SBenegaL

Category: Spirituality

  • Am I an atheist?

    A conversation with my sister triggered this thought of writing a blog. She asked me am I an atheist! And that triggered my thoughtful reflection and what it meant to me.I have had an interest in the notion of GOD for a long time… (read this post) I have also oscillated between the beliefs about God and its nature over a long time. Do these oscillating beliefs make me a liar, or just a constantly curious person who is trying to make sense of the notion, and refining the definition in a constant endeavor.

    Let’s begin with definitions of an atheist fist. “The Cambridge Dictionary” definition of atheist available at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/atheist – which said its “someone who does not believe in God/gods.” So there is a definitional shift from atheist to “GOD,” and I do the same search again and find the definition as “a spirit or being believed to control some part of the universe or life and often worshipped for doing so, or something that represents this spirit or being.”

    When I look at the definition here, I see three components – the form, the role and the rituals/processes of engaging. The term atheist itself could be confusing if one looks at the three aspects different.

    1. What would form mean for me when I consider myself to be an atheist or not?

    If the form is important, it is often the case that we are in the quest of having a form mostly through the perspectives we hold. Is it male, female or others? Is it nature or is it fiction?
    My early notions of being an atheist were pushed by this aspect – I don’t like the form. I don’t see god in a form.
    But do I not believe in what I don’t cognitively explain? I do.
    I began the quest since I found myself believing in the unexplained. My experience has been a useful guide in this. I realize there are moments when my mind is peaceful, happy and undisturbed. A state of bliss, where I seek nothing more. Where I am grateful to be where I am.
    This I believe is the experiences of divinity that each one of us can have. It doesn’t happen at only specific places like temples. I find myself distancing from temple visits where I don’t find peace, where I cannot connect with myself. There are some moments when it’s so easy to connect and be at a place, just soaking in the moment completely – this for me has been the scenario when I get to treks and just sit watching the waterfall and create magic!
    I then began asking if it’s all about nature itself? Is nature God? And as I began observing my daily life – I realize there are more instances when I can choose to experience divinity. Its the feeling that I had begun soaking in, not the divine itself.
    I now know – the existence of the divine in a form isn’t really necessary for us to feel the divinity that is so easy to experience so its not the form.
    So yes, I am an atheist in the requirement of having a form. I don’t believe in a form.

    2. Role

    The notion of God has emerged for multiple reasons – may be for experiencing the divinity that I talked about earlier, or for the reduction of the uncertainty like I mentioned in the earlier blog, or as Harari says for the unifying role and control that myths around these Gods provide to people.
    I see that the role played by the notion of God gives me peace. Whatever the other aspects of the role of ‘God’ maybe I know it simply gives me a simplistic view of life and allows me to move ahead when I am stuck.
    So no, I am not an atheist in this requirement for the role that is played by God. It helps me!

    3. The process of engaging.

    Rituals and processes are effective to enable to execute their tasks with little cognitive overload. They also allow us to take benefits of the clarity that emerges with the connecting with the feeling of divinity and the reduction in uncertainty. So practices help connect with God and so should make me someone who believes in God ain’t it?
    Here I look at the implications of the rituals to me and my push on others to follow the rituals. I find myself only interested in finding the peace, the flow I experience through following the rituals, but I don’t want others to simply follow what I do. I am pretty sure they have their ways of finding the divine feeling – be it through music, dance or simply our work. We call these as “Aradhana” too, just as we call “praying” in front of God – the worship itself is flexible and just a means.
    So I see as following rituals are never going to be indicative of the belief in god itself. It’s only indicative of being in the moment, doing it for its own sake. The state of flow!
    With this, I guess I realize now that god is a very personal notion. The rituals are simply so customizable to suit our state of mind — that which makes us feel the bliss, the peace, the happiness, the flow.

    So am I an atheist? I don’t know. I do believe I am one in some ways and not one in many ways. Maybe I am agnostic, but simply do what I do.
    My views here are personal. May not be strictly adhering to the notions of anyone else, but you have to find your answers.

  • Brahma: Why dont we workship him?

    An interesting aspect of trinity of the Hindu religion -Brahma (Generator), Vishnu (Observer), Maheshwara (Destroyer); is that of the three Brahma or the creator is not worshiped unlike the other two of the trinity. This question got me thinking and here is a documentation of my thought on this issue.


    The Mythological Explanation:
    The mythological explanation as to why Brahma is not worshiped could be found even in the story of the famous Indian temple of Tirupathi (read here). As legend as it, it was the curse of Rishi Bhrigu – Brahma shall have no idols or temples of worship in Bhooloka (read earth)!


    Rationalizing beyond the Boon:
    I however feel this is more symbolic and has developed over multiple generations into its current interpretation. Following is how I see attempt rationalizing this behavior of not worshiping Brahma (the creator) amongst Hindu:

    1. Brahma who is the creator is accompanies by his consort – Goddess Saraswathy. She is also considered the Goddess of learning. I have mentioned about the symbolic relationship the way the Trinity and their consorts are related in an earlier blog. Brahma being the creator is one who could also be considered an experimentalist – some one who keeps trying out many different things – so as to be able to create new things. With every new experiment there is some insight and understanding that is obtained leading us to the creation of new knowledge. This knowledge could be accumulated and preserved as the distillation of all know-how thus far. In the Hindu mythology, my guess is these are represented as the “Vedas”. Sarasvathy who is Brahma’s consort holds these Vedas in her hands. Clearly, the value is for the learning that is derived from the experiment and we often find Saravathy who holds Vedas (read compiled Knowledge) in her hands. Brahma however being the experimentalist is generally forgotten. 
    2. Another possible reason could be gained from the observation of the development of technology and its capability. Technological improvement across generations could have made it extremely easy to create newer things – in the start up world today, we find so many tools available that the need of an expert engineer is constantly declining – we few tweaks here and there or search on the internet for help could really make the whole thing easier! It is always possible that in the whole process the engineer (Brahma) who created these tools and kits for others to use is easily forgotten.
    3. Frequency of occurrence of failures in the process of experimentation and learning, could potentially be another source. In fact, failures are more common than successes in the process of experimentation – recollect Thomas Alva Edison saying that he knows a thousand ways the bulb couldn’t be create before he finally built the bulb! The sustained effort in experimenting, failures and learning new things could easily dissuade one to continue the efforts further. All these make it harder to appreciate the role of some one who makes failure common place – this could be another reason why Brahma isn’t worshiped as much as the others in the trinity.
    4. Another aspect that I could co-relate is the experience when one attempts to start off. One often starts off with an idea, and the various challenges that come in the way of executing what was initially conceptualized could guide the idea into a completely different domain. The challenges of survival of a firm (or may be human) weigh so heavily beyond the ordinary that just the joy of creation is often lost or modified multiple times that is doesn’t bear any significance.
    This was a parting observation about the pattern of how many  mythological stories have the asuras (generally understood as daemons) do a penance so as to receive a boon from the Creator. The general belief in most cases is that it is relatively easy to please Brahma, the Creator, than Vishnu, the Manager. May be this is possibly because of the fewer people worshiping Brahma. It could also be that he is the one who is most open to seeing how addition of newer ability and skills (obtained through penance) could add in so as to enable new experiments and lead to the process of creation!


    What did I really take away?
    Looking back at this rationalization attempt, could this explain why we don’t really worship Brahma? I am not sure if this explains the whole aspect of why we fail to worshiping Brahma, but this is definitely is an attempt to get the attention of the readers on to the importance of appreciating experimentation, and being able to take in failures in the process of experimentation as a natural process.

  • God – Beyond the apparant…

    There are debates all over that try to talk about GOD – where there exists a single GOD, or is there a plurality…
    I don’t take any stance here, but thought this interesting thought on GOD is worth a note…
    Most of us would have heard the acronym for GOD – Generator, Observer, Destroyer, and in the Hindu Mythology, we call these roles performed as being performed by Tridev – Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Brahma takes the role of the Creator; Vishnu that of the Manager of happening of life, and Shiva the Destroyer who closes life as such!
    These gods are generally accompanied by their consorts – Saraswthy, Lakshmi and Parvathy respectively. Saraswathi is considered the Goddess of Knowledge, Lakshmi the Goddess of Wealth, and Parvathy the Goddess of Power. 
    Combining the Gods with their consorts, we have Brahma who is married to Sarawathy, Lakshmi who is the wife of Vishnu and Parvathy who is with Shiva. If we are to abstract this a bit – would could take the action performed and the corresponding representations we have- Brahma the creator is with Saraswathy who represents knowledge – the underlying implication being that – “to create something new, you got to possess the knowledge. Similarly,for one to sustain and manage an existing set up, finance place a primarily role and that seems to be logic highlighted in Vishnu-Lakshmi as a pair.Also, to get to close aspects or issue that have grown beyond the point of control, use of power become mandatory – possibly represented by the pairing of Shiva and Parvathy.
    Why have these three Gods: Why not have them all in one?
    It is but usual for one to ask, cant all these be handled by a single GOD? Why have three or them and what advantage would it actually get to the table? 
    Very often we find that people who create things fall in love with their creation, they would like tobe so closely associated with their creation that they would no more realize the direction in which the creation is proceeding…it is best done with by someone else who get in an expertise on taking care of things and has the decision of taking the creation in the right direction. In the process of creation, its is always possible that the manager could be so enticed into maintaining that he/she could possibly not realize that the creation has outlived the utility.
    Where one’s responsibility ends the other begins. This however is not to state that they don’t discuss or realize that at places there is a need to collaborate. 
    In fact, Shiva who generally comes in the phase of destruction is also considered an expert on knowledge and learning – from what gets closed or destroyed, it is important to realize that learning are crucial and an means to improve the next cycle…So in some form, even Shiva is seen as an epitome of knowledge accrued over ages and generations.
    Why do the pictures generally show them meditating?

    The tasks these GODs do is very sensitive, if not delicate; and it is important to create a balance between action and involvement at the mental and physical level.  Less said the better – these are extremely high pressure roles!.
    Meditation enable self-reflection, which allows these high pressure jobs be analyzed in a perspective that disassociate the problem from the individual and focus on solving the problem and lesser of blaming it on the individual.

  • From a Bound Glass to the Free Air


    Deep within the monotony around me;
    All I see is many like me!
    Compromising with the routine and the emptiness of daily life;
    The water looked calm from the outside, but there lived a void inside.

    Every new person walking in to the routine,
    Like a colored drop, was lost,
    Either being one of us,
    Or occasionally, when many colored drops falling in
    Painted us in a new gloss!

    Everything around me was changing, yet there was no fulfillment.
    Trapped! I felt in all this coloring and slow change.
    Bound I felt like the millions around me;
    It was the glass that held the water – that bound me.

    The tranquility broke, as tough the hidden hand; had shaken the glass.
    All the people felt the shake; it was only for a few who were now awake.

    I was one of the few, whom the agitation drew,
    Unhappy with the state around me,
    I moved from wall to wall, bottom to top; In search of that inner peace.

    In my confused search, I found –
    A bubble – A bubble that grew out of the agitation around me.
    On which I decided now to ride.
    From the random motions – I was now moving to the top.

    It had now opened up a new horizon to me,
    As I raise to the surface;
    The inner dissatisfaction, calms down,
    With a larger view around

    I sensed a new beginning,
    With the mental agitation calming down
    I was bound no more by the walls of the glass,
    Or the image that stuck with many of the coloring around.

    Freed from my bound; I moved on…
    Liberated by the bubble, from the mental agitation,
    This was now a new beginning – unbound, undisturbed.
    I moved on…
    Awaiting a new role – a new place.
    I had but found in myself an inner peace,

    – Chi

  • Man’s Search For Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl

    The first time I heard about the book was in a class at IIM-B, I got to know more about some of its contents when some of my friends started reading it. From their initial review and small snippets I read from the book I borrowed I decided to buy one for myself and began reading.

    This has surely been on of the best books I have read, a store house of knowledge on human psychology. The insights which Dr. Frakl educes from his experiences in the concentration camps is just phenomenal – a hell a lot of work in the situation!!!

    Instead of rewriting some of the points from the book, I choose to copy paste some interesting qoutes which are put up in the wikipedia here…. I am sure when in the right frame of mind and right situations there will be many who would appreciate the depth of these thoughts

    1. “A man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how.”
    2. “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
    3. Nietzsche’s words, ‘He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.’
    4. “When we are no longer able to change a situation…we are challenged to change ourselves”
    5. “We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.”
    6. “Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.”
    7. “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
    8. “We were not hoping for happiness—And yet we were not prepared for unhappiness.”
    9. “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
    10. “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

    These 10 points in essence what I call the highlights of the book. These points listed down here are so profound, I am sure writing a page of on each of these ‘meaning’s would not do justice in any sense. These are like the distilled truth one begins to realize when one starts reflecting. Further, interpretation and analyzing the experiences shared in the book would lead to many insights for us as individuals, which we can be applied in different situations.

    Interestingly, independently before reading this book these were in essence some of the thoughts I discussed with Bipin ( a close friend of mine at IIMB). There seems to be something beyond what is visible in all that that happens in the B-Schools, especially IIMs. The competition, the reaction, the approach and my interpretation of these in some way relate to the readings from the book. It would definitely be interesting what would emerge out when a study similar to the one done my Dr Flankl is done through the country’s top B-Schools.

    The books touches psychology and spirituality majorly, however there are many more things that emerge to be interesting about this book which explains why it was voted as one of the ten most influential books in the United States in 1991.

  • Omniscient & Omnipotent

    me: innen samachara kano (any other news?)

    Guruprasad: illi inna summer time….so aaramagi nadhithide(nothing, its summer time so all going well.)

    me: cool

    Guruprasad: do u get any time while ur doing ur MBA ?

    u seem to have read a lot of books a

    and travelling also

    me: he he… adella chance sikkaga maDle bkalva(need to do all that well u get a chance rt!)… its jst a matter of priorities kano… some value sleeping I value travelling aste…

    correct taane(rt!)

    Guruprasad: right…..

    I wish I could be more like u !

    somehow I can’t compromise with my sleep !

    me: no u are unique…. if u are like me then thr is no use of me

    Guruprasad: I am trying to do lot of stuff…like photography, travel, gym, …

    me: u will get over it kano… np… its not wrong to take a nap.. its only a matter of keeping it refreshing enough

    good thatz gr8 kano(man)…

    nice to keep trying different things…

    Guruprasad: but it sucks out all the energy out of me for my studies finally !

    me: he he… its the mind that makes something refreshing or not…

    Guruprasad: u right sir..

    me: so if u simulate ur mind thru encouraging its creativity in all u do it wouldnt make it boring…

    actually feeling bored is only a matter of not feeling interested enough

    or say simulating enough

    en antira?

    Guruprasad: and btw what do u think for my status msg ?

    me: can u paste them over?

    ur status message?

    Guruprasad: “I am Omniscient and I am Omnipotent. Ergo, I am Lying.”

    Guruprasad did not receive your chat.

    me: i differ on the last u arent lying… thou art really that

    we are omniscient and omnipotent…

    Guruprasad: I mean’t it …

    Both cannot be true at the same time…

    it contradicts Logic

    me: both as in…

    Guruprasad: and Reason

    me: he he…

    Guruprasad: Say if ur Omniscient….and u can see the future

    me: humm…

    Guruprasad: then u cannot change anything

    me: he he…

    u have already seen so u can always change cant u?

    Guruprasad: But if u change something, it means u r not omniscient

    then what u have seen will not happen

    me: you are omniscient… which means u know wht leads to wht… not that I have seen everything… it only implies I understand better than usual

    Omnipotent says one can has the energy to change it…

    wht if he is the energy himself? he definitely can change himself rt…

    thr by change wht is the end result?

    Guruprasad: hmm….that changing the definition of Omniscient

    It doesn’t matter so the energy is right

    It should hold good for all cases

    me: changing the commonly held view of Omniscient

    not its meaning

    he he… are u sure?

    will everything be good for all times?

    in all situations?

    Guruprasad: nopes..

    me: dont thngs change?

    Guruprasad: so ?

    things change

    me: so y not meaning and interpretations?

    Guruprasad: but nobody can predict the future and still have the power to change it

    he can either do one thing not both…

    they are mutually exclusive properties

    Sent at 11:03 AM on Wednesday

    me: he he..

    Guruprasad: if one is truly omniscient, then he should be able to predict his own actions to change the current future

    and thereby goes recursive

    me: prediction is a game of probability rt

    Guruprasad: and we get crazy !

    me: it needs that 1.5 kg sooooooper computer sitting on our shoulders to get into action…

    thtz it…

    Guruprasad: I believe it is with the probability ‘0’

    me: prob is not zero for any thing kano…

    Guruprasad: hmm

    me: we in our smaller intellect choose to make a lot of assumptions…

    and thr by make things of higher probabiltiy for a certain event…

    we look for causality and not co-relations

    we confuse co-relation with causality all the time

    or atleast most of the times

    Guruprasad: co-relation interesting…

    co-related with what ?

    me: whn some one predicts some tng..using palmistry or some other technique he only gives a co-relation based understanding…

    he cannot state something to be causal…

    he only predicts based on the past data…

    but that doesnt get all encompassing

    Guruprasad: thats interpolation

    me: its again as u say… some sort of interpretation…

    not even interpolation…

    Guruprasad: extending the past curve right

    me: this has been the basis of al attempts to predict…

    ya… some sort of …

    not exactly tho…

    Guruprasad: ya…

    me: some time thr is the factor of intuition which is un predictable tht plays a major role…

    so finally wht some one predicts only is based on past

    but doesnt get all encompassing…

    so there is a lot of un explored things… and so there is abundant scope to get to teh new

    Guruprasad: ya….such prediction are very limited in very dynamic situations

    ya…

    me: so we sometimes claim that those ppl who can co-relate better to be omniscient..

    or rather in most cases…

    but again they dont know

    its like the case of a student who wanted to show case to his teacher tht he was damn smart

    Guruprasad: actually the metaphor I was using was God

    me: humm

    well hang on

    Guruprasad: ok

    me: he gets a small bird in his hand to the teachers cabin and say…

    sir I have a bird in my hand can u tell me if its living or dead…

    so he was confident he could any way change the consequence based on wht the teacher told him

    Guruprasad: ok..

    me: the bird was living whn he brought it in

    if the teacher told its living he could kill it and if he told it was dead then

    then he could let if fy…

    he thought he had all the strings under his control

    he thought he knew the future…

    Guruprasad: teacher’s answer ?

    me: the teachers reply was

    ;”I wont say if the bird is living or dead… I only know tht its existence is defined by ur choise”

    so was the student actually knowing all?

    Guruprasad: did he claim that he knew all ?

    so…that stupid

    me: atleast he thought…

    thatz exactly wht u are trying to say…

    Guruprasad: no…

    not that point..

    me: omniscience… is only that state…

    and omni potence was the realization given by the teacher

    getting to the next level which the student didnt expect… letting him know of a greater truth…

    Guruprasad: Omniscience – All Knowing

    right

    me: its like getting into the shell of… all very beautifully packed within one another

    so at the end of the story the teacher becomes omniscient jst by letting the student realize he is omnipotent…

    Guruprasad: see…thats true..

    me: its not a permanent state… its a stat e of flux… thatz wht i wnt to tell

    Guruprasad: the teacher or the student is not both

    they are only 1 state not both at any time

    me: thr is nothing like complete truth… everything is evolutionary..

    humm rt…

    flux as I call it…

    < p>nice discussion kano :)

    Guruprasad: it could be flux, but a entity cannot be both at any point right ?

    me: well u can call this paradox… but wht some call the GOD, I would call it life

    or nature… that makes be feel better…

    Guruprasad: ya….

    me: so I thru my limited understanding would not at any point be able to

    Guruprasad: so..when people say God is both…

    me: be omni-*

    Guruprasad: its actually contradictory

    me: but wht if u see nature closely…

    thru all its species it is trying gain nothing more than experience…

    and in the process growing into being a completely new state…

    we exist till thr is life in us…

    we dont carry anything…

    we start relating to the body and our identity of ego…

    Guruprasad: We carry Genes…..but thats for another discussion I guess

    me: in the process we some whr loose a lot of our powers which we can tap

    if we disassociate frm the identity of ego…

    Guruprasad: ok…

    me: we would be going for experience.. and thru the gigantic network of various degrees of intelligence come to a new state of enlightenment…

    and in some cases using tit to create beauty in the process…

    Guruprasad: nice…

    me: we as human are only catalysts…each one some way different from the other to get a different experience…

    that is exactly y I told u – “if u are like me then there is no meaning in my existance… “

    at the beginning…

    Guruprasad: Omniscient I guess ?

    :)

    me: so wht GOD/nature/ life is wanting from us is not

    our triviality of trying to understand things and jst stop… we need to continue and make more creative works

    be it in any field…

    Guruprasad: hmm….

    me: we need to use our huge 1.5 guy who is at the top to create things… not to jst brood on memories…

    Guruprasad: 1.5 guy ?

    me: I dont claim we should not work on our memories… we should not stick at tht point and judge any experience.. we need to extract the essence, take it along and then create something new

    ya 1.5 guy = the brain…

    :)

    Guruprasad: ok…. I don’t deny that

    creating new is what we all are trying to do in some way ..

    me: its like u have the choice to carry the dead wood or extract the essence and carry it along…

    :)

    Guruprasad: sure…I am with u, on that one

    )

    :)

    me: and to emphasize this further u can also observe tht its once we create something new

    thtz whn we are the happiest…

    this new thing can be by listening to some one… reading something… exploring/discovering etc…

    thtz y a baby is so happy…and it doest stick with the dead wood…its looking for the essense…

    doesnt it look so simply beautiful… we in our busy life start loosing the essence of all this…

    alva?

    Guruprasad: ya… Learning is a continuous process

    and as adults we stick on to established ideas…

    me: as we grow… some realize whr they are and wht excites them…

    and follow.. some jst search and give up… some never start the search…

    Guruprasad: ya….

    did u see randy pausch’s last lecture ?

    me: illa…(no)

    ellide adu?(whrz it?)

    have no idea kano…

    Guruprasad: on utube

    its a good

    me: hey am planning to put this on

    my blog… wht say?

    Guruprasad: I have no problems

    me: cool…

    its actually a discussion on spirituality as I have learnt it kano…

    Guruprasad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

    me: will look at the lecture

    Guruprasad: ya…to to some extent

    me: as said next discussion on genes

    :)

    bye tc

    cya

    Guruprasad: I am up for that !

    ————————–

    An interesting discussion with my friend over Gtalk thought of sharing it.