Beliefs...

Last weekend, I was at a restaurant having lunch with a bunch of my friends, and one us started having a dig at the other vegetarian friend.

Most of Indian Vegetarians are vegetarian not by choice or love for life but for Religion. Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism strictly denounces consuming life (meat) which is rather a great philosophy. But, then some hardliners who are staunch follower of this philosophy is very happy killing followers of other religion and even their own lower castes.

So, I was telling about this friend of mine.
He had suggested that the people who don't eat meat are not 'Manly' enough. They are chicken hearted and cowards, these animals were in fact reared by humans for consumption and posses no threat to their extinction. And promptly another life eater joined him, saying that eating flesh does no harm because anyways the animals were created by God to be used by the great humans. An interesting line of debate.

But then I suggested to them, why don't we try beef and pork during the next luncheon and suddenly their faces turned red. Cow is considered 'Holy' by Hindus, similarly eating Pig is banned in Islam.

It's so easy to condemn someone who does not follow your belief. A person from Chinese or African culture cannot understand why a person who eats pork, beef, mutton or chicken cannot eat a Monkey. Similarly a Christian ridicules a Muslim for not eating pork and a Muslim to someone who does not have beef. A chicken eater wonders why a person who can eat an egg does not eat the chicken.

This phenomenon of disrespecting beliefs and lifestyle of different cultures and society is common with us. Though one never realize, that what they believe in never came along with their birth but was a result of their upbringing in their particular culture and society.

NOTE: Being Vegetarian or not is another topic of discussion which we will take in a separate column.

Life after Death

The concept of “Life after Death” plays an important role in every religion of this modern civilization though in varying shapes and colours.

Every religion tries to answer this mysterious question in its own version. And most of them awards the good and punishes the evil. Basically this concept tries providing deterrence against doing things that is not prescribed in their particular religion. In short, it’s a carrot and stick approach to make humans stick to the basic tenets of the religion.

Suppose that there is no life after death.

What would happen to people who have actually never bothered about humanity? They have never done a good in their entire life, though they might have been the most successful people.

What would happen to people who have cheated, looted, and murdered etc., amassed wealth and power to lead a comfortable life?

What would happen to people who had led a life that was dedicated to the making this society wonderful, but led a life in penury and misery?

What would happen to people who had followed tenets of their religion the entire life and did whatever they interpreted as righteous, though it meant killing and rioting?

Suppose that there is life after death.

Do we have souls as it is believed?

Will there be a Judgement Day? And, if there is indeed a Judgement Day then there is God. And if there is God, which religion has the true God?

Religion

Most of us don’t have the choice of choosing one’s Religion. By the time we grow up and are able to take decision, we are so imbibed in one’s Religion of our birth that we cannot question the very basic principle of it. Ones, who do, fall into the lap of another. But then, what is Religion. It’s Faith.

Faith is defined as “belief that is not based on proof”. That means that we staunchly follow something that does not have any proof.

We humans are surrounded by so many unanswered questions that we try and find an easy way out. That is through explanations that are less tasking on our lazy minds. What can be better than God and his Religion? Any unexplained thing can be shot at God and we are over with it.

When and how did this concept of Religion appear in our civilizations?

God & Religion

Religion needs God to survive and not the other way round.

Religion portrays God as an egoist creature that wants itself to be respected and feared. Why would God, who is all powerful, the almighty need lowly humans to pray? Does this supreme power derive its energy from us? Does his existence depend on ours?

God

GOD!!! An interesting character in our lives… Not a single Religion in this world advocates its absence. Every religion tries to explain and portray a unique picture of this Almighty Power.

If we believe that every religion is true, than these Gods become different for each one of us. That concludes that only one of the Religion is true and The God of that Religion.

Now, how can we prove which religion is the truest.

If God do exists, why doesn’t he clear this confusion for ever? Does he love confusions?? Does he enjoy us killing each other in the name of his Religion?