God and Individuality

I saw some beautiful Ganesha idols today at K-Star Mall in Chembur.

Unfortunately they were in a set.

What I loved most about them was there was just Ganesha there, with a violin, flute, or a tabla.

The other idols of Ganesha were enclosed in glass, or just like wall hangings or pictures in frames.

I hate religion, but I loved the only-Ganesha idols because there was nothing else there to take away Ganesha's greatness, splendour.

Nothing else to diminish the effect of his individuality in other words.

These only-Ganesha idols were depictions of Ganesha as an individual, as a force, as a sum of his qualities of wisdom and intellect.

This is the kind of God that appeals to me. And this might only be my opinion, but the world today needs this kind of God, not the one who preaches scriptures, prayers and adherence to certain set virtues.

When I say this kind of God, I don't mean Ganesha, I mean God as a force or quality. The individual embodying the quality.

If we look around us we find inspirational people still. Sachin Tendulkar, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawkings, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, still exist. A few more could be named. These individuals stand for one or another quality - balance, patriotism, knowledge, power, science, and so on.

No doubt they could be called the Gods of today.

I seriously doubt it was any different in the ancient days when Eastern religion found its "Gods". All these "Gods" must just have been extraordinary individuals in one or another way.

But religion in its present state has twisted and distorted this concept to encourage idolatory, discourage idolatory, create divisions in society, introduce ridiculous concepts like salvation and damnation and so on.

A person's salvation is achieved only when she or he is extremely happy and content, and looking to forces and qualities might just be the way in the world of today.

Because though some people may not like it, individualism is the ideal of today and will continue to be so for a long time.

And forces or qualities are nothing but expressions of individualism.