Friday, November 23, 2007

God Vs. Rationality

I never worried about my parents when I was a child. I was brought up in a safe and secure environment with a strong belief in God. God who takes care of us if we remember "him" regularly. Though I was never regular in remembering "him" (I wasn't too bothered about my own well-being), it gave me great relief to watch my parents be ardent followers of their God. Day after day I felt that they were accumalating so many brownie points with the Lord that they can never be faced with any trouble in life. And secretly I also believed that their good score with the Lord also overflowed into my account!

We had a few hiccups but my parents were always optimistic and considered the accident/fire/robbery to have been far less damaging than its potential, due to the Lord's blessings. They gave credit to God for all good and bad things that happened to us. In my early teens it became intolerable - to be told that I did well in class/in sports/in life because of God. Add to that some freaks, who happen to be the children of my parents' religious friends. would do exceptionally well in some tough exam and say it was God who wrote the exam and not them. Here I saw the same extreme modesty that is so integral a part of my Mother. The kind of modesty that goes far beyond humility and unpretentiousness - it reaches an obnoxious point where you belittle yourself in front of the mighty Lord.

I jumped from one side to the other of this religious ping-pong at home - God Vs. Rationality.
And the game goes on till today..

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