My Experiments with Truth: DOES GOD EXIST?

There are many wild, wacky, bizarre, absurd, foolish and irrational ideas and beliefs when it comes to the subject of God. One hears many things related to this subject, different people have different viewpoints. Whether the truth is among them is not clear. And, of course, the big question familiar to all of us: Does god exist? Many people believe that he does; and is the supreme creator and destroyer. Many others (atheists) think more skeptically and refuse to believe in God without any evidence. Then there are others (like me) who are somewhere in the middle, they don’t completely have faith and neither are they ignorant like atheists; many of them are looking for answers, trying to find the truth.

Let’s look at some real life experiences and incidents, and see if we can conclude anything and resolve this dilemma.

A six- year-old boy, the only son of his parents was on his way back from school. As usual with children on their return journey, he was impatient to get back home. Without bothering to look on either side, he ran across the road and was knocked down by a speeding truck and killed instantaneously. The truck driver sped away and was never traced. An innocent life was lost, the man who took his life escaped punishment.

Is there a God? An all powerful and just God? The holy book promises: “No ills befall the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble” (Proverbs). The holy book asks: “Consider, what innocent ever perished, or where have the righteous been destroyed?”. Let those who believe in God and His infinite mercy explain why a child whose parents had committed no sin had pain inflicted upon them and then the man who caused them suffering went scot free.

So this was one incident that suggests that there is no God, or at least it does suggest that God (if there is one) is above the notions of fairness and moral rules, that apply to us mortals; He is in fact (if He is) one who is the wadda beparwah-the uncaring great one. 

Well, this incident and the conclusion that it provides does appeal to me as it would to many. But I have a reason not to believe completely in what it suggests. It has incubated out of my own experience.

In June 2010, I had an extremely rare and severe case of typhoid. I was in the hospital for nearly two weeks. It was a very painful experience, particularly for the first few days as I was living only on tasteless juices and also had to undergo many tests and scans. Anyways, getting to the main part, I was discharged after two weeks though I was not completely alright but well enough to go home. After getting discharged I was visiting the hospital for the medicines, tests, scans, and frequent meetings with the doctor continued. Till that time I had no idea about how rare and severe my illness had been.

Then, sometime in August, during my meeting with the doctor, he told me that my H.I.D.A. scan (it’s a nuclear scan to see your gall bladder) results showed that my gall bladder was still inflated and was not functioning, and that I would have to get my gall bladder removed if even after taking loads of antibiotics it didn’t function. (This is because a non-functioning organ can act as a carrier of infections). A fourteen-year-old is bound to get scared on the thought of an operation and the removal of an organ. (Though the body functions perfectly well even without the gall bladder) So, I sat there on the doctor’s chair, terrified at the thought of an operation. To the surgeon, though, it was no big deal, for him it was just a typical hour long surgery which he had performed many times. The other doctor whom I was consulting prescribed me with more antibiotics and told me that there was a chance that the gall bladder may start working. He told me that I was going to take another HIDA scan after two months, and if the gall bladder still didn’t work, it would have to be removed. Petrified, I went back home. For the next two months I ate cautiously, took the prescribed antibiotics in the hope that my gall bladder starts functioning and I don’t have to undergo an operation.

So, in November, I again underwent the HIDA scan and the result was astonishing. My gall bladder was functioning. I took the report to the Doctor and he was also very happy and exclaimed that there was no need for any operation. Then he revealed all the “dark secrets” about my case that were hidden from me so far: My case had been so rare that out of all the typhoid cases in the country, only 1-2% were similar to mine. The doctors in that hospital had never seen a case like that. And, they had held a seminar on my case in which doctors from all over the city were present! “Wow” I thought. “A seminar on my case, it was so rare!” It was blowing my mind. Then he went on to disclose that my case had been so severe that doctors had lost all hope that they would be able to treat it with antibiotics. They were prepared for an operation from the beginning. But he had told them to wait, and see if they could cure me with antibiotics. He didn’t want a fourteen-year-old kid to lose an organ of his body. Even though he knew that the chances were EXTREMELY less, he tried, and he succeeded. “It is all due to God’s grace” he said.

A doctor saying that I had been cured due to God’s grace? My case had been so severe that an operation seemed unavoidable? Then how did I escape it? How was it that I was cured completely with only antibiotics?

Was my illness cured because God (if He is) listened to my family’s prayers and his blessings got me out of it? Yes and No. Yes, because there is no other scientific explanation. No, because, well as the doctor had told me that the chances were extremely less but there were chances, so I might have been lucky. Atheists will most likely go for the second option: I was lucky to get out of it. But think about it. If I was lucky, why did I get typhoid in the first place? Why did luck favor me only when I needed it the most, and only when my family prayed? I am not concluding anything here.

There must be some supreme power that created us and keeps a watch on everything that’s going on and responds when there is someone need. Think about it.

P.S.-I'm not saying that there was some dude who wanted to help rescue his kidnapped chick with the help of some flying monkey. But there must be something. What do you think?

Interview with God...

The first part of this article is has been taken from khushwant singh’s book, “Gods and Godmen of India”

I dreamed I had an interview with god. “Come in,” god said, “so you would like to interview me?”

“If you have time,” I said. God smiled and said, what questions do you have in mind to ask me?”

“What surprises you most about mankind?” I asked.

God answered: “That they get bored with being children; are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health; that by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor for the future. That they live as if they will never die and die as if they had never lived…”

God’s hands shook and we were silent for a while. Then I asked… “As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?” . . .

God replied with a smile, “to learn that they cannot make anyone love them; what they can do is to let themselves be loved. To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.

“All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis! To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most but one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love and that it takes many years to heal them.

“to learn that there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings. To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently. To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them…and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but they have to forgive themselves.”

I sat there for while enjoying the moment. I thanked him for his time and for all that he has done for me and my family. He replied, “I am here twenty-four hours a day. all you have to do is to ask for me and I’ll answer.”

People will forget what you said,

People will forget what you did,

But people will never forget

How you made them feel.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE ADVERSITY?

A young woman told her mother how difficult things were for her.
She did not know how she was going to make it and felt like giving
up.


Her mother took her to the kitchen and filled three pots with
water. Soon the water started boiling. In the first pot, she placed
carrots. In the second, she put eggs. And in the third, she placed
coffee beans. She let them sit and boil.
In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the
carrots out and placed them on a plate. She pulled the eggs out and
placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it
in a mug.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, "What do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," her daughter replied.
Her mother handed her some carrots. They were soft.
The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed that the egg was now hard
boiled.
Then the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter
smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
Then the daughter asked, "What does all this mean?"
Her mother said that each of these had faced the same adversity --
boiling water. But each reacted differently.
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on
your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee
bean?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I
wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with an open heart, but changes with the
heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a break-up, a
financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and
stiff?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot
water -- the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water
gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the
bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the
situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you
elevate yourself to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee
bean?

BRICK WALLS

    

  We all have to face obstacles and hurdles in life. It is the same for all. Life is unfair for all. We have to be prepared for it. Trust me on this- you will fall down, you will get hurt, there will be people trying to stop you from achieving your goal, there will be days when you’ll feel lost, betrayed, wronged. Like I said, it is the same for all. But then why is it that some people are more successful than others?...why do some people lead a better life than others?...why are some people so rich and some so poor?...if everyone has to face similar adversities in life why is it that some people suffer while others prosper?...

The reason is very simple. We all face difficulties, but what makes us different from the others is how we choose to respond to those difficulties. When something bad happens, there are three ways in which people usually respond-

• Their self-esteem falls apart. Their emotions take over their brain. They can’t think clearly. These people generally have the ability, resources and intelligence to accomplish what they want to but they become weak when things don’t go as expected and begin to lose hope. Gradually, as life goes on and they have to face more hardships, they cry, they lose all hope and finally give up.

• Then, there are people who blame their luck for whatever happens to them. When they have to go through hard times, they blame life for it. “Life is not fair”, “I am so unlucky”, “god is favoring the others” are the common phrases you would have heard from these people. They are always making excuses. They want to succeed, but they refuse to accept their mistakes. They are always blaming others, luck and life for whatever they did wrong.

• They accept their mistakes and learn from them. They don’t blame life or luck for their bad times. Neither do they sit and cry. They don’t let their emotions take control of them and they don’t get mad when everything is going bad for them. They always remain in control of their actions and think clearly before taking action. These are the people who ultimately succeed.

So here are a few important things which you need to remember-

→ “You will fall down, you will get hurt but there are better things to do than wallow in self-pity”

      → Have a positive attitude. Believe in yourself. Build your self-esteem.  

“If you think you can or if you think you can’t, either way you are right” 

→Never give up. If you fail once, try again, and keep trying till you succeed.

“A man who succeeds does not succeed because he is braver than the others, it’s because he was brave for ten more minutes.”

→Learn from your mistakes. Making a mistake is alright, but making the same mistake again is not.

→Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment;  so if you’re having a bad day, don’t worry-you might be getting a whole lot of experience.

→Don’t lose hope.

→Brick walls are there for a reason- they are there to stop those from going ahead who don’t want it badly. They are there to separate the ones who want something badly from those who have a casual approach. If you want something badly, you gotta fight for it and overcome the obstacles in your way. 

BEST OF LUCK  :)