Me and my God

Religion. I ever so wondered what it is . Its such an important part of humanity and if anything is ruling the world today its religion. Nations are created based on religion , governments are formed on the basis of religion. Policies are made keeping religion in view .Whatever the government says even in the country like America religious faith plays a very important role during elections .Wars , massacres , murders , terrorism ..all happening due to something called religion . So well i thought let me contemplate what is it and why is it so important.Why gods are so important?

Religion according to dictionary is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny. There are two important points to consider in this definition .

1)belief in supernatural powers

2)power that control human destiny

Well why there is a need to believe in supernatural powers and why humanity needs someone to have control of their destiny.

I always thought do we really believe in religion or its the fear of the consequences of being a non believer that forces us to believe in it. I am a Hindu by birth as every Hindu is ( unlike other religions one cannot become a Hindu through conversion , every Hindu is born a Hindu ) . As a teenager I was really interested in religion . I read whole Ramayana , Mahabharata , and gita . But not because I was inclined towards it or was very religious , but because I treated them just as books and not as holy scriptures. Its ironical that my parents who are the strongest believers still could never get time to read the whole volume. Arjuna was my hero and I adored Krishna. I felt for Karna but still wanted Arjuna to win and he did . I respected Rama but was more of a fan of laxmana for reasons still unknown .May be as he was younger and I could relate with him more than with Rama. But above all I was devoted to Shiva . As he seems to have the most powers , was destructive , was a loner and someone who is different from other gods. Well still I know only a little of my religion, a few epic stories and their characters ( still cant make out why shiva linga is worshiped ). Once as I child I had a firm belief that I am the new avatar everyone is waiting for .

At the same time my proximity with my Christian neighbors got me interested in Bible . I read the old and new testment , really enjoyed the stories of Adam and Eve , Noah ,Moses, Abraham , in the old testament . I loved Jesus as he was so good and calm in everything he did . But I could never relate to or like the way he kept on declaring that he was the son of god without ever declaring who is and what god is.

Anyhow well then I realized my devotion to them is not more than what i felt for characters like Tintin or spiderman ( Tintin is the most righteous and believable character and i still adore him). So what is the difference in believing in tintin or spiderman and believing in Jesus , and Ram. For me all are characters who are exemplary in their behavior and have the virtues that we all can relate to and imbibe . They all fought and won against bad , evil , and unjust. But well there is a difference between heroes and gods right . But thats what I am asking , what really is the difference.

As in the Greek civilization as well as in the case of Pharaohs of Egypt there were multiple gods . There were gods for sea , for power , for love , for lust and or every other human virtue.Hinduism also have the same sort of theory. There are many gods , much like managers managing different departments, with Brahma , Vishnu and Shiva as the ultimate CEO's.

Well now back to question of why gods and religion exist. Gods does not define a religion. A religion can exist without god as in the case of Buddhism , Confucianism and to some extent Sikhism. Religion is more a way of life , it defines and gives directions about how the life should be lead. Buddhism and Hinduism goes to great extent defining the afterlife and the cycle of life and death. As for the existence of gods and religion there is a little theory I want to put forward to why religion and gods exist.

1)the inability of humanity to understand the reason for its existence

2)the inability of us all to understand why we need to die

3)the fear of death

4)Mankind is still clueless about concept of life and our inability to create one artificially

So mankind in order to understand these vital questions have found solace in religion which opines to answer these questions about life.

Nearly all religions talk about the cycle of life and death. There is a concept of after life , heaven and hell. Its ironical how all religions are so similar in their approach towards those vital questions , for which they are created but seems like no one is interested in it. None of the present day god men is willing to see the bigger picture. Great thinkers like Vivekananda went on length defining and explaining these similarities.

I cant boast to have the knowledge about religions nor do I have the talents of a thinker or a philosopher . I am just a common inquisitive youngster. I always had a few questions lingering in my mind and I would like to put them here as follows .

1)All religions were created hundreds of years ago . Mankind was at the time clueless about everything . Science , astronomy were non existing. So the logics and beliefs put forward although were best the mankind could put to answer the vital questions with their limited knowledge and understanding.We have developed a lot since .Science has now revealed that we were created through evolution and not by the magical hand of god . The laws of physics were found to be true and hence we could now make a voyage to Mars without fearing the consequences since we know that the laws of physics will hold true and will help us get back to earth. If there is a supernatural power so well developed and in control why none of the scriptures could predict the world we live in today. Why none of the gods could make a voyage to moon or Mars while we can . Since they did not foresee the future and were silent on the reality and facts the science have now revealed why do we still rely on them for answers to the vital questions.

2)Why are all religions so geocentric . Why there is no religion which defines the entire mankind. Why Hinduism and Hindu gods are restricted to the plains of Ganges . Why Mohammad and Islam was to arab and Jesus to Jerusalem and Israel . Why none of the religions talk about people living in other regions of the world .Why cant we get a mention of people living in Africa in any of the scriptures from any of the religions. Why as a Hindu only I will be treated differently in my after life as against an African tribal man. Do gods also differentiate on the basis of color and geography.Talking about Hinduism its entirely based on northern Ganges plain. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata has its roots in Ganges plain. During Vanvasa Rama is shown to have gone down south and to Srilanka . However the entire southern valley is shown to be inhabited by demons and Rakshasha's. I am afraid and hope its not the truth , but that demarcation is largely due to the color of the skin rather than anything else. This is evident in defining Arya's who are shown as a superior race . So my question is still the same , why are religions so narrow in defining there geographic boundaries.

3)I don't know how many women notice this but why all gods are male. No matter how much we clarify , but its the truth that even in Hinduism the three prime deities are all males .In other religions women are neither worshiped nor there is even a thought of god being a women.Its a sad truth. Talk about Islam ,Hinduism, Christianity or even Sikhism . All are marred with the absence of women as the ultimate god. In Hinduism we do worship goddesses but its accepted that Brahma , vishnu and Mahesh are the ultimate gods Is it because the ones who created religions were males. At times when the religions were created and scriptures written, society was totally male dominated . Women were there to give birth , and manage the kitchen . Everything related to religion , education were under the male baton . Hence its quite obvious that women were shown to play only minor roles in all the religions.