Got me thinking....

I recently came across an interesting article which said that atheism is a higher form of living-the first step on the path to freedom from the silken bonds of maya. The author says that God-worship is no more than a deification of our ego, a euphemism to self-worship. There is also this supporting statistic by a French sociologist which says that in countries where the tradition of God-worship is most entrenched (like India or Roman Catholic Italy), the incidence of bribery in everyday life is also proportionately high. This is because, the authors supports, when people take pleasure in bribing the eternal for their personal motives, they also don’t find fault in slipping in a few currency notes to get their work done.
Now, this got me thinking. That is because I am a theist to the core. And when such an idea comes up it really shakes up the very foundations of my belief. I believe I have a fair justification to my perception of the ideology, the concept of God worship.
It is true that when I pray I ask for certain things from the almighty like peace of mind and heart, to make me a better person and an apology for my mistakes. It is certainly not right to pray for some material things as a good grade or a better job etc. (and I am being fairly true to myself here). These are also unquestionably personal. But then who prays for world peace or a cure for AIDS or for a solution to global warming and climate change! People may part views with me on this but in the privacy of their innermost desires, I know, the prayers are invariably personal.
However, when I chant verses or light diyas and candles, it is not only for some favors or gains. It goes to show that I completely and absolutely surrender myself to the creator, the God and comply with the fact that there is some higher power that makes all the things happen, things which are even outside the scope of science, or logic and reason. This does not make God some bribable Babu and the very thought of comparing Him with some bureaucrat (as the author of the article mentions) is gross. Sometimes, just sitting in the serene solace of the almighty makes all the pains and fears go away. How do you justify this?
The author says ‘Why make it God’s job to get you what you want?’ To me this is a false argument to being an atheist. Prayers, to me, are nothing but taking blessings from some elderly person just as one takes blessings from parents before an important endeavour or asking for help to achieve some immaterial things like solace at heart or peace of mind. God-worship is also a reason which keeps you away from any wrong deeds.
I believe a prayer which includes material things - passing an exam, getting a good job or finding the girl/boy of your life – is not the right way of showing devotion to god. If thus is the case then that author is right in saying that we are trying to force our supremacy on other fellowmen, reinforcing and entrenching the sense of self and trying to bribe God for things which are in our total control and will.
Be a theist at heart and a rationalist person at mind. Let’s not give people a chance to question our ideologies (As for the earlier statistic, I believe it is just a coincidence). Personally, I don’t care a whether a person believes in God or not, it is purely a personal choice but when someone questions my ideologies I surely will voice my opinion.
Cheers,
Piyush.