Stephen hawking is in news these days. One of most outstanding scientist of current era ,Stephen hawking is well respected figure in world of science.His book ‘brief history of time’ is one of best seller . In his latest book called grand design ,hawking has stated that laws of physics created universe out of nothing and god was not required for that.

Stephen hawking has had used word god number of times in past but he maintains that he is not religious as per general definition of religion. During his divorce ,his wife claimed that hawking was atheist.

Now coming to god didn’t create universe claim and its impact. Would Stephen hawkings claim be accepted by masses all over the world?. Answer is no. Not yet . Religion is deep rooted in humans and without definition of god as people perceive HIM , life would soon seem meaning less.The present religions belief in omni present, all powerful being which created universe consciously . The god in turn created planets ,humans and all species living in planet or species which once live on this planet. Every religion also has system on basis of which god judges each and every individual and depending on judgment ,God
grants him/her heaven or hell . While some religions like Hinduism does not give much weightage to heaven and have concept of re birth and final destination is not heaven but getting absorbed in god .Going back to source with and no return.

If we forget the religious divide and see a broader view on god and humans , core of most religion is same. God who creates , god who judges. So when Stephen hawking says ‘god didn’t create universe’ , most believers reject it while some say what hawkings meant was that god created a system and that system in turn created everything. The latter thinking does work in harmony with science since it facilitates provision of big bang and evolution both. There is a school of thought which does believe in this where in, god created system and formed laws. God does not break law and neither allows law to be broken. Auto system as per law manages universe.

But idea that there is no god is too confronting for human race. Belief on an intelligent power with ability to create , control and even destroy has been part of human beings since human race began to think. If we take into account modern scientific theory , human race have been on earth since 0.2 million years . Later humans evolved and formed civilization and in remains of every civilization ,we can find some or other way of worshiping. As new scientific discovery claims that we are wired to be spiritual beings!!!!!..Spirituality is natural and answers to questions like -’Why we are here?’ , ‘What are death’, ‘Who made all these’ is where religion steps in. Religion is answer to basic questions of thinking mind. Every religion claims to be ultimate truth , divinely inspired and its god/prophet being only god/prophet. This belief too is purely human and is seen in majority of humans all across the globe.So ‘no god’ theory or ‘god didn’t create theory’ is simply not conducive to humans who have grown up with ‘all powerful god’ way of thinking and being part of legacy .

Coming to larger question. Does what Stephen hawking says matters to human race?. Well it does to scientist and various people who are not part of any religion. It does pave way to research on claims of Stephen hawking about how gravity could have created something from nothing?. While for those who believe in god ,it does not matter what hawking says. Most believers are confronting hawking by counter question like if gravity created universe ,who/what created gravity?. Religion has answer to it and answer is god. If asked what created god , religion has answer to that too.God was always there ,no one created god. PERIOD.

Being fair to religion ,it has indeed work for human race. It has contributed immensely to human race barring fanatics of every religion whose zeal ‘my way or highway’ is threat to human lives. Other than that religion has worked for humans in keeping hopes alive , in motivating humans to do good for themselves and others , in keep faith at worst times , in adding meaning and value to human lives . Without god life would become too mechanical for most. We live , we die and that’s it. Our life would become mere hunt for bread and butter , contuning the species . No heaven , no after life , no reward for being good , no feeling of justice. Religion surely works and why change what works for general human race?

Science is curious by default.It has habit of seeking. It would continue to do so. It is not that Stephen hawking is first person to challenge popular belief system . Challenging established school of thought has been as old as human itself. In the end what hawking says must be followed up by scientist but religion would remain part of humans in one form or other and that too is reality.

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Micchami Dukkadam is phrase used on Kshamavani Diwas celebrated on Samvatsari, the concluding day of the eight-day Paryushana festival.

Literal meaning of micchami dukkadam is may all evil that has beeb done be fruitless. The phrase is used by Jains to seek forgiveness from all creatures to whom they might have done some harm knowingly or unknowingly.

Though associated with JAIN I believe this is wonderful concept which can be adopted by every human being in the world. Forgiveness is one of best things that humans are capable of and asking for forgiveness requires courage and strong desire to be forgiven.

Forgiving works two ways. One it helps is re starting relationship with other person while it helps us ourselves get free from all emotions which gets generated when we interact , think or see the person whom we have not forgiven.

As it is said that only strong can forgive others , in same way only authentic person can seek forgiveness. According to me Michhami Dukkadam is one of best phrases which humans can utter. If person uttering this words also means it , world would get transformed.

It  is easy to seek forgiveness and forgive others when we are kids. Perhaps that is why we say bacche bhagwan ka roop hote hain. But as we grow up , we claim to have matured and knowing well that in end we would die someday and wont take anything with us , still we cannot forgive easily!!!!!!!!!!. Now if this is maturity , well to remain kid seems to be better option.

I understand some people do things which hurt us , break our trust , we incur loss because of that and at times scars of the incident remain long enough but still I invite you to forgive that person. The person whom you hate the most , the person whom you wished didnt exist or shouldn’t have come in your life, the person whose name itself sparkes negative emotions in you.

Forgiving that person is exactly what I invite you to. Why?. Because it would set you free from incidents that you are captive of. Can’t believe. Try it but forgiving should be in authentic.

In same way at times we hurt others , we harm others by our actions , knowingly or unknowingly. May be our desire to compete , our greed , our own fears , our survival instinct made us do what ever we did or may be we did something which we regret know.

I invite you to call that person or email him/her or meet personally and say MICHHAMI DUKKADAM. I understand it would take something from your part to do so but guess what. Biggest tunnel is guilt tunnel , once you are in ,it never ends!!!!!!. Asking for forgiveness is easy than remaining in guilt tunnel forever. Can’t believe. Try it but it should be in authentic.

Finally I would like to say MICCHAMI DUKKADAM to all my readers. Jaane anjaane if any of my article did hurt your sentiments , I seek forgiveness.

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Lord ganesha is one of most popular gods of hinduism. Ganesh chathurthi is being celebrated all across India with lot of enthusiasm today. Vignaharta Lord Ganesha is very important deity of Hindus. Any puja begins with Lord ganesha’s puja first. Even when any new work is started lot of people say shri ganesh karo. Such is importance of lord ganesha among hindus.

The month of august have been month of festivals for India this year. Raksha badhan , Independence Day , Janmasthami , Sravan Mahina , EID and not ganesh chaturdhi.

These festivals reminds us of diversity that India is and how these festivals makes us realize that happiness lies in celebrating festivals, in togetherness , in relations. In relations with ourselves , our culture and our surroundings.

In today’s fast paced world , festivals are like little breaks which help us get connected with what is important in our lives (whether we are religious or not) and recharge ourselves.

It is said that bollywood is mirror of society and society ,its values and dieties do impact and effect bollywood. Lord Ganesha’s song have been part of bollywood since long.

Here is list of few of my favorites songs

1) Deva re Deva , gandpati deva tum se badh kar kaun

Aur tumhaare bhagt jano mein hum se badh kar kaun

swami hum se badh kar kaun

2) Agle barash tumko aana hi hoga

moriya re bappa moriye re …song from don (remake)

3)Sabse Accha ,sabse pyaara ganpati bappa

sabse utam sabse nayaara , ganpati bappa

4) Finally the ganesh aarti

Jai ganesh jai ganesh jai ganesh deva
mata jakii parvatii, pitaa mahaadeva

Eka danta dayavanta, caar bhuja dhaarii
mathe sinduura sohai, muuse kii savari
jai ganesh…

Andhana ko aankha deta, korhina ko kaayaa
banjhana ko putra deta, nirdhana ko maaya
jai ganesh…

Paana carhe, phuula carhe, aura carhe meva
ladduan ko bhoga lage, sant karen seva
jai ganesha…

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Swami Agnivesh is back in news. The naxal-government mediator and Anna Hazare’s team man , Swami Agnivesh sparked controversy by stating that amarnath yatra is fraud in name of religion. He wondered why do people go to amarnath yatra at first place since shivling (in amarnath) is natural process . He also stated that amarnath yatra had nothing to do with religion.

Religion is highly sensitive topic. Humans can die for sake of religion and can kill for sake of religion. Religion has potential of bringing best in humans and even worst in humans. 26/11 , 9/11 , gujarat riots,crusaders are examples of what religion can do when it comes to inhumaness.

For those reading this post , my invitation is to read it without getting too much passionate over religion. Let us first see agnivesh’s arguments. So shivling in amarnath is natural process. Fair enough , I dont think many would dispute this. Ofcourse it is natural process but so is birth , death. So is survival instinct and so is carving of understanding meaning of our lives.

Religion doesnot need logic to make one believe and in all faiths we have stories which can be questioned and doubted. We have stories in all big three religions namely hinduism , Islam and Chrisitanity about great floods. Now if one wants one can question the story and there would be loads of questions if we go by logic.

Coming back to faith and logic , well according to stephen hawkings , we dont need god at first place. For him earth and universe are result of natural phenomena governed by natural laws. So like shivling of amarnath , earth too is natural creation. So if we go by stephen hawkings theory god itself is biggest myth and concept of god is biggest scam ever!!!!!!!!!.

Belief in god or religion does help humans keep going in their lives and my belief is right while yours is wrong is too closed minded ways of seeing things. Any belief which empowers person to see through tough times and trimpuh is good enough , according to me. In end what we see , hear , analyze and belief is restricted to our senses and powerful processor called Brain. Since thats the tool , no one can claim that his/her belief is only truth for the world.  Yes it may be only truth for believer of that thought process but might not be truth for believer of other thought process.

So amarnath yatra might make no sense to swami agnivesh and he has right to express his own opinion but it does make sense to millions who go for yatra and no one is world has right to question others faith.

Personally for me every religion is human made thing and god has nothing to do with it but that is my personal opinion. Is it truth?.I understand we hear  there is only one truth which is right statement but which is it?. Well every person believes that his/her belief is only truth!!!!!!!.  For me it is but for others it is not truth. It is good to respect mutual beliefs and truths because in end truth is what our brain believes to be truth.

It is better if swami agnivesh restricts himself to what he does well and that is serving tribes and mediating between naxals and government. Religion is matter of belief and let is be so.

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Religion is one of most powerful and influential entity in human civilization.It has immensely contributed in directing human civilization , contributing in social system , inducing moral values . Human civilization is indebted to religion for taking human race to current position.

But as religion has played important role in positive terms ,it has also being responsible for many blood sheds , murders,looting and division among human race.

People in dream of getting heaven or protecting their religious identity quiet often forget the very base of being human. People forget that logic , compassion , love , hope makes us human .People forget that our ancestors have worked really hard to take us where we are and in over zeal of religion people tend to get back to roots and that is jungle from where we all started at first place.

West bengal’s deganga is seeing riots . Trinamool Congress MP Haji Nurul Islam is alleged to be leading disillusioned mob and the mob is doing what mob can do the best. That is killing of innocent ,looting shops and destroying worship place. Since mob is of fanatic muslims , the people at receiving hands are hindus.

Ironically Hindus being in majority , Indian media didnt find it too exciting to cover the news like it did in Gujarat riot case. There is no sabse tej , no name calling and no ngos rushing to save Hindus. Gujarat riots cannot be justified of course. It saw deganga reversed and slaughter of Muslims . All in name of god..

Another incident which is shocking and worth condemning is chopping of hands of christian professor in kerala by some Islamic fanatic. Professor’s crime was that he is alleged of insulting Muhammad. Now what professor did was hurting religious sentiment and what is civilized way of bringing professor to justice?. Launch a police complain and get the professor arrested. Did these fanatic do that?. Well no. They used ways which are obsolete , violent and worth condemning as human ,irrespective of whether one is hindu or Muslim or christian or Sikh or anything . They simply chopped his hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If chopping hands or slaughter of hindus in deganga or gujarat riots is shocking , well a church in Florida has decided to burn qurans on 9/11/2001. Now how does burning quran help?. Only this church can answer but Islamic center near ground zero is said to have created anti Islam drive in usa and many are actually supporting the burning.

Fanatics of every religion view world in very narrow prism. World for them is we v/s they. Those who believe in their book or prophet or god come in category of “We” ,while those who dont they fall in category of “They”. “WE” too has lot of divisions but “They” is what these fanatics either want to convert or eliminate. In the process of dividing world into we v/s they , what these fanatics forget is religion is for humans and not animals and killing anyone or destroying their cherished places in not being human. What ever god they worship cannot be happy seeing people getting killed and there cannot be any heaven for murders.

Religion is lethal if misunderstood and can bring animal out of humans. Riots , killings,murders,demolishing worship places. That is not religion .

As world is becoming more and more smaller place , the interaction between people with different regional identity , different faith and different nationality would increase. Human race is neither hindu or muslim or christian or sikh or parsi. It is human race. Deep within we all are same , beneath the layers of hindus or muslims or christians is a human being who loves ,hopes,desires ,dreams. This human is universal and this human needs to evolve and brought into daily life.

Whether I call almighty as allah or god or shiv or jesus is my personal matter and it should be the case. When any human being walks out of his house,he is just representative of human race.

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Call it plain irony . Pakistan faced worst floods since last 80 years and one of worst crisis since its independence. What geography could not do , what common history could not do , what similar culture could not do ,nature did. India humbly requested pakistan to accept aid from it which pakistan rightly did. The most unpopular country in pakistan ,that is USA was first to reach pakistan for assistance through nwfp border and usa collected around $200 million aid for pakistan. USA also sent its aid chief who co incidentally happens to be Indian-American , Mr Rajiv Shah!!!!!!!!!.

Mr rajiv shah’s pakistan calling was not spared from controversies. Rajiv shah reportely was threatened by extremist not because he has Indian link but because extremist have threatened all foreigners who came to assist pakistan in these terrible times!!!!!!!!. But what sparked controversy is Rajiv shah’s visit to a relief camp. Soon after his visit lashkar-e-taiba urf jamaat ud dawa claimed to dawn’s reporter that the camp is being run by them and so usa indirectly endorsed their activities!!!!!!!!

Rajiv shah and usa’s embassy in pakistan soon denied the claims and counter claimed that the camp was run by non other than united nations.

Lashkar e taiba’s camps are not new . They run terror camps 24 hours a day , 365 days an year but they also run relief camps during floods , earth quakes , run schools , assist poors and such stuffs. They love to run terror camps to kill Indians and run relief camps for branding in Pakistan. It works for them since they continue getting money as charitable trust , gain sympathy among people of Pakistan whom they serve and this helps them in running their killing system.

I dont have objection of lashkar e taiba having relief camps. If they get involved in charity activities for ever , I would be more than happy but running relief camps for needy and using guns to kill innocents at same time is something which doesnot make sense. But with extremist viewing world in narrow prism of we v/s they , human race is again not one unit.

As pakistan battles this calamity let us wish them well and hope lashkar expands its horizon and sheds its narrow view of world..

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Religion , the one word which has contributed immensely in human evolution and the one word which has let to killing of thousands in its name. Religion , the one word which can unite humans and one word which can divide humans.

Nothing has played more sensitive role in human race than religion. People have died for sake of religion , people have killed for sake of religion , people have done unimaginable to fellow human beings in name of religion , people have done totally selfless things which can be said as pinnacle of humanity for sake of religion.

Religion be it be any claims to be divine revelation ,directly from god. In some religion god is said to have manifested HIMSELF as human while in some religion god choose a person or made some special person born as messiah or messenger who brought message of god on earth.

The message of one god which applies to all human beings. God which rates human beings with one eye . God who wants human race to do good , avoid sins and live life as per rules/guidelines which are given in religious scriptures.

So purpose of religion is assisting humans to reach god , live righteous life and attain heaven (as in case of some religion ) or salvation (as in case of some religion).

Now since religion is for entire human race and god views all as equals why do we have fights, killings , murders , riots and such things in name of religion.

A news from pakistan stated that a hindu community was attacked by 150 tribesman. Reason?. A hindu boy drank water from outside of mosque!!!!!!!!!!!!

Similarly when a foreigner entered a well known temple in India , entire temple was washed by milk to clean temple since foreigners are prohibited!!!!!!!!. Similar things had happened when a famous heroine claimed to have entered a temple.

When I was in college , along with my friends I went to a church to celebrate Christmas. I was not welcomed there and people looked at me as if i am from Jupiter as soon as my non christian identity got reviled!!!!!!!!!

Religion fails the purpose if ‘we are better than fellow person because of our faith’ enters the brain. Ego , boasting , differentiating , evaluating , judging is human trait .

Ironically most religion claim to believe in god’s judgment but at first instinct try to judge others on basis of one’s own standards.

When Religion Fails The Purpose , incidents like above occur.

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Who says threats for so called honor are limited to rural parts of subcontinent. Recently delhi , capital of India saw killing of lovers in name of honor. Here the issue was of caste and girl belonged to so called upper caste while boy belonged to so called lower caste. ‘So called’ , because there is nothing like lower caste or upper caste thing.

Another shocking news came from punjab where a step father is accused of killing his step daughter . The step father and daughter are NRIs (non resident indians ).

Now another news made headlines in most of Indian news website. This is regarding an actress who starred in famous harry potter movie. Afshan Azad featured in four harry potter movies as Padma Patil.

She has been threatened by her brother and father for her alleged relationship with a ‘Hindu’ boy. The case is not from some rural or remote village of India but for united kingdom.

What it takes to attack/kill/threaten one’s own kins for sake of so called honor . What it takes to kill and end one’s offspring’s life for sake of religion or caste?. I dont know what it takes accept being inhuman and religion is for humans not for people who loose basics of humanities. Isn’t it?

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Faisal shahzad , the pakistani born , usa citizen who tried to blow bomb at new york times square pleaded guilty.

He described himself as muslim soldier while his attempt as part of answer to usa. Calling it war he didn’t regret trying to target citizen. According to him citizen of usa are not different since they elect governments.

He described his failed attempt as revenge of usa’s occupation on Muslim lands , drone attack on Somalia , pakistan and military operations in afghanistan and Iraq.

He also warned usa that till it continues with its occupation , operations and attacks , more attacks of usa might occur.

Now this so called muslim soldier failed to see that time square is busy street and muslims too might had got killed in bomb would have triggered.

What this so called muslim soldier also failed to see that drone attacks in pakistan are aimed at people who kill fellow muslims like they killed so many in pakistan , itself.

What this so called muslim soldier failed to see is sadam too killed muslims like he claims usa did by invading Iraq.

What this so called muslim soldier also failed to see is so many muslims who live in europe and usa in search of better life in terms of money and quality.

The most important thing which faizal failed to see is global politics and myth that muslims are one nation. Because if that would have been the case , we wont have had so many different countries in arab world , we wont have seen iran-iraq war , we wont have seen iraq invadin kuwait and we wont have seen so many blood sheds for power in history of muslim world.

This post is not about defending usa . What usa is doing is what it thinks its best to serve its interest while what it uses a means for serving its interest are not kids as far as government heads or countries are concerned. They work as per what they think is best for them.

Did usa force pakistan to become launching pad for jihadis fighting against ussr. Pervez now mentions that problems which pakistan faces today are side effects of ussr war.

Did usa force karzai to become president or for that matter iraqi politicians?. They could have refused if they wanted but they thought it to be best for themselves and their country to be part of the plan.

It is high time for people of various faith to realize that religion and politics are two different things. Latter has used former to gain access to power but later is not former.

No faith in the world has stopped people from using other people , murdering others , slaughtering others , no matter what religion preaches.

If people like faizal really want to do good for their community and really curb usa’s interference , the works starts at home. Make sure that people are served , nurtured and made effectiv force which prosper economically , scientifically . Once that is done , rest would fall in place.

Terrorism wont help and it would give bad name to community and innocent , peaceful people would suffer.

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I remember when ahmedabad was hit by major earthquake and my building had got demolished by brutal force of nature.  All people living in my building were humbled by nature. Lives were lost , property was demolished. Help started pouring in from all quarters. People helped with time , even with money. Rich , poor , hindu , sikhs , muslims ,christians , jains , all contributed . Not just for us but for all effected in ahmedabad and in kutch.

Another example of people’s generosity and humanity is example of gayatri devi. A freedom fighter fighting for her rights. As soon as CNN-IBN showed her plight , not just government but aam aadmi , NGOs and Big B stepped in to help her out. It was not charity but giving the freedom fighter back as gesture to what she did for country. No amount , no money can evern compensate that but atleast gayatri devi can live in peace in country which she dreamt and worked for.

Another example is of abhishek kumar. He cracked IIT living in poverty. He didn’t even have electricity at his home. His hard work took him through the entrance but he hit dead end when paying fees came into scene. NDTV showed his issue and help came from various quarters.

Indians are sick and tired of corrupted system caste division and religious issues but time and again Indians have proved that they stand with people during their hour of problems. Time and again ordinary people have joined hands for a casue. Be it be gayatri devi or abhishek kumar or getting justice for jessica lal or ruchika. Time and again people have made all partriot Indians proud of being Indian.

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