Which club do you belong to?

I got an opportunity to meet a friend of mine (too busy these dayz), who was confused as too which club he belongs to? For more details read ahead, but at your own risk. I will not be able to script exact conversation as I hardly recall it, but I will serve you a medley of my and my friend’s views and our insights on the topic.

Religion. Consider, Religion as a product. All religions have their respective logos (symbols). And all the respective Gods, represented as the brand ambassadors of their respective religions. Have you ever filled an application form where it asks for your religion? You write your religion and then forget it. What is religion? It is a belief, a faith on a set of principles that you will follow to live. It facilitates you to live a quality happy life. Absence of happiness will render your life as incomplete, non-compliant. But, do you need a religion for that? Don’t we know how to live our life, happily? We do know, certainly.

So no religion required? God is an integral part of every Religion. That brings me to next question. Do we need God? To me, it sounds, as you need an ambassador to purchase a product you need God for a Religion. Today, the more we adore an actor/sportsperson more chances of buying their endorsement. In case of religion, it is different, you are allotted a religion at your birth and you have to follow the ambassador, Hindus have more choice in selecting ambassadors to follow than any other religion (OMG so many Gods). Those who don’t like the product (here, religion) convert to another product. But what is the ultimate goal of following a religion? Or following a God? Simple. Live a happy life. That’s all.

There is a temple in Mumbai, Siddhivinayak, one of Lord Ganesha’s residences. The queue to worship the God stretches to kilometers, on Tuesdays it stretches to exorbitant levels. Lord Ganesha faces stiff competition from his peers, Saibaba at Shirdi and Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati, and many more. Have you ever imagined how do they manage to draw such a huge crowd to them? Answer. To fulfill all the wishes, gain happiness, prosperity, etc. Are we ill-equipped to make ourselves happy? Should we rely on religion or God for all these things?

Let’s investigate.

The theists, people who throng kilometers for worshipping a God (and those who believe in God), see a ray of hope that a visit to temples, churches or mosques, brings to them. Some think they will be able to live their desires. Some people find happy living in owning a car, some in owning a house, and some in earning more money (in my profession people go far beyond, wishing to earn money in dollars!). And, this lot of the theists always stays far from satisfaction. They always have issues, they go to God, to get a veto for their desires, and some even dare to bribe him. Do not blame them. A recent survey rates India at 87^th spot in corruption in the world!

People in this club are unable to live happy lives because they worry, a lot. They simply live their life in short terms which emanates ephemeral happiness and so they compromise on their long term happiness. They don’t know what is going on in their life. And do you know Humans fear what they don’t know. Remember the complex unknown thing (algebra for me) you saw first, appeared very difficult, you were afraid of it. So, people worry and keep blaming God or some incomplete ritual for the mess that they are responsible for. People fear and make themselves unhappy.

I remember my childhood days when I use to run to God for all petty things. For exams, for marks, to win a game of housie, etc. Some grown ups, even do it today though to get a promotion, marks, college seat and for a girlfriend tooJ. I remember I use to go to temples, offer prayers, flowers, garlands, read many stotras and many other things, believing it will increase my bargaining power at God. But, as I grew older these offerings started descending. Further as I employed myself, I got occupied with work, and all those offerings ceased.

A friend asked me “Do you go to any temple?” I replied “I don’t go to temples but I still believe in God. You don’t need to go to temple to believe in him. What I believe in is that there is only one Supreme power which people worship in various shapes and names .i.e. God. That power keeps everything moving”. Sounded impressive of me. Huh? But, somewhere inside I feel, I am equivocal on my belief, of God. I am unable to explain certain phenomenon, thus cannot deny God’s existence. I feel, unknowingly I have transformed into an agnostic. And many of you too, probably some haven’t realized it yet. If you too give the same reply as mine, this corroborates that you have joined or about to join the agnostic’s club.These are people who hold that whether God exists cannot be confirmed with certainty. Generally, people are more submissive to this club after some age, and after gaining some knowledge (at least to question the existence of God).

There is another club. Atheists. These people do not believe in God. I really don’t know on what basis they have reached this conclusion. But, that is not the only thing that they believe in. They believe you must use your intellect and sense of reason to learn what life is about, they believe on evidence when deciding on their beliefs. There was an Atheist Bus campaign held in UK in 2008. Busses read “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”. Life is all about living happily and not worrying. So, if you can stop worrying and enjoy your life, why to rely on God? So converting to atheism is the key to happiness? I really don’t know. Some more quotes flowed in ”An atheist has to be more morally responsible precisely because he doesn’t has a God to blame for his own actions”. Atheism is strongly based on reasoning. You are always told that something is right or rather good. But have you ever reasoned it. I mean. Have you ever questioned your wisdom itself, on basis of which, you decide whether a thing is good or bad (or, right or wrong)? For example, did you ever bothered to think why a thing is labeled as “good” or “bad”. Why is, speaking truth considered right or why is it good to help others? We all are just following what has been pre-established or told to us by our elders. So do we believe in God, because we were bought up believing it? So I started thinking that my friend may be right that probably God does not exist.

So what if he is unable to reason a few things. It is not a game of cricket were the batsman God will get benefit of doubt. J It doesn’t render their idea of non-existence of God baseless. Their belief does have a sound reasoning. Now here my belief of the one supreme power started weakening (yours’ too?)

Anyways now the guy has confused me too and I am being transmogrified like him (somewhat agnostic).

Religion and God are inter related you get a God free with a religion. But does it ensure you a happy life? Neither does atheism nor agnosticism. My intention is not to confuse people. I do not want to sound like a zealot. It is just my quest to find where I will be happy? Will I ever be able to reason on anyone side will I return back to theism or proceed towards atheism?

But it seems that it is unimportant, which club you belong to, what only matters is “Are you happy?” If you are worried that if you fail to show your belief in God then you will be punished then it defeats the purpose of staying in the theist club. Doesn’t it? Some people may find solace in being an agnostic then. By the way, which club do you belong? And most importantly are you happy with the club membership?