http://www.boloji.com/spirituality/051.htm
In a previous discussion with my friend DP, I found out that Hindus' concept of life-after-death (where retribution/rewarding occurred) served to explain why some people are well off in God's world while some are not. I am not an expert on Christianity or Islam, so I cannot comment on them. Bhagat Singh presents his arguments against the logic of the religions - his logic against Hinduism's sense of retribution/rewarding is one I have not seen before.
Also, this is more than just an essay on atheism.
-- First of all, it's written by Bhagat Singh and that too a week before the court's sentencing in 1931.
-- Second, Bhagat Singh describes his evolution in this essay. (This, to me, was the real find from the essay).He clearly mentions what the 'turning point' was in his thinking - when he decides to 'study'. Excerpt:
"For some time I was afraid that some day I also might not be convinced of the futility of our own program. That was a turning point in my revolutionary career. "Study" was the cry that reverberated in the corridors of my mind. Study to enable yourself to face the arguments advanced by opposition. Study to arm yourself with arguments in favor of your cult. I began to study. My previous faith and convictions underwent a remarkable modification. The Romance of the violent methods alone which was so prominent amongst our predecessors, was replaced by serious ideas. No more mysticism, no more blind faith. Realism became our cult. Use of force justifiable when resorted to as a matter of terrible necessity: non-violence as policy indispensable for all mass movements.""The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life." — from Bhagat Singh's prison diary
3 comments:
Bhagat Singh is one of my heroes and so I feel the need to leave a lengthy reply on only the Bhagat Singh part of the post. We need to remember that he died at the age of 23. So he was still evolving even though he was amazingly intellectual for someone so young.
I didnt read the whole essay now but I have read it before. What Bhagat Singh didnt believe in was an "omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God".
I dont think that amounts to direct atheism. It only means a rejection of organized religion which has introduced concepts such as
Destiny, Retribution, Reincarnation, Hell, miracles and such.
I'm not sure how a God-fearing person can convince an atheist on the existence of a supreme All-Creator when they cant explain who created the All-Creator. That explains the requirement of unquestioning/undoubting faith in all religions.
Similarly, an atheist cannot convince a believer unless he/she can prove how this supremely complex world came into existence. Thats why, all atheists pick on religions' shortcomings instead to prove their point.
On the move, the title of the essay itself is "why i am an atheist", so how can you say he believed in God but not "an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God"? He is clearly an atheist.
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