Monday, July 12, 2004
The gods never answered...Part 2
My mother was going to kill us. I wanted to scream and run away, but I couldn't move and my voice froze in terror. Trancelike, my mother's face contorted as she opened the box of matches and tried to light one.
I closed my eyes; my sister clutched my arm, whimpered, and suddenly screamed, "oh God, help us!"
Mother immediately fell to the floor unconscious. I quickly jumped to her side, searched her pockets for the key, and fled to safety.
When my sister and I returned home later in the afternoon, my mother had cleaned the house and was busy cooking the evening meal as if nothing had happened. We were tense, but no one talked about the incident. The house was quiet the rest of the day.
That's when I started struggling with the doubts and questions over my faith in Hinduism, a religion that had given us only pain, trauma, and agony. Why did we have to worship snakes? Could fire really purge us of our sins and end the cycle of rebirth? How could the gods justify my mother's attempt to kill us? I cried to God, "When will it all end, and what will be the life hereafter?"
One day a blind women, who was a Christian, stopped at our home, asking if someone would lead her to a "house meeting" nearby. I volunteered, but my mother sternly warned me to beware of associating with Christians.
"Under no circumstances are you allowed to enter a Christian church!" she shouted. "we are Hindus, and Hindus do not forsake their religion!"
Her warning only increased my curiosity, so I entered the house with the old women.
Click here to go to Part 3
I closed my eyes; my sister clutched my arm, whimpered, and suddenly screamed, "oh God, help us!"
Mother immediately fell to the floor unconscious. I quickly jumped to her side, searched her pockets for the key, and fled to safety.
When my sister and I returned home later in the afternoon, my mother had cleaned the house and was busy cooking the evening meal as if nothing had happened. We were tense, but no one talked about the incident. The house was quiet the rest of the day.
That's when I started struggling with the doubts and questions over my faith in Hinduism, a religion that had given us only pain, trauma, and agony. Why did we have to worship snakes? Could fire really purge us of our sins and end the cycle of rebirth? How could the gods justify my mother's attempt to kill us? I cried to God, "When will it all end, and what will be the life hereafter?"
One day a blind women, who was a Christian, stopped at our home, asking if someone would lead her to a "house meeting" nearby. I volunteered, but my mother sternly warned me to beware of associating with Christians.
"Under no circumstances are you allowed to enter a Christian church!" she shouted. "we are Hindus, and Hindus do not forsake their religion!"
Her warning only increased my curiosity, so I entered the house with the old women.
Click here to go to Part 3
Saturday, July 10, 2004
The gods never answered...
Written by Sam Moonsamy as told to him by his wife Sue
"Unlike many non-whites in South Africa, I was born in a wealthy family. We were dignified, hard working, self-reliant, and devoted to Hinduism. We offered daily prayers and regular sacrifices to a shrine of multiple Hindu deities.
Despite this, my parents divorced when I was still a young girl. Divorce was rare in Indian culture, and my mother felt so ashamed that we moved to Johannesburg and rejected my father's financial assistance.
Though still a child, before long I was all too aware of our poverty and the misery of the slums we lived in. Yet we continued to worship our gods.
When a live 'snake god' mysteriously appeared in the local temple, the Hindu community was delirious in its excitement to visit and worship this 'miraculous' god. I was petrified with fear. Trembling almost convulsively, I could not escape my mother's grip as she dragged me into the temple
Inside, my head swirled in confusion as worshipers, some in a trance, pleaded for the snake to come out of its hole. I prayed it would not.
It poked its head out, but never fully appeared. All that mattered to me, however, was that I escaped.
For months I begged the gods to tell me why we had to worship snakes. They were silent.
They were also evil. One morning I stood by helplessly as my mother cried for hours, depressed over the hardship and frustration of raising a family in the slums by herself.
That afternoon she locked the doors and told my sister and me that, according to the law of karma, we were suffering because of sins we had committed in our past lives.
'But if we can die violently and in suffering,' she said, 'we will be reincarnated to a higher level of being. We will be free from poverty and more closely united to our creator. Through suffering we will be purged.'
I didn't understand what she was talking about until she started pouring kerosene over us. As she poured, she chanted to the gods and told us, 'it will all be over soon.'"
Click here to go to Part 2
"Unlike many non-whites in South Africa, I was born in a wealthy family. We were dignified, hard working, self-reliant, and devoted to Hinduism. We offered daily prayers and regular sacrifices to a shrine of multiple Hindu deities.
Despite this, my parents divorced when I was still a young girl. Divorce was rare in Indian culture, and my mother felt so ashamed that we moved to Johannesburg and rejected my father's financial assistance.
Though still a child, before long I was all too aware of our poverty and the misery of the slums we lived in. Yet we continued to worship our gods.
When a live 'snake god' mysteriously appeared in the local temple, the Hindu community was delirious in its excitement to visit and worship this 'miraculous' god. I was petrified with fear. Trembling almost convulsively, I could not escape my mother's grip as she dragged me into the temple
Inside, my head swirled in confusion as worshipers, some in a trance, pleaded for the snake to come out of its hole. I prayed it would not.
It poked its head out, but never fully appeared. All that mattered to me, however, was that I escaped.
For months I begged the gods to tell me why we had to worship snakes. They were silent.
They were also evil. One morning I stood by helplessly as my mother cried for hours, depressed over the hardship and frustration of raising a family in the slums by herself.
That afternoon she locked the doors and told my sister and me that, according to the law of karma, we were suffering because of sins we had committed in our past lives.
'But if we can die violently and in suffering,' she said, 'we will be reincarnated to a higher level of being. We will be free from poverty and more closely united to our creator. Through suffering we will be purged.'
I didn't understand what she was talking about until she started pouring kerosene over us. As she poured, she chanted to the gods and told us, 'it will all be over soon.'"
Click here to go to Part 2
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
:-D
I'm so happy!! My dad bought my dream camera!! It's for the whole family, but it's still unbelievable! It's the Canon Digital Rebel. Yup, didn't I tell you it's awesome!? Here are a few pics I've taken with it. I really want to get a UV filter and a 35-135 lens. The lens is prolly going to have to wait, though, 'cause it's crazy expensive. With the amount of pics my family takes, we're also gonna need another CF card--256 MB would be nice! Good thing my b'day is only three months away!;-)
My front porch 
Pretty in purple
Yummy!
Daisy
Labs :wub:
My puppy
