Saturday 4 October 2008

In the name of God.

It came up in a conversation with a Wise One in an extremely good Chinese restaurant....

What people do in the name of faith....or, what faith and devotion moves people to do.

Some take the oath of Diksha and renounce the world, at a very young age, or at the zenith of their career. Some drop a diamond studded cell-phone into a donation box.

Faith and an urgency to take darshan has resulted in stampedes at temples. Faith drives people to wake up before dawn so that they can be the first to get Darshan at Lalbaugcha Raja (the most popular Ganpati pandal in Mumbai)

Faith moves people to heal.

Faith moves people to strap bombs to themselves and explode in public.

All in the name of God.

8 comments:

Quicksilver said...

My inference is that wouldn't it be then ultimately better to renounce faith that compels you to devote yourself completely to a higher power instead of one which intends to spread goodwill and brotherhood ?
My God is one who wants me to be happy as long as I don't hurt others.

busy-writer said...

poor guy, lol, he's being blamed all the time.

Jack said...

Mystique,

I am visiting you after a long time and have read your latest posts except one of 15 Sep as it is quite lengthy. I will read it in a day or so. Did you put that CAT on clothesline? LOL.

It is so saddening that in the name of God people continue to do what they want for their selfish gains. Which religion teaches violance against innocents?

Take care

EC said...

Yes, I understand totally that some people will use excerps from religious texts and translate to their own beliefs that justifies their action. Like in a case of a man cheating on his wife with lots of women, he'll justify his betrayal saying god made him that way and it's no fault of his that he cheats.

Aceviper said...

frankly speaking, God doesn't need us to show how much we are devoted since He is omnipresent >_>

Religion is just a pretext for performing the most atrocious deeds today...

No wait! Not just today...its been "just because religion says..." for as long as i have learnt Indian History .
On the pretext of being closer to God the so called Brahmins decided to introduce the Caste system...and till date a person of the lower caste is treated like dirt...despite the Human Rights...

>_> maybe being an Atheist isnt so bad.

Another instance...[since the blogger has mentioned the lalbaugcha ganpati idol(supposedly the biggest)].

Under the pretext of showing God our love there are people who perform this immersion stuff; think about it: which better way to pollute the waters...and there have been instances when dead fish have been washed ashore...think about the repercussions on the biological diversity and biological balance....IM EATING THAT FISH!!! DONT POLLUTE WATERS!!! (>_> i want nice fish, dammit!)

Mystique said...

2 quicksilver: god is what you make of him...

2 mon: yeah, totally...

2 jack: no religion does. people twist words around.

2 futomaki: see?it's irrefutable doesn mean they can use it...

2 aceviper: true, religion plain suck sometimes.

Princess Consuela Banana Hammock said...

Faith makes you selfless and religion makes you selfish.

Sanjay Gupta said...

that was a very nice and moving post...but i just want to say that people - especially the young and impressionable - often mix up these things: faith, religion, rituals, dogma, etc. if we can dispel religions and religious dogmas - and instead instill 'faith' in highest human values like kindness, compassion, courage, humility and the like - not many would strap bombs on them or burn others'places of worship..