Not believing in the existence of God as super power concerned with fates and actions of human beings (or even other life forms such as animals) and outright rejection of the belief that any deities exist are diverse views on God per se that may not be within the grasp of lay people while Philosophers and scholarly fraternity have fascinated themselves debating the subject, often failing to agree towards a consensus. The celebrated Physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) chose to be agnostic (non-believer) rather than atheist (rejection of the belief). In the world of ordinary mortals, who are at peace with fellow human beings and prefer to face life’s happenings without getting mentally shattered, divinity or Godhead is the state of things that are believed to come from a supernatural power or deity such as God, considered by them as the creator, sacred and holy. The line from a poem by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet may not be true when it comes to be either a believer or a non-believer in divinity as people in both worlds hold diverse views. The poet further wrote that “there is neither East nor West… when two strong men stand face to face,” virtually leaving the discussion on divinity wide open.

Customs and superstitions that abound in the life of people have their origins in their experiences marked by recurring events such as the untoward outcome after a black cat crosses one’s path or a crow overflies one’s head or an owl takes perch on the roof of one’s house. The connect between any such event and its fallout may be sheer coincidence which lacks convincing proof. People at large in the land are known to either pray to their chosen deity so that all will be again and many even light an oil lamp as part of their prayer.

Calls are given to students from various platforms by speakers engaged on either teaching or research projects to imbibe scientific temperament with the message of questioning beliefs and customs lacking in evidence while invoking divinity identified as Gods and Goddesses, portrayed in human form. Studying Science subjects and graduating by passing the qualifying examinations to be able to earn a livelihood and imbibing scientific temperament are as different as chalk and cheese. The case of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920), India’s prodigious Mathematician who created nearly 3,900 theorems in the form of identities and equations, many of which remain to be proved even after a century following their enunciation is baffling as he disclosed that Goddess Durga appeared in his dream and dictated the theorems. He had no formal education at college-level or training in pure Mathematics.

While the devout cannot suppress their delight and excitement in praising the superhuman acts of divinity, the atheists are not lagging behind in dismissing their stand on God’s existence. Even as growing number of youngsters are questioning the time-honoured belief systems, one is prompted to the anonymous quote: “Your freedom ends where my nose begins.”