God who..
I have often wondered and debated with myself and indeed with my guruji, Anantshrivibhusit Swami Amreshwaranand Saraswati Parmacharya, who I call simply, Swamiji, on the subject of the being of God.
Is there a God, does he / she control the destiny and fortunes of everyone on this planet. Is it God who decides who shall fall sick and when, will they live or die, will they prosper or will they falter.
Swamiji, himself does not believe in “Idol worship” as he says this is a creation of man, and only goes back about 700 year or so. Swamiji does however say that there is a superior or a higher power or, “shakti” which “governs overall, to what extent and to what degree does the shakti prevail is however indeterminate.
Swamiji says that a persons fate is decided and determined by their “Karma”, and not by God. For a questioning mind this does fit in snugly with the Hindu psyche and faith.
If we continue with this thought that there is no God, and a persons destiny is the equivalent or outpouring of their “karma”, then it would stand to reason that in some form or manner, the decision to demonetize the Rs 500 & 1,000 currency notes has been a “god like” event, which has prevailed upon the fate of about 125 Cr populace, whose life has been seized literally overnight, and turned on its head.
As a direct result of the demonetization, people are unable to get admitted to hospital, a few have died. People have not been able to get married, go to school, buy daily necessities, and goodness knows what. In other words several hundred million peoples life has changed wholesale, not due to fate, karma, or God, but wholly and solely due to the demonetization episode.
To add to the farcical misery, the color of new pink colored Rs 2,000 note is running. Yes the color runs, I have tried this myself. Please take a wet towel or cloth and rub it across the 2000 currency note, and see for yourself.
This will mean that the 2000 currency note will have to be repealed, which will create even more chaos.
On a parallel we have Mr. Ratan Tata, who is not acting like God, and trying hard to breakup the Tata Empire built assiduously over several decades, all for maintaining his ego, and more importantly his legacy.
Mr Cyrus Mistry has essentially exposed that roughly about 60% of the Tata empire is bleeding, thanks largely due to Mr Ratan Tata`s high value acquisitions overseas, which have backfired. Only a few Tata companies are in the black.
This business of legacy, which people would like to carry forward has dangerous overtones.
The world overall is going through treacherous times, whether it’s the Brexit vote in UK, which effects about 75 Million people or whether its Mr Donald Trumps election as the President elect, in USA, which effect about 300 million people, or whether its Prime Minister Modi`s demonetization ruling which effects, 1.25 Billion people, the fact of the matter is that there is some kind of an underlying similarity, or connection or driving force, barreling the events forward in weird directions across several continents.
Maybe the events are not connected, eight years of Bill Clinton – democrat, followed by eight years of George W Bush – Republican, followed by eight years of Barack Obama – democrat. So maybe it’s a routine Republican / Democrat tussle, and its not a mandate on the repudiation of Barack Obama`s rule, of which Ms Hilary Clinton was considered a veritable extension.
Where does all this leave destiny ?
I did ask Swamiji who would win the US Presidential election, and time and again he kept saying “Trump”. When I queried him why Trump and not Clinton, he said at the end of the day that person will win who is “destined” for the office, and so it was Donald J Trump, who came up trumps with the first ever job he applied for – the President of the United States……I guess it must be destiny…
As for how the demonetization is destined, will it be repealed or will it continue is yet to be seen, take your pick.