Friend: The more I see of organised religion and the devotional
channels (all faiths), the emptier they appear. Faith is something between the
man and his maker and what is the need of third party intervention (read
religious leaders) in this?
Me: They guide those who need
help and do not feel confident enough. Just like teachers help students learn
mathematics which theoretically they could have learnt by reading books. I
don't think they are doing any harm. If you don't need them, avoid them. That
is all. But a lot of people need them, so let us not ridicule their needs.
Friend: U r very right. But when teachers motives r pure greed
& false teachings .saints r really very few, others r katha watchk only
Me: Then let us take them as
katha-wachaks only. I mean no one is forcing us to believe they are true
saints. What I do is to listen and learn their "teachings" and I do
not focus on the "teachers" in person... It helps most of the time. I
don't have to become a follower in true sense or to start loving the speaker -
I just enjoy their teachings which are mostly very good...
Friend: Rahul, have you ever watched these devotional channels seriously
over a length of time?
Me: Whenever I watch a new
channel for the first time, I love it for 2 days and then tire out. If I keep
watching, I grow to hate them, so having learnt my pattern I discontinue and
watch them only once or twice for 15 minutes in a week - then they sound fine.
But I know that if I get bored the problem is not with them but with me.
Friend: As a rule, religious men and women are decent God fearing
people. Men of religion, on the other hand, from times immemorial are the most
conceited, corrupt and dishonest individuals.
Me: It is because "power
corrupts". And it is so for all men with power and authority. We can't
single out only godmen or godwomen. So let us realize the true cause of their
corruption and let us accept that god or religion has nothing to do with it.
Friend: Agreed Rahul. I am a devout but strongly feel that religion
is a deeply personal matter and not for display.
Me: But I don't agree that it is
"so simply" between god and man - every man without training and
initiation can't speak to God unless he is such an extraordinary soul - like
the child prodigies. And not everyone is a child prodigy. So what we do need is
religion and some initiation. Without it, when we are talking to God, what we
are doing is just unburdening our emotional baggage. We may feel relief
temporarily but it does not "really" help us rise spiritually. So I
do need religious teachings and teachers only share. If I do not read or hear
them, how do I learn new things? Books are fine but then there is so much in
explanations! Half knowledge is worse than no knowledge some times.
Friend: If a literate person needs a medium -a guru- to seek the
path to righteousness, he is not literate. Only a lesser learnt needs a medium.
In our country nobody knows how many such persons thrive.
Me: Not so simple. Tell me,
without going to school or without any teachers, how would I learn English to
be able to read you? I would remain a baby and unless I learn a language I
don't get its knowledge. Now the language in which scriptures are written are
so deep. I thought I knew all but I read one explanation of a verse of
Ramcharitmanas from a writer in a magazine from Ramakrishna mission - and then
a whole new perspective, a whole new world opens for me. I would never know it
no matter how much I talk to God or with my wife about Lord Ram because both of
us are the same level spiritually. We need to talk to those who are better than
us, in order to learn from them.
In religious books what I have
read is that when one gets wisdom and some spiritual achievement, still his
"ego" is his greatest enemy. So many great sages and learned people
in history fell for this. They are so wise and enlightened but then ego makes
them do weird stuff. Ego and power corrupts them. But we should not focus on
their "corruption". We should focus on how much knowledgeable they
were (and learn from them). Lord Ram sent Lakshmana to meet dying Ravana and to
learn from him. Can we imagine this doing ourselves? Ram sending Lakshmana to
learn from Ravana who was dying! If it were all "in the books" and if
we were not to learn from wise men, why would he do that?
And btw, scary cults are coming
even to India. Weird leaders of these cults being worshiped by their members as
"God" himself; forget about "saints" and "gurus"
which appear thing of the past. These cults are exclusive groups of brainwashed
believers and their theories are illogical unscientific ones built upon
existing religions' theories but giving it a twist. So I think antidote for
fake religion is original religion. Like Dayananda said - return to the vedas.
Otherwise India will also become like the world we see in Batman movies.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are
personal.
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