Wednesday, August 6, 2014

In God We Trust

Do l believe in God?

Where does belief or rather faith spring from. A hand me down Sop? Or some protein strain in DNA that left subdued through generations mutating in an extempore outburst of feeling religious. Maybe it had to be a habit inculcated in childhood that made you bow down in a temple or say your prayers daily in a Jesuit school. I never questioned.

I never questioned when I had fasted,  feeling pious as I am supposed to feel.  I never did question faith when the temple bells rung after midnight and I had to jostle to glimpse the statue of God.

I never questioned why  I felt peace when I lit a candle in the church on Christmas day. I never bothered to find out why I had been overwhelmed and scared standing in the meditation room of Vivekananda Rock.  I never understood why in place of feeling religious I had wondered at the marble figures of Dillard Jain temple.

I questioned why when my head was banged on the walls of Puri temple behind the idols in the dark alley for refusing to pay up the priests.  I questioned why when a Hindu from Cambodia was refused entry into Puri temple. I questioned why when I had to walk with police cordon in a sensitive area of Varanasi.

I question why I need to utter arcane chants that I do not understand to pray to God.

When someone tells me to leave to God, I ask why?

Faith moves mountains.
But where do I find it?
I search.

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