They Changed My God

Jesus Christ!

Dear friend, you have captured my sentiments in words more glorious than any I would ever have penned.

Anwar Iqbal#

Very true.

They have taken the God away on their shoulders and bringing their orders in HIS NAME.

This was very beautifully written.

simple yet excellent.

I`m sorry about your experience

I cannot hold my tears since I read this poem.

Anwar Iqbal wrote:

``They came and shouted:
We cannot let God waste his time
We are here to save him from kids and
butterflies``


Interesting thoughts.They not only changed
but have Hijacked the tolerant religion
that some of us grew up with and
cherished.

Ras

Let`s be clear - ``They`` can not take ``God`` anywhere, God is everywhere and Mr. Iqbal, He is with you, and with everyone who loves Him and struggles with one`s human frailties.

God is a figment of the imagination of a scared caveman (or several cavemen) from a few thousand years ago. The sooner people accept that and move on, the sooner we can start to clean the world of stupidity and ignorance. If you must believe in a god, believe in the physics of the universe (don`t ask me who created the universe) and understand that there is only one set of laws and worshipping those laws will earn you nothing more than some knowledge of physics. There is also no heaven to go to - if there was, one of the spacecraft would have spotted it by now.

Dear Iqbal Sahib,

This is a beautiful poem on an important subject. Is the Urdu version available on the web as well?

Saxena: You write ``if there was, one of the spacecraft would have spotted it by now.``

It seems many years ago, a Russian cosmonaut visiting Indonesia said something like this too: that he had been out in space and did not see God. An Indonesian gentleman responded that he would have seen God if only he had stepped out of the spacecraft.

Actually, the more science advances, the more obvious it becomes that there is far more to things than we can ever imagine, let alone see or experience. And anyone interested in science knows that we can already see far more than people who have no interest in education and learning imagine even today. And from what we already know, it seems very, very unlikely if human consciousness and intelligence is the only consciousness there is in the universe. Or if this was the only universe, vast (12 billion light years across) though it is.

There is a God almost by definition. And that God is of the kind that Mr. Iqbal knows: kind and just and encouraging humans to the peaceful pursuit of science and prosperity.

Tahmed:

Beautifully Put.

Later,

WOH NAHIN BADLA

Meray hamdum, meray dost
ghalat feh’mee hay shadeed
woh tou woh-hee hay
woh badla kahaaN?

(Shayad khood ko bhee
woh bad’l na sakhay ---
woh a’lug behas hay.)

Darya kay rookh ko
musjid ko
mandir ko
pyar ko
nafrat ko
tou badla ja sakhta hay.

laikin oos ki zaat ko nahiN
bilkul nahiN!

Ghaure say dekho
apnay apnay dilouN maiN
apnay apnay dilouN ko
woh bad’l gaye haiN.

HE HAS NOT CHANGED

Sadly, my friend
sadly mistaken are you
He is the same as always
has not changed one bit.

(Perhaps even He
could not change Himself ---
but that is another debate.)

We can change
the course of a river
a mosque here
a mandir there
even love for hatred
or hatred for love.

But we cannot change Him
ever
you got it wrong there.

Search intently
peek in your heart
gaze at others
it is we
who have changed...!
_________________________________________


PS: Welcome to Chowk. Did you translate this? Wish Chowk had put up the orignal Urdu or at least Romanized Urdu version.

Dear Iqbal

It is a nice poem. I think the original Urdu version would be splendid.

I have a feeling that the main theme of the poem is based on the short story by either Rumi or Saadi titled ``Moses and the Recluse``. The story goes something like this:

Moses was once passing through a jungle when he heard someone singing a poem. The wording of the poem was same as that of your poem. He saw a man sitting at the bank of a mountain stream singing. Moses was a short tempered man. He grabbed the man at his neck and slapped him across his face and told him that he was insulting God by asking Him to come down so that he could play with Him, wash His face with the stream water......catch fireflies etc. The man started weeping. Then God Himself admonished Moses that it is the purity of the sentiments that count and not the words etc. etc.

END

Anyway, make no mistake, He is a strict disciplinarian-He has promised to give us peace only if we keep discipline around us. His rules are infallible. And He is very selective/prejudiced because He helps only those who try to help themselves.

Mar-8-01 9:44:45 EST Reply #: 4
Saidamalik
I cannot hold my tears since I read this poem.``

Me too !



I went to the Garden of Love
And saw what I never had seen:
A mosque was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Mosque were shut
And ``You Shall Not`` writ over the door;

So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore;
And I saw it was filled with graves
And tomb-stones where flowers should be
And Maulanas in gowns were walking their rounds
And binding with briars my joys and desires

very true..... where can we find the urdu version ??

fauzia

That was a beautiful poem and I do not think it was blasphemous though some of the metaphors used were a bit daring and could be construed as disrespectful by literalist interpretations; especially some of the more anthropomorphic descriptions..but the general message in the poem i think was a powerful one and not disrespectful.

Still, it would be interesting to see the original Urdu...shaayad kuchh ilfaz shaan e Yazdaan kay laaiq nahin thay...wallahu aalam.

:-)

However, I did not agree with the not-so-veiled references to those who have``changed`` God; naudhubillah, Allah (Glory be to Him!) is above any change of the sort...yes, i know it was metaphorical but still, such language should perhaps be avoided...

Re: RSaxena, #7

``Religion is the backbone of civilization.`` That was the atheist Freud. I agree with him.

God must exist for the humanity`s sake. Man cannot not believe in God. This world would be a lot worse place than it is today if everyone stopped believing in God (which is not going to happen, and to which I say, quite ironically, thank God.)

To reason God is just too heavy-duty for the general populace. Not only that, becoming a non-believer places too much of a burden on one`s shoulders, and not too many people are capable of carrying that burden. Not only that, I believe that an ignorant who becomes a non-believer is an extremely dangerous person.

What needs to be stopped is the dangerous thoughts, among the believers, that my God is better than yours, or that your God is false and mine true. That`s what that has created all the mess in this world. Unfortunately, stupidity and ignorance cannot be eliminated from this world, as you wish for, and eliminating God certainly is not going to achieve it.

If you haven`t read it, then I recommend a book to you, which I read about 18 years ago, that I know you`d enjoy immensely. The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukov.

Re:Tahmed

``---It seems many years ago, a Russian cosmonaut visiting Indonesia said something like this too: that he had been out in space and did not see God. An Indonesian gentleman responded that he would have seen God if only he had stepped out of the spacecraft...``

yea..he said it.. and he was rite 100%... The ambiguity lies beyond death is the trade secret of God(or the notion of His existence) and the subsequent establishment of various religous industries in every corner of this globe.....