Inner Metamorphosis

I stay in a certain area of Hyderabad which has considerable Muslim presence as the result of which I’m reasonably familiar with their way of life. Recently my brother informed me of one Dr Zakir Naik, an Islamic preacher who attracts significant following among Muslim youth. I was informed that Naik is a super-intellectual who proved that Islam is the only true religion while others are wrong. Out of mere curiosity, I started searching for his lectures in Youtube. Most of his talks are full of mystery to me. I simply can’t understand how this man can win this much popularity .According to me even a simple graduate must be able to see through his nonsense. Most of his talks are rhetorical; he simply announces a “fact” rather than reasoning it out. Most of his theories are quite irrelevant to me as I have no inclination to research minute details of historical texts. However there is one particular theory which gave me Goosebumps literally. Naik was once asked by a non-Mu...

{ This is my maiden attempt at fiction. I have styled it like The Enlightenment of Buddha albeit in a more radical & iconoclast manner. Needless to say this is not original but heavily inspired by various things foremost among which are German Philosopher Frederich Nietzsche’s works. Don’t sue me for plagiarism!   ) {  Introducing this, would in a way not be appropriate. But suffice it to say that this is a first-person narrative of a man who’s suffered a lot and deep into contemplation comes across thoughts that………………………………… } Disclaimer : This work is a fictional account of a true story.  It was the dead of night with only an eerie silence and black sky accompanying me.  Was I laughing? Yes, laughing as though that were the only substitute for bursting into tears.  I perhaps knew why is it that man alone laughs!! He alone suffers so much pain that he was compelled to invent laughter. I was waiting………….waiting for nothing… “What ...

The philosophers have only   interpreted   the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change   it. – Karl Marx A friend once commented that reading philosophy is waste of time. Most of the things are absurd and are of absolutely no relevance to daily life. One doesn’t need philosophy to be happy in life! Infact I agree with him. I think what man primarily needs to be happy is power . For example if you lose your cellphone and if you have the power (wealth here) to buy another without least hesitation that you don’t need to bother about it at all! On the other hand if you can’t buy another straight away and have to settle with another of lesser price you would philosophize that the principal use of cellphone is to communicate and other features are quite unnecessary. And if it’s not possible to buy another right away, one will say that hardly 10 years back none had these devices and yet all were quite content!! Philosophy is thus...

Inquiry is fatal to certainty. - Will Durant. Last week, most of the TV channels were full of news relating to some babas (aka gurus, swamis etc). I’m amazed looking at the popularity these people have managed to possess. More astonishing is the fact that they run big business empires under the cover of spirituality. We need to save God from these people literally.!!!! Hahaha Hindus in general are less informed of their religion than followers of other religions. However I’m against these sects centred on Human-Worship. Such man-centric worship removes all traces of sanity in men and makes them scapegoats to all kinds of rubbish. People must enquire adequately before making their final move to faith. Though I call myself a Hindu and believer and have a set of beliefs, values  and also interested mental speculation I’m usually a positivist ( someone who emphasizes observable facts and excludes metaphysical speculation about origins or ultimate causes ) when it comes to oth...

There are few philosophical questions always confound the human mind. One of the major issues that had been especially problematic to theists has been the “ problem of evil ”. Broadly stated the problem of evil consists of the supposed incompatibility and contradiction of the following 3 statements: 1.)  God is all good. 2.)  God is all-powerful 3.)  Evil exists in a world where God is both all-powerful & all-good. Hence, this leads to two assumptions God allows evil. (against our presumption that He’s all-good) He’s not willing to address it (against our presumption that he’s all powerful) This is really a problem which religious men of all times have answered in various degrees. So why does evil exist at all on this marvellous wonderful creation by a benevolent God? Why are we against our own genuine intentions of peace thrust against an evil world? Philosophers have given an explanation worth thousands...

Most of us talk about corruption in India and most of us are apt to pinpoint corrupt politicians as the root cause of all problems in India . Little realised in the fact, the these politicians rise to ranks from the masses and if corruption is common in politician, its because its common in men. I once asked a close Marvadi friend, if he keeps black money. He replied yes, upon which I asked him being so educated why you should continue to involve in such practises. He said blankly, “ We are not interested in indulging in such practises. But are you aware that at every point we are forced to cough up our hard-earned money to so many officials without any official purpose? If I don’t have this kind of money, I can’t have even a decent life. But atleast I have decided in personal front, that the moment I needn’t cough up money unnecessarily, I shall give up this practise ”. In the struggle for Indian freedom, Gandhiji was correct to dismiss the ideology of revolutionaries who...

One thing that is common for all recent emotional developments – I wanna a quick-fix. Most of our present culture in a way encourages instant satisfaction through whichever means possible. This is a disturbing trend. There are no shortcuts, no free-lunches. But we have conveniently forgotten this under the mask of various clichés.  A case in point is the way most of the self-help books ( i.e. motivational, personality growth based) are written. Almost all of which I’ve seen in recent times are based on personality ethic- superficial changes in external personality . The rise of this concept can be seen with the success of Dale Carnegie’s “ How to Win Friends and Influence People ”. The book was a huge success & this captivated the imagination of many other writers who wished to earn quick buck by writing some out-of-context quotes to derive most funny conclusions. Most of these writers write some personal examples which (supposedly) motivate all to achieve suc...