A controversial question. In fact, the most important question since the time more than one religion came into existence on earth - what with each of them claiming to know the answer or at least part of it. I was curious to see which aspects the program would cover.
It began with a story in the land of Egypt - of a pharaoh named Akhenaten, who ordered that the worshiping of all existing Gods be stopped and only the Sun God be worshiped - through him. Needless to say, the priests weren't pleased but they did as told while he was alive. The moment he passed away, no efforts were spared to destroy almost every possible sign of this Sun-worship and the boy-king who ascended to the throne, Tutankhamen, was forced to tow the line. That was the end of perhaps world's first religion that spoke of one God.
Most of us have seen Stonehenge but at least I hadn't heard of the durrington walls which is a structure that lies in the same vicinity but predates Stonehenge. It was a massive structure of underground giant stones erected to face a particular group of hills. Alas, its story is lost in the mist of time. But perhaps it was an early form of religion that worshiped nature.
Freeman next took the viewers to Varanasi and the Hindu religion of multiple Gods - each one of them with a different form, story and purpose. Ganesha, the well-known elephant-headed God was mentioned and then Freeman attended a Pooja ceremony for a deity called Lalitha. The city of Jerusalem, which is significant for Judaism, Christianity and Islam was the next stop. Here I learnt an interesting story about the Islamic prayer call. It is said that one of Prophet's followers heard it for the first time in his dreams and told the Prophet about it when he woke up. If you hear it in a noisy city, you would probably move on, unless you happen to be a Muslim of course. But last year I had been to Munnar when on one evening I was sitting in the back garden of the cottage as the sun went down in the hills. As the evening turned to night, a prayer call was heard from the village below. It sounded so reassuring and calming that I was sad when it stopped. Funnily enough though, its association with God did bring back images of fragrant temple premises and elaborate Pooja rituals to my mind. It is true that none of us are born with a religion but for most of us whatever religion we are brought up in remains forever a part of our lives. The Navajo ritual called the Kinaalda ceremony which is conducted when a girl is 12 years old was covered next along with their belief in the Navajo deity called the Changing Woman.
The last part of the program covered a relatively new field of science - Neuro-theology. It studies how brain reacts to spiritual or religious practices or thoughts. Freeman was injected with a solution that contained a special radioactive dye that would show up which parts of his brain get activated and then was asked to meditate. His brain was then studied and it was found that the frontal lobes were activated - here I must say that I might not have described it accurately. But the gist is that these studies have shown that a specific part of the brain shows activity when religious matters or religion are discussed or thought of. The catch is that this happens with only people who believe in God. If an atheist thinks of God, his brain does not show any activity in that region because he/she does not believe in God. Fascinating, isn't it?
So, it looks like unless the Almighty decides to make a grand appearance on earth we all have to find our own answer to this question - be it a single God, multiple Gods or nature as God. I guess some questions are best left unanswered. What say?
It began with a story in the land of Egypt - of a pharaoh named Akhenaten, who ordered that the worshiping of all existing Gods be stopped and only the Sun God be worshiped - through him. Needless to say, the priests weren't pleased but they did as told while he was alive. The moment he passed away, no efforts were spared to destroy almost every possible sign of this Sun-worship and the boy-king who ascended to the throne, Tutankhamen, was forced to tow the line. That was the end of perhaps world's first religion that spoke of one God.
Most of us have seen Stonehenge but at least I hadn't heard of the durrington walls which is a structure that lies in the same vicinity but predates Stonehenge. It was a massive structure of underground giant stones erected to face a particular group of hills. Alas, its story is lost in the mist of time. But perhaps it was an early form of religion that worshiped nature.
Freeman next took the viewers to Varanasi and the Hindu religion of multiple Gods - each one of them with a different form, story and purpose. Ganesha, the well-known elephant-headed God was mentioned and then Freeman attended a Pooja ceremony for a deity called Lalitha. The city of Jerusalem, which is significant for Judaism, Christianity and Islam was the next stop. Here I learnt an interesting story about the Islamic prayer call. It is said that one of Prophet's followers heard it for the first time in his dreams and told the Prophet about it when he woke up. If you hear it in a noisy city, you would probably move on, unless you happen to be a Muslim of course. But last year I had been to Munnar when on one evening I was sitting in the back garden of the cottage as the sun went down in the hills. As the evening turned to night, a prayer call was heard from the village below. It sounded so reassuring and calming that I was sad when it stopped. Funnily enough though, its association with God did bring back images of fragrant temple premises and elaborate Pooja rituals to my mind. It is true that none of us are born with a religion but for most of us whatever religion we are brought up in remains forever a part of our lives. The Navajo ritual called the Kinaalda ceremony which is conducted when a girl is 12 years old was covered next along with their belief in the Navajo deity called the Changing Woman.
The last part of the program covered a relatively new field of science - Neuro-theology. It studies how brain reacts to spiritual or religious practices or thoughts. Freeman was injected with a solution that contained a special radioactive dye that would show up which parts of his brain get activated and then was asked to meditate. His brain was then studied and it was found that the frontal lobes were activated - here I must say that I might not have described it accurately. But the gist is that these studies have shown that a specific part of the brain shows activity when religious matters or religion are discussed or thought of. The catch is that this happens with only people who believe in God. If an atheist thinks of God, his brain does not show any activity in that region because he/she does not believe in God. Fascinating, isn't it?
So, it looks like unless the Almighty decides to make a grand appearance on earth we all have to find our own answer to this question - be it a single God, multiple Gods or nature as God. I guess some questions are best left unanswered. What say?
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