About Nitwit Nastik

So, I see you are curious to know more about me, huh? OK, here is my spiel ! 

I was born to Hindu, Brahmin parents in India and spent most of my life in India. I am an engineer by profession but have a varied interest including but not limited to science/technology, philosophy, neuroscience, religion and politics. I have an advanced degree in Reiki and also learnt Sudarshan Kriya from the Art of Living foundation. Although I do not practice any of these now, I do believe in the benefits of Yoga, breathing techniques and meditation (strictly from a health perspective and not as a means for enlightenment)

As for my religious beliefs, I used to be a devout hindu with a staunch belief in the God of the Vedas. I used to believe in the supernatural powers of God, the miracles performed by the reincarnated avatars of our Hindu texts and the power of prayer to affect the world around us. Somewhere along the way, a wise monkey called “reason” slapped me into reality and I opened my eyes and saw the light ! 

Now, I consider myself a rationalist and/or a freethinker. I believe in working for humanity without any hope of karmic brownie points or the hope of a frolicking time in heaven with 72 virgins. I do not feel the need to conform to any religious dogma, nor I do I feel the need to believe in something or someone based only on “faith”.

I used to think, that religion was the outcome of a deep yearning in humans to understand the meaning of life and find answers to other philosophical questions. It was a search for meaning into the world around them. But instead, I have realized that religion to most people have come to mean a blind adherence to baseless dogmas and antiquated traditions – a consequence of our inner fears rather than a curiosity for the world around us.

As a result, I do not have much “faith” in any organized religion and think that most of them are cults created by humans and for humans, either to forward a selfish agenda or to keep lesser humans under control. I find most organized religions rife with logical contradictions. To me, organized religion is a tool for the tyrant, an asylum for the weak, a shelter for the needy and a crutch for the destitute and “faith”, the sanctuary for the blind and the brainless. The virtues which religion claim to engender in humans are virtues which existed before the dawn of any religion and will exist without religion. The animal world and primitive humans provide enough proof of that. In it’s several thousand year history, organized religion hasn’t been able to eradicate any of the evils of human society. On the contrary, it has fought hundreds of wars – killing, pillaging and enslaving thousands of men and women in the name of religion.

Having said that, I do not claim to be always right nor do I entertain people who think they are always right. I am open to other possibilities and if I have enough proof  to believe in something which does not agree with my position, I am not averse to changing my position or relinquishing my ego.

The word Astika in Sanskrit is derived from the root word asti which means “there is” and has often been used to mean – a theist, or one who believes in a supreme being as a creator. Hence the word Nastik/Nastika(na(not)+astika) has come to signify the opposite of  astika – one who disbelieves in a creator God or an atheist.

As for my belief in a creator God, I am one of those fence sitters whom the theists love to hate and atheists treat with contempt – also called “agnostic” in many circles.  In matters of the divine, I do not claim to have enough proof or intelligence (hence the ‘nitwit’) to be able to prove or disprove that God exists , but given my knowledge of the various religious texts (mainly the Gita, the Bible and the Quran- which I have read more than a lot of theists) and my own experiences and understanding of the world around me, I maintain that there is a very high probability that He/She doesn’t. However, I also like to keep an open mind and acknowledge that there may be a very small but finite chance of a creator God’s existence but even if He/She does exist, I am absolutely convinced that God doesn’t meddle in the affairs of his/her creation. 

Other than my agnosticism in a creator God, I maintain a skeptical but open mind about miracles, astrology, paranormal events etc and demand incontrovertible proof before I believe in such activities.  The burden of proof for such claims lies with the claimant and not with the skeptics. Lack of a logical reason to a claim is not proof that something exists nor can it be used a premise to prove something does not exist, so even though I don’t believe in such claims I like to keep an open mind.

Moreover, I am also of the opinion, that even if paranormal activities exist or can be proven, it is not sufficient proof of God’s existence. They very well may be something that we do not understand or have the means to explain yet, given the limitations of present day science. However, just because we do not presently have the means to explain certain things, doesn’t necessarily mean that to be God’s handiwork. Lack of scientific knowledge caused our forefathers to believe that natural phenomenon such as lightning, tornadoes and earthquakes were messages from god.  I shudder to think what may have happened had we never questioned such ideas and continued to regard them as sacrosanct divine messages – never to be doubted or questioned.

This blog is my dimwitted attempt to 1. ) question assertions about religious beliefs and God’s existence 2. ) expose the kiddie fantasies and supernatural claims of the rationality-challenged 3.  ) discuss religion, politics, science, Indian affairs and the world as I understand it.

This blog does not attempt to be politically correct nor will I try to deliberately avoid controversial topics just because it may hurt people’s sentiments. If you disagree with a post you are free to point it out and I will try my best to explain it or modify my post in case of inaccuracies (yes, I do make mistakes !!). However, I will not remove or change any post just because someone doesn’t “like” it or it may “hurt” someone’s sentiment. If someone doesn’t like a post, he/she is free to visit any of the 20+ billion web pages on the world wide web.

Thank You for visiting my web log. Hope your stay here is worthwhile.