Monday, August 21, 2006

Mind Matters

One day a man went to God. He complained about the hatred in the world. He complained about cruelty, about the violence, about the suffering and about everything going wrong in the world. He asked God to give something that would make life better and reduce the bitterness amongst the humans. God gave him a bottle of liquid and asked him to pour it in the sea and assured him that things will flow sweetly and smoothly from the next day.
Next day, two people, who used to fight often, went to the sea and drank the sea water. And lo! They stopped fighting. An old woman drank the water and she was cured of her illness. And so, within a few days all was well in the universe.

Sounds like a mythological tale, right? But people in Mumbai seem to be creating a similar mythological tale of sorts. They seem to be convinced that the water turning sweet at Mahim has got to do something with Gods blessing and nothing to do with the heavy rains and definitely not Nature’s doing. And so people from all across the town are heading towards Mahim beach. Young, old, injured, sick, rich, poor, literate and illiterate. All seem to be present at the Mahim beach to get the so called ‘Gods blessing’. And they are not only drinking the water but also taking vessel-full of the water for the loved ones.

And as if this mythological tale creation was not enough, we have another one in the offing. But this one is making its presence felt the second time round. The tale of the milk-drinking deities. Few years back, it was only the Ganpati’s who were milk-thirsty. This time even goddess Durga is quenching her thirst with milk. So we have people appeasing their gods and goddesses with cartons of milk.

All these happenings makes me wonder, whether belief is bigger that practicality and reality. Maybe people do not want to live in reality. Maybe they want to create a world which gives them happiness and sense of security. Maybe it’s all a mind game. Whatever it is, one thing is for sure. It is not restricted to a particular section of society.

Who knows maybe tomorrow we might see God in the form of a human being. And that person might just be someone sitting right next to you! All you need is the belief or rather the mind to believe!