Faith and belief

Faith and belief

Somehow when we put these two words together then the discussion tends to veer towards religion. Here I am trying to postulate that all of us have some faith and belief based on common observations or scientific facts.

The other day I was having this discussion with Dr.Kamal Chakraborty,the founder of Bhalopahar in Purulia which runs a free of cost education and healthcare for poor tribal children. He pointed out that it is the nature which is God for him. I fully agree with him as we could not have been there without sun, moon,soil,water,air,fire etc. any scientific minded cynic would agree with me on this as our very existence depends on these basic elements. So our ancestors be it in India or Greek or Egypt were not wrong when they were worshiping these. Every civilization worshiped these but they put some symbols or names to these elements.

In Hindu mythology we have Gods for all these or in other words our ancestors understood that these are higher forces on which we don’t have any control,  superior to us mortals. Giving form to each is something like making it available to all. For example Hanumanji is considered as Vayuputra means son of wind God, wind is everywhere practically excepting probably in vacuum chambers or some natural pockets of vacuum formed. Every civilization have worshiped Sun, it was no rocket science for those thousands years old civilization to understand that Sun rises on it’s own and sets on it’s own routine, so it is superior to human beings. Yes superior is the operating concept here which is termed as God.

Our setup is dealing with windmills we found that the intensity of flow of wind varies every year , there is no correct prediction. For example we are still trying to guess what will be the wind pattern next year. The factors effecting the wind pattern comes out after carrying out analysis of the event which had happened in the past but what will be the pattern  next year is any body’s guess. So wind is definitely a superior being than human beings understanding. So what do we do, last year I told my staff to carryout puja of Hanumanji  before the high wind season. Here I am not saying that because of that we got good wind last year  this year even after doing puja at the same period comparatively wind was less. It is my faith in Hanumanji which made me to carryout puja, it does not make me religious as some of my left leaning friends will infer.

We were to do acid cleaning of the first boiler in Singrauli Thermal Power Station of NTPC way back in 80s, the acid cleaning pumps were failing during trial and we could not start the activity. MrS K Dasgupta, the then O&M chief of NTPC came to me and said,” You have started the activity without conducting a ceremonial puja and so it failed!”

His second in command Mr.H P Das who had joined from Renupower said,”In Renusagar we would start any activity by doing a puja of Langtababa who is known to be the popular deity of the place !”

So we carried out complete re erection of the system and started the activity after conducting puja of Langtababa, on the first push itself all the four pumps ran smoothly and we completed our activity without any hitch.It was the result of our effort plus the faith, that puja did the bonding between all the workers , officers etc involved from NTPC,BHEL,Contractors etc c transcending caste,creed and religion. It was not a case of blind faith but bowing ones head to a superior being, all those involved were engineers from all possible reputed colleges. It is an accepted practice in the field to start of any major activity after carrying on a puja .

When I took possession of ED’s bungalow in Bhopal it was suggested by Buniyad Ali that I should do puja. I advised him to bring a priest and also a mauluvi and if possible a Christian priest. It was like all religion fare to drive out any bad spirit lurking around the house. I spent my time peacefully in that house and my father, who  most of the time was with me then, enjoyed his stay.

I have this problem with my big toe nail, I can’t clip it with the nail clipper. When this time I went to Varanasi I searched for the barber in Assighat from whom I had got my toe nail clipped in previous visit. His instruments were there but he was not there, I inquired from the people around and nobody seemed to know about his hereabout. By the way we were in Assighat after visiting Kaal Vairav and Sankat Mochan temples. We took a boat from Assighat to Dashawamedh ghat, after landing in Dashashwamedh ghat I caught hold of a roadside barber and asked him whether he would cut toe nail. He said, ‘’ Now a days we don’t do that!’’ So I returned to Kolkata without getting my toe nail trimmed.

Next Saturday after our return from Varanasi I went for my usual morning walk of 4.5 kms, my driver Gopal informed me that my wife has found out a roadside barber near the market who can cut my toe nail. We went to that barber , he readily agreed. On the footpath I sat on a stone and the barber started cutting my nail. He cut through my flesh and it started bleeding, I looked down and seeing blood I started feeling giddy, I asked the barber to stop cutting, asked Gopal to bring the car, I was feeling like lying down. He brought the car I got up to get in the car and fainted. I must disclose here that I have this phobia of feeling nauseating and fainting at the sight of blood. It had happened many times in the past.I go off for a minute or so and then become normal but for Gopal it was first time. He drove me home fast. At home I hit the bed and took a long rest.

Then I told my wife supposing we would have located that barber in Assighat and same incident would have happened then what would have been her condition alone with me out of senses.I explained to her it was Kal Vairav or the God of time shifted the event which was certain to happen to a more favorable time and place, I don’t have any other explanation than this. Why didn’t I get that barber in Assighat that day or why the barber at Dashwamedh ghat expressed his inability to carry on with the job? A rationalist may say it is one of those coincidences.

For me the Time is the biggest power , Time makes or breaks us. I believe we derive our fate from the good wishes of people whom we help, this trait i got from my parents.I always carry  some 10 rupees note with me to give to poor , practically every day i give those notes  during my morning walk around the lake. The giving gives me mental solace .
So why do i go to Varanasi every year? I don't carry out any ritualistic puja but i make it a point to visit Kaal Vairav and Sankat Mochan temples, i walk by the side of Vishwanath temple, watch people and their devotion. I love walking on Dashashwamedh ghat as i could see people not only from India but from throughout the world, it's amazing experience. I have spoken to some of those foreign tourists about their visit of Varanasi, all of them admitted to enjoy the ambiance of the ghats and temples. Yes i too enjoy the vibration which i feel when i walk on those ghats or those narrow lanes of Varanasi.