Re-engineering religion

The topic of religion is very relevant today due to the religious fanaticism that has shaken the world. First-time author Prem Kamble, in his book e-book God in Two Minutes hopes to unite a world that is divided by religion.

“The book argues that when our strong beliefs like the flat-earth theory have been proved wrong, it is possible that some of our deepest faiths today may prove to be myths. It explores how the concept of god and religion may have originated and how we have misunderstood it resulting in this divide,” begins Kamble, a management professional with degrees from IIT-Bombay and IIM-Calcutta to his credit. God in Two Minutes explains how we can “re-engineer” religion so that, after the industrial and the information revolutions, we can usher in a spiritual revolution.

Though the book is relevant to modern times, the inspiration behind it occurred more than 20 years back. “In the late 80s, I scribbled down two diagrams and a few thoughts on a piece of paper, which remained untouched for a few years. Then again in the early ’90s, I thought of building on the idea and penned my thoughts. Moved by the unfortunate riots after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Dec 1992, I completed the first version of the book as a four-page article. Since then I have been adding to it,” explains the 56-year-old.

Kamble believes that an audience for a book will connect easily if the book is in plain and simple writing. God and religion do come across as heavy topics that might limit the book’s reach. Kamble counters, “What you will read in the book is not religion, not science, not heavy philosophy. It is plain and simple common sense. The topic by itself is not difficult, what makes it difficult for some of us is our own mental conditioning over the ages. If you read with an open mind, and look at everything presented in the book as a possibility and not as the gospel truth, it is easy to connect with the book. For the cynics, I have only one thing to say — what seemed impossible just a few years back has become a reality today. Extrapolating that to the future, anything that we think of today as impossible can become possible tomorrow.”

Not a reader, Kamble is rather proud about it. “I am happy I don’t read and this has reflected in the originality in the book,” he says when prodded further. The book uses plenty of examples and illustrations, some of them based on his life. “For the book to have a better reach, I had to think of analogies, examples and illustrations to explain my ideas in a simple way to overcome people’s mental blocks.”

As a disclaimer he concludes that the book is not anti-religion. “It only encourages further enquiry into the topic, to give more importance to the objectives rather than the means. It gives a new direction to this enquiry,” he signs off.

— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com

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