On Faith, Belief, Religion and Worship – Key Influences

I intend doing a couple of postings on my personal observations and views on a topic that is very close to my heart – faith & religion. As the 1^st posting in this min-series, I examine the key influences which have shaped my views on the topic. 

I consider myself blessed to have had lived in and travelled through different parts of the world and in the process interacting with different systems and many wonderful people; all these interactions have helped equip me with a wide array of filters to look at something that is very important to each one of us – What do we believe in ? 

To understand the root of my views on the topics, I examined the influences that have shaped them and grouped them as follows:

* Growing up, the society around me was big into religious rituals: I spent 10 + years of my formative years in Bombay/Mumbai, where more than 10 million people of different religions and faiths were crammed together. And to survive in the tough city, everyone prayed – the citizens lined up all night and right into the morning of every Tuesday at Siddhi Vinayak to pay obeisance to the Hindu God, Ganesha, on Thursday they were making offerings at Mahalaxmi temple, on Friday and Sunday, they were prostrating at Haji Ali, (the beautiful mosque perched precariously on a few rocks in the sea) or seeking blessings at St Michael Church in Mahim. In between, during the week, they paused at the Parsi Fire Temples, chanted hymns on the long suburban rail journeys or called out to God every time they stepped out into the maddening chaos of the city to make a living.

Beyond the city and all over India, the country came to a grounding halt every few weeks for festivals from all religions – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and if you were on the West Coast, then for the Parsi community too. 

* We prayed hard at home and every day in school: I grew up at home surrounded by lots of images of Hindu Gods; no one asked us to join in but I saw my Mum do morning prayers regularly, my Dad stand in front of images of God quietly atleast twice a day – in the morning and with his “scotch” whiskey before his daily 7 PM sip of “nectar” ;). When I got to school, the Principal led the prayers thanking the Lord for “our daily bread”, and then we sang to the tune of the piano two different hymns in praise of the Lord and Jesus.

* Awareness of many paths to God was easy in India and at home: Modern India upon freedom from the British was a declared secular country and officially respected every religion and faith making allowances legally for each faith and giving absolute freedom of choice on the path one chose to get to God. And I was absolutely proud of it from the day I gained awareness. 

As I grew up and read the history of India welcoming the persecuted Jews and Zoroastrians (Parsis as we called them fondly in India) from the Middle East, I felt real good and I don’t think there was anything else in India that I was prouder of than the country’s past claims to welcoming people of different faiths. 

To make it even easier to accept multiple beliefs, Dad constantly expounded the virtues of different religions; to make his love for different religions even more explicit, he wore a golden chain with a Gold Cross and beads that are sacred to Lord Shiva (Hindu God for those not familiar). He even hinted to me and subtly encouraged me to find a girl friend or wife ;) who was Muslim – of course that was partly because he thought that they were more beautiful looking. 

And of course the holidays for each festival drove home the message of the many paths to get to God.

* Analytical education makes for a questioning mind: Every thing has to be proved or understood or atleast questioned. We debated in junior school, we sought empirical evidence all throughout our academic years, we gathered in our buddy Kris’ room in the engineering years to argue over a lot of the big events of the day and my parents always discussed a lot of topics with us. On top of it, both my specialized education courses (Bachelors in Engineering and Masters in Business) further made me question things and not accept anything as given.

* Studying, working, living and travelling across India and then across the continents: A huge influence on anything I believe in has been the constant movement all my life. I have been exposed to a lot of views from different people and different ways of life, having lived and worked in 3 different major regions of the world and having travelled to more than 300 towns & cities. The movement has been constant and started early and the influences constantly changing – I completed my studies across 6 different cities of India, travelled to every corner of India from age 5 onwards and since 1998 have passionately and constantly explored South East Asia, the US, Canada, Latin America and parts of Western Europe. 

* I always have needed the EXTRA help: All my life, I have been acutely aware that the benefits & results of my actions at study and work are much larger than the efforts that I have put in. This gap is accounted solely by the blessings of the Mighty One. I became aware of that Divine Help very early on, and have developed a dependency syndrome since then. I need that big extra help every year, every day and every second of my life. To add to it, I suffered from poor health in the very early years of my life and every time, largely through the power of prayer, I pulled through.