"Agnostic Khushwant - There Is No God!" Summary of the Book Instead Of Entering Into A Pointless Debate On Whether Or Not God Exists, It Is More Important To Bear In Mind That Belief In The Existence Of God Has Little Bearing On Making A Person A Good Or A Bad Citizen. One Can Be A Saintly Person Without Believing In God And A Detestable Villain Believing In Him. In My Personalized Religion, There Is No God! Khushwant Singh, Over The Decades, Has Built Up A Reputation For Coming Up With Something New And Controversial In Each Book, And He Does Not Disappoint His Readers This Time Too. He Begins With A Chapter On The ?Need For A New Religion ? Without God?, In Which He Questions The Relevance Of God. He Then Moves On To Describe How Religion Has Proved To Be More Harmful Than Beneficial And, In The Process, Debunks Astrologers And The Breed Of So-Called ?Godmen?.
However, He Is Not Dismissive Of Religion. Through His Lucid Writing, He Brings Out The Beauty And Significance Of Holy Books Such As The Bhagvad Gita, The Quran And The Granth Sahib. He Provides Relevant Extracts To Highlight The Poetry And The Music In Such Books. The Author Next Tries To Dispel The Prejudices Held By Many Non-Muslims Against Their Muslim Compatriots By Giving Down-To-Earth Examples. He Also Emphasizes The Importance Of The Ramzaan Fast. Khushwant Singh?S Description Of The Life And Times Of Guru Nanak And Guru Gobind Singh And His In-Depth Analysis Of The Granth Sahib Throw New Light On A Particularly Troubled Period In India?S History. The Chapter Devoted To The Interaction Of The Author (A Confirmed Agnostic) With The Dalai Lama (Probably The World?S Most Renowned Spiritual Leader) Makes For Fascinating Reading. Here?S One Book Containing A Wealth Of Knowledge And Information That You Would Want To Read Or Consult Again And Again.
About The Author Khushwant Singh is India?s best-known writer and columnist. He has been founder?editor of Yojana, and editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, The National Herald and The Hindustan Times. He is also the author of several books which include the novels Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, Delhi and Burial at Sea; the classic two-volume A History of the Sikhs; and a number of translations and non-fiction books on Sikh religion and culture, Delhi, nature, current affairs and Urdu poetry.
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian novelist, lawyer, journalist and politician. Born and raised in Hadali, Punjab (now in Pakistan), he studied law at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and King's College London. After working as a lawyer in Lahore Court for eight years, he joined the Indian Foreign Service upon the Independence of India from British Empire in 1947. He was appointed journalist in the All India Radio in 1951, and then moved to the Department of Mass Communications of UNESCO at Paris in 1956. These last two careers encouraged him to pursue a literary career. As a writer, he was best known for his trenchant secularism, humour, sarcasm and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit. He served as the editor of several literary and news magazines, as well as two newspapers, through the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1980-1986 he served as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. Khushwant Singh was decorated with the Padma Bhushan in 1974. But he returned the award in 1984 in protest against Operation Blue Star in which the Indian Army raided Amritsar. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India.