Inspired by the Marathi movie Deool (means "Temple"). I recommend you please watch the movie first. You will understand the below story better after watching the movie.
Spoiler alert: The below story contains lot of spoilers related to the Marathi movie Deool. If you plan to watch the movie, the please refrain from reading this story.
I am God. Many people believe so, and so it must be true.
I was once a stone. Then a sculptor's art and sweat shaped me.
Keshav, a simple shepherd from a small village once dreamed about me. Being a simpleton, he did not keep this little fact to himself. The villagers decided to build a temple for me. They placed me in that temple. And so I became God.
People from near and far places came to visit me. They believed I had the answers to their problems, their pains, their struggles. And since they believed it, so it must be true.
My coming changed the village. Suddenly there were jobs for everyone. Better electical and water supply. A continuous inflow of the faithful and their money. Running a religious pilgrimage is no small task. Everybody in the village suddenly became so busy and greedy, they hardly had time to think about me. Yes, my coming did change the village. But it also changed the villagers.
Only Keshav, the perpetual simpleton remained unchanged. It is not flotsam but the stationary rock in the river, that feels the changes in the water currents. And so he could feel the change... And he could feel that maybe it was not for the better...
One day they beat him up. All he wanted was to see his God. But God was locked away, for the personal visit by Minister saheb. But it was his God! He had seen Him. He had told everyone about Him. How could they stop him from seeing his God? He insisted. And the villagers beat him and drove him away.
Suddenly he was disillusioned. Maybe, just as Anna had told him, it had not been a wise thing to go around telling people he had seen God. Had he not done so, none of what was happening now would have happened. And his good old sorry village would have continued to go on the way it had for so many years. He was so disgusted by it all, that he decided to leave it all behind. Go to the city. Meet Anna, the old man of science - who believed that what Keshav had seen that day, was not God but just a hallucination. Anna believed this. and so it must be true.
So that night, Keshav left the village. But he did not leave alone. He took me with him. After all, I was his God.
He ran, with me in his arms... For days, he carried me over hills, through valleys, alone, hungry, thirsty, driven by his need to get away from the religious madness he and Myself had unleashed in his village. Finally he had his God with him.
One day, we reached a river. He told me to stay here. And not to show myself again. Lest it might lead to another religious and greedy madness. He believed it, and so it must be true. And then, with a stone on his heart, he let me go. I floated for a while, and then I sank to the river bottom.
And here I lie, at the bottom of the river. Every day, the water corrodes me little by little. One day, I would break down into tiny pieces of stone and then cease be the God I had become. I wish I could do more. I wish I could lift myself out of the river, and materialize back in the temple. But a God is only as powerful as the faith of man in him - the blind belief that his God can work miracles. And a God's miracles are only as strong and probable as his worshipper's belief in him. But for all the rest of the world, I don't exist. So, I lay here helpless, waiting. Waiting for a God's end.
I am all alone now. Once I was always surrounded by people. My devotees who came to pay me homage, pray to me to alleviate their troubles. ANd my caretakers who thought less of me and more of the money I helped bring in... I miss those people. All those who believed in me, and some who didn't. But more than anyone, I miss Keshav. Poor, simple-minded Keshav. The man who brought me to this world. And the one who laid me to rest in this watery grave. I miss him, because he was the only one who truly loved me...
Other believers simply came to my breast because they were troubled, in pain, unhappy with their lives. Or maybe because they feared my wrath, lest they do not pay me homage. But Keshav loved me. My last memory of him was the time he carried me in his arms. All that time, he talked to me. Like I was a person. He was not in awe of me. Nor was he afraid of me. Nor did he expect any thing in return from me. Yes, he loved me. He loved me unconditionally... And unlike the humans who create Us, every God knows the value of unconditional love. And while I wait for the forces of nature to disintegrate me, I will keep thinking of him, hoping he did well for himself...
Spoiler alert: The below story contains lot of spoilers related to the Marathi movie Deool. If you plan to watch the movie, the please refrain from reading this story.
I am God. Many people believe so, and so it must be true.
I was once a stone. Then a sculptor's art and sweat shaped me.
Keshav, a simple shepherd from a small village once dreamed about me. Being a simpleton, he did not keep this little fact to himself. The villagers decided to build a temple for me. They placed me in that temple. And so I became God.
People from near and far places came to visit me. They believed I had the answers to their problems, their pains, their struggles. And since they believed it, so it must be true.
My coming changed the village. Suddenly there were jobs for everyone. Better electical and water supply. A continuous inflow of the faithful and their money. Running a religious pilgrimage is no small task. Everybody in the village suddenly became so busy and greedy, they hardly had time to think about me. Yes, my coming did change the village. But it also changed the villagers.
Only Keshav, the perpetual simpleton remained unchanged. It is not flotsam but the stationary rock in the river, that feels the changes in the water currents. And so he could feel the change... And he could feel that maybe it was not for the better...
One day they beat him up. All he wanted was to see his God. But God was locked away, for the personal visit by Minister saheb. But it was his God! He had seen Him. He had told everyone about Him. How could they stop him from seeing his God? He insisted. And the villagers beat him and drove him away.
Suddenly he was disillusioned. Maybe, just as Anna had told him, it had not been a wise thing to go around telling people he had seen God. Had he not done so, none of what was happening now would have happened. And his good old sorry village would have continued to go on the way it had for so many years. He was so disgusted by it all, that he decided to leave it all behind. Go to the city. Meet Anna, the old man of science - who believed that what Keshav had seen that day, was not God but just a hallucination. Anna believed this. and so it must be true.
So that night, Keshav left the village. But he did not leave alone. He took me with him. After all, I was his God.
He ran, with me in his arms... For days, he carried me over hills, through valleys, alone, hungry, thirsty, driven by his need to get away from the religious madness he and Myself had unleashed in his village. Finally he had his God with him.
One day, we reached a river. He told me to stay here. And not to show myself again. Lest it might lead to another religious and greedy madness. He believed it, and so it must be true. And then, with a stone on his heart, he let me go. I floated for a while, and then I sank to the river bottom.
And here I lie, at the bottom of the river. Every day, the water corrodes me little by little. One day, I would break down into tiny pieces of stone and then cease be the God I had become. I wish I could do more. I wish I could lift myself out of the river, and materialize back in the temple. But a God is only as powerful as the faith of man in him - the blind belief that his God can work miracles. And a God's miracles are only as strong and probable as his worshipper's belief in him. But for all the rest of the world, I don't exist. So, I lay here helpless, waiting. Waiting for a God's end.
I am all alone now. Once I was always surrounded by people. My devotees who came to pay me homage, pray to me to alleviate their troubles. ANd my caretakers who thought less of me and more of the money I helped bring in... I miss those people. All those who believed in me, and some who didn't. But more than anyone, I miss Keshav. Poor, simple-minded Keshav. The man who brought me to this world. And the one who laid me to rest in this watery grave. I miss him, because he was the only one who truly loved me...
Other believers simply came to my breast because they were troubled, in pain, unhappy with their lives. Or maybe because they feared my wrath, lest they do not pay me homage. But Keshav loved me. My last memory of him was the time he carried me in his arms. All that time, he talked to me. Like I was a person. He was not in awe of me. Nor was he afraid of me. Nor did he expect any thing in return from me. Yes, he loved me. He loved me unconditionally... And unlike the humans who create Us, every God knows the value of unconditional love. And while I wait for the forces of nature to disintegrate me, I will keep thinking of him, hoping he did well for himself...
