The Godly Affair

“Does God really exist? What do you think? (ಖರೇ ದೇವರು ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ಹೌದನ ? ನಿಂಗ್ ಹೆಂಗ್ ಕಾಣ್ತು ?)” my aunt asked me that day afternoon while we were on a chit-chat, sitting in pooja room in our home. A septuagenarian, she is the eldest of my father’s sisters, married to uncle, fifty plus years back. Her home is in village named Uppina Pattana on the banks of river Aghanashini in my hometown Kumta. She is an elder lady among our relatives, so everybody call her as Akkayya; everybody includes her own children too. We the next generation children address her as Patnatte(Pattana + Atte); Atte means Aunt in Kannada Pattana is the second half of her village, Uppina Pattana. The names like Akkayya or Patnatte have become so unanimous with her that as of now I’m not able to recall her actual name.

Patnatte is not so religious person, I have seldom seen her visiting temples or chanting some shloka or performing japa, or even engaged in pooja-paath, unless it’s her duty as a sadgrihini. There are some rituals a Hindu Brahmin housewife  has to carryout as her duty, like putting gomaya and rangoli in front of house daily morning or lighting the sacred lamp at evening; and performing some annual vrat or pooja like Navaratri pooja, Ganesha pooja; Ganahoma, Satyanarayana vrata etc, together with husband. Or some special occasions like upanayan or marriage of children where as a mother she has lot of duties to carry out. Patnatte never showed any disinterest or laxity while carrying out her duties. With her fifty plus years of experience she is an authority on many rituals and traditional affairs. But I wonder why she doubted the very existence of God and asked me to opine! Interestingly her only son’s name is ‘Devaru’ which means God in Kannada.

 

           Millions and millions of man hours of human intellect is being spent in understanding the concept of God and deriving the theological doctrines and theories or what is called “theisms”; monotheism, polytheism, atheism, agnosticism, henotheism, pantheism etc etc. We have doctrines of no god to many gods, lovable compassionate god to jealous god, omnipresent god to only god, from an impersonate god to non-person god, from male only god to genderless god. The Hindu concept of God very rich with 33 Crore of Gods and number still growing; one can chose according to his taste; though learned tell God is one, the truth or Brahma (ekam sat vipraha 
bahudha vadanti)
 

The concept called ‘God’ is responsible for love and affection among individuals and also for hatred, violence and bloodshed of millions. The same God inspired the creation of beautiful sculptures, marvelous structures, the literature, the art forms, the mythology and what all things the intellect can produce; At the same time in the name of God or in establishing the supremacy of God one sect believes in and in spreading message of their belief the world has seen bloodshed  crusades, wars, destruction  intellectual abuse. But still the God remains unknown; understanding about him is more an imaginative perception.

Swami Vivekananda proclaimed “Whatever may be the position of philosophy, whatever may be the position of metaphysics, so long as there is such a thing as death in the world, so long as there is such a thing as weakness in the human heart, so long as there is a cry going out of the heart of man in his very weakness, there shall be a faith in God.”  (Complete Works Vol1: BUDDHISM, THE FULFILMENT OF HINDUISM). 

Whatever may be position of theological, philosophical, metaphysical or religious doctrines, Patnatte has a practical solution, off course by her own experience. She told me “he is there if you believe; no, if you don’t (ಇದ್ದ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಇದ್ದ. ಇಲ್ಲೆ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಇಲ್ಲೆ.)"