By Zile Singh – Ambassador (Retd.)

To rid -off Coronavirus, they ask, where is God?

Speaking mystically, he has gone into a silent Pod

Who help themselves, He helps those

For Him, there are no friends and no foes

In human history never has been a time, except COVID-19, when the human being  has been traumatized to such an extent that life has gone into  isolation and inaction.  Though there is  light in the tunnel but it seems quite  far off. Even during the First and the Second World Wars, not all nations were involved and traumatized except the Allied and Axis. The man has always believed in action. Because action moves life. Inaction is death. Now, only a few months in Corona, there are   inquires in  galore - “Where is God?  What about his places of worship?  If God exists, why do innocent people and children who haven’t done anything wrong die?  Why doesn’t God save them?  Can any religion save the world from this savagery? Etc., etc.

To safeguard his fiefdom and uphold God, the priest advised long ago, “God, and Religion are not to be questioned.  To make his position stronger the priest warned, “God, guru and parents can never be requited.    For the same man to be godless and a good subject is impossible.”

From its very beginning, humanity stands divided into three distinct groups.  The first group believes in the existence  of God.  The second group does not believe that there is a God. None of these groups can give proof of God’s existence or non-existence. They only have their conviction, belief and concocted stories in their favour.   The third category is of those who are neutral. They are  sitting on the fence.   They do not deny or accept the presence of God. God, or no God, is a non-issue for them. Most of the people inquire – Is God of  Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs  one God or many Gods?   People in all these three groups  know that there has been a perennial blood-shed in the name of God and religion.  This blood-shed was yesterday, is today and will be the  day after.  Instead of God, people in the third category, believe only in themselves.   In Jainism and Buddhism, there is no concept of God as such.  Unfortunately, these two religions also could not distance themselves from a contagious virus of their fellow religions.  The Buddha and Mahavira also have fallen into the category of God(s).  

Abrahamic religions are dominated by the notion of One God.  All such religions persist on the authenticity of their own One Book, One Son and One Prophet etc.    Despite this,  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all Abrahamic, could not tolerate each other. History is witness to the internecine war among them.   In Hinduism, the more the merrier: many gods, many books, many sages and  many insights. There are 33- crore gods and goddesses in different colours and costumes.

During my two years posting as Consul General in Herat (Afghanistan), in informal meetings/dinners I used to ask my hosts/guests, “All are not Hindus, Christians and Muslims on earth.  All of them have the same pains and pleasures.  All of them believe in God.  Why then so often, in the name of God, Hindus are lynching Hindus,   Christians have shed enough blood of their own Christians and why the Muslims are playing with the blood of their own Muslim brethren?  Why orthodox people in  different religions  are thumping their chests claiming  that theirs’  is the oldest, theirs’ is   the only Son of God and theirs’ is  the last messenger of God and my way is the only  right way?

The fact is that even today, man is incomplete.  He is in the process of evolution.   Compulsory education, the  law of equality, free - thinking and scientific research have opened up plenty of vistas into man’s mind to explore  into  all walks of   life, including the concept of God, religion and faith. 

To sum up:  “I do not want to give advice to people about their Gods and  religious beliefs, but I do think that it is not smart to bet against the power of science to figure out the natural world. It used to be a thousand years ago that if you wanted to explain why the moon moved through the sky, you needed to invoke God”. - Sean Carroll.

“The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning, but I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it, until this moment. Now I see that I will never find the light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel”. - Bruce Lee

It is clear from the above that you have to fight with COVID-19 with your own quarantine, hand wash and hope instead of questioning God. 

Zile Singh is much respected Columnist, writer, a Vipassana Meditator and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights.  He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca