SONGSOPTOK: «Belief is simple acceptance that a proposition is true,
without regard to reason(s) while faith is the acceptance of a proposition
rather than an epistemological (evidence-based) reason.” Does this reflect your
understanding of the two words? If so, why? If not, then how would you
distinguish between the two?
MANISH: Faith and belief are two intersecting sets of notions that
emerge from an interactive process of the development of the cerebral structure
of human brain and the social conditions of his existence both as a function of
the receptive configuration of his brain and a social product of the
environmental conditions. It may sound a bit like a theoretical definition but
this is perhaps the simplest way I can summarize my perception about faith and belief
in response to this theoretical question. Faith is perhaps the spontaneous
organic acceptance of certain social understandings, dogmas, hypotheses or age
old interpretations of social happenings. I can sight examples of people who do
not have faith in rituals but believe in the existence of god, even in the form
of popular deities. His conscious self and the fraction of the cerebellum
monitoring his rationality in accepting things prevent him from believing
rituals but the organic development of
his cerebellum even from the stage of a fetus
I think is a process of accepting and rejecting signals. This process
may encourage in finally not rejecting some strong and recurring social
signals. I definitely believe some intelligent people (People having unique
cerebellum structures to handle any signal irrespective of the environment)
develop their own methods of interpreting signals. We call them rational,
though I believe rationality is again a subjective term, subject to the social
scenario of human existence and definitely the time axis.
SONGSOPTOK: Each person can inherit, adopt or construct her own set of
beliefs and faiths, or it is a combination of the two. How would you qualify
your own personal set? Were your faiths and beliefs handed down to you by
someone? Who? Or were they acquired? If so, how?
MANISH: I believe I have partially answered to these questions in the
first part itself. In continuation to that I can reiterate that of course we
inherit and acquire simultaneously. For me, I believed in Gods then started not
believing in Gods and then again started believing in Gods. Yes sometimes it
was during the exams, sometimes in some stronger social threats but also
sometimes with cool philosophical pursuits. Thus I acquired and inherited and
also inherited and rejected, accepted and acquired, acquired and rejected. This
can never be a linear streamlined process.
SONGSOPTOK: In your own personal sphere, do you consider worship as a religious
act involving rites, rituals or other types of practices? Or is it related to
something that transcends religion? Can you explain your position with some
examples?
MANISH: I used to worship clay models of Hindu God and goddesses from
my very childhood. Even sometimes I used to make my own idols and worship. The
strongest influence on me was of the Kali puja that used to happen in the
village house of my mother. I still remember the chief priest Nonke Jyathamosai
and his melodramatic chanting of the mantras. He used to cry aloud during the
Bisarjan. It was a “performance” - all together. I used to get back home and
start worshiping or express my vibrations created by Nonke Jyathamosai’s
performance. I really don’t recall believing in any god at that time. I was
only captivated by the performance aspect of worship and religious rituals. On
the first day of the Durga Puja the priest used to tie up a whole banana tree
with leaves etc. to look like a woman. They called Kola Bou, Ganesha’s wife. It
was amazing for me. I used to observe the whole thing very minutely. This
gradual transformation of a tree into a woman was astonishing for me. I never
missed the second day ritual of taking Kola bou for a bath to a nearby pond. It
was not religious, it was not related to my trust or belief. Now I know that I
used to enjoy the performance aspects of these rituals. But the actual story
started after this gradually and very naturally the materialistic value of
these clay gods went through a transformation process within me. I started
imagining a holy space beyond the universe where the gods had their homeland. I
started believing in gods. the religious
notions was emphatic on my mind which loved to play with gods. I started
associating supernatural aspects with the dolls of my childhood. The play was
then a worship, a true worship. Soon after this I started taking up the books
on Vedanta philosophy. I had to wait till my college life when I met Partha, my
friend who was free from accepting any dogma, social or religious or anything.
I used to see Partha and used to have a
feeling of liberation, liberation from the claustrophobic bindings of religious
beliefs, superstitions meaningless social stigmas. I never talked to Partha
about these but I was liberated.
SONGSOPTOK: “Faith takes over where
reason leaves off” – do you agree? Can you explain your point of view?
MANISH: Not exactly. One’s sense
of reasoning depends on his social existence and the socio-economic features
that make him. Thus the term reason cannot have an absolute implication.
Sometimes we choose to set up a set of reasons as most logical and try to
comply with them. Sometimes this new set of reasoning contradicts age old
beliefs and we feel faith has disappeared. It is virtual, it is relative and in
occasions it may be subjective.
SONGSOPTOK: Did you ever face a conflict between your beliefs, reason and
knowledge? How do you react to such situations?
MANISH: Yes, of course. Like many a people I had faced this conflict
many a times in my life. The story how I faced it is very personal in most
cases.
SONGSOPTOK: Are you a believer? What do you believe in?
MANISH: I believe in human relations and love.
SONGSOPTOK: Do you think that it is essential to convince and convert others
to your own system of beliefs and faiths? Why? Can you please describe the
reasons for your answer?
MANISH: Not at all. I have learnt to respect differences in beliefs
until such times people become dogmatic and furious to impose their feelings on
others.
SONGSOPTOK: Do you think that each individual has some form of faith or
belief, whether related to religion or not? If yes, then what do you think are
the main reasons?
MANISH: Answering to the first question I had already tried to explain
my idea that every human being initiates a biotic process subject to the social
environment in adopting signals that come to them even from the state of a
fetus. So it is the biotic composition and the environment arising from the
social existence. Dialectically configure the set of beliefs of an individual
and then slowly of a society as a whole. The sexual behavioral patterns of
different communities are different. Naturally this is a outcome of the social
belief of the community and again this in turn influences the social belief.
SONGSOPTOK: “A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship
Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on
the walls of his cell.” said C.S. Lewis. Do you agree with this view? Or do you
think that some form of worship is indispensable for humans? Why?
MANISH: REPLY: The best answer to this question is referring to the
history of Glasnost and Perestroika in Soviet Russia.
MANISH
MITRA: is a well known theatre personality who has
developed a new theatre language and actor’s training methodology sourcing
inspiration from the different South Asian performing arts both traditional and
folk. Manish founded KASBA ARGHYA, his own theatre group in the year 1989 to
develope a space for all kinds of innovative and Avant Grade theatre practices
with young and creative people. Manish has conducted workshops on Indian Drama
in different cities of Europe. He publishes a highly acclaimed theater journal
in India. Manish has travelled across the globe with his productions
‘Mahabharata, and ‘Macbeth Badya’ and has also directed an international
production of Post Office a Rabindranath Tagore play with actors from India,
USA, Germany and Poland, which was premiered in Warsaw
We sincerely thank you
for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.
Aparajita
Sen
(Editor:
Songsoptok)
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