Kim Aascharyam? ( What is Wonder?)

- Stop! Don't drink from the lake before you answer my questions?
- Why should I ? Who is there?
- Answer my questions Yudhishtir, else you too will die like your brothers.
- Who are you and how do you know my name? My brothers are not dead they are just tired and resting.
- Oh ! They are dead all right and I am responsible for their death. I know you very well as I did your brothers. I am a Yaksha, lord of this lake. Your brothers refused to listen to me and suffered this fate. Actually I am a Devata cursed to live like a Yaksha until I find answers to some question. You are the wisest among all your brothers and can easily answer my questions.
- All the more reason why I shouldn't answer your questions. In any case I am thirsty, let me drink first, then may be I'll answer your questions.
- No, you must answer first.
- All right, fire.
- What moves faster than wind ?
- Since your question is unqualified therefore all things physical and abstract are included. The answer is the Imagination.
- What is deeper than oceans ?
- It is the Thought. No quarrel on this.
- What is larger than mountains ?
- Many things. Greed, desire, jealousy and scores of other emotions.
- What is wonder ?
- Remember Oh! Yaksha, I had told you a few thousand years back that it is the wish of man to be immortal against certainty of death that is the most amazing thing. I was wrong. You see, simple things said in a simpler manner, especially those, which go in line with conventional wisdom sound very impressive. Besides seeming obvious, these pronouncements also evade serious scrutiny. Life is not a matter of frivolous conjecture. The desire to be immortal is a perfectly normal reaction and also necessary for survival. Consider what Buddha said about life, being born is the root cause of all our misery, therefore if there is no desire for immortality, the question arises, why live at all. You see Yaksha, all living creatures fulfill two objectives viz. the biological and the philosophical. While there is no dispute on biological objective i.e. reproduction for propagation of species, there is no one view on philosophical objective of life. Even the idea that death is certain is disputable therefore I was wrong to say that our wish for immortality is most amazing idea. Look at my brothers, they are powerful and intelligent yet they gave precedence to their thirst instead of immobilizing you. Now consider your own case. You claim to be a Devata accursed to pass off your time as a Yaksha until you find answers to some questions.. You go about merrily killing people merely because they do not answer your question and con people into believing that you are indeed God. Isn't this amazing though not enough to qualify as wonder. What is wonder then? The idea of God. We all create images out of our fears and aspirations. We attempt to understand nature by laws and exceptions. What we do not understand, we try to explain away as mystcal. This has resulted in the formation of an image and a concept of God. Like classical painter of Europe, who took best of the features of human form like best nose, best lips, best eyes etc. and created beautiful images but their paintings are unreal. Similarly, we have created image and concept of God, which on close scrutiny appears unreal. The best attributes of humans are assigned to the God, unfortunately , the worst attributes too have stuck on them. While God is considered benign, considerate, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent they are also known to exhibit monumental jealousy, unsurpassed greed and their ability to scheme and plot to kill and eliminate for selfish gains is legendary.
Why, the form itself assigned to God is questionable. After all basic form is female besides as we now know that our being most intelligent species is merely coincidental. The biggest wonder is the firm belief in the existence of God, so widely prevalent all over the world, while all indicators point otherwise.
I was wrong O! Yaksha.

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