Once the basic needs are met, one aspires for other things like security, social recognition, and empowerment. Only then could one expect to be happy.
Y: Then at least some of these people are happy, I suppose.
A: Coming to think of it, the aspirations are never fully met. It is like the situation for a restless compulsive climber. Once he conquers a peak, he finds another and this chain is never ending.
Y: Oh, the situation seems to be quite bad. So you mean to say no one is ever happy.
A: One can’t say that. See, you cannot expect anyone to be perennially happy. Sometimes they are and other time they aren’t.
Y: So, if one plots a curve in the time domain, if the sum of the periods of happiness exceeds that of the unhappiness, then he can be dubbed as happy, I suppose.
By now, one could feel the excitement in the audience building up. They were keen to listen to how this question from a robot could be tackled by their representative, so to say.
A: See, you cannot bring mathematics into it. A moment of happiness can sustain oneself for a long time. Happiness is not tangible. It does not lend itself to a strict measurement.
Y: So, what does one do in the moments of acute unhappiness?
A: In extreme cases, one may feel like ending his life. In most cases one seeks solace from his fellow being or prays...
Y: Does everyone pray?
A: If one is religious....
Y: Wait, wait. Can you explain what you mean by being religious?
A: People follow different belief systems or religions, so to say. It is a kind of belief system which is supposed to guide them in their day to day life. How to behave, how to conduct oneself, how to treat others and so on. It also ordains some rituals, which are to be followed by all of its followers. But there are also people who do not believe in any religion.
Y: How come there is no single belief system or religion, as you call it?
A: Over the years, different religions have evolved and it is so much ingrained in the minds of the people that it is now impossible to think of a single religion. Followers of one religion fight bitterly with others and battles have been fought over it.
Y: But then, followers of one religion must be living harmoniously amongst them I suppose.
A: Well not exactly. Within a religion also, there are sub sects, who do not see eye to eye with each other.
Y: Why is it so? Is there no common code of conduct within one religious group?
A: There was, I suppose, in the beginning. But over the years, people have interpreted the original teachings of God in their own way and then the differences arose.
Y: What? What did you say? Who is this God?
A: Each religion believes in a supreme entity called God, who has different names in different religions but, as I mentioned earlier, some do not follow any religion and therefore do not believe in any God.
Y: If there is one God in a religion, then why should there be differences within them?
A:I really do not know.
Y: Is it not illogical and inconsistent?
Dr Agasthya appeared ill at ease with this line of discussion.
Y (continued): Okay, does the God or do the Gods of one religion accept the existence of the Gods of the other religions?
A: Well, it does not appear to be so. Each religious group considers their God to be supreme head.
Y: How could there be so many supreme heads? This, by definition, does not make sense.
Dr Agasthya, on one hand appeared to be irritated and on the other felt a need to brace himself to face the onslaught of questions. Yug seemed to sense it.
Y: I am sorry but I feel the need to point out inconsistencies when I see one.
A: It is alright. I can see your point of view. It is like this. Each religious group thinks “their” God is supreme.
Y: Well, that should be fine so long as they follow the code of conduct ordained by their God and do not interfere with the other religious groups. Is it so?
A: Well, I suppose it should be so, but.......
Y: So, I gather it is not so. By the way, you told me there are millions of people living now. Was the number always so great?
A: Of course not. The population has been increasing continually and rapidly. For example it has doubled in the last forty years.
Y: How did this large number come about? How many were there in the beginning?
A: It must have started with very few. May be there were only two as per the belief of one of the religion.
Y: If this is so, then all must belong to a single tribe. Isn’t it?
A: Yes.... I never thought about it!
Y: Did they start following the religion from the beginning?
A: I do not suppose so. We learn from the history that the primitive man was busy in procreation, preservation and survival. It is only much later he turned follower of one religion or the other or just followed his native customs.
Y: So I gather that the initial populace followed their own native customs and it is much later they turned followers of one of the religions. How did this come about?
A: I think a small group felt directly ordained by their God to follow their religion and presumably this group started persuading others to follow their religion.
Y: So whichever group was more powerful or resourceful succeeded in increasing their numbers. Is it so?
A: Yes, this is what seems to have happened.
Y: Well, I have digressed, I think. Coming back to our topic of happiness, you said one seeks solace or happiness by praying. How does it happen? Can one get rid of all his troubles by praying?
A: You see, the real world problems cannot be got rid of instantly by praying. That would be a miracle. But people claim that by praying they can calm their minds, find solace and thus deal with their unhappiness.
Y: So what you mean to say is that it is all in the mind. Before and after praying the world has not changed. But the mind is no longer unhappy. If religion can give this support then it is great. Then this religion must be a great unifying and benign force to bring all round peace and progress.
A: Well, not so fast. Followers of different religions in the past have waged large scale wars, spread hatred and caused mass genocides.
Y: Wait a minute! We were talking of reducing unhappiness. Now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. You are speaking of large scale misery, destruction and unhappiness.
A: Unfortunately, this is true. And things are far from over. Even today such things are happening in some or other parts of the world. Sometimes even within the followers of the same religion.
Y: Now..now...You have completely confused me. Earlier you spoke of different religious groups following their own gods. I thought such groups within themselves must be an epitome of harmony, brotherhood as they are, so to say, “Children of the same God”.
A: Well you are right from your own perspective. But the real world is much more complex. Over the years, religious books, scriptures and religious teachers have interpreted their Gods’ teaching in their own different ways. Some rituals have also evolved to be followed rigidly by the populace. This has caused a lot of confusion and has also lead to misunderstandings leading to large scale conflicts even within one religion.
Y: Well, I can understand if a common man, who is otherwise busy in running his day to day chores and struggling to meet his basic needs, does not find enough time to think and analyse. But the senior religious preachers/leaders are expected to play a proactive role to lead and guide the common people.
A: But this group of preachers/teachers is busy in playing one up man ship among them and building their own support base.
Y: How shameful. Can you call these people enlightened? If they are missing out on the teachings supposed to be ordained by their Gods, how can they be called spiritual leaders? If this is the fate within one religious group, I can imagine what it would be like among different religious groups. In fact, pardon me my saying so, I would expect such
religious leaders of all the religions could get together to evolve a common code of conduct for everybody and an apex organization like UN can help in enforcing it. This could be based on universal brotherhood, non interference in each other’s lives, mutual respect and cooperation to fight jointly common problems of the world.
By now Dr Agasthya was feeling very uncomfortable. How does one make a robot understand the human responses which many times are not rational and more on an emotional plane? He felt this interview is going nowhere and decided to terminate it by flicking the switch.
The interview ended abruptly triggering off frenzied reactions and discussions all over the world. The audience shared a feeling of anger, betrayal and embarrassment. They felt something urgently needs to be done to correct the contradictions, anomalies and irrationality which had crept into their lives.
The news media went overboard in declaring this interview as the “Interview of the Millennium”. An elite group of scientists felt that the issue has gone beyond the technology and straight into the realm of ideology. They called for a special emergency session of the UN to look into this issue in the interest of global peace and harmony. Secretary General of UN declared that a special committee will be constituted having global leaders in the religion, judiciary, science and human rights activists. This committee will meet expeditiously and will furnish their recommendations to be taken up in the general assembly especially called for this purpose.
After deliberations of three months, the team came out with the following report.
Preamble: - Everyone in this planet has a