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..]

Jesus, Scooby Doo, where are you?

Everyone talks about how God, or as a matter of fact, every God, was born on Earth as an ‘Avatar’ whenever there was ‘evil gaining over good’ or ‘need of someone to re-establish dharma’. And everyone also talks about how morose today’s world has become, and how self-satisfying the system has become. So what, these international issues are not bad enough for the world, or that this age is different from the one thousand years ago, and not just because of Siri and Cortana?

So why exactly is there no new avatar of God coming down to help the humanity? As always, your favorite anti-believer has a thesis. 
Do you know the literacy rates of India, or of your country? The figure doesn’t matter right now, but all of us have noticed that it is increasing, somewhere fast, and somewhere real slow. So can we say it started from a very small number? (Hey hey, no offence to the countries and the population, okay?) If people weren’t able to comprehend what was happening even in front of them, they are bound to make assumptions. Some good and successful, and others developing a God. And then, rumors travel faster than the speed of light. Result, God is born.

So, in simple terms, God is nothing but a series of amplifications over the generations of illiteracy and inability to think logically. He was created to scare those who did not know how stuff happens in this world, so that they can use them to their advantage. Events like blasting volcanoes and shaking earthquakes and thunderstorms started to look like an effect of His anger.

Ending by a small note to educated believers: If we know how everything came into existence, what exactly is it that God does, or has done? 

The Home is where the Heaven isn't

By now, there might be a thought running in your mind: why ‘The Satanist’? He never talks of Satan (or Shaitan, for that matter), and only keeps on talking ‘against God’. So why ‘The Satanist’?

Well, there is just one simple reason: I never exactly said ‘I don’t believe in God’, did I? I always said, “This shows that there is no reason God should exist” or “they use God to enforce religion” which is actually necessary for stupid people. I’ve given you facts, plain facts, and I observe, deduce and conclude ONLY from them. I place only the most obvious, but ignored, facts in front of you and give you my opinions. If someone backfires with facts and theories that disprove mine, I’ll be more than happy to learn about them. But please, don’t bring me that ‘he has witnessed God’ or ‘we have felt His presence’ crap. If I say I have met Morgan Freeman (the ‘God’ in Bruce Almighty), you will believe me with all your faith, won't you?

“So, not Atheist. But why Satanist?” Well, Satan is considered the loyal ‘opposition’ to God in all religions. I guess this mentality is somewhat bizarre from someone who always talks against God. But come on, no one exactly ever proved the existence of Him, and that is the reason there is a lifelong debate going on throughout the world. There are only opinions and perspectives.

Still, if we see, everything is being proved wrong about the reason of existence of Him, from the start of the Universe to the evolution of Man, from the formation of basic and complex elements to the formation of stars, and planets around them. Just 10 years before the thought that ran over the Wright brothers about flying, no one could actually believe that humans could fly from anywhere to anywhere. So, I guess one should just have an open and patient mind to be able to question AND answer in this matter.

"A mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work if it is not open." - Frank Zappa

The Armageddon

A post after a real long time; but to be fair, the 12^th grade isn’t exactly the ‘go down swinging’ type, especially if you are training yourself for the IITs.

Do you know the variety of fates of the world that have been portrayed in different texts all over the world? On one hand, the Devil, or Lucifer to be specific, walked the face of the Earth last time, and Noah was building a boat; while on the other hand, God himself will arrive in the state of complete atheism in the Universe, to be the ‘ultimate chastiser’, or the one that enlightens for once and for all (No, not the calm manner exactly). Interestingly enough, the Hollywood too has brought forward another form of Apocalypse, which the Pagans have clutched on.

But do you know what the modern saints have to say about their form of End o’ the World? You might have heard about how the Sun will engulf the Earth, by increase in its mass, due to the constant combustion nuclear fusion and fission, and thus exhaustion of gases like helium, hydrogen, which in turn would result in… Argh! In short, Sun eats up Earth after some billion years.

Now, go back to each end, and try to see something that is common to all. It is the base of the end. Each of them is to teach humans that the end is inevitable, be it a business, a relationship, or the entire life. Or maybe, the end of the universe, The Big Crunch. It doesn’t depend whether it is an evil power or the divine. In the end, living life in your own way is what makes the difference, trying to make a change for a better world is what makes the difference. 

World War Zero

Now, what do you think the Zeroth World War was fought over? Land? Resources? Or maybe something a bit more important, yet ignored, aspect of the human race (Interestingly, it’s called a race, because everyone runs for their image in public, for their dreams, for their life!), i.e. the sense of pride and honor?

What I’m talking about is, mes amis, none other than the Epic Mahabharat very famous for Krishna Vasudev Yadav, or Arjun, the middle son of King Pandu. Well, only people keen enough know this whole name. Everyone knows the story, right? It is the fight for the throne of Hastinapur. People in the so-called Satyug attempt various tasks which were against The Dharma, and one thing leads to another, and the World War Zero strikes! Longest story short, though they clearly know what’s right, they are sort of dragged into doing wrong. Wait wait wait, does that sound quite familiar? If we know that we are evolving through every generation, and getting smarter every step down the ladder of generation, why is it just so hard to believe that it started with humans like Shakuni, or Krishna for that matter? Now, as per what I’ve read, it wasn’t even Satyug, but Dvapar Yug, which gives a whole new perspective to some people, and makes no difference to others.

For my sake, just remove the thought that there was any involvement of God, and everyone was just human with powers like one of Stan Lee’s characters. Remove any possibility that whatever happened wasn’t already ‘written’. Now, rethink the whole story. Ponder over the lesson every character in this story learns AND teaches. You will now find that there is so much to learn, if you want to. Just like the World Wars I and II, you learn what is good to do, and what to choose between wrong and less wrong.

What this shows is that we need not just close our eyes in haste, or even faith, where God is projected, but as true atheists, or believers, try to go to the next slide of the presentation being showed, and just remove the image of the Guy upstairs to think more clearly. After all, if there is someone or something at all, there are bound to be emotions, or at least concepts, right?

You Don't Mess With The Religion

After a couple of months and my finals, a new post, finally! 

Many people might make a big mistake interpreting my content. They might think I don’t believe in any or all gods, and the religion that follows as well. Well that that’s not quite true.

I see religion as just a method to make people believe in the kind of events beyond their ability to understand. In the past, as we all might have pondered in our free time, humans were not as smart as they are today. They were not able to grasp the science or reasoning behind events. They couldn’t understand what is really right as a human being, and what is not. They couldn’t perceive the actual philosophy of life, and with these values, human was nothing beside another species of animals. So, to guide them to the right path, the 'concept' of religion was brought up. People were taught what was right as a human, and how and why things happened. Religion showed people the way of life, the philosophy of life. That, was the basis of all religions, the root of all religions.

But the religions that we see in today's world, or the 'surface religions', are more oriented to today's world, like the media, money, etc. People use religion for their own selfish purposes, for gaining money and fame. Media uses religion as a medium of introducing terror in people when a catastrophe strikes. Nowadays, people claiming to be saints tell you that there are evil spirits, and that how harmful they are to your normal lives. Then they say that they can drive these spirits away, bringing brightness to your minds, and literally 'charge' you for doing so in the form of donations. They demand various kinds of stuff, some that might not even be easily available, and the official raise in their financial status doesn’t even count here.

Religion is something we have very well embedded in with God. But if you look closely, you can see that God just enforces the ways of religion by showing how an Almighty tells you to follow religion, and frankly, He tells you that if you don’t walk on the ways shown by religion, your life will be full of evil deeds, or you would have performed what are known as 'sins'. There's also an explanation as to why this was done, and a rather simple one it is. Science has bases, Religion doesn’t. Though religion teaches us the real ways of life, it's just that there is no base as to why it is right. That is why it feels difficult to understand the real value of religion once one starts believing in God, because then he/she starts focusing on what is wrong and tries avoiding it, rather than seeing what is right and following it. I know this sounds almost the same, but it is almost totally different.

So, it is not religion that I am against, because I have seen its true value; I know how brilliantly it has been formulated. It is only the enforcement that ‘ignites my fury’. I don’t believe in God, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in religion as well. It's just that I can't believe in today's version of religion which is better for today's world, or rather 'Religion 2.0'.

“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte