I have been reading and hearing a lot of interesting interpretations of the Tsunami from people of various religious beliefs and aspirations. As a believer in the existence of a greater being, I am confused as to how to interpret this situation.
As people of many faith chime in www.beliefnet.org, religion can be used to account or discount the reason for the Tsunami. Some said that it was God punishing us for losing track of our morals, while others said while they believed in the existence of God, the Tsunami was not his act. If I were to believe in the omnipotent God, how can I accept an argument that he was not responsible for the Tsunami. One Indian religious group went to the extent of attributing the Tsunami as a punishment from God for putting the Kanchi Seer behind bars. Given that it struck areas where religion assumes tremendous significance, it is hard to fathom the reasoning behind the death of so many of His or Her believers. Each religion tries to twist this cruel fate of nature to its own interpretation of sorrow and eventually redemption. But if we look through the eyes of the lonely fisherman who has lost all of his family and friends and livelihood, its hard to put things in the perspective.
A fellow blogger gave a positive twist to the whole thing by saying the Tsunami brought people together as never before. While I can see his logic, I cannot agree to that completely. Would God destroy his poor and diligent followers while letting the rich and probably more cynical to survive ? The existence of Heaven and Hell, while giving a spiritual explanation to how God treats followers, does little to explain the so many deaths of young and old, male and female.
Or is it, as scientists and even the engineer in me, says, its an act of nature. No more. No less. Tsunami's are events of nature that happen due to shifting of plates and one such happened here. And it will probably be another 400 years before we see another in the Indian Ocean.
Is there a God and if so, what was His or Her role in the Tsunami ?
Update:
01/17/2005: And now a Virus in the name of seeking AID for the Tsunami. The world continues in its ways, Tsunami or no Tsunami.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5539215.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet
15 comments:
I know you dont like anonymous posts, but I hope you'll consider this post on its own merit.
A strong belief in an omnipotent God means that God is indeed responsible for everything. Also, God is the epitome of love and purity. So, apparently the Tsunami presents a contradiction? Lets examine this a bit more.....
Why is the tsunami such a bad thing? Scores of people died. But is dying such a bad thing. Would you rather die by an act of man or by an act of God? Maybe better things await in heaven for those that perished? Maybe Nirvana is not a philosophical construct to them anymore?
To those that surived similar questions can be posed. To the lonely fisherman: Maybe he being a devotee was getting too attached to earthy bonds. Material posessions were lost. So what?
Loved ones were lost.....more significant. But perhaps soome bonds need to be forcibly broken to turn the mind towards spirituality. Many thinkers of yore claim that suffering purifies the mind. Maybe they are right?
Essentially there are always many many ways to look at things, which is why people search for answers. Our belief and faith gives us some. An importannt tenet of Hinduism is, "Everything that happens, happens for the good" Maybe we should start taking that more seriously.
My tuppence,
Cheerio
~r
Anonymous and Jagan
Well the two of you have essentially argued for the two sides of the story. Something I did to a lesser extent in my blog.
One can definitely argue that the people who dies probably got a better death than they would have otherwise gotten in their later years and probably at a better place (Heaven) than now. But as Jagan points out, as a third person its much easier to make that case as a fellow blogger did than a person who would have lost his kith and kin. Our arguments might not make a difference to him and might look at things at a much more impersonal level than the whole thing affecting him. As a believer, all that he has prayed for in his life has been destroyed. To him, its all no more. How can he then say, its all for good ?. Unless of course he is of the highest spiritual order that he can get over it and move on believing in a better life for all after death.
And anonymous, I dont object to people posting anonymously but then why do it when you have an opinion and want to express it as it is?
I tend to agree with anonymous. There is clearly a reason behind everything, no effect without cause and this is one thing that has turned us humans to spirituality - which really means to 'think'.
Humans are tied with so many bonds, attachments, strings and maybe the tsunami will make us 'intelligent' and accept reality with an emotional detachment. What good will crying do? Or sympathy? Or Anger? Or hatred towards "God"? If you think about it all these 'reactions' are centred around the ego... lets 'act', lets think..
Ranj
Thanks for swinging by. Well if you do think God wanted us to learn from the Tsunami and its aftermath, then it sure is the costliest ( in terms of life) lesson in recent times. Given that we believe in God as a healer and a life-giver wouldnt he have found a cheaper way to teach us the lesson ?
All I can say, don't mess with nature. Use this as an opportunity to know that such things can happen; hence don't build huts on the coast line; and install those alarm systems.
Between, I don't agree with anonymous that God has done this so that people can hence become more spiritual. when he can give Hiranya and Kamsa so many opportunities, why can't he give a poor man some more. Flawed arguement.
Paran
Good point. I think God or no-God we need to have a good cyclone and tsunami warning system. A good barrier (maybe the proposed barrier all along the TN coast for cyclones) to reduce the loss of life and property would also help. Most of all educating the masses (read fisherfolk and all living along the coast) about the vagaries of nature and how to respond to warnings would be most important.
I am sure God would want the same too !
dude, that wall/barrier along the coat line is pure bull crap. do you think that building a wall along the coast line could save lives. when these waves were able to overhaul big trucks, cars, and even trains, what the hell would a barrier do to prevent this. Its an un-necessary financial burden. the politicians, particularly Jayalalithaa, are doing this to loot more money. thats all.
Install those alarm systems, that will do. learn from Japan and America!
Paran
The average time between Tsunami's is 400 yrs. The last one in Indian ocean was in 1509. So its not an immediate threat. But the East coast of India suffers from cyclones every year. A system to detect, evacuate and address the potential loss due to cyclones is much in need.
50yrs, says ISRO chief. That buys us some time. Building a wall seems so retro. ISRO has come up with a solution but as they themselves admit, it cannot be a complete solution. The nearest plate that could hurt India is the one that moved on Dec26. The waves hit us 2 hours later. Armed with the knowledge that we are vulnerable, learning from the recent loss and an avg of 2 hrs, a well-planned evacuation procedure is all that we need (a working Crisis Management Group, that is). Invest the rest in the Early Warning System.
Pradeep
I thought I read that it was 400 years on an average between the tsunamis of such magnitude. Anyways, as you said a proactive and part reactive system to predict and also react with immediate disaster management techniques would be required on the long run to handle earthquakes, floods, cyclones and tsunamis. The US has an extremely good group in that regard called FEMA (www.fema.org)
( I worked on a project for them in Grad School) and they have all the upto date techniques to handle such disasters.
And this is the FEMA and NOAA's Tsunami response plan:
http://wcatwc.gov/tsunamiready/tready.htm
An interview with Dr.M S Swaminathan (Chairman of the Govt's National Commission of Farmers) on Rediff, answers most of our questions in this forum.
Future Protection:"...It was reported that the fishing village of Thirunal Thoppu in Tamil Nadu with 172 families was saved from the tsunami only because there was a dense growth of mangroves there...We have to initiate a bio-shield movement along the coastal areas by raising mangrove forests, plantations of casuarina, salicornia, laucaena, atriplex, palms, bamboo and other tree species and halophytes -- all that can grow near the sea."
Proximity of houses:"New houses should have a 500 metre restriction. The houses also should be ecologically designed. If all fisherfolk had been given housing sites on the landward side of coastal roads, the death toll as a result of the tsunami would have been much lower. Nearly 24 years ago, Mrs Indira Gandhi took steps to ensure that no permanent construction was permitted within 500 metres of the high tide mark. We should not only strengthen this national resolve, but also develop a code of conduct for construction beyond the limit."
Constructing Sea walls:"The construction of permanent sea walls can be taken up only in places where there is sea erosion due to heavy anthropogenic pressures. The locations for such non-living barriers should be determined on the basis of a carefully conducted erosion-vulnerability analysis."
Warning system:"In a village near Pondicherry where MSSRF has established a kiosk, there was no human loss because with the help of a loud speaker system, villagers were asked to vacate before the tsunami struck."
The bio-shield is a good idea. I am not sure if the rule about how close houses can be would hold. I mean people camp in every nook and cranny, how much ever they are not asked to. Again, awareness is the key. As the interview mentioned, if people are educated to respond as required to warnings, it would help.
I read and heard about people fascinated on seeing the waters receding (before rushing in) during the tsunami and that resulted in their deaths. If they had known on the symptoms of a tsunami, it would have helped.
I think the last word in Tsunami has been said by the "The Last Blogger" and the quality comments thereafter.
Regarding the God theory, if you believe in God, then believe whatever happens, happens for the best. Such a costly lesson, but we never seemed to learn without it. There was a data which said that about 900 kms of coastal area in Andhra Pradesh was affected compared to 962 kms in Tamil Nadu, but the death toll in Andhra was only about 25% of Tamil Nadu. The reason is obvious as Saranyan said.
Regarding future Tsunamis, prevention is better than cure and precaution is the best method of prevention. Respect the nature and stay away from danger.
Hari
Thanks for the comment. I have to say part of the inspiration for this blog was yours on the same topic.
I do believe in God but also think that man has been given a brain and hands and legs to think and act and not expect God to take care of everything for him. As long as we understand that and act accordingly, we should and will be better prepared to handle disasters, natural or man-made.
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