O Rama O Krishna

After doing the midnight pooja on the day of Janmashtmi, I sat down on my computer to write these words for you. This whole day I was busy in decorating the Janmashtmi Jhanki, but the article in the morning news paper about comparison between Rama and Krishna kept on striking my mind. The writer wanted to prove that the character of Rama was that of a Superhuman and was more like God who was deliberately framed for the purpose of worship only. On the other hand, Krishna was more like a real human being with all sorts of possibilities of doing errors like a real human being and was also an exceptional in context of showing his divinity whenever situation demanded.

All our religious, traditional stories are full of characters, that we are made to worship because they had some super natural powers. The Oh! Factor is common to all idols we worship. I personally follow a practice of idol worship on a day to day basis, as I believe that I have been told to do the same since my early childhood. Today, I do not question this practice. Anytime if such contrasting questions come to my mind, I carefully avoid them. I feel as if I would risk my image of being a theist or a believer. I perform many religious rituals on daily basis and quite detailed rituals on festivals. I feel satisfied; ok I did these rituals once again. I feel disturbed, if the statue of Idol I am giving a holy bath suddenly fells of my hand. My sadness is doubled if the lamp I light before offering the prayers suddenly gets extinguished. O Rama, O Krishna, do you feel bad, if this happens.

Are you somewhere in between us, or are you just a ‘Devta’ inside a sand statue. Can I worship a broken statue. If I fix your statue with fevicol, can I worship you again? O Rama! O Krishna! Are you responsible for this conflict inside me? Someone says, I am normal, if I think it this way. Others also think the same, but they do not express it this way. I kept on thinking, thinking and thinking. Some moments I feel that Rama and Krishna themselves are there to answer me. Sometimes I try to answer it myself. O Rama! O Krishna! Are you me?

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg