If MEN WERE CREATED IN God’s image!

“Lord created men in His own Image.” The priest was speaking from the pulpit. I asked him afterward that if that was the case whose image were created women? And in which coloured suit His Majesty moves around in the Heavens?

The priest did not like my impertinence and asked if I was a Christian or agnostic. “Neither, but an investigator, seeker and researcher of Truth. If you can show me a God’s image, that would not be like Kings, Priests and Presidents - I am sure. Was Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden or George Bush reflect near the God’s image?” I argued.

The priest was not amused, “I must go”, and dismissed me summarily. But my questioning had not ended. I examined various theories of creation and studied popular world cultures. The most interesting and profoundely open-ended belief system was of Indian origin of popularly known as Hinduism where snakes, monkeys, small elephant head, lions, mouse, bulls, four armed and ten headed male and female, men, women and children, all appear in Divine Image. But now and then, in entire human civilization one common gene is found that reaffirms the humans to go naked, believing that if God or nature wanted us to be covered it would have created us with some kind of covering, or feathers as is with birds and animals.

In the Jain sect of Hinduism, there is a sub-sect called “Digamber”. The Dig= means Sky or Space, and Amber = means cover or cloth.
So, the digambaries are not supposed to wear clothes and so they go by natural cover = naked.

If the covering or dress culture is unnatural –or anti-natural, it must have been developed to meet the necessity of protecting body from natural climatic forces. Thus, I concluded, that the wearing cloths is totally un-natural, and is man-made, not designed in Heavens by gods. I also believed that if there were gods and goddesses in some heavens, they would not be wearing clothes. This philosophical pondering had been the fundamental issue among world civilizations. Exception is only Islamic theologians who had summarily issued “fatwa” against the natural appearance of females, because they could not resist temptation and found female totally unnaturally seductive.

In the modern times, however, the gene of nudity had appeared again among the revolutionary experimental people of America. In the US there have appeared Nudist Clubs who organize family holidays and week-end group vacations for the members who must disrobe themselves inside the club territories. Unlike the Jain digambaris, the Americans to become the nudists and to avail the natural living, they must pay a high price.

In Indian religious tradition, however, I found less emphasis on this issue where minimum necessary body cover is prescribed, and depending on the weather condition one can adjust as necessary. Still, there is one extremist sect of the sadhus “Naked Babas” = the Nudist Monks –mostly violent, aggressive and drug-addicts, who flout their dirty nudity in public. But this sect does not allow female conscripts in their fold. In fact a woman is not safe in their reach. I spent some days with their group and found hardly any intellectual activity, at best they were simply debauch in the garb of spiritual Freedom or Mukti .

Once I was in a small town situated on the shore of the Arabian Sea, off the Gujarat coast of India. That was predominantly a Jain town and I believed that there were some Digambaris in that place. Early morning I was at the sea beach, suddenly I saw a shadow quickly disappeared at some distance. After a while, I noticed that I was alone at that place. Sea was calm, morning breeze blowing and it was lonely spot…then the universal gene rose in me. I shed my clothes, and plunged into the cool waters of the mighty nature. Oh, Lord I am in Thy Image, I said.

Hardly, swam to some 20 laps, when I noticed a figure moving towards my clothes at the shore – watch, purse, passport, and all my belongings. I swam back and close the rank, but could not come out of the waters. Pretending that I could jump out if necessary – stayed covered within the salty water. The man changed his direction and went away.

If I were in the Lord’s image, what was the image of that man?