The Tolerance/Intolerance debate is going so crazy, it sometimes sounds funny how people can take sides without even looking at the culture we represent, and even more basic, the species we are. I definitely won't say much out of line, coz I am no Shahrukh Khan. Nobody can ensure I am protected from some crazy bunch of guys motivated by an ideology. Or perhaps a hungry bunch of idiots who are motivated by a guarantee of their next meal.
One thing is religion - one's concept of the unknown - and another is all the bull-shit stories written around it, to make the unknown sound very real and manifested in earthly stuff. The need for it in the human mind has been exploited by the smart to control the minds of the dumb masses, and over time all that fiction started sounding real, so much so that now even the smart guys take it at face value. And understandably so - coz most of us are not in a position to question everything with hope of getting a satisfactory answer. That's true even for the so called scientific facts, which are again based on trust and belief that someone must have researched all that following reliable and acceptable procedures and came with genuine readings and valid conclusions. And even if all that's documented, who has time and interest to verify all the stuff! Just like a 6th standard science book says matter is composed of atoms and molecules, some book also says there was a man called Ram who was incarnation of a God called Vishnu. I didn't question the existence of atoms, as I want to be a man of science. Even if I did, I am told there is a way their existence can be inferred. I trust that as well. I can't trust the existence of Ram (or Vishnu) nor the non-existence of him, coz nobody tells me there is a basis to prove it, nor to disprove it. Understandably so, coz any theory for the unknown cannot be proved by definition. And if it can be proved, then it ceases to be a theory of the unknown. There is perhaps a point where known and unknown intersect... and moving beyond is our constant endeavor - either through science or through god. While Science only gives us a feeling of trying to move to higher levels of knowledge and deciphering the unknown, God directly places us in the unknown realm, albeit fictional. But we are gullible humans with short life-spans and looking for excuses to stay motivated and for ways to make sense of this life. So god always wins, beyond a point. That point is where science ceases to be helpful, although it may continue to be interesting.
My secret, silent and lonely life at IIT Bombay from 2000-2004 had long hours of introspection and discussions with myself about truth, life, meaning and beyond. Long walks in the campus, and walks in the hockey field at mid-night - on the fine grass there - were absolutely fantastic. A parallel at IIM Lucknow during 2009 were long jogs around the campus in the dark. Unlike the kind of best memories most people have of these stints, my best ones are these long quiet moments of introspection, which I enjoyed tremendously. I can't claim to have found what I was looking for, but these beautiful moments did mould my personality and points of view to make me who I am, to some extent. There are also a few adventures which form part of my fond memories of these times - one was crossing the extremely dark trail in the jungle behind H8 (IITB) from chinks (that time) to campus guest house at mid-night during the time when the Panther scare was at its peak. In fact a few days before I did that one guy was chased by a panther at night... that guy managed to save himself, but was bedridden with fever for a few days. I don't know what came on me to challenge myself to do it at 3.00 AM - but I crossed the whole dark trail - so dark that one cannot see anything at all - I was lucky no panther showed up and I came back to my hostel safe and sound. It was a stupid thing to do, of course. But I pushed myself and did it... in the name of adventure, I guess. I don't regret it. But I guess I wouldn't do it now, at this age. There is indeed something about the early 20s that makes you take crazy risks. Some take good ones and make their life. Some take stupid ones and recall those memories for life.
There were many of my batchmates at IITB who were followers of ISKON faith. It's a large community of Krishna followers who marry science and teachings of Gita and talk your brains out even if you don't give a damn. They used to sell crazy books in the campus and tried to convert more people into their ideology. That was their little adventure of youth I suppose. There is an ISKON temple in Juhu where many of them went in the weekends for free delicious food. But they talked like real psychos most of the time... anything extreme seems nuts... even Science, and especially when it's combined with god to create some supershitty nonsense. But they were harmless folk. Very tolerant, if you were tolerant to their ideology.
Anyway, after last 2 paras of seemingly unrelated crap, let me come back a bit. I hear lot of people speaking and acting about religious intolerance these days, and a lot of people pointing fingers at them, saying they are politically motivated, citing instances in the past when they did not act in a similar fashion nor raise a voice. I think those pointing fingers need to understand that the strength of numbers doesn't always emerge, and for a herd to form for raising a topic that induces fear otherwise, it takes a lot of chance and coincidence. And people draw strength from the herd once it gets formed, for whatever reason. So a lot are able to speak up coz they have the strength of numbers acting in similar way. A lone shouter may be silenced by our crazy gangs with political support. A group shouts, then it becomes a nation-wide debate... while the group has the security of being part of a herd. So understand and acknowledge, rather than getting defensive and pointing fingers. We all know what we truly are, what our culture truly is, what unites us, what divides us and what India should really be. Let's not fool ourselves and let's not fool each other. Time to clean-up our culture!
One thing is religion - one's concept of the unknown - and another is all the bull-shit stories written around it, to make the unknown sound very real and manifested in earthly stuff. The need for it in the human mind has been exploited by the smart to control the minds of the dumb masses, and over time all that fiction started sounding real, so much so that now even the smart guys take it at face value. And understandably so - coz most of us are not in a position to question everything with hope of getting a satisfactory answer. That's true even for the so called scientific facts, which are again based on trust and belief that someone must have researched all that following reliable and acceptable procedures and came with genuine readings and valid conclusions. And even if all that's documented, who has time and interest to verify all the stuff! Just like a 6th standard science book says matter is composed of atoms and molecules, some book also says there was a man called Ram who was incarnation of a God called Vishnu. I didn't question the existence of atoms, as I want to be a man of science. Even if I did, I am told there is a way their existence can be inferred. I trust that as well. I can't trust the existence of Ram (or Vishnu) nor the non-existence of him, coz nobody tells me there is a basis to prove it, nor to disprove it. Understandably so, coz any theory for the unknown cannot be proved by definition. And if it can be proved, then it ceases to be a theory of the unknown. There is perhaps a point where known and unknown intersect... and moving beyond is our constant endeavor - either through science or through god. While Science only gives us a feeling of trying to move to higher levels of knowledge and deciphering the unknown, God directly places us in the unknown realm, albeit fictional. But we are gullible humans with short life-spans and looking for excuses to stay motivated and for ways to make sense of this life. So god always wins, beyond a point. That point is where science ceases to be helpful, although it may continue to be interesting.
My secret, silent and lonely life at IIT Bombay from 2000-2004 had long hours of introspection and discussions with myself about truth, life, meaning and beyond. Long walks in the campus, and walks in the hockey field at mid-night - on the fine grass there - were absolutely fantastic. A parallel at IIM Lucknow during 2009 were long jogs around the campus in the dark. Unlike the kind of best memories most people have of these stints, my best ones are these long quiet moments of introspection, which I enjoyed tremendously. I can't claim to have found what I was looking for, but these beautiful moments did mould my personality and points of view to make me who I am, to some extent. There are also a few adventures which form part of my fond memories of these times - one was crossing the extremely dark trail in the jungle behind H8 (IITB) from chinks (that time) to campus guest house at mid-night during the time when the Panther scare was at its peak. In fact a few days before I did that one guy was chased by a panther at night... that guy managed to save himself, but was bedridden with fever for a few days. I don't know what came on me to challenge myself to do it at 3.00 AM - but I crossed the whole dark trail - so dark that one cannot see anything at all - I was lucky no panther showed up and I came back to my hostel safe and sound. It was a stupid thing to do, of course. But I pushed myself and did it... in the name of adventure, I guess. I don't regret it. But I guess I wouldn't do it now, at this age. There is indeed something about the early 20s that makes you take crazy risks. Some take good ones and make their life. Some take stupid ones and recall those memories for life.
There were many of my batchmates at IITB who were followers of ISKON faith. It's a large community of Krishna followers who marry science and teachings of Gita and talk your brains out even if you don't give a damn. They used to sell crazy books in the campus and tried to convert more people into their ideology. That was their little adventure of youth I suppose. There is an ISKON temple in Juhu where many of them went in the weekends for free delicious food. But they talked like real psychos most of the time... anything extreme seems nuts... even Science, and especially when it's combined with god to create some supershitty nonsense. But they were harmless folk. Very tolerant, if you were tolerant to their ideology.
Anyway, after last 2 paras of seemingly unrelated crap, let me come back a bit. I hear lot of people speaking and acting about religious intolerance these days, and a lot of people pointing fingers at them, saying they are politically motivated, citing instances in the past when they did not act in a similar fashion nor raise a voice. I think those pointing fingers need to understand that the strength of numbers doesn't always emerge, and for a herd to form for raising a topic that induces fear otherwise, it takes a lot of chance and coincidence. And people draw strength from the herd once it gets formed, for whatever reason. So a lot are able to speak up coz they have the strength of numbers acting in similar way. A lone shouter may be silenced by our crazy gangs with political support. A group shouts, then it becomes a nation-wide debate... while the group has the security of being part of a herd. So understand and acknowledge, rather than getting defensive and pointing fingers. We all know what we truly are, what our culture truly is, what unites us, what divides us and what India should really be. Let's not fool ourselves and let's not fool each other. Time to clean-up our culture!
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