Being from an ethnic and cultural country like India, belief in terms like god or supernatural powers were instilled in me just like it is in a tiger to hunt. But in the early days of my childhood, there was a period when I started to doubt the credibility of my belief. The doubt was not because I heard some brainwashing speech by an atheist but just immaturity. Some day to day incidents didn’t go my way and I would simply put the blame on the supernatural powers (God). More over when I started to know more about the epics and the foundation of our religion (The Ramayana and The Mahabharata) let’s just say I did not have positive vibes about men and women who were showcased equivalent to superman , spider man and some other popular anime characters of our time.
Hence I took some courage and one fine summer afternoon talked to my mother about the topic and how I felt about it. Frankly speaking i did not expect a heart warming response. Indeed after I asked the questions (Does god really exist? If it is so why isn’t he fair to me?) it felt like someone had dropped a nuclear bomb in our house and I was scolded like anything. I was told to say sorry to god, (which made me feel very awkward, given the circumstances) head back straight to my room and never ask such kind of crappy question ever again. I felt quite bad that day.
Then one day while my mother and I were talking about Jawaharlal Nehru (might be one of my Hindi lessons) my mother told me something very strange and yet gave me a perfect answer to my question. She said that the fact that great people like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi existed is known by us (a statement which cannot be disputed). But a thousand years later if the same story of sacrifice and courage is passed on by a parent to his child, there might be some cases where the parent may find himself lacking in proof to aid his story(although with the present state of access to abundant information I hope the situation does not arise).
Let’s face it, back then (the time of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata) people did not have proper mediums to transfer the information, except by oral communication. Hence it would be wrong to say some people existed, who believed in sacrifice, truth, justice, love, friendship and some other traits that were found missing during the era in which the human beings were beginning to develop a forum which was later known as society.
As time went by the actual story got a little bit diluted, (the original traits still forming the core of it) and when the story was to be recorded a little bit of spice was added to it to make it more appealing for the readers (a possible reason why these epics are still so popular among all the age groups). There may be a time (say 3000 AD) when the parents will talk about flying Mahatma Gandhi and a historic battle between Bhagat Singh and the Brits in which mysterious weapons like light showers and water bazookas were used.
Unknowingly my mother gave me an answer I had been looking for long. The epics are not about the larger than life characters but the essential core values that these characters possess. The story gives a catchy look just to invite its readers.
The day I got the answer was not a path altering day of my life but it made me realize what the epics actually were- an epitome of the traits which make us who we are, human beings.
wishing everybody a happy festive season
