GOD OR NO GOD?????

Whether God really exists?-is a question which must have been posed by your own mind, at least once in your lifetime. This question has no easy answer. People have different belief systems, which are given different names such as theism, atheism and agnosticism etc.

Theism: a belief that God exists and he has created everything else.

Atheism: a belief that god don’t exists at all.

Agnosticism: it is impossible to know whether god exists on not.

Now coming in terms with the question posed, some people argue that if devil exists then God must also exist. But there is serious follies in this argument concerned with the assumption that devil exist-because it is not a proven fact. Whatever system of belief (above mentioned) we have, we must base it on reasonable premises.

Some people again argue that devil exist because there are so many sins around us. But there are logical difficulties in the notion of sin also. We are told that sin consists in disobedience to God’s commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobeys His commands, He must have intended this to happen. Men are led to sin by a blindness with which God afflicts them. So if God causes men to sin, it is not fair to send them to hell for what they cannot help. If we take omnipotence of God seriously, there can be no such thing as sin.

This idea creates a lot of confusion in our minds about what to believe and what not to. Whenever we take an action, we try to base it on a belief, whether consciously or unconsciously. But how we can decide what belief is right or wrong. There is no easy way out. Take another case.

Scientists are often branded as materially minded because of their questioning of unproved religious beliefs. They are sometimes treated as sinners because they don’t believe in God. However, they can explain their position in this way. “Even if I don’t believe in god, I do try to do what is right. If there is God, He will reward or punish me according to my respect for His laws. And if there is no God, since I am obeying the laws I find to be true, surely I shall receive any benefit there from.” So, whether or not they are godless, or making their efforts for material gain, those scientists whose research is uncovering more and more of God’s laws are working in co-operation with Him to do some good for the world.

After pondering over some smart and some not so smart ideas, we come to conclusion that we can hear about God in temples, Gurudwaras, mosaic etc.; we can read about Him in books; but can experience god only through Self-realisation attained by practicing definite scientific techniques. We can experiment with religious beliefs and put into practice what we believe! It is possible to put religion into practice, to use it as science that we prove this by experimenting on ourselves.

We young people, instead of performing only our daily pujas, should also see a practical side of religion. We should learn how to build our lives around spiritual ideals. Without practical application, religion is of little value. It must create some change in us-in our consciousness and in our behavior. And at last it does not matter if u believe god exist or not.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: TODAY’S BUZZ WORD

In last summer-holidays, I was hanging around with my old friends. When we were on our usual excursion on bikes, we stopped at a roadside Dhaba. While waiting on table, we started bantering with a 14-year old boy waiter. The boy said that he needed the money to pay for computer lessons. His ultimate ambition was to run a computer company just like his hero, Bilgay, the richest man in the world. He may have got the name slightly wrong, but the sentiment was spot on.

Over the past couple of decades India has been transformed from a licence Raj into a land of uncaged entrepreneurs. Listen to me, says the leading character, an Indian, in one of the best novels of 2008, Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger”, and “you will know everything there is to know about how entrepreneurship is born, nurtured, and developed in this, the glorious 21st century of man.”

Everybody knows about companies like Infosys, but there is more to Indian entrepreneurialism than software. Bollywood produces 1,000 films a year that are watched by 3.6 billion people (the figures for Hollywood are 700 and 2.6 billion). The Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital, founded by Devi Shetty on the outskirts of Bangalore, is turning heart surgery into a Wal-Mart-like business. Kingfisher beer is popular wherever spicy curries are eaten.

The revolution for the current generation is the entrepreneurial one. Entrepreneurs are doing remarkable jobs: applying more brainpower, in more countries and in more creative ways, to raising productivity and solving social problems. Many of us dream of taking a job in a multinational company like Google, Microsoft, Larsen & Turbo etc but few seek to be employers rather than employees. But all these people do not become successful. The most pertinent question is what make these people stand out of the crowd. Whether it is their business idea, or business plan, or execution is the matter of fascination.

Starting a company means a lot of hard work, and success is often unpredictable. First of all an entrepreneur must have an out of the box idea or execution system for already existing idea. An ideal business model has to be based on strong conviction, coupled with a realistic business plan. Idea must be an innovative solution to an existing problem. The first mover advantage brings a big opportunity and also several risks and challenges. Entrepreneurs operate in all kinds of ways. Some see a market opportunity and draw up a business plan to take advantage of it. Others are driven by an inner force to start a business.

Entrepreneurs have certain distinctive psychological traits owned by only a few people. Entrepreneurs are unusually, sometimes excessively, confident. They have high risk appetite. They are convinced that, against all the odds, they will be able to turn their dream into reality. This sometimes allows them to do something at which most people fail to do. Entrepreneurs are strongly attached to their companies. They habitually talk about their companies as “their babies”. This motivates them to give their all to their companies, whether they make money or not.

Entrepreneurs have an enthusiastic vision, the driving force of an enterprise. They take the initial responsibility to cause a vision to become a success. They have great leadership qualities. Entrepreneurs have the ability to motivate others to believe in their conviction. They can mobilize a group in a particular direction to get the desired results. The entrepreneur promotes the vision with enthusiastic passion. With persistence and determination, the entrepreneur develops strategies to change the vision into reality.

All these qualities are as difficult to internalize as they are easy to illustrate. First of all introspect and try to elicit whether you have that thing in you or not. Then try to create your niche based on your innovate idea. Probably all people have ideas but distinction lies in execution of the idea. The overall blueprint to realize the vision should be clear; however details may be incomplete, flexible, and evolving.

For most people the term “entrepreneur” simply means anybody who starts a business, be it a corner shop or a high-tech start up. Entrepreneur in a broader sense means somebody who offers an innovative solution to a problem (frequently unrecognised). Just think about it, some students in our college get twice the marks as compared to others by studying only half the time compared to them. Where the distinction lies? It lies in the method of studying of two people. To borrow a quote from Shiv Khera, “successful people do not do different things; they just do the things differently”.

All of us want to live an innovative and fulfilling life. So, live “entrepreneurly”.