What the Gods are thinking

Have you ever thought of what the Gods are thinking? The Bhagwad Gita calls God as one without thought. It further says only a thoughtless mind can attain His abode. However, everyday we pray to God to make our lives happy (with the definition of happiness varying before the prayer is over!), to give us money, to relieve us from pain, to make us pass in our exams, I even pray to God to find out my lost pen! So what do the Gods think about our prayers. As depicted in films, is He dressed in silky clothes, wearing innumerable jewellery and sitting somewhere between the clouds? Does he raise His coloured hand and say "பக்தா உன் பக்தியை மெச்சினோம் and then vanish in million watts light?

I remember when we were children how the concept of prayer was taught to us by our parents. When we are two, it is to keep your hands folded whenever we visit a temple. Two years later it develops to keep your hands folded and "ask God to make you study well and get good marks in the exam". When we become two years older, we smear the viboothi or the kungumam in our foreheads and believe that the evil is warded off by God. Then it becomes a reciprocal prayer. Go to temple and say "God give me 100 marks in maths and I'll give you 108 coconuts". Once the prayer is fulfilled, the beggars outside the temple have their stomachs full for a week.

Have we ever thought of why our prayers does/ does not come true? When our prayers don't come true, we become angry with God and say the most obvious "Why me?" When he does fulfill what you wanted most of us forget God but the few faithfuls thank Him and acknowledge His presence (as if God were otherwise not present!).

So, when you ask Him to make you pass in the exams with wonderful marks, what is He thinking? Does he think you are stupid? Or perhaps silly? To quote Hindu religious texts (of which I know very little), God is a witness to all our lives' events. He takes the form of a sakshi swaroopa. He does not think, He does not punish, He does not become angry, He does not get overwhelmed when you offer Him கொழுக்கட்டை.

As a child, I remember asking the question that every child is bound to ask, "Where is God?" Pat came the reply from my Mother, "God is everywhere, dear". "But I can't see Him!" we protest. The answer, "Be a good girl and He will be seen". I argued "Am I a bad girl now?" My Mother after a slight pause says, "Continue being one, and believe in Him, you will see Him one day".

I believe that I'm still a good girl and I believe in Him. Have I seen Him? Yes!! I see Him in my vision, my speech, my walk, my hunger, my digestion, my smile, in other people's goodness, in the smile of strangers, in the thank yous of unknown people, in the deep calm of the seas, in the sky, in water, I can give you numerous instances of His presence. Like my Mother once said, He is everywhere.

We just do not acknowledge his presence!!! Atheists argue that if God were so kind, would he allow women and innocent children to die? Would there be war, would there be hunger, would there be deaths??? To his Rajinikanth has the answer!!! Yes, Rajinikanth in the film 'Baasha' wrote in his auto 'உன் வாழ்க்கை உன் கையில்'. Precisely, our lives are merely in our hands, not parents, siblings, spouses, bosses, neighbours.... Only in our hands. What we think, what we speak and how we act determines our happiness. Only karma, our own actions determines our destiny. I believe in karma what you give is what you get returned, Darren Hayes once sang.

I asked the most logical question that follows from the previous paragraph to my father once, "If we determined our own actions and God merely witnesses our sufferings and pains, why should there be God at all?"

To this the Lalitha Sahasranamam has the answer. It says 'the minutest dust that gathers in the lotus feet of the Goddess Lalithamba has the power to destroy all our karma'.

God will not stop the results of your prarabdha karma. If you lie, blame someone for your mistakes, steal, kill, destroy, are unfaithful, you are reaping its fruits today in the form of misery and agony. Don't ask "Why me?" Instead seek the Lord's feet to relieve you from your suffering. Believe in Him. Have faith.... Trust me, your worries and agonies are wiped away like dust just like the dust in the lotus feet of the Goddess.