A conversation

Me: "I have a friend who lives in Chennai, and her dad goes for a walk every morning on the same beach where the tsunami struck. But that day, he had to take a different route because of some procession happening, and he was safe,"

X: "Ah, that is an intervention by God."

Me: "Eh?"

X: "See, he was saved that day, because God intervened and caused him to take another route."

Me: "Oh? And what about the quarter of a million people who did die?"

X: "Ah, that is their karm."

Me: **Shrugs and just shuts up**

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Lets just say that everyone is entitled to their opinion. If 'X' wants to believe it that way, so be it!
You can't play their game but you sure can sit on the sideline and enjoy it!

Aparna said...

well...this karma thingie is really a confusing thingie...just makes you want to stop trying to be a good human being because probably in your last janam you had been really bad. Or maybe am just lazy.

Unknown said...

The Atman is the only truth. Atheism, Hinduism everything is just a concept in relation to our atman that lies within us. The basis of truth lies in the certainty of the SELF - that I exist. The Self precedes everything else in the world. It comes even before the stream of consciousness and all concepts of truth and untruth, reality and unreality, and before all considerations, physical, moral and metaphysical. Consciousness, knowledge, wisdom and understanding presuppose some kind of energy known as "Self" to which all these are subservient; and in fact, they flow from it. All physical and mental faculties, even the vital airs and empirical experiences, appear in the light of the shining Self, the self-illuminated atman. They all have a purpose and an end that lie far deeper than themselves and which form the springboard for all kinds of activity, whether physical, mental and supramental. All these, however, fail to grasp the real nature of the Self, being themselves in a state of continuous flux. Self being the basis of all proof and existing before proof, cannot be proved. How can the Knower be known, and by whom? Self is in fact, the essential nature of everyone, even that of the atheist. This Self then, is eternal, immutable and complete, and in its essence, is ever the same at all times, under all conditions and in all states.

Anonymous said...

Hey,Tanu.. q for u. So, if I say that your friend's dad was destined to be saved that day and the destiny of the thousands who died world over was supposed to be that way, is that an acceptable statement to you? Am just wondering how far you would be able to stretch the atheism concept. So, in your perspective, does a statement such as "he is destined to...." defy rational thinking? Because for a true non-believer, the word "destiny" is as irrelevant as the belief that accompanies it, isn't it?

Wondering...

You can see I have a lot of free time at my disposal tonight :).. Reading through your blogs and commenting on those -
- Ramesh

Dr.G said...

Let me answer a couple:

There is no atman (or atma) Siva baktha that's your delusion. First try showing some evidence that it does exist, then the debate will be on a solid ground. (If you or someone before you made up that stuff then we can't really discuss imaginary stuff, can we?)

Ramesh, your concept of 'destiny' is a superstition. The reason you won't recognize it is really a superstition is because you have already resigned yourself to the fate that you think someone has set for you. That's a really doomed and pathetic scenario.

-Prasad

Anonymous said...

While not being anything like strong believers or deeply religious, we used to go to all sorts of places of worship from time to time.

We don't go anymore after this:

http://www.ossraj.org/about.htm

Life (sometimes) sucks, real bad.
Sh*t happens.
That's it.

V.P.