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This topic is a spin off from the comment made by Zainab in my thread and my response to the same.
This show has explored so many facets and one such facet is the relevance or otherwise of God.
As Zainab pointed out, yesterday's episode drew the sharp contrasts between Khushi, Shyam and Arnav with regard to what role the supreme power plays in their lives.
To Khushi, her Goddess is her companion and her guide. When she feels lost, she relies on her Devi Maiyya to show her the way. She always got her signs from her goddess and abided by them. Her unflinching faith had seen her through many a troubled times. Yesterday episode showcased one such example, when she prayed for 'shakti' and she sees Arnav standing rock solid for her to pour out her grief.
To Shyam that same Goddess is a convenient means to an unholy end. Seeing that Khushi was within earshot, he stands in front of Devi Maiyya and loudly demands that she saves Khushi's father when he knows that he himself is responsible for the old man's state. He makes a show of burning his hand in the diya in return for the old man's health while in the heart of hearts he really wants the old man to kick the bucket without so much as a whimper. His devious purpose of gaining Khushi's attention was served when she rushes to him and bandages his hand but his long term goal of winning her over would surely get thwarted. He can fool people with his fake piety but he cannot fool God and his reward (or should I say punishment ?) awaits him. As they say there is no escaping God's justice, even if it is sometimes delivered with a lag.
To Arnav , the very existence of God is questionable. He feels that even if God exists, he/she is merely a mute spectator to what is happening around. He may not revere Khushi's Devi Maiyya but he respects her enough to dive in order to save her for Khushi (this at a time when he did not even like the girl). No wonder Devi Maiyya has a soft corner for him and is creating all sorts of situations for him to unite with her favourite disciple.
I would like to bring in Anjali too into this discussion.
To Anjali, all Gods, not just Devi Maiyya, are equally important. She devotes her entire existence to conducting poojas after poojas. She lives more in the spiritual world than the real world so much so that she is blind to her husband's wayward behaviour. Yes, she does question him from time to time but is more than willing to accept his lame excuses maybe because it lets her live in this make-believe world of perfect happiness. She lives by the adage 'ignorance is bliss.'
There is one thing common between Shyam and Arnav. Both have tremendous self belief. Both feel that they can achieve whatever they want without any divine intervention. In fact despite all his outward show of being a pious man, I think Shyam is as much a non-believer as Arnav is, for any man who believes in God would shudder to do the evil things he does. There is, however, a big difference between Arnav and Shyam. While Arnav, despite his hard exterior, will never dream of adopting immoral means to achieve his end, Shyam will stop at nothing, including taking one's life, to achieve what he wants.
Similarly while both Khushi and Anjali believe in God, Khushi is more pragmatic. She prays to her Goddess for guidance but she does not expect her Devi Maiyya to do things for her. She herself acts on it, putting in more than 100 per cent in every task she takes up. Anjali on the other hand seems to have left everything in God's hands. If she had shown even 10 per cent curiosity in what her husband was up to she would have discovered so much about him. It is easy to say that her trust in him blinded her but then I feel that it is unhealthy to trust someone so blindly especially when his actions are suspect. I guess this is one problem that the entire Raizada clan face though. Even the otherwise shrewd Arnav seems to have such blind trust in his jiju.
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