The great monk Swami Vivekananda told that ‘an Atheist is a person who does not believe in himself’…The quote has meaning in many dimensions… We know that we call a person to be an atheist when he is a nonbeliever of the God, the supreme power. Again if we go through the words of the monk there will be a clear inference that if an atheist does not believe his own self means he doesn’t believe his inner soul; in other words God is nothing but the hidden power within us, our mind, our soul, our conscience.
This is often a topic of debate that “Does God exit”? The light, darkness, happiness, sorrow, anger cannot be seen, we can only feel those in our senses; likewise, we can feel His presence in our soul. He is abstract but present everywhere in every form within every molecule and atoms which constitutes this Universe. He is the combined power of five elements of the Universe- The Earth, The Wind, The Water, The Fire and The Space. It is being said that when a person dies his body and soul are not destroyed but according to the scientific theory of Conservation of Energy, they get transformed to these five elements of the Universe. In a sense the soul is never destroyed but only goes through a transition. It also means that a man is a combination of all these five elements which are altogether nothing but God. This fact is analogous to a beam of white light which when enters a prism gets diffracted and splits into its seven components, VIBGYOR and by using a second prism these components can be recomposed back to the same beam of white light.
Once I attended a spiritual seminar where the speaker who is also a professor in the department of Physics asked the audience “Who is bigger, you or the Sea”. Most of us answered that of course the Sea is bigger. But he explained us that we are bigger since we can see the vastness of the sea with our eyes, we can smell and touch its water; we can feel its strength, its magnificence, and its enormity. The speech greatly influenced me. It’s very true that we are bigger, we have our own thought process, we can do anything and everything, we have the abilities to feel the unbound nature of the Universe; we are infinite. It’s only if we can see ourselves in that way, if we can come out of our ignorance, if we can build all that is good, that is truthful within us, if we can believe in ourselves, then surely one day we will sense that enormous power of Infinity, the Supreme, the Almighty within us.
I don’t believe in any of the religious rituals. People are fool to me who believes that by fasting in name of God or doing various religious rituals (constituting all sorts of odd things) they can get some ‘Punya’. This is absolutely bull-shit. I am profane in the sense that I am not bound to any religion. The one and only religion, race, caste and creed to me is Humanity. If we forget this we can never attain our ‘Moksh’-the Salvation. How many of us even bother to look at the street children who are living on a penny, survive on the food we throw in the dust-bin, roam around with no or very little clothes? Hardly we bother to care also. Every one of us wants change in the Society but nobody brings the change. We can suggest a change very easily but we cannot pioneer it.. The irony lies in the fact that most of us are spending a huge amount of money and resources every year to visit Baishna Devi, Mecca-Medina, to attain the same ‘punya’ but when it comes of giving a penny to any relief fund, to children welfare, we hesitate. We can spend large amount of money for ‘Prasad’, ‘Yagnya’ and all other things but we cannot spent to buy food to at least one street child. We even treat the street animals very badly because they cannot speak, they are of no use to us..We forget that they also suffer from terrible pain when we beat them or torture them…All of you, please believe me you cannot get God by going to Mandir, Masjid or churches.. God is in ourselves, in the goodness of our souls..We can realize him if we can show truthfulness, kindness to those who need us in our surroundings.. The couples who don’t have child can everyday pray to God for having child spending much on the rituals but they cannot go to an orphanage and adopt a poor orphan. We are in total darkness, in complete ignorance…Nobody can help us; we have to help ourselves. We have to change our way of looking into things, we have to broaden our horizon, we have to open all the doors which enter our heart and soul, we have to educate ourselves not to follow the age-old superstitions and rituals but to enhance our logical thinking..The spiritual upliftment comes with the upliftment of our mind, heart and soul.. The buoyancy should be in our motivation of serving poor and destitute, proving ourselves as truly humane.
This is my spiritualism; All I know about spirituality is this.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Feminism in my thoughts
Hi, this being my first blog, I would like to welcome you all to the Age of Transition. Being a woman I would like talk a bit about Feminism..
Feminism is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights.
According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present.
Well, I don’t want to go into this high funda which will talk about lots of feminist theory involving its history, geography or philosophy. I am here to talk about what feminism is from my stand point.
To start with this, I truly believe that Men and Women are equal in every respect. And if we demand this we have to understand this equality… I will be of course giving some example of my life what this eqality means to me..Equality not only means that we should be treated by the society equally, given equal status as the men are being treated. This also means we demand neither more nor less. Me as a person I would like to be treated as a human being not as a woman. I personally immensely hate the concept of Ladies seats in the bus or train….Every favors given to the women in our society, be it the favors given in the form of ladies seats, greater income tax exemptions, and many other things reminds me that being a woman I am weaker than men and that is the reason being I am given all this favors by my society, my country. Please give me a break.. I don’t think that in this age when Woman can drive the space-crafts really needs such favors..
In my case if I don’t get back seats in auto-rickshaws, I don’t mind sitting in the front left or right seat…I don’t hesitate for a second also..I will not be expecting that any man sitting in the backseat with sacrifice his seat for me…
There are many other incidences like this.. The one I remember right now is once while I was traveling back to home from office I boarded a crowded bus.. I didn’t get a seat, only somehow managed to stand. A guy who was sitting before me offered me the seat and I told him thanks but no thanks, If I am in your place I wouldn’t have offered you the seat..And the fact that disturbed me was that he was offering the seat to me because he realized that being a woman it was becoming hard for me to stand in the crowd. But I knew I can because when hell number of people like me is standing like that, why can’t me.
I also know many of you and lots of others won’t agree with me, but this is how I look down to feminism. This is the facts that till today Women are looked down as weaker species, an object of sympathy. Feminism to me relates to a woman’s self respect, her independence, her confidence, her modernity..(Here I would like to add Modernity as a concept is very relative, Modernity to me doesn’t mean wearing modern clothes but having modern thoughts, positive attitude in progressing own self as well as helping others to progress.. To me Woman like Mother Teresa was Modern in the truest sense)..Feminism means in true sense loving and respecting individuals, empathize weak, olds and destitute and building owns position in the society not by snatching rights or fighting saying we are women and give our rights but by our own goodness, own willpower, own determination. When we demand equalities we should understand what equality means. Women are the creators, preservers, enhancers and nourishers. By no means They should be looked down with sympathy, with ignorance, or as the object dominated easily..
Relating to this I would like to say something about a very famous line “Behind every successful man there is a woman”..According to me this line is again meant to be said so that women should always remain behind a man…This flattering line tells that okay we men are acknowledging you, so keep staying behind us and support us to success… Girls don’t be happy with these flattering words anymore because this is the time of making ourselves successful by leading from the front not staying behind ….
I would like to end up this discussion with the words of the Great monk who is also my idol Swami Vivekanand. He once said that-
“The Soul has neither sex, nor caste, nor imperfection. Soul has no sex, It is neither male nor female. It is only in the body that sex exists, and the man who desires to reach the spirit cannot at the same time hold sex distinctions…”
He also added that-
“The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women."
Inspired by Him I would say I am proud to be a woman..I can do anything and everything, even time and space are nothing in compared to my nature, I am Infinite, ..Swamiji believed “Soham”, “Soham”, “Soham”, means “He is me”, “he is me”, “he is me” If deeper we go through this word it means that “he” means Brahma, the creator, the almighty, the great power and force of nature is within me..If Brahma is within all of us who are we to distinct us as man or woman.
It is being said that Adam was the first, God created on this earth, I want to add that, yes, its very true God created Adam first and then he suddenly realized that okay now my hands are set so I can create far better than this. And he created Eve.
Feminism is the belief that women should have equal political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights.
According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present.
Well, I don’t want to go into this high funda which will talk about lots of feminist theory involving its history, geography or philosophy. I am here to talk about what feminism is from my stand point.
To start with this, I truly believe that Men and Women are equal in every respect. And if we demand this we have to understand this equality… I will be of course giving some example of my life what this eqality means to me..Equality not only means that we should be treated by the society equally, given equal status as the men are being treated. This also means we demand neither more nor less. Me as a person I would like to be treated as a human being not as a woman. I personally immensely hate the concept of Ladies seats in the bus or train….Every favors given to the women in our society, be it the favors given in the form of ladies seats, greater income tax exemptions, and many other things reminds me that being a woman I am weaker than men and that is the reason being I am given all this favors by my society, my country. Please give me a break.. I don’t think that in this age when Woman can drive the space-crafts really needs such favors..
In my case if I don’t get back seats in auto-rickshaws, I don’t mind sitting in the front left or right seat…I don’t hesitate for a second also..I will not be expecting that any man sitting in the backseat with sacrifice his seat for me…
There are many other incidences like this.. The one I remember right now is once while I was traveling back to home from office I boarded a crowded bus.. I didn’t get a seat, only somehow managed to stand. A guy who was sitting before me offered me the seat and I told him thanks but no thanks, If I am in your place I wouldn’t have offered you the seat..And the fact that disturbed me was that he was offering the seat to me because he realized that being a woman it was becoming hard for me to stand in the crowd. But I knew I can because when hell number of people like me is standing like that, why can’t me.
I also know many of you and lots of others won’t agree with me, but this is how I look down to feminism. This is the facts that till today Women are looked down as weaker species, an object of sympathy. Feminism to me relates to a woman’s self respect, her independence, her confidence, her modernity..(Here I would like to add Modernity as a concept is very relative, Modernity to me doesn’t mean wearing modern clothes but having modern thoughts, positive attitude in progressing own self as well as helping others to progress.. To me Woman like Mother Teresa was Modern in the truest sense)..Feminism means in true sense loving and respecting individuals, empathize weak, olds and destitute and building owns position in the society not by snatching rights or fighting saying we are women and give our rights but by our own goodness, own willpower, own determination. When we demand equalities we should understand what equality means. Women are the creators, preservers, enhancers and nourishers. By no means They should be looked down with sympathy, with ignorance, or as the object dominated easily..
Relating to this I would like to say something about a very famous line “Behind every successful man there is a woman”..According to me this line is again meant to be said so that women should always remain behind a man…This flattering line tells that okay we men are acknowledging you, so keep staying behind us and support us to success… Girls don’t be happy with these flattering words anymore because this is the time of making ourselves successful by leading from the front not staying behind ….
I would like to end up this discussion with the words of the Great monk who is also my idol Swami Vivekanand. He once said that-
“The Soul has neither sex, nor caste, nor imperfection. Soul has no sex, It is neither male nor female. It is only in the body that sex exists, and the man who desires to reach the spirit cannot at the same time hold sex distinctions…”
He also added that-
“The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women."
Inspired by Him I would say I am proud to be a woman..I can do anything and everything, even time and space are nothing in compared to my nature, I am Infinite, ..Swamiji believed “Soham”, “Soham”, “Soham”, means “He is me”, “he is me”, “he is me” If deeper we go through this word it means that “he” means Brahma, the creator, the almighty, the great power and force of nature is within me..If Brahma is within all of us who are we to distinct us as man or woman.
It is being said that Adam was the first, God created on this earth, I want to add that, yes, its very true God created Adam first and then he suddenly realized that okay now my hands are set so I can create far better than this. And he created Eve.
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