EVEN A DULL RIVER HAS A DEEP RELIGION









"This dull river has a deep religion of its own." 
- NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE


In matters of our religious faith, all of us are encouraged to ‘believe’, mostly, without questioning. And, hence, we call ourselves - ‘believers'!


This is true of all religious faiths…


As a Christian (Catholic), to me, Mother Mary will, always, remain a ‘Virgin Mary’, even though she gave birth to Jesus. I shall, always, believe, that she was ‘physically’ taken up into Heaven, by God’s angels, at the end of her earthly life… I shall, always, believe, that Jesus rose to life on the third day from his death… I shall, always, believe in the simple theory of how God created this Universe, including  Adam and Eve…


I am a 'faithful' Christian, if I accept all these myths and stories as ‘truths’… Yes, if I question less.


And, that’s how it is in every religion. The other day, I was at one of my friends’ place. They were Sikhs. While I was there at their place, they were watching the ceremonies related to Kartarpur Gurudwara in Pakistan. Apparently, my friend’s wife, earlier, had been on a pilgrimage tour to all the important Gurudwaras in Pakistan, including Kartarpur. So, she animatedly began to explain to me about the significance of this place… the legend of Guru Nanakji’s death and how Hindus and Muslims, both, had argued over whether Guru’s body was to be cremated or buried… How, as per the legend, the body had turned into flowers… and how Hindus had taken half of them to cremate and Muslims had taken the other half to bury!


The same kind of legends are there for us as followers of Shirdi Sai Baba or even Kabir. You name them, and you have them… I mean, the ‘Beliefs’, the myths, the stories and the legends. But, as ‘believers, we do not call them so… We call them ‘truths’…


And, that’s it…


Is it harmful?


Personally, I don’t think, that any of our personal religious-beliefs are harmful, either to ourselves or to our society. No matter, how hard we try to erase them from our minds, we shall, always, have some myths and stories, tucked inside our hearts as our eternal fairy-tales… I think, that’s something beautiful about life… It’s harmless. It’s the sign that we are humans… We are intelligent but stupid, too… That, we all know only 'so much' which is unearthed by someone, so far… And, what is ‘unearthed’ is just the ‘scratching of surface’… That, we all shall, always, remain little babies when it comes to ‘understanding’ this entire story… this mystery!


So, let our personal beliefs remain our personal beliefs. Let me continue to believe, that Jesus was born to a Virgin, just as my Hindu brother believes, that Karna’s mother Kunti conceived him by worshiping the Sun… May the legends of Nanak, Shridi Sai Baba and Kabir continue to keep us childlike. Yes, may that be so… So beautiful, and so human, always...


At the same time, let’s pray for the simple wisdom – never ever to mock at someone else’s faith… or, to make a mockery of our own faith by its 'ugly display'…


Only then can the myths and stories of our religious beliefs shall remain harmless… Only then we shall remain 'intelligent'!







GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Walter Ellem/Pixels

Video: Papon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...