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