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மதமாறுவது எனபது ஆழ்ந்த தனிப்பட்ட விருப்பமாகும்
மதமாறுவது எனபது ஆழ்ந்த தனிப்பட்ட விருப்பமாகும்
மதமாறுவது எனபது ஆழ்ந்த தனிப்பட்ட விருப்பமாகும்
படததயாரிபபாளர
Rajeev Menon, 42
CEO, N-Able Solutions
Salma Ali, 33
Advertising and Public Relations consultant
'எனனைடய தாய ஒர கதோதாலிகக கிறிஸதவர ஆனால என
தநைதைய மணநதோபாத அவர இஸலாமகக மதம மாறிவிடடார.
நாஙகள தவறாமல நமாஸ ொசயத வநோதாம. நான ொதாடரநத கராைனப
படதத வநோதன. ஆனால, கடனமான ொபணகளகக அளிககபபடம
கடடத தணடைனகைளப பறறி படததோபாத என விசவாசம சிதறியத.
நான மிகவம அதிரசசியைடநோதன, இத ொபரியவரகளைடய
வாரதைதைய ோகடகாத கழநைதைய திடடவத ோபாலததான எனற யார
எனனிடம கறினாரகள எனற என தகபபனாரிடம ோகடோடன.
Jaya Ramamurthy, 42
V-P (learning & development) with a business process outsourcing firm
Prabhu Guptara, 58
Executive Director (organisational development), with Wolfsberg, a UBS
subsidiary
Yours, Faithfully
Salma Ali says she's found her saviour
If one goes by popular perception, it's only people belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes who are lured by Christianity. The notion is that
they give up their religion to break free from the Hindu caste system and
nurture the hope that a better life awaits them after they convert. But it's not
just the oppressed classes who are drawn to Jesus. Highly educated and well-
placed upper-caste Hindus and Muslims have also risked censure from their
immediate family and community to take the crucial plunge.
They all have their own reasons for giving up one religion for another. As Jesuit
sociologist Rudolf C. Heredia puts it in his book, Changing Gods, Rethinking
Conversion in India: "Conversion is a question of personal choice, it involves a
rejection, a change or an adaptation of one's identity. A complex set of
motivations are involved. The change is the result of a personal quest, which
may be more than a religious or spiritual one. Positively, this is experienced as
a liberation; negatively, it could be an escape."
So what is it like to switch from one god to another? Outlook spoke to some
unlikely converts:
"It was during this period that I began carefully studying the Quran. However, I
found I could not digest the teachings. Yet I did not stop believing in God's
existence. This was in the late 1980s. My teenage years and early adult life
were difficult—failed relationships, financial hardships and my father's death
made me morose. At one point I even decided to end my life by consuming
mercury. Luckily, I survived.
"It was all very strange. On the one hand I was attempting suicide, but at
another level, I had an out-of-body experience. I felt my spirit drift to my old
school—to the feet of Jesus Christ. I could feel his presence. After a year, I
visited the school and saw the following words engraved on the pedestal on
which a statue of Jesus stands to this day: 'I am the resurrection and the Life.' I
believe the Holy Spirit had led me to Christ. Today, I am serving the Lord
through the gifts that he has endowed me with.
"Naturally, some Muslim friends did not approve of my giving up Islam. The
clerics questioned my change of faith. However, this only strengthened my
resolve to study the Bible, the Quran, and the Hadiths. Finally, I realised that
Christianity was my true calling."
Rajeev Menon, 42
CEO, N-Able Solutions
"Information technology companies require a strong process, otherwise there
will be a delivery failure. There are proven processes of development and it is
for the company to adapt them and standardise them.
"This also holds true in life. I was in my twenties and my life was a total mess.I
had no peace of mind. I was going through a personal crisis. It was then that
somebody gave me a book on Jesus. It slowly transformed me. My parents saw
the change in me but allowed me to choose my faith. I go for prayer meetings
regularly and I have renounced all forms of idol worship."
Salma Ali, 33
Advertising and Public Relations consultant
"My mother was a Catholic who converted to Islam when she married my father.
We performed namaaz regularly. But my faith was shattered when I came
across a verse in the Quran that prescribed corporal punishment for stubborn
women. I was shocked. I asked my father, who told me that it was like chiding
a child for not listening to elders.
Jaya Ramamurthy, 42
V-P (learning & development) with a business process outsourcing firm
Prabhu Guptara, 58
Executive Director (organisational development), with Wolfsberg, a UBS
subsidiary
"I was 14 when I lost my father and our family lost everything in the process.
From prosperity to penury—it was difficult to comprehend at that age. I could
not understand how there could be so much suffering if god actually existed.
How could he allow people to get away with evil acts? A chance encounter with
a young man turned me to Jesus. I read the New Testament carefully and
realised that evil is the consequence of man not loving god. Jesus presents a
challenge to every individual, asking him to acknowledge his own inadequacies.
Over the years, I have found myself moving away from being a selfish person to
being more sensitive (to the needs of others)."
source:http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081027&fname=Conversio
ns+%28F%29&sid=6