Unix and God

I always had this confusion since childhood......One theory says that God is Omnipotent and Omniscient. In the sense that he controls and rules the world and that he knows everything about everything. Another theory says that we are the masters of our own destinies. I never understood how can both the theories co-exist. If it is already decided by God as to why and what I am going to be doing in this world, then how can I be the master of my destiny? Do I really have anything in my control.....and the thought of me being not in control of myself and my life really made me feel miserable. Even the Shakesparean play said that "This world is a stage and we are all actors on this stage". This did not help in allaying my fears because if we are all acting in the play directed by God, then the script must be already finalised . I seriously doubted God's intentions.

Though I am not highly spiritual, but this question always haunted me. I did ask my father regarding this and I guess he thought that I must be nuts to doubt God. Anyways, like so many other questions concerning rituals and customs, this was also thrown into oblivion. I still don't understand as to why parents don't agree that they don't have an answer rather than doubting the credibility of the question.

I had a lot of discussions regarding the same with Rajit and Pradeep, two friends who are the most inclined towards spirituality. I got the best possible answer to my longstanding question from Pradeep's explaination. This is how he explained it to me.

He said that God is omnipotent and omniscient no doubt but he realised that it is not at all pragmatic for him to control everything. So like Unix operating system, he has forked child processes of himself within each of us. So what it essentially means is that there is God in each and every living being. So when we pray, we are praying to the God which exists within ourselves. This God is what we also call as "The Soul". I instantly liked the theory because there was no scope of any external factor here. This made me believe that I am in control of my own life. Of course, there are lots of external factors which does have an impact on our lives, but then we are in a position to choose and act on those choices.

But still there is something that still haunts....Ok I understand that once I am into this world, I am in a position to choose between the rights and the wrong and etch my own destiny. But I still don't understand why I am existing in the first place. Why did God create the universe and all the people, animals etc.? What fun does he get by doing this? Did he do it out of any compulsion or in short, is there any reason for all this at all?

I have discussed this with quite a few people including my spiritual gurus Rajit and Pradeep! But I still haven't found any satisfying answers to this question.

But I do hope to find an answer to this ......atleast by the end of my life's journey.

This week has been good fun.......

- First I saw "Mein, Meri Patni aur Woh" alongwith Amit Sinha......its a very cute movie. Mithilesh Shukla (Rajpal Yadav) is a librarian in Lucknow University(that might get Rohit interested!)......he is not yet married and infact, never intends to get married. The reason.....his height or rather the lack of it! ........Then after a lot of pressure from his mother, he finally decides to go to Bareilly along with his Mama and see the girl.....The girl, Veena(played by beautiful Bengali actress Rituparno Sengupta) likes the simplicity and intelligence of Mithilesh and to his surprise agrees to get married to him......then they get married and there the real fun begins.....Mithilesh has this huge inferiority complex due to his height......he gets his scooter seat adjusted so that he looks taller than Veena......then he cajoles his friend Saleem to get him to agree to become his wife's Rakhi brother (b'cos he fears that Saleem is becoming too friendly with Veena).....then to his utter dismay....Veena's old friend Akash (Kay Kay Menon) enters their life......Then follows Mithilesh's quandary......he is totally shattered.....the rest of the film concentrates on setting the house in order, in typical Bollywood ishtyle! Overall, a decent fare.

- For Diwali, I went to Dheeraj's house.....we had a nice lunch(shavige bath etc.).......then in the evening Rajani and I decided to celebrate Diwali in our own way.....we went to CMH Road and bought 10 Diyas, a pack of wicks and til oil.....we came back home lit the diyas....it was such a satisfying experience.....To add to the fun.....Sampi uncle offered to burst some firecrackers along with his daughters.....Rajani and I were more than happy to join them......Sampi uncle also sent us some home made sweets....so generous of him! (Oh...I forgot to tell you guys that it was in return of chocolates which we offered his daughters!). Then Rohit came back from Mysore and had bought Kesari Bath (the real one, not Sheera)....hmm...it was yum! All in all.....a great day!

- I finished reading "One Night at call center" . In the true Chetan Bhagat style, this one is a pure entertainer just like his earlier book. Though it did not have any great literary value...a pukka paisa vasool is what I would call it.....Currently I am reading Amy Tan's "The Joyluck Club"....its been really interesting till now.....hope it ends the same way.

- Saw yet another movie "Garam Masala" with Pradeep. Yet another time-pass comedy by Priyadarshan....though not in the same league as "Hera Pheri"....a laugh riot neverthless..

A great week it has been till now......hope the weekend is fun too!