Recently, two tragic incidents happened one here in Connecticut and another in New Delhi, India, which caught a lot of media attention and there is huge unrest in public about both these tragedies. Along with protests and debates about why these types of incidents happen very frequently nowadays, there were many prayer meetings at temples, churches, other religious centers, and even on the streets to express sympathy and support for victims and their families. People prayed to their respective God to save the victim who was struggling for her life (in the Delhi rape case) and to give courage to families who lost their loved ones (in the school shooting case). This is a regular pattern after tragedies or incidents like these be it 9/11, the 26/11 terrorist attack, or any bomb explosion, mass killing, or rape. People come together and pray but these incidents don't stop. It raises one question in my mind, where is God when people need him/her most? I am sure many of these victims must be wondering the same. Where was God when I was getting raped or murdered? Why he/she didn't come to help me? I know that many people have asked this question before and many people have tried to answer this question but none of those answers are convincing. I know putting blame on destiny or praying to God after any tragedy helps to deal with the loss. It helps to deal with death and the incidents that are out of our control, but apart from this what purpose do these gatherings serve? Are they like counseling sessions that help to deal with these tragedies psychologically and nothing more.
Many of these terrorist attacks are carried out in the name of God. In the name of protecting the religion from evil forces which these groups believe are trying to destroy their religion. Terrorists also pray to their Gods and get their blessings before going on these types of missions. They believe that their God will help them to fulfill their missions and many times they are successful. So technically God does listen to their prayers at least in some cases. I am not talking only about any particular religion like Islam which is continuously targeted nowadays as a major cause for terrorism but other religions like Hinduism (Babri Mosque demolition and communal riots, etc.), Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Communism were also engaged in many violent incidents all in the name of protecting their religion. Many innocent people suffer during all these missions and attacks. People suffer a lot of physical and mental trauma, many die or lose their loved ones and most of these victims pray to their God. Many of the victims are really devoted to their religion and God. All these victims who suffer and perpetrators who brutally commit the crime or carry on the attacks both belong to several different religions and believe in different faiths and Gods. God is present on both sides.
All these incidents (including the attacks and peace marches or prayers after those attacks) raise many questions in my mind. If it is really there then on which side God is? Where is God when all these victims suffer or get attacked for no fault? Why God doesn't help these victims when they are getting raped or getting murdered brutally? Why do these innocent kids get killed at the hands of some insane person? Why do helpless women get raped and brutally attacked? Is there any power that controls this universe and our lives or does this world work on itself?
Do people even think about these questions or they are too blinded by their faith and beliefs? I don't think God or any other superpower is responsible for any of these crimes or attacks. These all are human acts. People like us who commit these crimes and heroes who fight against these criminals or terrorists are again people like us. It's our job to step up, accept the responsibility, take charge, and work towards solving all these problems. All these issues and problems are created by people like us and we need to solve them ourselves, no one else is going to do this for us. So, if any God or any other superpower is not responsible for all these attacks or problems then does it make any sense to ask any help from them? Is it right to blame them or give any credit to them when we see clearly that it's not working and not providing us with any answers or solutions? This is the question that I want to put in front of you today, this is the topic on which I want you all to think today.
Do people even think about these questions or they are too blinded by their faith and beliefs? I don't think God or any other superpower is responsible for any of these crimes or attacks. These all are human acts. People like us who commit these crimes and heroes who fight against these criminals or terrorists are again people like us. It's our job to step up, accept the responsibility, take charge, and work towards solving all these problems. All these issues and problems are created by people like us and we need to solve them ourselves, no one else is going to do this for us. So, if any God or any other superpower is not responsible for all these attacks or problems then does it make any sense to ask any help from them? Is it right to blame them or give any credit to them when we see clearly that it's not working and not providing us with any answers or solutions? This is the question that I want to put in front of you today, this is the topic on which I want you all to think today.
Link for Speaking Tree post:
http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/where-was-god-when-i-was-raped-and-murdered
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
I too always think about this and i think i know the answer.
ReplyDeleteTHERE IS NO GOD.
God didn't made Man but
Man made the God.
Thanks a lot for your comment Shahid, and welcome to my blog. I agree with your point of view. We created all problems and we have to find solution ourselves, no external power or entity is going to help us, we have to help each other. Whenever you find time please provide your inputs on other posts also.
DeleteWhen God was alone, he/she was feeling bored. So God created the world and all living beings for his/her entertainment. That is why he/she intentionally made imperfect people with imperfect nature and gave them free will to create "tamasha". Now he/she is watching this world just as we watch a reality show on TV for entertainment. God is omnipotent so he/she could save the victims if he/she really wanted to. His/Her not intervening proves that he/she is a sadist and women getting raped and little children getting killed is fun for him/her. God is egoistic and wants humans to worship and praise him/her. That is why he/she is intentionally creating situations which results in fear and insecurity in human minds. Only then humans will worship him/her. If he/she created a perfect world without any evil and only good people, then everybody would be fearless and content and no one would worship him/her. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent as per all religions. God can do whatever he/she wants. He/She had a choice - whether to create living beings or not ? If he/she chose not to create living beings, then there would be no suffering. Even if God creates living beings, if he/she makes them all perfectly good and creates perfectly good situations then there would be no suffering and evil. Intellectually thinking, logic clearly suggests that it is God's wish that evil should exist and women should be raped and children should be killed and in general humans should suffer.
ReplyDeleteYou are painting very hypothetical picture here, nothing is like this there is no entertainment or reality show going on for anyone, we all need to take responsibility and behave accordingly.
ReplyDeleteThe concept and definition of God is creation of human mind, we needed that to explain many things around us at one point of time in our history. The nature doesnt work according to any one's wish, it is very dynamic and self regulated system, we have learned a lot about it and are still learning every day thats why I say you are trying to paint very hypothetical picture here based on all these scriptures.
Dear Vinay,
ReplyDeleteIf you read the Bhagavad Gita As It Is by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada then you will find the answers to your questions. In brief, we are all eternal souls parts and parcels of God. We are qualitatively same as God but quantitaviely infinitisimal compared to God. We are like a spark of fire while God is the whole fire. As long as the spark of fire is in contact with the fire it is illuminated but as soon as it is detached from the big fire it extinguishes. Similarly, when we serve the Supreme Lord we are blissful but as soon we try to serve our senses we become subjected to misery. Our present miserable condition is because we have rebelled against God and instead of serving God and thus experiencing bliss each one of us is trying to serve his/her senses and is trying to become happy. This material world is compared to a prison house and indeed its not possible to be happy here despite all our plans since a prison house is meant for reformation and is not a place to be happy. In this prison house, each one of us is trying to exploit the other, each one of us wants to become the master and wants others to give him/her sense pleasure. So, there is the Law of Karma where we get the reactions for our actions. And the reactions can come from our Karma in the previous lives. Sometimes, we see a child being aborted/killed even before it is born...the child undergoes immense suffering in the womb of the mother but even before coming to the world it is killed. What is the fault of the child to deserve this misery? This is the Law of Karma at work. Maybe the child was a mother in his/her previous life who killed/aborted his/her child. Many rapists/murderers go scot-free due to deficiences of human law but Natures Law or God's law is perfect. In their next lives they would have to suffer for their sins. The real miseries of this world are birth, death, old age and diesease and no one is exempt from these miseries be he a billionaire or a beggar. God is not human imagination but he is the Absolute Turth....God is the actual reality. We are spsirit souls but because of our identifying with the body we undergo suffering. Please read Bhagavad Gita As It Is and we can achive the aim of human life. Eating, sleeping, mating and defending are common to both animals and humans. If we dont inquire into the sufferings of life then there is no difference between animal life and human life.
Sir, why did God create living beings in the first place ? When God created the first living beings, if God would have made them perfectly good then they would not have done anything bad or evil and the cycle run by Law of Karma would not have started at all.
DeleteWhat did God get by intentionally creating imperfect living beings and putting them in imperfect situations in their very first births when they had no karma from their previous births ? Can you please explain this from the point of view of Bhagavad Gita by AC Bhaktivedanta ?
Dear Madan,
DeleteActually we are not created but evolved species and evolution is very slow but continuous process. There is no perfect or imperfect creation every human learns from their surroundings, education, along with this so many other factors contribute towards our behavior and thinking. That is why I said we all create our problems and solve them, we have many techniques and resources available today with deal with our problem, our human race was not so well equipped at any point of history and we should use these things to our advantage, but as always there are people who misuse things, who dont want peace, who want to exploit particular class or gender, they were there in past and are there now also, we need to fight with them and win the battle and it's going to be a noncontinuous battle, so lets fight it together.
Dear Anonymous,
DeleteThanks for your comment, I already read that book, I dont have very favorable opinion about that book and I already wrote couple of posts about certain sections of book which I find very sectarian and gender biased, you can have a look at that.
I dont believe and accept the hypothesis that people suffer because of their sins in previous birth, this is totally ridiculous and cruel joke which is more prevalent in India, where any tragic incident or misfortune is attributed to sins committed in previous births (even things like birth defects, handicap, some disease, widowhood, etc. are attributed to it).
One can understand that if one does wrong things then he/she will get punished if caught and thats the rule of law and makes perfect sense, but this theory of past birth karma and all punishments is truly hypothetical and without any evidence. It might help some extend people to do good things with fear of getting punished in next life but it can not and should not be used as justification for some crime like rape or murder. I dont know why people still believe in this, may be they have their own reasons for this but I dont believe in this.
Sir, I agree with you that the religious texts are gender biased. Garuda Purana which is considered holy by the Hindus and contains rules and regulations for ethical conduct for the Hindus clearly states that a person can go to heaven easily if his/her 'son' (only male child and not female child) does certain rituals after the person's death. This supports female foeticide and harassment against women who fail to give birth to male child.
DeleteThe description of heaven given in Quran is given only from the male point of view and women have been objectified. According to Quran, there are seven levels oh heaven. Messengers and martyrs make it to the topmost and best level and there 72 beautiful virgins are available as slaves (read comfort women) to each male. This clearly treats women as objects.
Even after reading Gita your anser is "may be". Belief is always "may be."
ReplyDelete