...In the name of God

Faith and Facts and Actions! My take on society and religion.

People who know me make no bones about the fact that my mind is never at rest. I like to know everything in detail. You remember Steve Job’s quote ‘stay-hungry, stay foolish’... well I think sometimes I take it a little more seriously than others do. Of late I’ve been little perplexed at the way people behave and their attitude towards different fragments in life. One person yet so many faces.

The other day I was asked by somebody why I don’t go to temples. I asked them why you do. To which I got the obvious and most expected reply- all about God and peace of mind and tradition and religion and customs and blah. (Frankly I am not against visiting the temples. They are beautiful and archeologically-amazingly placed and built.)

But what I don’t understand is why do people- the most knowledgeable people – the wiser-who-know-it-all – pray to lord and return to their corny and deceitful worldly life. What is the point?

We all complaint and cry over the corruption, crimes, inhumane acts, tragedies. But nobody wants to change their ways. People know it real well when and what they are doing might be morally incorrect but they continue and pray to lord everyday. I don’t understand their religion. I don’t know of any religion which would preach and accept its disciples to be hypocrite, cheat, inhumane and cruel. Then why do these god fearing people still do it?

I feel the problem is how we have propagated the whole idea of religion. What we think religion really is. How we are still a victim of superstitions and fancy hokum. If heaven and hell really do exist or were made to believe to have existed, why are people not scared of it anymore? And the irony is, people are super-religious. They are firm believers of their religion, worshipers of their holy books and most of them detest science (like it’s a religion created by Satan himself).

People – the blind believers who like to call themselves ‘true believers’ have a problem understanding the difference in fact and the faith! They believe everything their holy books mention of. ‘World in the palm’, ‘Earth on head of a serpent’, ‘resurrection’, ‘walking on water’, and etc. Books in all religions talk about the miracles of ‘holy man’ generously. But how much do people really know about what they are reading? How many of these true followers know who really wrote the Qur'an or the Bible?

There are over a billion people in this world, worshiping these writings, accepting every word as god’s own wisdom, slaughtering each other over them, all without having the faintest idea of where these texts really came from. And what answer do you have? ‘Oh it’s the holy book... it has been long enough here…’ Please! So it’s been long here so it ‘by default’ has to be true??? Now this is (blind) faith. There are religions in this world which in their present state are completely made up and far from what they were suppose to be when they originally started.

But I am not writing because I want to force people into finding flaws in their religions.( Frankly I don't think I can). The problem is we are living in a world of fantasy. Following the herd where somebody is following another, clueless of what is on the other-side. Ready to fight and kill over these texts and books which are based on some legends and myths going back some hundreds or thousand years!

Yes religion has been one powerful force to hold and bind many people together. No man or king could do that. But the truth is it has also been holding back people from accepting the better things, facts which comes with evolution, time and knowledge, and most importantly, it stops us from being accountable for our own actions.

A thousand years ago people while they were still in their basic stage of evolution feared the nature. They did not understand what was causing the lightening or the storm. They were confused about the concept of life and death and were scared of everything they did not understand. They needed some explanation. So the solution; God is angry – hence the lightening, God is upset – hence the storm in sea and etc. But today we are so evolved. We know God is not angry; it’s the winds and currents which are causing the rain.

And now that it is a proven thing, a fact, would you still believe if I said ‘it’s raining because God is upset’? No, now you won’t. With all the technology and knowledge you can swear people in the 1st century would have called ‘us’ the ‘Gods’.

We need to get a grip on what we are capable of. God did not create computers or find the vaccines for deadliest of diseases. We did it ourselves. Now again, it’s not about your faith in god, it’s about Faith in your Own Self. If you have not seen God with your own eyes but still believe he is there somewhere, then why won’t you do his work? I am sure your God doesn’t need all the flowers and money you spend on him. He will not ask you to kill for him. He will not be happy if people did every stupid thing in his name. A merciful god will only ask humans to be merciful to each other.

Religion today is what men have made it. And it’s all too ridiculous.

To be a true follower of god, become a true human. Respect other humans as they are your god’s creation. Respect the lives of animals, they are god’s creatures. Respect the nature, god has given you too much and you are ruining it.

Mandir mein jaa ke ghante bajane se asli bhakt nai bante.. asli bhakt vo hota hy jo bhagwaan ka kaam kare.

If every God's believer starts considering himself as God’s man, the World will be a better place!

Illusion Precision

Illusion Precision 

(Sleep Paralyses)

I was talking, smiling, chit chatting and taking a walk with my friend when unexpectedly she started pushing me down, off the path, in some deep opening near by. And then it was not funny. I felt the darkness taking over. The pressure was too much to take. I knew I was dreaming and I had to wake up no matter what or else I’d be stuck in the deep sleep and then what happens…well who knows! After much fighting with my subconscious self I managed to wake up. I opened my eyes and saw my friend sitting next to me. Looking at me and smiling. Vision was a bit hazy as I looked around and saw my dog on the floor to left of my bed, looking up, starting at me and going back to sleep.

But I could still feel the pressure. I was not sure how to get out of it so I tried to yell, make a sound or move my hands but I was paralyzed. Except for my eyes I could not move a finger. And then it started. 

An invisible force was keeping me still, forcing me to go back to sleep. I started chanting ‘Om Namah Shivay’ in my heart but even that became impossible which is kind of scary to think of now.

So I gathered all my power and forced myself to get up. Last I heard were voices like a few men were chanting in some other language; but it faded as I forced myself to open my eyes and finally... I was up.

It was scary. Who experiences something like this at 3pm!?

It took me a few seconds to realize I was dreaming in a dream (like 2 levels of dream; dream and its sub level) and was paralyzed in my sleep. ‘Sleep Paralyses’ as I (now) know it.

Everything that you see and experience during this time is so real that it becomes impossible to not believe that it really did not happen.

So when I thought I was absolutely awake; I had just gotten out of a sub-dream but I was very much sleeping and it took me another 15-18minutes to get out of the main dream. It’s kind of difficult to explain. (Imagine and relate it to the movie- Inception – yes I did experience it! Kind of feels amazing now that I’m thinking about it and writing.)

It was my first experience after I realized what I had been experiencing over so many years. I don’t even remember the age when this started to happen.

I was at a friend’s place during my vacations when I heard her elder brother telling someone that he feels some kind of pressure and it becomes impossible for him to move even though he (thinks) has completely woken up. And I thought, damn, I have been experiencing it for sometime now. I was 17 then, so I’m guessing I must have been 15-16 when it started with me. (Oh and I just turned 25.)

My friend, her brother and their mother connected it to something supernatural; spirit and ghost. Obviously! Anybody would have. I did too (in a way) and that is how I ended up finding about ‘Sleep paralyses’.

My last experience (when I didn’t know what it was) was very scary. I was asleep in my mother’s room, lying on my stomach and that is how I usually sleep. That day I was lying on my stomach, facing right side, right leg folded and arms under my chest.)

Obviously I was dreaming and etc, and then something happened and I remember waking up. I was walking out of her room, entering our dining area when suddenly I felt like there was some invisible force starting to push me down. I felt my legs getting heavier. And then there was this unexplainable darkness as I would define it, taking the control of my body starting from my feet, moving up. And I was fighting it real hard. I had put all of my energy and power to fight it and gain control of my body. It had completely taken over and the only remaining part was a small patch including my right eye and the forehead and finally I opened my eyes. I didn’t move. I lay there for a few seconds realizing and at the same time making myself sure of what just happened. It was a dream. All of it was a dream, just too real. And that is when I noticed that I was covered in blanket and the only part uncovered was my right eye and forehead. (Remember I was lying on my stomach, facing right side.)

That experience was really scary. I decided to search it online. Exactly the way these characters in some scary, psycho-thriller movies go online and type ‘husband not husband anymore’ or ‘Saarne institute for mentally sick’. I typed ‘pressure while sleeping’ and a few more key words. In no time my search showed ‘n’ number of sites. All stating and emphasizing that I’m probably in an unimaginable scary situation. Whatever I am going through and experiencing is a part of some paranormal thing. As per all the stories, mythologies, religions, I was experiencing what they stated as ‘spirit taking control of body’. Now that was definitely scary!

Imagine every site and available text is about the same story. Some spirit sitting on your chest trying to gain control of your body. I mean what the hell!

Now I am not much of a religious person but a thing like this will definitely confuse you. But I decided to look more into the matter. I knew for everything, science has a different reason and meaning. And then after hours of reading and surfing I found out about it.

I suffer from ‘Sleep Paralysis’. When I realized what it really was, I kind of felt happy. I mean not everybody experiences this ‘so-real’ dream or whatever people may call it. It’s like one of those things you must experience else you’re definitely missing something. This is so rare. It was really disappointing for me when it stopped strangely after I read the scientific explanation of it. But finally, after 6-7months of that discovery, I experienced it again. It’s really funny how I am getting addicted to the strange fear that develops while it happens. It must be like swimming with sharks in open water. You think you know it all but there is always a risk. Unexpected changes and out of control situations. In my case the risk is…what if the stories are true? What if it really is about ‘some spirit trying to gain control’!