Pantheism...

Most of my trips to India are pretty simple.. airport.. flight... car... home ! None of my trips have involved an eight hour stay at the Mumbai Domestic Airport! This was a first! Little did I know that due to some unexpected turn in events, I will realize 8 hours to be a too short period of time. 
I met a lady from Amsterdam... who was as I , waiting for her not so early morning flight to Chennai. So we got talking.. and I learnt something. A new word, a new concept and new world which opened the flood gates to immense possibilities ! I also realized during our brief interaction that this lady, knew more about India and our history & culture than I did ! ( quite shameful actually) 

But anyway, Just sharing this new exploration... 

Mans Journey towards Pantheism…

Since Birth, our parents and elders try to teach us the right way of living life. The way of life which God approves. We are assessed constantly based on the good deeds and the wrong doings in life as perceived by God, which eventually concludes our afterlife. We, on whole Indian children are God Fearing people. We pray, we please, we follow, and we put our faith and belief in an entity, which surpasses all boundaries of practicality, logic and science. Because we are still kids. We are still being nurtured and taught. We are not supposed to question the Gods. They are above everything tangible, above everything we perceive as reality.

When we grow up, our world, which is devoted to the supernatural existence, is introduced to new concepts of science – The pioneers of a new cosmos – Galileo, Copernicus and Da Vinci. They test your faith and introduce you to an entirely new concept of coherence and reasoning which makes one think – What exactly is god? Is it just a myth, which our ancestors have customized as set rules in society?  To define a way of legitimate actions, which they perceived to be right and were passed on for generations as preaching of God? Are these concepts manipulated and paraphrased into something unrecognizable losing the actual truth in translation? When after crossing thousands of light years there doesn’t seem to exist heaven or hell in either direction, the consequence of death ceases to exist. 

 When you learn about Evolution, you believe more in science than ever. The concepts of Adam-Eve, Creation-Destruction all start seeming vague. We start questioning our religion, our understanding and our judgment. Combining this curiosity with today’s society where crime is like the first reality in India… it takes a lot of effort not to turn towards questioning the past.

Todays India, where rape and murder occur as a second reality, where selfishness and greed are the new standards of living, where people are materialistic and shallow and no one is bothered about anyone but themselves, is entirely paradoxical to the vision we were brought up with.  Where is God now? Why is there no punishment? Why is there so absolution? Why is conscience (which is merely a reflection of gods rulebook) the only thing that has ceased to exist today? Now, we are not kids anymore. We can question religion. We can form our own beliefs. We now choose to be people of Science abandoning our faith in something superior to mankind.  We turn towards Atheism.

Now we are living a life, which does not believe in god. Which believes in science. We put all our faith in science. But then, some unexplained things happen in life – like a close shave from an accident, some wishes coming true, an escape from a scary situation, which again pulls us towards thinking “thank god”. There – Back where we started. Now we are totally confused. We have neither concept nor conviction of our belief. This is when we start venturing for a new faith. New beliefs, which will help us, see the best of both worlds. Which is keep us rooted to reality. To Sanity.  To substance.  Now we start thinking about Pantheism.

We start believing in Earth rather than focusing on something beyond imaginary. Beyond human. Beyond nature.  Fully embracing the beauty and extravagance existence of this planet forms the anchor our life needs. And once we start believing in the beauty and outrageous sustenance this land has cherished us with, we go back to the basics. To prove a point. We reacquaint ourselves with our own religion with a completely new perspective. A completely new dimension, which reiterates mythology in concurrence with nature.

The three Hindu Gods – Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.  Confirming the basic belief that everything carnal has to go through the basic cycles – Creation, Existence and Destruction, Lord Brahma is the creator of this world, Lord Vishnu is the nurturer and Lord Mahesh/ Shiva is the destroyer.  When we think about Creation and faith in these terms, the differences between Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism cease to exist. The only reality remains - our Tangible, very definitive and materialistic Earth.  The beginning and End of every existence and the answer to every curiosity. The elucidation of every concept, which questioned our existence. 

After so many myths, beliefs, facts, stories, questions and so many different perspectives to the very thing everyone is concerned about – Absolution & Death. No one knows what created us… no one knows what happens to us when we die. There are theories, hypothesis and vague explanations of things, which are unavoidable. No one can state for a fact that God exists or not. Something Supernatural exists or not. But as humans, as people of science, as pragmatic people that we call ourselves, we have to believe in some power, which keeps us rooted to reality. We conceive that to be Earth.

PS. The lady, who taught me so many things ... is apparently a huge celebrity in Holland!