Saturday, October 11, 2008

Existence of God

We can come across several people who go to temples and who really do all prayers and offerings to God but still when you ask them,” Do you believe in God?" There will be a big ?(question mark) on their faces. Does this really mean that they don't believe in the existence of god, or does this say that they are in a dilemma?
Who is God? When it comes to Hinduism there are three main gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and in other religions there are prophets and there are people who considered being the sons of god and people believe in them, this means that these are all the powers that are given the position of god. When it comes to the belief of few he is the Savior, he is the ruler and creator of the world and he is the one who runs the world and is the supreme power. When I took the same question to few people I found interesting answers which I'm giving here.
Bala Murali Krishna- name really sounds good for telugites and tamilians because it is the name of a popular carnatic musician and even my friend's name is the same. We call him murali who walks with a smile and who rules out peoples affection with his patience and love and he always says I have a lot of love in my heart which I'm spreading to all those whom I meet every time in every way. This man is an atheist and popularly sticks to this. Once I was sitting with him in Birla Mandir, Hyderabad. We came out after making darshan we were just chatting about the temple and the Venkateshwara suprabhatam which was being played and I asked him who is god and how he actually looks?
He said ,"I don't believe in god as far as my knowledge is concerned I can say how Hindu gods would have originated, when primitive man was having fear towards water air fire and sky he believed that they are the faces of god and when he have started wearing skin around him he gave a face to the god whom we call as Shiva and when time passed he used ornaments and added the same to god which we will find in Vishnu in the same manner as time passed he gave a family to him and when creativity increased he added stories to them and made them the saviors of the planet earth and universe." I was really surprised with this answer and it had such an impression that the feeling of atheism in my heart was increased.
God is a strong feeling which makes you to feel yourself secure in the world despite the disasters that are happening around. Belief of god will be injected into one's veins when he/she is a child of months so we feel god is the one whom we are answerable to and he is the one who looks after everyone, so when there is a problem people will first rush to the nearby temple to make their mind to feel free and then they start thinking about the problem. Even atheists who are living with believers of god gives a pray to god when they are in problems because there is a little feel in them regarding the god or we may call it as the influence of theists over them.
But this fear towards god is appreciable because those people who are committing mistakes are giving large sum of amounts to the growth of country in the manner of offerings to god, which will be used in the local area development, development of educational institutions and in several other things by endowments department. But why do they offer huge sums? As they did blunders they are feared with the existence of their soul after their death like going to hell after death and facing several cruel punishments, so they go to near by religious places and requests god for the mistakes they have committed so that they can again make a fresh start.
Existence of god is truly left to the feeling or belief of that particular person if you ask an atheist he firmly says there is no god and if you ask a priest he says he exists every where despite these contra arguments or statements it is stated that god is a belief that's why we call it belief in god.
Though one believes in god or not he has to lead the same life in the same atmospheres

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Smoking Ban ??

How many of you habitual smokers followed Union Health Minister Ramadoss’ dictate to give up puffing in public place from Gandhi Jayanthi Day?

It is too early to gauge the popular response to the ban on public smoking. All that I know for sure is that there was a similar ban on public smoking four years ago and it ended up in smoke. Ban or no ban, India remains the third largest market for cigarettes, with an estimated 250 million smokers and an equal number of passive smokers.

Going by the ground realities, the latest order too is bound to meet the fate of the previous ban. In fact, the Govt has not imposed a blanket ban on smoking. The Health Ministry’s order only prohibits smoking in places like restaurants, offices, bars, libraries, malls, trains and buses. Which means, you can continue to merrily puff away at home, in cars, in parks and on streets.

Ban on public smoking is in force in many European countries, some states of US and South Africa. Studies by professional bodies in those countries have reported marked decline in number of heart and lung disease-related hospitalisations after smoking ban came into force.

But do we have the political will to enforce ban on smoking or on such social evils? What happened to prohibition, one of Gandhi’s pet themes? The ban on liquor even on certain specified days of the year is observed more in its breach than in practice. Social drinking, with all its suicidal effect on families, continues to thrive. In some states, the Government itself is into the business of selling liquor and is sustained by excise revenue from sale of liquor.

Could we check prostitution by law? The law against the oldest profession remains on the statue book, but the crime thrives on in gay abandon.

Has the law helped contain the evil of dowry? Child abuse? Has anti-corruption legislation helped curb corruption stalking all walks of life. Has anti-defection law discouraged political defections? Has law helped eliminate untouchability, which is still practised with a vengeance in many conservative societies?

What all these suggest is that certain age-old social evils cannot be removed by law alone. Stringent implementation of law may go a long way in containing the menace, but not to the extant desired. Enforcement of law has to be complimented with a vigorous public awareness campaign against the evils. Mass media like TV with extensive geographic reach can be made us of for such a conscientisation drive. Govt can think of tax credits and other financial incentives for businesses that enact non-smoking policies.

Isn’t it paradoxical that the government that seeks to prohibit liquor consumption promotes its sale through government’s own agencies, the government that bans public smoking patronises tobacco industry by doling out peps?

The fact is the Government is caught between the compulsions of making money and playing the moral cop. Will the government give up revenue from excise duty on tobacco and liquor running to thousands of crores of rupees for the sake of social good?

Unthinkable. So let’s be down to earth. The government does not sincerely wish to curtail consumption of liquor or tobacco. It only wants to assume the moral high ground through half-hearted measures, aimed at hoodwinking the public.

source: windows live article, wikipedia and google