As we grow up, we get influenced by people around us - mostly our teachers, parents, siblings, friends etc. We as hindus grew up with umpteen number of festivals, pujas and celebration. For us every season brings about some flavor/valor. We never questioned, just got accustomed to it. We believed in god. Now that I am in my late thirties, I am into thinking what all this religious upbringing meant in real terms.
The other day, I was interacting with a little girl - about 9 years old. She said when she is in trouble she prays god. Sure, that is what we all do. For us god is the savior. With the same logic, if we have no problem, we don't even remember god!! So, what god really is? Does s/he even exist? If so who created god, as there can be no denovo origin of anything from no where?
Lets now analyze what we were taught. We as hindus were taught to believe in multiple gods, in nature, in animals, stones etc. For us everything is symbolic - for example Ganesh represents knowledge, Saraswati represents eloquence, Lakshmi represents wealth and Vishnu is the overall powerful god and so on. If you look at any abrahamic faith(That supposedly descended from Abraham such as Islam, Christianity, jewish), they simply abhor this practice of polytheism and call it as paganism.
We also believe our karma is our god, and in other words our hands are our god. So, the deep meaning of all these messages is that there is no such person as god( or at least it has not been proved so far). So, god could be a symbolic meaning or a positive energy which we derive by doing good karma(feel good factor), which in other words boosts our confidence in doing certain things that we would not do it otherwise. When we pray to god, we certainly get some confidence and energy which we use in performing our duties in a better way. And religion teaches us to believe that god helped us in doing so. So, in this circumstance our karma is our god. We worship nature. For me worshiping is another way of appreciating things. So, I worship/appreciate nature for everything it has for us. We also worship animals for they are part of the ecosystem and very much integral part of the nature. We worship stones because it could be symbolic god. We are taught god has no form or shape, it is just enormous amount of energy that is floating around in this universe. There is no heaven or hell it is our karma that leads our path in this life and the sufferings are symbolic hell and the pleasure and happiness is a symbol for heaven. I don't believe in rebirth since I consider once we die, we are gone. Every cell of our body is alive when we are living, but all of them die the moment we die. So, the idea of every living being having a soul is not at all appealing to me.
So, I would say, hinduism is the path that led to atheism in the first place. I am a proud hindu atheist that believe in god when I am in trouble!!
"Had Allah been the only God, it would not have been possible for man to find another God to worship. And had Allah been confident that there is no other God except him, he should not have been jealous of another God. For example, let us imagine a village where there is only one well as the source of fresh water. Hence there would not have been any difference whether the villagers drink water from a glass or from a pitcher, or from a jug. And as there is not an alternative source, it must have been derived from that lone well. In a similar manner, if Allah knew that there is no other God, he would have been confident that people will not find another God to worship."
"
But the behavioral pathern of Allah suggests that he is not confident that he is the only God. He seems always to be suspicious that there may be another God and people may worship that God instead of him and thus they may create a partner to him. So the scared Allah warns man not to worship another God or create a partner to him and says, “Say, ‘people of the Book, let us come to an agreement: that we will worship none but Allah, that we will associate none with Him, and that none of us shall set up mortals as deities besides Allah” (3: 64) [tr: N J Dawood (only the word God replaced by Allah].
In this context, it should be mentioned here that, as the Hindu God is confident that He is the only God in this universe, He does not become jealous of another God and says,
Ye api anya devatâ bhaktâ yajante úraddhayânvitaḥ z
Te api mameva kaunteya yajantyabidhipûrbakam zz Bhagavadgitâ (9: 23)
“O Kaunteya (Arjuna), even those who worship other gods with devotion (bhakti), they do really worship Me, though the rite differ from the norm” (tr: R C Zaehner). The Hindu God does not become angry and say, “you have committed the foulest sin by worshiping other gods or associating partner (shirk) with Me and I shall throw you in hell fire as a punishment for this sin, because He is confident that He is the only God, and no one could find another God to worship."
"He is therefore always scared that a member of his gang may slip out of his grip and start to worship that real God, the real ruler of the universe. So he has enforced strict law that if any one of his gang tries to desert the gang, he should immediately be declared an apostate and put to death. One should also notice that, this is the standing rule of every other underworld criminal gang. If any member of the gang leaves the gang, even with the intention of leading a decent life, the other members of the gang murder him instantly due to the reason that he may disclose the secrets of the gang."
- Radhashyam Brahmachari
The other day, I was interacting with a little girl - about 9 years old. She said when she is in trouble she prays god. Sure, that is what we all do. For us god is the savior. With the same logic, if we have no problem, we don't even remember god!! So, what god really is? Does s/he even exist? If so who created god, as there can be no denovo origin of anything from no where?
Lets now analyze what we were taught. We as hindus were taught to believe in multiple gods, in nature, in animals, stones etc. For us everything is symbolic - for example Ganesh represents knowledge, Saraswati represents eloquence, Lakshmi represents wealth and Vishnu is the overall powerful god and so on. If you look at any abrahamic faith(That supposedly descended from Abraham such as Islam, Christianity, jewish), they simply abhor this practice of polytheism and call it as paganism.
We also believe our karma is our god, and in other words our hands are our god. So, the deep meaning of all these messages is that there is no such person as god( or at least it has not been proved so far). So, god could be a symbolic meaning or a positive energy which we derive by doing good karma(feel good factor), which in other words boosts our confidence in doing certain things that we would not do it otherwise. When we pray to god, we certainly get some confidence and energy which we use in performing our duties in a better way. And religion teaches us to believe that god helped us in doing so. So, in this circumstance our karma is our god. We worship nature. For me worshiping is another way of appreciating things. So, I worship/appreciate nature for everything it has for us. We also worship animals for they are part of the ecosystem and very much integral part of the nature. We worship stones because it could be symbolic god. We are taught god has no form or shape, it is just enormous amount of energy that is floating around in this universe. There is no heaven or hell it is our karma that leads our path in this life and the sufferings are symbolic hell and the pleasure and happiness is a symbol for heaven. I don't believe in rebirth since I consider once we die, we are gone. Every cell of our body is alive when we are living, but all of them die the moment we die. So, the idea of every living being having a soul is not at all appealing to me.
So, I would say, hinduism is the path that led to atheism in the first place. I am a proud hindu atheist that believe in god when I am in trouble!!
"Had Allah been the only God, it would not have been possible for man to find another God to worship. And had Allah been confident that there is no other God except him, he should not have been jealous of another God. For example, let us imagine a village where there is only one well as the source of fresh water. Hence there would not have been any difference whether the villagers drink water from a glass or from a pitcher, or from a jug. And as there is not an alternative source, it must have been derived from that lone well. In a similar manner, if Allah knew that there is no other God, he would have been confident that people will not find another God to worship."
"
But the behavioral pathern of Allah suggests that he is not confident that he is the only God. He seems always to be suspicious that there may be another God and people may worship that God instead of him and thus they may create a partner to him. So the scared Allah warns man not to worship another God or create a partner to him and says, “Say, ‘people of the Book, let us come to an agreement: that we will worship none but Allah, that we will associate none with Him, and that none of us shall set up mortals as deities besides Allah” (3: 64) [tr: N J Dawood (only the word God replaced by Allah].
In this context, it should be mentioned here that, as the Hindu God is confident that He is the only God in this universe, He does not become jealous of another God and says,
Ye api anya devatâ bhaktâ yajante úraddhayânvitaḥ z
Te api mameva kaunteya yajantyabidhipûrbakam zz Bhagavadgitâ (9: 23)
“O Kaunteya (Arjuna), even those who worship other gods with devotion (bhakti), they do really worship Me, though the rite differ from the norm” (tr: R C Zaehner). The Hindu God does not become angry and say, “you have committed the foulest sin by worshiping other gods or associating partner (shirk) with Me and I shall throw you in hell fire as a punishment for this sin, because He is confident that He is the only God, and no one could find another God to worship."
"He is therefore always scared that a member of his gang may slip out of his grip and start to worship that real God, the real ruler of the universe. So he has enforced strict law that if any one of his gang tries to desert the gang, he should immediately be declared an apostate and put to death. One should also notice that, this is the standing rule of every other underworld criminal gang. If any member of the gang leaves the gang, even with the intention of leading a decent life, the other members of the gang murder him instantly due to the reason that he may disclose the secrets of the gang."
- Radhashyam Brahmachari
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