Posts Tagged ‘God’
My God, Your God
It was waiting to snap any moment. Whether a prominent Fakir is God or not, has been debated for some time. However the level of discourse seems to have come down of late. With self-proclaimed representatives on either sides uttering choicest of expletives on prime-time, it has become an embarrassment for the followers.
My parents are practicing Hindus and heed to every temple under the sun. They also go to Baba’s shrine to pay respects. I am agnostic to idol worship and have never given too much thought into.
More than faith, the issue seems to be the struggle for power. With the rise of the followers of Baba, a new religious authority has come up with equally fat belly and equally fat purse. So who takes the cake?
Whether Baba can be considered a Hindu God and can be placed in Hindu temples is the contention here. The body that guides the temples says NO with the other side lobbying for it. There are allegations of power play, money changing hands and what not.
As if it was not bad enough that successive generations have become disillusioned with idol worships, these fights have made it worse.
Pro-Baba lobby says, “Our sentiments are hurt; when you say remove him from temples”. The other side says, “Our sentiments are hurt; when you force his idol in our temples”.
I say, my brain hurts. Help me God!
Worship Oneself: 330 million Gods
330 million. The number of Gods in Hindu mythology. It has always intrigued me. Who came up with this number? Why it is not 340 million or 350 million? Why is has to be 330 million?
I have been doing a bit of reading on this of late. I have not really understood the rationale behind this number. The only interpretation is that it represents infinity (a very large number). It is said that we do not have 330 million Gods, but 330 million gods. There is only one God, the unison of Holy Trinity, Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva. All other are demi-gods, who themselves worship God.
This very large number is used to represent that Hinduism believe everything is created by God and thus is divine. So everything we see (living/non-living) is divine. We worship all. Thus there is no concept of devil in Hinduism. As devil himself would have to be created by God and would thus be divine. In fact you will find that Shiva never differentiated between even good and bad people. Anyone who did tapasaya was granted a var. It led to even Shiva being threatened once, when he gave an Asura power to kill anybody and that Asura tried to kill Shiva himself.
Hence there is freedom in Hinduism to worship anything and anyone. We worship cows, sun, moon, flowers, stone, water etc. The list is endless. Thus all the egoists, who worship themselves, do nothing wrong. We are created by God and are ourselves divine. Self-worshipping not only takes less time buy also saves money.
Sachin’s Fan(atic)’s
The unique thing about Sachin is that everyone has an opinion about him. Such has been his presence that no one is left untouched. Maybe be that’s why he is regarded to be God. Though Sachin himself has said, “I am no God. God don’t make mistakes. I do“.
There is a common thing about highly revered personalities. It is the barrage of fans. Be it Gandhi, Mandela, Bradman earlier, Or Obama, Modi, Sachin in today’s times. Each one have/had huge number of people who followed them and revered them.
We don’t realize when this fan-hood turns into devotion which turns into fanaticism. Just try saying anything against Gandhi, Modi, Sachin and you would understand what I mean. You would be ganged upon and berated and made to wish that God wouldn’t have given you a tongue in the first place.
Fans are earned by hard work. And such fanatic fans are earned by hard work over a long period of time. Sometime these fans tend to go overboard. They end up giving bad names to their Hero. Modi fans demanding scalp of anyone and everyone who say anything against him, are doing bad for his image. They just don’t get it. So are Sachin fans.
I remember a conversation with a Belgian who had read a lot about Gandhi and was a great fan. We started discussing about Gandhi’s personal life. I told him few things that I didn’t like in Gandhi’s personal life. This guy felt offended and saw a devil in me for saying so. He ended up saying few things to me which I am sure Gandhi would have never said himself.
Sachin is/was always open to criticism. This is what makes him a Hero. His fans on the other hand are not open to any criticism. It takes away some sheen off Sachin and reflects badly on him. Sachin himself hasn’t spoken ill of anybody. His fans should follow the same if they are his real fans.
मानेगा रब
शाम थी कुछ अनजान,
थम सा गया था समां,
दूर कहीं एक अहाट थी,
दस्तक देने को तयार|
बेरंग जिंदगी थी जो मेरी,
तेरी नजरों को चुभ सी गयी,
हुई तभी से तू इसमें,
रंग भरने को तत्पर|
तेरी मुस्कराहट में ऐसा खोया,
आज तलक न मिल पाया,
डूब डूब कर मैं जानूं,
सच है, कोई ख्वाब नहीं|
परछाई से भी डरता था,
अब हठ कर ऐसा ऐंठा है,
बिन तेरे सब कुछ सून सून,
संग में ही जीवन जीना है|
गोभी का वो फूल नहीं,
दिल था मेरा जो तुझे दिया,
तू रूठ रूठ के मान गयी,
मैं मना मना कर थका नहीं|
एक झल्ली सी पहली बार लगी,
तेरी लट में, मैं अटक गया,
तब कमर पे तेरे हाथ रखा जो,
आज तक वहीँ रखा है देख|
कुछ गम था ऐसी बात नहीं,
कुछ कम था पर जज्बात सही,
कुछ नम फिर तेरे लिए हुआ,
कुछ थम गया, समय था वो|
तेरी गर्दन पे स्नेह किया,
प्यार से तू करहा थी गयी,
मीनू, रिंकू औ पिंकी सब,
जाने कब मेरे अपने हुए|
लबों की तेरी लाली थी,
मेरे लबों पर चमकी देख,
तेरे मुहं का स्वाद भी अब,
मुझको रह रहकर आता है|
साँसों की तेरी गरम हवा,
मेरी साँसों से टकराई जब,
झुक गए सारे नैन तभी,
सीने से तुझको लगा लिया|
छुपा ले अपने आँचल में,
यह दुनिया सब बेगानी है,
संग तेरे जो जीना पड़े मुझे,
वो जीवन मुझे बेमानी है|
एक बार जो थामा हाथ तेरा,
एक बार जो तुझको स्नेह किया,
अनंत तक न छूटेगा अब,
चाहें न मानें सब, मानेगा पर रब||
Reincarnations of the Modern Kind
When a Rajinikant movie is released, there are poojans and processions all around. The fans have relegated a mere human to the status of God. In fact over the period of history, there have been several such cases when humans have performed such feats that the followers became worshippers.
They say there is God in all of us. Let’s consider it true for a while. Let’s try and identify the almighty who walk among us and whose reincarnation are they.
| 1. Shiva | America |
 |
The Destroyer. A handsome young man, meditating and minding his own business, when disturbed unnecessarily, opens his third eye and wreaks havoc on the world.Who more similar than America, A place for opportunities, an inviting habitat. But when Japan carried out an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, retaliation was swift and deadly. Even Taliban would agree! Revered and Feared |  |
| 2. Rama | Sachin Tendulkar |
 |
The Maryada Purshottama. Unswerving self control and virtue. The composure and patience never wore out. Perfect adherence to dharma.The choice is unanimous. Sachin Tendulkar. An ideal man and a perfect human. Need I say more? |  |
| 3. Ganesha | Pranab Mukherjee |
 |
Vighnharta. This son of Shiva, hailed as the Remover of Obstacles.For the past 7 years of UPA rule, Pranab Mukherjee is the one to whom Congress run in dire situations, he is Vighnharta for sure. |  |
| 4. Hanuman | Manmohan Singh |
 |
The devotee. Served Rama from the heart. Manmohan Singh was the right hand man of Sonia Gandhi when she was bidding for PM post. Once she decided to sacrifice, her ardent devotee was rewarded. Ever since 7, Race Course has hardly disobeyed 10, Janpath. |  |
| 5. Durga | Mamta Banerjee |
 |
Feminine Force. The Devi riding a lion with a smile. Fearless.Mamta Banerjee has fought against the system for last 35 years in West Bengal single handedly. Her only weapon being her fearless and killer attitude. Durga came into full force in 2011 assembly elections when she ran over her opponents. |  |
| 6. Lakshmi | Jayalalita |
 |
The goddess of wealth, wisdom, prosperity. Sheer good luck and wealth to all the devotees.When IT dept. raided Jayalalita’s premsies, everyone was astounded to see the wealth. She promises her voters cash and kind if they bring her to power. |  |
| 7. Krishna | Akshay Kumar |
 |
The prankster. The raas-leela. An ideal lover. The Supreme Being. The Gyaan of Geeta.Akshay Kumar has always been known to be a ladies’ man. The pranks played by him on his co-stars are a part of a legend. The wit and humor is unquestionable. |  |
| 8. Annapurna | Big Bazaar |
 |
Goddess of food. Supplies food to people.In today’s world its Big Bazaar which fills the hungry stomach. From food to fruit, everything you get by making a wish to Big Bazaar. |  |
| 9. Vishnu | Common Man |
 |
The preserver and protector of creation. Mercy and goodness. It’s a self-existent entity.The Common Man by R K Laxman has been the face of aam aadmi since eternity. As witty as Vishnu and representing the facets of humanity akin to various avatars. |  |
Of Cricket, Suresh, Sachin and Serbian
Netizens woke up today to “Suresh Raina is God” updates on social networking websites. Apparently when “Suresh Raina is God” is translated to Serbian and back to English, Google Translate, gives us “Sachin Tendulkar is God”. Sachin fans are going crazy ever since, reaffirming their faith in all what is Google.
Let me jot down in brief, what Google says, how Google Translate works.
Not Word By Work
It’s not a word by word translation. In the sense that “I am God” in Hindi does not translate to “मैं हूँ भगवान”, but Google Translate does it perfectly to, “मैं भगवान हूँ”.
Machine Guess Work
It’s all a guess work. Large amounts of documents already translated by human translators have been scanned. Google Translate analyses the patterns to find best suitable translation. Google calls it, “statistical machine translation”.
Correct the Mistakes
Google asks for your contribution to make Translate better. If you come across an anomaly, select the better alternative provided. This is fed back to the analyzer for future reference.
I did some investigation on my own keeping the above explainations in mind. Below are the results with my weird theories.
1. Cricket, Sachin, Suresh and Serbian
| English | Serbian | English |
| Suresh Raina is God | Суресх Раина је Бог | Sachin Tendulkar is God |
| Suresh Raina is a match Fixer | Суресх Раина је меч Фикер | Sachin Tendulkar is a match Fixer |
| Suresh Raina is bowled out | Суресх Раина се докотрљао се | Sachin Tendulkar is bowled up |
| Suresh Raina is run out | Суресх Раина је понестало | Sachin Tendulkar was run out |
| Suresh Raina is playing cricket Sachin Tendulkar | Суресх Раина игра крикет са Сацхин Тендулкар | Sachin Tendulkar playing cricket with Sachin Tendulkar |
If we associate Suresh Raina with cricket in any sense, Translate interprets it as Sachin Tendulkar as far as Serbian and English is concerned. If we recall, Suresh Raina was hailed by Wisden, Bible of Cricket, as one of the most promising lad when he first surfaced on the cricket arena. He was hailed as the next Sachin Tendulkar by cricket enthusiasts and pundits. Google Translate might be looking into those very reports for all we know. Also Suresh seems quite similar to Sachin even in English language.
2. Others are fine
| English | Serbian | English |
| Virender Shewag is God | Вирендер Схеваг је Бог | Virender Shevag God |
| Sourav Ganguly is God | Соурав Гангули је Бог | Sourav Ganguli God |
| Rahul Dravid is God | Рахул Дравид је Бог | Rahul Dravid is God |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni is God | Махендра Сингх Дхони је Бог | Mahendra Singh Dhoni is God |
With other cricketers there seems to be no goofiness at all. I was expecting some trick with Virender Sehwag given that he has been hailed as duplicate Sachin. Alas! I was wrong.
3. No Cricket, No Confusion
| English | Serbian | English |
| Suresh Raina | Суресх Раина | Suresh Raina |
| Suresh Raina is a doctor | Суресх Раина је лекар | Suresh Raina is a doctor |
| Suresh Raina eat | Суресх Раина једу | Suresh Raina eat |
| I met Suresh Raina | Сам упознао Раина Суресх | I met Suresh Raina |
| Suresh Raina met Sachin Tendulkar | Суресх Раина састао Сацхин Тендулкар | Suresh Raina met Sachin Tendulkar |
If we use Suresh Raina, independent of any cricketing context, there is no funny business at all. Raina will not be able to catch up with Sachin in his off field life it seems.
4. Another of Google’s Prank
It might have been hardcoded by Google as a prank on cricket crazy net users in India. They are well known for such jokes. If it is a ploy, it sure is working. Wait for a press release, they will admit soon, if there is anything to it.
Google Translate has a lot many tricks up its sleeve. Keep exploring. Coz that’s what Jesus (Google) wants us to do. One of them being:
| English | Vietnamese | English |
| Will Justin Bieber ever hit puberty | Justin Bieber sẽ bao giờ đến tuổi dậy thì | Justin will never reach puberty |
Now that’s nasty of Google. What has Justin done to anyone?
The Day the Earth stood still
1996 was year that marked my generations tryst with cricket. Kirsten’s 188; Jayasurya’s revelations; Indo/Pak Q/F; the Eden heartbreak. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions. It had all, save the Heroic ending. The script seemed flawed; a job left unfinished.
Post ’98 Sharjah exploits, the team fell apart under the match fixing allegations. We were no longer a force in the world cricket. Two of the most controversial figures of Indian cricketing history the Raja and the Senapati fell and gave way to yet another controversial figure of all times. Though his were the controversies we took pride in.
Eden curse was cured by a Lanky personality who gave us reasons to be proud of. The high moon, the tide, the ebbs, the flows all became but adjectives when the cricketing history was re-written. A giant was born. The journey culminated in Jo ’burg when the mighty batting lineup was but a step away from laying its claim.
Albeit, that was not to be. Undone by a legend from down under, it paved way to of one of the most hate-filled cricketing rivalry. The Sydney fiasco was just waiting to happen. It turned out to be the Pearl Harbor of Indian cricket. We have never looked back since. The zeal, the aggression, the will has never been higher. Post 3 IPL’s, high dose of Indo-SL matches and a resurrection of The God of Cricket, it’s time to cross the final hurdle.
The SF match between Indo-Pak, was the most anticipated and followed match in the history of cricket. Everything was to its maximum. Imagine anti-aircraft guns around the stadium! I travelled from Mumbai to Pune to celebrate the festival with friends. With Holi/Diwali/Ganesh Pooja being celebrated with varying vigor across the country, the festival of cricket is the only one which whole nation celebrates equally.
The scenes I saw in Pune were unparalleled. The roads were jammed post the win. I could see thousands of bikes/cars/tempo/buses parading round the city. Flags/colors/sweets aplenty. The whole city was one. It was the day for no hatred.
On field/off field the camaraderie between the two nations was a sight to behold. The old sins were washed off. The 26/11 seemed a distant memory. One match turned the hostile relations between two nations onto its head, into Aman Ki Fuhaar.
My feet were trembling and emotions flowing unrestrained. It was day when 1/5th of humanity gasped in unison, It was a day when the Earth stood still.
Checking the Trends
Who do we love more? Mom or Dad. Who do we think about more? Jesus or Satan. Do we Love more than we Hate? One would agree, these questions are quite vague to answer. Not any more. Thanks to Google’s insatiable desire to hold more and more dough over its users, we are now able to analyze the search pattern traffic over the years via Google Trends. As much as I hate Google for storing private data, I love the way they use it.
Mom vs Dad
Mom seems to be the favorite here. Time for Dad’s to buckle up or lose the battle.
IPad vs Kindle
Since IPad is quite new, let’s consider just the last year’s data. IPad beats Kindle quite easily. Despite being a new entrant, people prefer it over Kindle. It seems IPad will put out this Kindle soon.
Engineer vs Doctor
I have always taken pride in being an engineer. But my doctor friends can smile now. I concede. You win. You are more dear to people than me.
Apple vs Microsoft vs Google
No prizes for guessing. Google beats Apple and Microsoft by a margin. Microsoft seems to be on a decline and next year’s data might though some shocking statistics.
Twitter vs Orkut vs Myspace vs Facebook
Facebook is way ahead of its peers. For Twitter/Orkut/MySpace, seems a tough life ahead.
BJP vs Gandhi
I tried Advani, Vajpayee etc v/s Gandhi. They never stood a chance, anyways. I then decided to put the whole BJP against the Gandhi surname. BJP lost quite heavily. No wonder they lost the election. A surname seems mighty.
Cricket vs Football vs Basketball
Football dominates globally. Cricket and Basketball have a long way to go. As far as Indian subcontinent is concerned, it’s the other way round.
Beauty vs Brain
The age old question has been left in the deadlock again. It’s a virtual tie between beauty and the brain. It seems we still have not been able to make up our minds b/w Female beauty and Male brain.
Oil vs Blood
Oil and Blood go neck and neck showing their equal importance. Given that so much blood has been spilt because of oil, this seems hardly surprising.
War vs Peace
Man’s violent nature and urge for war is evident here. Peace seems to be the last thing on the mind.
Love vs Hate
Well there seems to be some hope left. Despite the urge for war, man has not forgotten the cardinal urge to love. We still haven’t learned to hate each other as much.
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