Why God?

Mention the word God and a big chunk of your Rolodex vanishes, your friends shun you as a loser and family disowns you. This is more so the case in the modern world.

It is no secret that more people than ever are displeased, disenchanted, disappointed, disoriented or disgusted with anything remotely connected to God, Devotion and Spirituality.

At the same time, there are a few who do try to discover and follow a path they find suitable and appealing. But in the eyes of God, a majority of the population is still at large.

Lets examine a few of the reasons for this surprisingly united and vehement rejection.

One of the major problems that many generations across thousands of years have faced is the access to authentic information. A genuine and trustworthy source on which we can bestow our blind faith in.

Even if such a source or two existed, we lacked faith. Our intellect led us to believe that the source is not good enough or not that convincing. It is natural for our mind and intellect not to accept something that does not appeal to us. It is in our grain to fight, dispute and disagree with concepts that we cannot identify with.

Qualities like faith, sincerity, devotion and conviction in the word of saints or Divine literature (scriptures) are rare. In India, life in the olden days was simple and revolved around God. This is one of the reasons why the world always looked towards the east, particularly the sub-continent for Spiritual solace. This does not mean that other countries were bereft of Spiritual wealth. Each region had its share of saints and godmen or godwomen. Yet, the geographical region that is generally known as India has always been the seat of Spiritual learning for people across the world.

When life revolves around God, it is natural for people to develop Divine qualities like sincerity, devotion, honesty and so on. The association with Saints brings them closer to God and people are encouraged to keep their quest for God realisation alive.

Modern world developments have led the human mind away from God and towards Science. The Renaissance period was decisive in this paradigm shift in human adoption of science as the answer for human progress. This philosophy was thrust into all regions across the world and the consequences are being felt everywhere, over the last 500 odd years.

A quick note about the effect of foreign influence in our country. Spiritual life in India has stood the test of time and has continued to be largely unaffected by many of the critical events in history. Armies came, looted, destroyed, ruled and left. Missionaries came and established large centres. But the spiritual knowledge and greatness of Hindu philosophy never waned. A good majority of Hindu learning centres, pilgrimage sites and holy cities continued to be magnets for spiritual seekers.

Materialism has made life easier and luxurious but at the same time, it has conveniently allowed us to make that fatal choice of choosing a path away from the basic truths. People cite peer pressure, society and force of habit as the reason for chasing after material benefits but the truth is that every individual makes that choice by himself or herself deep within the heart.

Some people just say, "I do not give a hoot. I like it, so i do it". This attitude can be very costly because it is a very ego centric behaviour. Unless that person hears out the other side, the benefits of stepping down from the altar of false ego will never be known.

So, where have we arrived since we were born? Some of our lives are better than it was 10 years ago and definitely better than what it was when we were nestling in mother's arms. By better life, i am referring to monetary and luxurious gains.

But inside our hearts and minds, we have inculcated many diseases like Jealousy, Anger, Greed, Lust and so on. Mention this to anyone and they will immediately shun away as nobody wants to be called a greedy person or a cheat or a short-tempered person. We all like to think that we are very good individuals.

Good nature and behaviour is a small step towards God. Humility, Honesty, Compassion, Piety and other good qualities are associated with God. Due to the fickle mind that we have developed over the years, our attention is directed more towards things of our interest rather than something that demands the bending of our ego. The moment someone or something hurts our ego, our natural instincts take over and react adversely.

Our material outlook in life and extreme adoption of Science in many aspects of life has drawn us away from our Spiritual side.

In India, a pseudo spiritual attitude has crept into the lives of families across the board. God is summoned for every festival or only during a crisis. At all other times, he is kept at a safe distance to ensure a guilt free lifestyle.

People today demand that Spirituality should be 'packaged' in a way that it can be made attractive for the modern man. Lo! that is happening today. Organisations are scampering to attract people and their fat wallets with various types of 'packages' in Spirituality, Meditation, Yoga and Transcendence.

I find it surprising that none mention Devotion in their marketing material.

Modern man's packaging request seems a bit strange, as he does not demand that his favourite wine or cigarette be packaged in a such a way that it is made attractive to him. Put the same wine in a wooden container or wrap the same premium tobacco in paper, it would still make its way into his system. He is not necessarily bothered about the beautiful presentation.

A man who relishes meat will look for it even in the dirtiest of eateries. A smoker does not question the authenticity of the crop, he just starts hallucinating at the sight of weed. A drunk wants his daily hooch, crystal glass or not. He does not want an expensive looking bottle or a swanky bar. Booze is all he wants.

Packaging spirituality is akin to a kid not swallowing the pill. It needs to be laced in honey.

There is no doubt that obscure ideas and representations of God and Spirituality, combined with inaccurate interpretations of holy scriptures have driven people further away from God. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of modern times. More people are involved in mud slinging and defaming other faiths, causing intense disinterest and repulsion towards religion.

Then there is the question of authenticity within a faith or religion. Myriad claims are made in the name of God, but the veracity of such proclamations leaves much to be desired. Most faiths have extreme convictions in their own philosophy and preaching. Which one should we follow?

There seem to be so many saints and millions of followers. Who says religion is out, it is en vogue!

Despite the presence of so many spiritual heads and institutions across the country and around the world, little has changed inside our personal lives. They have not managed to grab our attention or captivate our hearts. The effectiveness of a saint can be measured in the amount of spiritual development that the saint brings about in a human being.

We can see that a lot of inter-related factors have discouraged us from embracing Spirituality and God. People look for the moderate, secular and "middle" line they can follow so that they can "accommodate" spirituality into their lives and not the other way around.

Digging a bit more into this indifference in our attitude towards Spirituality and God, let us examine what is that we are looking for in life.

What is our aim in life?

Every person could presumably come up different answers. Most of them are material. Somebody wants to be CEO, another wants to make a few hundred millions, another wants to marry the most beautiful girl or man, another wants to visit the best spots on earth and so on.

Some want to help others, some want to retire in the forest and live happily ever after. Some want to disappear into the mountains. All of these are material quests. They will make no difference to your life during its last breath and beyond.

We could safely declare that we are aimless and we do not know why we are running crazy all day. We work hard to eat a good meal at night, and eat a good meal to work hard the next day.

Aimless as it may seem, there is a hidden agenda. Every person is looking for happiness, peace, tranquillity and all other synonyms associated will bliss.

Happiness to me is staking out in the jungle, waiting to capture the elusive tiger on the much coveted Nikon D3 and a 600mm lens. Happiness to another is skinning the tiger for a quick buck. Happiness to another is buying the tiger skin for a fortune and making a garment out of it. Happiness to another is catching the poacher and the consumer. Happiness to another is protecting the tiger along with the environment.

This perceived happiness is not long lasting. If the tiger were to pounce on me, my happiness would turn into morbid fear. Similarly, if the tiger pelt had bullet holes driven into it, the consumer buying it would be fuming instead of being ecstatic.

The object (tiger) is the same. But it evokes different feelings in each of us. We see that the perception of happiness is different in each and every person's mind but nonetheless, happiness is what we all seek. It is a unanimous goal!

If we were to find out what is the nature of true happiness and where to find eternal happiness, then, we will begin to seek happiness in the right place, including the spiritual realm featuring God.

For the tiger's sake, do not abandon your quest for happiness :)