God: 3 letters with 300,000 definitions

Recently, on a trip to Mumbai, the bustling capital of Maharashtra, I pondered upon one of life’s most controversial subjects; the reality of God himself.

On a pleasant warm day, when the sun’s basking rays shone on my back in the mid-winter, my parents decided to pay a visit to a temple my father visited as a child. Through hints of boredom and mild fascination, my elder sister and I decided to tag along.

We stepped off of our taxi on to one of Mumbai’s seemingly more bustling regions and were greeted to a small and rather steep alleyway that lead to this mysterious temple. Through the numerous honks, yells and the congested traffic, the path that lay ahead of us exuded an almost unfamiliar sense of peace and quiet.

This securely tucked temple is known as ‘Babulnath’. Babulnath is an ancient Shiva (Destroyer of evil and transformer) temple. The main deity of the temple is Shiva in the form of the Lord of the ‘Babul’ tree.This holy place is located in a small hillock and is one of the oldest temples in the city. Further on, the temple is visited by lakhs of devotees daily. Those who visit, visit with the intention of receiving ‘Darshan’ from the Shivling and being blessed by the Lord.

The way through the path is a faithful climb, but luckily an elevator is also accessible to reach the temple at a faster rate. As we arrived at the entrance of the actual temple, I was spell-bound by the monumental structures that stood tall, stooping above me. We removed our shoes and hurriedly entered the temple.

My father, a man who marches to beat of his own drum, bowed down in gratitude through for the period we were there. I on the other hand, soaked in every inch of the beauty around me. Every single wall, pillar, archway was covered with the most detailed sculpting. The stories of Shiva were carved into the ceramic walls, I was truly mesmerized.

Whilst admiring, I came across a man who seemed to repeatedly chant a prayer. He was standing just beyond the Shivling and looked as if he were about to pass out; yet he kept chanting. He was sweating vigorously and didn’t stop once. Through first sights, he almost seemed possessed by a greater force. It made me think of the role of God in our lives.

When I stared at this man, who seemed rather miserable through my eyes, I questioned the extents of our belief, a natural inquirer, the extreme ends of what one believes confused me, the following was what stirred in my head for the rest of the trip…“Is it truly appropriate to arrive at a conclusion about a proposition without any substantial evidence, thus forming a belief?” “Or is it rationally correct to subject everything, even the unexplained to the world as and only as we know it?”

I have seen people believe when they want something, a wish per say. For many, God is a reliability, he/she exists only when we want them to. Other times, I have seen people turn to God for every decision they are to make.

I began looking around the temple and stopped parallel to a statue of Hanuman (the symbol of strength and energy). I looked closely and noticed the bright orange paint chipping and exposing the iron statue beneath. It was only a statue to some, but a symbol of ultimate power to others. The vast difference between people’s ideologies always seems to fascinate me.

While further analyzing the statue, I watched an ant crawl up to the tip of the statue. The statue large and heavy seemed weighed down under the body of an ant smaller that the tip of your nail, through my perception. Who was mightier? A creature walked upon everyday or a myth that almost 1.5 billion Hindu’s view through rose-tinted glasses?

All these questions ran through my head as I fell into a deep daze of thought.

Belief is an attitude that supports the idea of a certain proposition being true.

I am not a very religious person myself; but I do believe in a greater force, a God. In my life, I

have been exposed to numerous types of people, some being extremely religious, some overtly spiritual, and the most controversial: conspiracists and atheists. All these people have one thing in common…a belief, be it to or to not (believe).

I returned home learning that the true reality of God will always remain a mystery to me, and all I can do is question it or believe it. The power of belief is greater than life and it is what you make of it. The truth will remain unknown, but your beliefs turn to truth. This works through the power of manifestation, to believe and to visualize is to manifest. Be it a man who believes that chanting till no return will lead him to what he truly wants or be it a self-made woman who believes that the only greater force out there is hard work. And so, it starts with your beliefs and ends with what you become. You are what you believe.

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Written by Anushhka Thakur

Edited by Nandini Nalam