Messengers of God

Once I had an encounter with two Sadhus at the door of my aunt’s house. I asked them what they wanted. One of them answered that they need an umbrella because they were going to Himalayas. It was actually summer time and they needed an umbrella for sun light protection. I told them that I did not have one. Then they asked me to give them hundred rupees. I said why you need an umbrella; if you feel uncomfortable walking in God created sun light you should not go to Himalayas at all. Both of them lost their temper and one of them said, “How can you talk to the Messengers of God like that?” I ignored that acclaim and went to my uncle and told about the situation. He gave me a two rupee coin and asked me to give it to the sadhus. I tried? I got a reply, “Now you are insulting us”. Then I asked, “How much do you actually want?” One of them said in a plain voice, “Fifty.” “I don’t have that much for you” I informed them. Now they were red with anger. I asked, “What do you want, full fare to Himalayas?” Meanwhile my uncle called me and gave me a ten rupee note, I took it and turned to give it to the sadhus, and then I found Messengers of God leaving the door after observing a ten rupee note in my hand, perhaps they were not ready for further negotiations.

Hinduism: A Review

Who wouldn’t like to follow a religion which gives a lot of freedom: freedom of selecting your own God, freedom of the way you worship him, freedom of the book you want to follow. Hinduism is full of gods and all kind of them: animals, birds, trees, mountains, rivers and of course humans. Even list does not stop here, it has got body-part gods, it has eunuch god, it has animal dropping god and so on. If you don’t want to worship the God your neighbor worships you can choose a different one because when counted Hinduism has 330 million gods and goddesses; one God for one family.

People like Gandhi will say, “Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth.” But how that can be accepted, when Hinduism is not just a relentless pursuit after truth, it is in fact a religion. It must have gods, goddesses, mythology, scriptures, temples etc. It gives you so much freedom that you can assume anything as your God, for example: a stone, a picture of a monkey-man flying with a mountain on his hand or a statue of elephant-man sitting on a rat.

Even if it does not attract you much then you should look at the interesting literature it provides: Mahabharata, Ramayana, Upanishads, Vedas, Puranas, Agamas, Gita etc. Every possible genre is available: politics, conspiracies, gambling, cheating, adulteries, wars, massacres, murders, scandals, discriminations, betrayals and the list goes on, you can’t simply escape. If you don’t want to worship a God you’ll be called a Nastik but you’ll still be a Hindu if you believe in Vedas, which describe various ways to worship different gods and goddesses and contain the liturgy needed to perform the rituals and sacrifices. Another major plus point of Hinduism is its in-built caste system. If you are a Brahmin and your son gets failed thousand times in third grade he will still be called a Brahmin (the intellectuals in Hinduism) or if your son poops in his pants with just a thought of a butterfly, he’ll remain a Kshatriya (the warriors in Hinduism) if you are a Kshatriya.

Unlike other religions, Hinduism embraces other religions because there was no other religion at the time when the Hindu God was seducing village girls by playing flute. The Hindus do not offend other religious people; however they do not displease their gods by not letting other people in their kitchens, by not eating at another religion follower’s home, by not touching any food previously touched by another religion person.

In Hinduism God takes birth everyday, like today we can find Sri Sathya Sai Baba with an afro like halo. He does miracles, magic tricks like old Hindu gods used to do. What more can somebody need from a religion? A religion with a living god. Well the greatest advantage of Hinduism is: if you are a great sinner then just take a bath in holy Ganga river and you’ll be ready to commit your remaining sins.

In short Hinduism is a religion you can have it in your own way.