Confused Scripture, Ignorant God: A Note on Hinduism

If one looks at the facts carefully, one cannot but be embarrased to be a Hindu. Hindusim is a religion, where there's no prophet, no strict rules, no guidelines; one can almost do anything (including beef eating; many Hindus in states such as Kerala eat beef) and yet be a Hindu. It's thus the most permissive of all religions. but then it had not many choice; its trinity consists of an incestuous god, a womaniser god, and a drug-addict god. Thus Hinduism was never forceful enough to expand by force. It's a religion of the cowards; it belonged to a nation who never once invaded a foreign land. What the hell?

However, for a large part of my life, I've been an areligious (or very moderately religious) person, and thus I did not pay much attention to what the basic tenets of Hindusim could be!

But then I came upon a book entitled, "To A God Unknown" by John Steinbeck, which drew me to Rg Veda, the oldest Hindu scripture. And what I noticed in it was that Rg Veda was written by some very confused people. Who else would have written:

"He is the giver of breath, and strength is his gift.
The high Gods revere his commandments.
His shadow is life, his shadow is death;
Who is He to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?"

This crearly shows how confused this religion was!! Unlike most major religions, here the devotee didn't even know to whom to make the sacrifice!!!! They were scared, but they were also confused.

"May He not hurt us, He who made earth,
Who made the sky and the shining sea?
Who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?"

And then, I tried to look what its view about the universe and its creation. What I read was even more socking.

"He, the first origin of this creation,
Whether He formed it all or did not form it,
Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven,
He verily knows it, or perhaps He knows not."

Come on man, what kind of a God you are, if you don't even know how the Universe was formed?

And then I realized why it needs someone from the Western civilization, one who belongs to one of the modern religions, and who won a Nobel prize in Physics, to write a book entitled "The First Three Minutes" to explain that modern Astrophysics is still not able to understand or explain clearly the first moments of the Universe, once it came into being.

This is because it would have never been possible for someone from an ancient and outdated religion, such as Hinduism, to understand that fact, because not only he is confused, but even his God perhaps didn't know how the Universe came into being.

Thus I belong to a religion whose scripures were written by confused people, and whose God was an ignorant fool. Now I know why He smokes pot!

I'm really embarrased now!

....And the Bitch from the Bank of Hudson

And then there stood this bespectacled woman, who said, "Bob Dylan is great; but I'm more into Elton John kind of music. And I must admit, Elton is fucking cute."; she paused and then added, "I can use curse words like "fucking", because I'm a just a bitch from the banks of Hudson."

Then she played guitar and sang, "Your song".

The Negro Spoke of Rivers (and then he Knocked on Heaven's Door)

The first person I saw singing was this black gentleman, who was singing a song about river. I don't know why, but what his reminded me was the poem entitled "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes, one of my favorite poets. Hughes' "Dreams" is a poem, which would perhaps make even a very depressed man hopeful of life; at least, it had done to me.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die;
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go;
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Now, as I looked at the gentlemen performing, I thought more and more of Hughes, though our gentleman had no physical or facial similarity with Hughes whatsoever.

He next sang Harold Melvin's "If you don't know me by now" with a white woman, who sang as well as played on the guitar.

And then, he sang Bob Dylan's "Knockin on heaven's door."

He made my day (or was it night?)!

Note: The pic shows the spot where the guys do their Jamming. The people in the picture are unknown tourists.
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http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6691&poem=31112
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes

Where Giants Once Trolled: Pilgrim's Diary

I arrived at Washingston Square Park, New York, quite by accident. My friend had to meet a friend, who works at the New York University, and so we went to meet him there. And when we were having dinner, I called my colleague back where I work. And it was he who suggested me to go see Washington Square, which was next to NYU. (Of course, he never told me its significance, and so I had no idea what that spot means!).

And so I dragged my friend and went to Washington Square that night.

And what hooked me up to the place was a group of guys jamming. Never before did I witness such a diverse group of people doing something together just for fun. There were students of NYU, professional singers coming to jam during the weekend nights, and tourists from such diverse places as Boston and San Fransisco.

I got stuck there, and told my friend that I would like to stay back and return to the hotel later. and I followed the routine of going there during the whole week I was in New york.

Only after my return, and some Google, did I learn that this was the spot where giants such as Bob Dylan started their musical career once they arrived in New York.

Epilogue: And yes, in a way, it maintained its reputation of being a drug-dealing hotspot! On the last day,when I went there to take some snaps of the area, a guy approached me to sell some dope, or, "Care to share a nice, cool joint with me?" as he put it.

Interestingly, no such thing happened during all the previous nights when I had been there.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Square_Park