God and I - by Amrita Rao (from DC)

One’s inner conscience is the voice of God

By Amrita Rao

I believe that spirituality is very different from religiosity. I am more spiritual than religious. I do not really believe in the practice of idol worship. My parents never asked me to practice any religious customs. They never thrust their opinion on me. I was given the freedom to decide for myself whether I wanted to practise a particular religious custom or not. I do not think you need to constantly sit in front of an idol to connect with God. One can connect with the Supreme Being even while sitting in the living room. You could close your eyes, light a candle and have a conversation with God.

I am not a staunch supporter of religious customs and traditions, although I keep a fast once every month on the occasion of Durga Ashtami. That is how close I come to following religious customs.

We cannot see God, but I feel He is there all around us. He is present within me as well. He is my inner conscience.

When I do something wrong, there is this constant nagging thought at the back of my head, that is the presence of God within me. However, there are times in my life when I question the presence of God.

I was never a devotee of Lord Krishna, but a few years ago an incident, made me realise how blessed I am. I was in Delhi for an event. Since it was raining very heavily in Mumbai, my flight got delayed. At that time someone mentioned about visiting Mathura. I was delighted at the thought of visiting the exotic place. It was such a lovely place, with all the beautiful sculptures of Lord Krishna. And when I came back to Mumbai, I got a call from Sooraj Barjatya’s office to inform me that I got the role in Vivaah. The first scene I shot for the film was a Radha Krishna aarti. It was so uncanny. I still believe that I got that movie only because of Lord Krishna’s blessings.

— Amrita Rao is an actress and her movies include Vivaah and Ishq Vishq

(As told to Shuddha Dutta)