God and I - by Natwar Singh (from DC)

Mr Natwar Singh seems to have acquired his spiritual strength

through personal experiences and

by chanting Gayathri mantra and reading religious works.

But when he says - inspite of all his reading of all major religious works of the world,

that the two Epics are pessimistic because everyone dies in the end,

it smacks of an influence of pseudo-secularism, which he is so used to as a politician.

Birth and death are what life is about.

The Epics describe full-life stories

to bring out the conflicts that could happen at various stages

and at various circumstances

and also describe how such conflicts have been handled

by persons of various hues.

There lies the purpose of the Epics -

in requiring us to contemplate on issues and learn lessons

which would make us grow spiritually strong.

The notion that the Epics are pessimistic because everyone dies in the end,

shows that Mr Natwar Singh needs to go some way

in catching up with nuances of life-

if not about what God means to him.

-jayasree

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http://www.deccan.com/columnists/Columnists.asp

I am spiritual, but not religious

By K. Natwar Singh

Spirituality is very different from religiosity. You can be spiritual without being religious. That is what the Vedanta and Upanishads teach us.

I believe that there is a supreme power controlling everything that goes on in the universe — the changes of the seasons, the rainfall, the tides advancing and receding — and that we have to bow to that power.

But I don’t believe in a personalised God.

If you start thinking why someone is blessed and others are not, why some children die and others live and you end up in trouble.

For a long time, I was an agnostic. I did not grow up in a particularly religious home, and was deeply influenced by the initial chapters of Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India.

When I underwent a bypass surgery in 1988, I found myself entering the operation room in a completely calm manner because of my spiritual strength.

The operation was successful.

I recite the Gayatri Mantra and have read all the major religious works. But I find both Ramayan and Mahabharat to be very pessimistic because everyone dies in the end.

The good people and the bad people all find their end. But they still hold good lessons on humanity and life.

— The writer is a former external affairs minister

(As told to Uma Devarajan)