This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to scientists working on Gravitational Waves leading to the discovery of the marvels in the Universe. However, we on Earth are busy fighting one another trying to destroy whatever the Universe created over billions of years. Faith can move the mountains and stir the oceans so goes an age old saying. There is and you can see it “Faith” is slowly crippling India and the world at large. From what we see, happenings in the Kashmir Valley, sentimentalism around ban in cow slaughter, building of road side shrines, killings centered around food habits, destroying temples, churches, mosques and other religious structures which does not match your faith; riots based on casteist sentiments, pseudo nationalism, culture or beliefs are all of matter of faith. Blind faith without reasoning is the enigma for evil and it catalysis terrorism of diverse hues and colour. The recent killing of a female journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru for her critical anti Hindutva views is deafening.
So faith which helped build civilisations, empowered societies through positive actions and growth is today used as a weapon to suppress those who do not conform to your way of thinking. My way or the highway. “If you do not agree with me you are anti-national, a terrorist, a divisive force and an enemy”. Last few years also saw the gunning down of rational scientists – Dabholkar, Karburgi and Pansare. This shows that extremists, bigots of ‘faith’ have sought to undermine the power of science and scientific truths.
If you are not with me, you surely are against me, there is no tolerance to counter view. The concept to agree to disagree is today becoming outdated. There is a Goan saying “If you believe, it is God but if you don’t, the “idol” is just a piece of stone carved”. Transportation, technology, has made the world smaller, easier and afforded mankind the time for leisure and recreation for creative growth and development. But in this 21st century with space, time and intelligence on our side. We derive sadistic pleasure in destructiveness, just what Nero derived while Rome was burning and what Hitler was in pursuit of during World War II. The reason therefore simply centres around Faith-Abuse, instead of constructive usage. In life there is positivity and negativity. All religions were organised based on imbibing positive energy and keeping out the negative forces. But in reality they both co-exist and it require strong will and spiritual empowerment to distinguish and segregate them. Here then is the problem which is grave, but challenging.
The basis of almost all organised Religions is fear. Berr and Russel had said “The concept of creator, was instilled in the masses to generate the fear of the “Unknown” and harness discipline and seek a life of fear generated love and unifying brotherhood. Sadly fear unfortunately also generates hate involuntarily against those who do not conform to your line of thinking. We conceive an angry God, loving God, punishing God etc so we pray to appease him and consider knowing him as our marble playing companion to deceive ourselves.
This is the reason why jihadis, crusaders and Hindu rashtra protagonists evolve for self preservation and one upmanship. Just as we hear – My Father Strongest – there is the emergence of my religion is the only way to God or Heaven. Faith transforms itself in a role of destruction – Terrorism, forceful conversations – theocratic emergencies of societies.
We often hear “If the universe is there, it shows someone has created it. Every creation has a creator, every cause has an effect and dogmatisation rules the roost of bigots; where the common man chooses to remain silent. Nobody dares question – who created the creator? Doesn’t a creator also have his creator – a story of a chicken or an egg which came first? Universe we see was there and still is – Why super-impose a concept of a creator over it. For the universe there is no rest on the seventh day. No judgement day. There is Energy and there is Mass and we are a part of it.
Science has shown – Matter and Anti-matter is in reality – Nothing – It is from Nothing. There was no space, no time, no matter, that the universe was born. From over 13.8 billion years, trillions of galaxies, stars, planets have evolved and the process continues. The universe is forever expanding, thousands of light years from one galaxy to the other. Is there no end? There is no loving or angry universe but it would certainly react to human interventions of mass and energy. For example if we detonate a bomb in the sea, we may see a tsunami or an earthquake emerge.
So far the religions rightly say we would go to dust so also says science. The Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen etc which go into formation of our bodies will be dissipated; as all energy would transform from the organs to proteins, phosphates etc back to elemental form either to be regenerated via the carbon nitrogen, phosphorous etc cycles into other living or non- living forms on earth or interestingly the final end to all matter is in the form of light energy in various wave lengths to merge with the cosmic energy of the universe; to be one, with what many believe as God.
We must live and let live, as the chain of life and death will go on as long as we learn to live with Nature and respect the wisdom underlined.
The purpose of this essay was in fact to emphasise upon that Sadhvi Saraswathi’s rants, Subramaniam Swami’s diktats are a part of evolutionary sociology and biology and must be understood that for every positive there is a negative. The good and Bad is in all of us, but only one of them may dominate in specific environmental conditions, thus generating diversity and challenges therein should be our mandate.
