“What is your relationship with God?”
This is one question that I’ve asked people in different cities and it has always managed to elicit a universally intriguing glance. Some pretend to be cool and casual about it – almost bordering on sounding atheist. Most others are scared to even talk of a ‘relationship with God’, lest the superior powers punish them for some blasphemy. A majority of people (typically seniors) answer in an affirmatively obvious tone, maybe because that’s the most socially accepted way? Its really hard to tell whether they are being honest.
Indians definitely take the cake for being the most God-fearing nation. What’s more, we are such a huge land mass and culturally diverse, that we have managed to create innumerable variations of him. Some popular statistics estimate that we have 33 million Gods for a country of 1.2 billion! That clearly says how well covered we are. Middlemen (priests, or what you popularly refer to as ‘pujaris’) have added to the confusion through their own interpretations. And then there are many sages who have acquired demi-god status over time. Over the years the key message got lost in translation as we kept adding to the count. What we also failed to see is that it is these middlemen who are responsible for instilling that fear in our minds. Plus there is always strength in numbers, so a higher total was obviously intimidating.
Many women to whom I asked told me that they consider God as their brother or some even, lover. I was hardly surprised to hear that. It is easy to fall in love with Him. Since childhood our parents have narrated stories of miracles performed by God. In all media, He is shown dressed in grandeur and decked with exotic jewels, apart from the fact that they already are athletically built (why is that a universal truth, by the way? I am thinking of you Greeks).
On top of this, most Gods are extremely handsome and many are depicted polygamous. As if that wasn’t enough, Gods live in opulence and luxury is a way of life for them. It is safe to say that Gods symbolize the concept of ‘larger than life’. Why then should a woman not fall in love with Him? If I could, I would have!
And thinking of this brought me to ponder over another interesting aspect. For some odd reason, Gods in most cultures and religions is a male form. There are female derivatives and some of them are very powerful too. But since most religions consider God to be the supreme power, they feel it is justified to grant him male form. According to me, that concept is intrinsically flawed. I consider God to be ‘perfect’, and despite being a man myself, I feel women are far more perfect than men.
Personally for me, God is a friend, guide, mentor. I have regular conversations with him, even though it may sound mostly one-sided. On occasion, He does talk to me, but that is mostly only when I question him hard. It’s a rather silent discussion, where in I am mostly interpreting what he might be saying. Nothing wrong with that, maybe that’s his style of communication!
I feel He is the kind of friend I never had but always wished for. Of course I have the utmost respect for Him and would never do things that I can do with human or pet friends – like drunk talk or abusing or joking. In fact, it is only recently that I mustered up the courage to look him in the eyes and talk. Having said that, I do question him a lot. Blame it on my curious nature but I feel I deserve to know answers to certain things. After all, he brought me into this world and I’m sure there was a reason for that.
So what’s YOUR relationship status with him?
Very interesting write-up! Interesting to know about your relationship with him!
After giving it a thought, I feel my relationship with him is that of a disciple and a mentor.