. He stares on in disbelief as the very device that was thrown to all corners of his room seemed so dear to him at this moment. His one look at the heavens above was enough to explain the despair and desperation. He feels like crying out loud, but the voice wouldn’t come out.

It was just a few hours back that he had boarded the flight to Singapore. He was supposed to join the company’s branch in the hub of Asia-pacific, having been sent there for showcasing excellent work back home and after being promoted. The last few month of his life had been nothing less than a party. He was consistently performing and was being appraised well. The incentives that came along encouraged him to go the extra mile. He was one of those who would never look back. He was enjoying the new found success in all the true sense.

But somewhere in the excitement he didn’t realize having gone too far from the people that mattered to him the most. The elderly couple was never given any chance to speak as they sat in one corner of the house and the love of his life was lost in wilderness. He didn’t even bother to consider the opinion of his family when he decided to accept the offer to Singapore. As days went by, the disconnect was evident. The elderly couple would just pray for the wellbeing for their only child and his love would just wonder about the lovely days of the past.

And so as he sits there and wonders if it was the divine intervention that saved him? He is able to see some movement in the background. He tries to wipe the mud off his face and concentrate on the object that approaches. His excitement rises as he realizes that the object is a search and rescue helicopter. His ordeal finally ends with the realization of the highest spiritual order. He finally realizes the spirituality of relations and the divinity of loved ones.

The bridge wasn’t too far. Was it?

2007-12-13T20:10:00.002+05:30

This one is more of a question for today’s youth. I am not trying to reiterate the words spoken by the elders of this nation, who seem to have pronounced themselves as the so called guardians of the Indian society and taken upon them the act to rectify the blemish, but the fact remains that the very people who are believed to bring revolution, the youth, are merely aping the western civilization. The situation is that of a country that is not willing to believe in the glorious past and not taking the efforts to build a better future. The youth has no wisdom or faith in the culture and heritage, whereas the elders wisely seem to neglect the future aspirations. Is this cancer slowly killing the country?

There is a small story to be told, and I hope there are people who would want to buy it. As every story, even this one has a hero. And he is none other than the great Rama himself. Long before he was termed a Hindu deity, he was really a great king and a wise leader. Then came a king from the neighbouring kingdom of Lanka, his name was Ravana. Ravana kidnapped Queen Sita, and Rama like a true hero fought and won the war. The triumph of good over evil, and they lived happily ever after.

The story ends here, but interestingly the more than inquisitive Indian audience does not have questions to be asked in this case. Should I ask why? Should there not be a Right to Information (RTI) issued in this case as well. The elders are willing to accept the little know fact as it is, and the youth does not see any gain and is thus not interested in investing any time for the same. As a citizen of this country I have the right to know if the story has any truth. But the fact is that we cannot depend on any governmental organisation and/or department (inclusive of the ASI) to give the country it due justice.

I tried to solve the puzzle myself. I said to myself, that if Rama roamed on this very piece of land, he would have left enough clues for us to find him. And it may be possible that Valmiki would have been the first to solve the jigsaw. It took a few creative guesses, a little help from the overhyped media, a tad bit of googling, and my instincts made me hit Mackenna’s Gold. And now, inspired by the Indian media, I am going to make the most startling revelation of Indian history. Hope you are not captivated by the previous statement. I just got carried away a bit. There is no big revelation, but there are surely some pointers and a whole lot of questions.

In one of my googling sessions I found that rocks can really float, and there is no magic or mysticism surrounding the same, but pure science. I found a website, http://www.childrensmuseum.org/geomysteries/floatingrock/b3.html, which says, “It started out as hot lava erupting from a volcano. Filled with gases, the rock cooled very quickly—so quickly that the gases didn't have time to escape. Instead, they were trapped in bubbles inside the rock—the same bubbles that now make the rock float!” and though there aren’t many records on the internet to suggest of volcanic activity in India, there were some suggestions that indicated possible history of volcanic activity in the northern states of Utaranchal and Utter Pradesh (Including Nepal, which was supposedly a part of the Kingdom of Ayodhya), also pointing to the possibility of finding floating rocks in this region. Well then, even Ramayana said, that Rama ruled in India and his headquarters so as to say, were in this region. In the light of these evidences, it would not be completely wrong to say that king of a huge territory like that of our country, and commanding huge forces could have created a magnificent bridge to a neighbouring territory for either of war or possible trade. There have been instances in history were great kings have ventured beyond the possible and ordered huge mega-structures. The one that comes to our mind is the creation of the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta army ordered by the first emperor of China. It could well be that he ordered the execution of the first Indian mega-structure, and the first bridge in the world over any water body. He could have transported the huge floating rocks from the northern regions of the country to the construction site down south. I can just imagine the visionary commanding his forces to bring this structure to life.

So the question is straightforward, could Rama have been the greatest emperor of India? There is enough evidence that supports the idea. This only goes to prove that his could have been the golden era of Indian history. The very reason that could have lead Valmiki to immortalize Rama as a deity instead of an emperor, and by far this remains the major reason for debate. For, the believers are hell bent in proving him a god and the non believers are staunch in their approach to disapprove his existence. I hope that the standoff is cleared and that we are able to portray the true spirit of India.

Let me try and reaffirm the faith of the youth. We have come to a stage where we have started disregarding religion, and to blame it for all the evils of the society. We have been irrational in trying to outcast religion. We need to understand the true meaning of religion. Though the focal point is God, but the true essence of all the religions are its prayer halls. God is merely an entity that rekindles the joy within you. He is the one who act as the catalyst to help shed your worldly pleasures and pressures to blend in serenity and calmness. It is your religion that ushers in the belief and hope. It is this religion that gives you values and the institution of family and culture. It is also a reason to celebrate and bring the near and dear ones together in times of happiness and grief. In the early history, it was this religion that brought in some form of law and judiciary. Religion also symbolizes for art and association, education and institution, for love and light. And for the good or for worst, religion is here to stay, as it is this religion that completes the circle of life and death.

And so I ask the question again, was the bridge to far?

I would just like to add that I am in no way trying to preach any concept, but it is only a reflection of my thought. But the fact is that I would love to believe, in the magnificent past and the brilliant future. It is the hope that never dies.

Snippets from the realm of the subconscious mind

Spiritual journey of an atheist

The bridge wasn’t too far. Was it?