The World without Unicorns

Poverty. One of the aspects that keeps the economy always pinned down. And in a country like India, it has kept development pretty much stagnant (Well, there are a lot of other factors, but we don’t discuss multiple topics here at once, do we?). And because of that, the one thing that has increased is the faith in God. The feeling of helplessness suddenly makes people turn toward the Guy upstairs (Honestly, I still don’t see the reason of this).

This time, no debates. No crunching numbers or facts that strangely relate to God and religion. This time, the plain white reality of lives strikes.

This post was a result of a rather specific trip to a temple, some 45 minutes away from my home. The place doesn’t matter, the trip does. On the way, there were red lights at junctions, obviously. Now this is a rather peculiar scene. When we had stopped, I found a lady, in old, torn clothes, probably malnourished, with her baby around her waist, begging for something perhaps, maybe food, or money, so that she could feed her baby for the day. Now, the thing is, I wanted to give her something, but then she couldn’t live like this the entire life, right? She would get into habit of doing this. So I hesitated.

But this article doesn’t stop at this point. When I went to that temple, I could find people praying to God, for their happy lives, or wishing for that at least. And then I saw someone pouring milk on a statue, as an offering to Him, perhaps. The image of that poor lady flashed back into my mind, and I was almost burning with anger. I mean, how can one human waste food, and another crave for it? If God helps, or starts helping you, if you offer Him milk or sweets, humans will die of starvation one day. Then will the offerings matter? Or will you consume it for your own life? So, the faith in God vanishes as soon as it becomes a matter of life and death, doesn’t it?

Now, I don’t want to make this post gloomy and dark. But I found this issue particularly disturbing; and I think if it doesn’t disturb you, you need to reconsider your thoughts. I mean, why can’t we be more practical if it helps others, rather than praying, which (supposedly) helps only you and your family? At some point of time, you’ll have to realize that there are no rainbows at the end of the earth. 

Immigration

Well, I've upgraded!

Thank you everyone who has followed my blog and walked with me on the way to enlightenment. Though, I wouldn't say enlightenment is only if you follow the path of Science; I have discussed the brillliant formation of the Hinduism scriptures before as weel, about how they all are greatly related to ease our life, using science in religious approaches.

Sorry, got carried away. Actually, this post simply states that I have migrated my blog to thesatanist.vidhey.com, and from now on, I will be available over there only. Since it is still in beta version, if you want to personally contact me, you'll still need to use the vidhey97@gmail.com address, before I provide you with the upgraded contact details.

And, I am also sorry to the people whose replies I couldn't reply back to. It's just that I am in the 12th grade, and I have my exams coming up in a couple of months. So, till then our contact will be scarce even on the new blogsite (I wasn't active here too, to be fair, but you get the point..).

For any further comments or follow-ups, please visit the new blogsite. Thank you.

Diwali Special

Hey there, folks! It’s been a whole year! A year of enlightenment, of blind faith vs. reality, of skepticism that questions more than what normal people can answer. So, this has been a good trip after all. This time, let me just show you the inside of Diwali, and you might see why this festival is celebrated by 1.2 billion people (holy crap, man; 1.2 billion..) with the same amount of enthusiasm and zeal.

Well, the Indians must be well aware what comes next to Diwali (technically, before it): cleaning houses. It’s true, isn’t it? The days before the occasion is just as much fun as the day itself. New clothes, new home décor, new phones or tablets (hopefully); but the most important: new thoughts. Fresher thoughts in cleaner minds. The idea of a festival itself sends impulses throughout our body, creating enthusiasm and generating spirit in every inch of your ‘soul’ (if you know what I mean..). And honestly, the concept of lighting small lamps all around the house on a new moon night (the ‘amavasya’), so that there is no corner left dark, is just great!

Oh wait, the firecrackers. Those are the only things I loved about the Fire Nation (and fire, obviously) that made me rethink about the Southern Air Temple. I mean, there is absolutely no limit of ideas you can put into them to make Diwali worth remembering!

And the best part: you find the best, lip-smacking food and snacks these days!

So, I described a whole festival, and all its details that make it just wonderful, but why? Did you read anything about the Guy upstairs anywhere? Wait... Did you just experience a complete Hindu festival, and that too one of the best of them, without a single reference to God? Yes, you did. 

“So, let's see what the judges have to say!”

People have always followed these customs of religion, saying we are doing this because ‘God recommends it’, or even funnier, our ‘guru’ or ‘priest’ recommends it. But have you really thought why you are doing that? Why fast during the month of ‘Shravana’? Why worship trees? Why fly kites only on the 15th of January?

Well, I’ve answered many of them in my previous posts, so let’s not waste a 100KB of Google’s server space. What my point is, is that there are smart believers in this world as well, and you know we need to politely shut them up. They reply to my answers by asking me, “So, does your ‘Science’ know the origin of life? And not humans, the origin of the first bacteria, the first viruses on earth?”, or sometimes “Why exactly did the Higgs Boson explode?”

Well, that is the wonderful thing about Science. You don’t pretend. You don’t have to pretend to know the right answer, and also, you don’t need to have a universal answer to everything, i.e. the Guy upstairs. People think, people discover, people invent. If a world-renowned artist can make a blueprint of the helicopter 4 centuries before someone actually built it, anything is possible (Who? Do your homework!). If civilizations can be found dating 10000 BC (Wow, I just realized that this calendar is also based on the birth of Christ.), anything is possible. If some really heavy, square-shaped stones can be arranged thousands of years before the invention of the crane to form the Stonehenge, anything is possible. We just need to know the right way to do it (I know I just made it sound way easier than it is, but that’s my point!). Even things like the World Wide Web, or the mobile phone, or the Internet of Things have been invented. Google Glass and Oculus Rift have been invented too, which still seem like dreams come true. Click a photo by simply winking, come on people! We are close to Pierce Brosnan!

So, either you sit and wait for others’ revolutionary ideas, or you make your own. 

Heaven 101

There are some questions I come across when people start feeling that I am the ordinary version of the atheist (Huh. People...). Some good questions, which I really like answering; and then there are those really stupid ones, the ones a 9-year old asks. I mean, come out of your holes, people! Think more! Be more curious, more open-minded!

Sorry, deviated off the subject. The stupid questions sound like “Who runs the world, then?” or “Then why is it that such a huge number people actually believe?”. What?? Are you serious?! I mean, whatever happened to the Higgs Boson, or the population blasts those social workers keep on keep remind you about?

And there are some real good ones. “I don’t know about God, but I feel that there is a universal force present, running everything, be it comprehensible or paranormal” is the most diplomatic of them. “Sometimes you need God; He can give you hope, whether true or false..”. I mean just look the height of weakness in your spirit. Whatever happened to your own motivation? “There is this need of faith, I think, in everyone, so that we can act humane” is what I would consider a neutral on my scale. These thoughts surely are from civilized brains, brains who don’t want to waste their time on a practically never-ending debate, because there are only speculations, not proofs. I appreciate the owners, but you what’s wrong with them? Actually, do you know what’s wrong about this mentality? It is the fact that if you think someone is doing something for you, if an event is ‘your destiny already written’, you wouldn’t want to give your best. Tell me, if it’s sure that your younger brother is going to throw that chocolate wrapper for you in the bin, would you want to stand up and throw it yourself? If something’s already written, then your actions would not affect the outcome, would it? So why don’t we just sit idle, doing completely nothing? Because we are all aware that “God helps only those who help themselves”, right? 

[P.S. I clicked the photo beside. And not from an airplane, but standing! Out of the car! Sikkimese people will believe me more than you guys..]