Hey,
Its a relief to see you smile :).And they say once you get ppl smiling,it means they are listening to you and you can tell them most everything,
So ? Please lets change the name I can call you by. I dont like Athiest and Singh is too vague.
And tell me what do you have faith in?? Samuel Butler once said "You can do very little with faith ,but you can do nothing without it."
What do you think he meant??
And I see you visited my homepage and you still needed someone to tell you I am a lady????lol
Take care .
:)...

Thanks Ravi,
Hey do you know the story behind the "Faith can move mountains". I just got home and am really tired ,but I will tell it you one of these days.
G`nite Ravi and thanx....

You know ,while i was with mom ,just sorted her stuff out.
Boxes in which she has stored away memories of a lifetime. I lived my whole life again,in the knick knacks she has preserved. They brought back all the joys of my chidhood,as well as the sadness..as I kept vigil by her side,,,hoping ..praying

Hey ,my Son-in-law bought a Yamaha (bike )yesterday ...a monsterous fella ,and to cheer me up took me for a ride,it was so much fun...

OT I really need to send you this Happy Bull.Both the Bull and the Bear sit on my bed and the poses they strike accidently are really funny ,when you look at them in context to the mkt..
:)...

Its Ok Ravi, I understand. Thats why I hate get morose here. I`d rather share some smiles...
Thanx.
:)...

Hey,
No dont apologise,and thanks for replying.
It`s ok..we seemingly are at variance with each other.I am surprised that you dont accept the unlimited beauty and grandeur of the ..lets call it infinite.When you look around dont you accept the existence of a omnipotent and omniscient power??Many call that higher power God.
And as for me ,though I have not seen His face,I believe and believe by faith alone.
I cannot prove He is there in so many words. Dont you need to believe in something? Just as you have faith perhaps in Yourself? Youur abilities?? Other people?? I have faith in God.
:)
...

Dear Atheist,
At the outset........ I started to read your msg and havnt ! Its too depressing and purposeless, in my context, coz I am a believer..

And you ,my friend are very angry...living in a perpetual “Monday morning blues syndrome”.

This comes to you not for the sake of arguement,straight from my heart,verbattim,so I hope you will excuse the errors

My Mom who is the saintliest person I know is in the throes of Alzheimer’s .She doesn’t know me anymore..I should be very bitter ,but I thank God that he has taken away all her worldly worries away from her..

My brother was assassinated by Naga milltants in cold blood. It was painful. Extremely painful. I cant say how one lets go or heals one`s heart. But I had to forget about my pain and be there for his wife and two sons..so that I could be a constructive ,positive influence in their lives and not just rave and rant against God for doing this to us..

I am a Cancer survivor...well not completely ,but I think /I hope I am there. There are so many other unfair episodes I cannot share with you here . ....

But I still do believe there is someone up there..maybe i need to believe it. We suffer because of our beliefs, like the young don’t die, like there should be no suffering in the world etc. We believe in all this and end up hurting ourselves . I love my mom ,but don’t pity her. I believe she had to go through this. Yes I need to be with her, and give her my best. I tell her silly jokes ,and I think I am her favourite” stranger”. We listen to music, I take her to the Gurudwara. I could just as easily be angry, And make life miserable for her and myself , by saying why ? WHY?? WHY?? Would that help her? You go through what you have to, and for me HE knows best. And it works for me.

What or who is God? To me ,it is a kind of ‘code of conduct” ,and how we conduct ourselves ,making our lives and other`s lives as happy as possible. If there was no God, we /I would have invented one. Who needs him? The weak, the timid, the disturbed, the despairing, the lonely, the fearless, the seeker of truth, we all need him to remove the despair, to give us hope ....

I think its natural to go through the phase you are going through. It is good to explore your spirituality, provoke your conscience, and then recognise the obvious and relevant .I hope you have a homecoming of sorts, and your faith in Him ,is deeper and stronger than ever.I hope you too start to believe that God is” for me” and not “against” me.

God Bless my friend and take care.
...

OT,
I just got back to Mumbai yesterday. Coming back is always hectic.. My little one has bought me two soft toys...lol.One is a sad looking "Balu..the bear"..remember Kaa? Baghera?? And the other guy is a "Happy Bull". This fella is too cute ,in fact feel like photographing him and uploading his pic here. I think we need more of those around...
:)...

Samuel Butler said what he said because that was what he believed, He was one among the majority who believe. And your question as to what i believe in, it really confused me, I am not too sure, may be its relationships that i believe in.It may sound a bit silly, but this is what i could come up with. My mom always tells me that its relationships that are the most important aspect of life. But she also tells me that I should start believing in God or I may get kicked out of the house some day.Lol And I dont know why but i seem to have created an impression of a sullen, angry sort of guy on MMB. But I guess its ok, its kind of nice to be known differently from your actual self....Change is nice:D And you can call me Konde, it was my nick name in college.And I think I visited your homepage after getting enlightened about the fact that you are a lady, but nothing much on your homepage. One personal question, if i may, Its your mom or your mom in law who has Alzheimers? ...Singh ...

Dear Mickssss, This one's for you. A DOLLAR & 11 CENTS A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! "And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question. "Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick... and I want to buy! a miracle." "I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist. "His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?" "We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little. "Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs." The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?" "I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money." "How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago . "One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to." "Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a miracle for little brothers." He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need." That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. That surgery, her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?" Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents; plus the faith of a little child. Regards, Ravi...

Dear mickey59, Someone told me you are a lady. This is my 3rd gender slip on MMB. :D Anyways it does not matter much. Coming back to the issue, i think i wont debate with you on THIS issue, I will probably end up hurting myself if not anyone else, if i continued. Plus there are lot of other boarders to whom i can continue giving a headache . I guess this is one of my many negatives, i cant stop once i get started on something. I ll learn as i age i guess. ...Singh... ...

Dear Mickey59 When i read your message i decided I did NOT have the courage to reply to it. But somehow i have mustered up some courage and i am at it. Please forgive me if i am causing any hurt or pain by doing so. . Firstly, like i have told Mrs.Nandlal and others, I AM NOT ANGRY with God. Just because i question the concept of God and religion, people immediately form an opinion that its my anger that is on show. well, ITS NOT. The issue that had me going on this subject was when i saw people, which includes family and friends, having this hope in times of misery, that someone up there will help them, But no help came, leading to deeper misery. . Sir, you say that even if there were not to be a GOD, you would create one. Does not this mean that knowingly you are trying to pin your hope onto a entity which wont carry through your hope. Does not this mean that because this hope is knowingly kept alive on a false entity, it will end up causing you more misery. . Would it not be better if we were to accept reality and accept the fact that no God is going to carry through our hope on his shoulders. Once one has accepted this fact, i feel one would be in a better position to face life s challenges. I may be COMPLETELY WRONG HERE. Sir, is not the love one has for his/her kith and kin enough to face a challenging situation. . I feel, if you were to genuinely love a person and if that person were to be in such a state as to take away all the time and money and everything material from you, only Love alone would be enough reason to sacrifice everything for that person. . I have more in my mind, but I dont have the courage to discuss it on a public forum for the reason that i might end up hurting a stranger, about whom i have no idea as to what he has gone through in his life, and i dont want to say anything which might in the slightest way take away the slightest bit from the hope he has, even though the hope stems from the belief in God. I respect you for whatever little bit i know of you. Forgive me for my immaturity of having posted this message. ...Singh... ...

Q I think we need more of those around... UQ I sure agree. :) ...

Dear Micks, I was pained and sincerely do not know how to react or what to say.May the Good lord give you more courage and strength and bring forth his best onto you. God bless and Take care, Ravi...

Dear mickey59, I was wrong, there infact IS a God. How the loving God cares for his children who die of hunger, God loves his people so much that he enjoys seeing them being amputated by bomb blasts. He loves his children so much that when a NUN who prays to him all day is lying in a hospital in orissa with 80 % burns. He loves to see his people KILL EACH OTHER IN HIS NAME. He said that he will take care of all those who believe in him, and one person by name Gursharan Singh did believe him, he prayed and prayed for 54 years of his existence and one fine day in the year 1984 his wife and 2 daughters were raped in front of him and a burning tyre was put around his neck. He died in a hospital 34 days later. O YES sir , GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN!! He enjoyed the massacre of 6000 of his devoted beings in the so called most pious of places, the Harmandir Sahib in YOUR city. He loves his people so much that he does not bat an eyelid when 1600 innocent pilgrims, the ones who were so devoted to his name that they undertook a journey to a foreign land(mecca) even though they dint have the means to 3 meals a day, they were mauled and killed and amputated in a stampede in the HOLY LAND. God loves his people so much that he likes to see them massacred in HIS HOLY NAME in Gujurat. . He enjoys seeing his daughters being BURNT ALIVE because they were born to poor fathers who could not satisfy the greed of their son in laws. . He likes to see BABIES born with abnormal heart conditions, which die within weeks of taking birth, i wonder whats the logic behind this heinous thinking. . He likes to see babies born with mutilated arms and legs, so that they can lead lives devoted to him, IN PRAYER. He enjoys his Handicapped children begging on the streets and eating out of dustbins. . Its so easy to sit in our cosy homes eating hot clean food and clicking away on our laptops and having loving parents and thinking GOD IS SO GREAT, he has blessed me with such comforts, a healthy heart which tirelessly beats away, the flowers that grow outside my house, how beautiful they are....Yes sir, God has blessed you with a healthy heart that beats 70 times a minute, but who cares about millions of blind people, millions of people without limbs, millions who are MASSACRED in GODS name, millions of women who are burnt alive, millions of children who die within weeks of being born because their parents did not have the means to feed them or to pay for their medicines....WHO CARES??? ITS GOD WHO CARES!!! THATS WHO.....YES sir you are right.... God does exist ...Singh......