Conversation about Religion, Cults and God

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. 

Eating Habits and Spiritual Growth

Someone found that a highly revered spiritual person took non-vegetarian food at times. People knew about it. Is it unusual? Is it shameful and unacceptable? Or is it something which shouldn’t raise our eyebrows?  

I think that what we eat is for our body. What we eat does impact our moods and our thinking, but may be not much when the food is taken in small quantity infrequently, which I believe the spiritual leader would be doing during certain part of his life... I think if one is highly spiritually enlightened, it doesn't matter what he ate. For example, if I don't eat for 5 hours I will feel hungry, troubled, and agitated. But the same won't happen to a person who has all his senses in perfect control; like a Yogi or a Sadhu. These people may still be stable and happy after being hungry for many hours. So it is not the food or its absence which would trouble me - it will be my inability to control senses which would do that. So I strongly believe that for evolved souls, these small matters don't impact them if they don’t want to be impacted by them.

Still there is an issue of sensitivity. I think evolved souls would be more sensitive than us. But sensitiveness is one thing and being affected by those is another. Highly evolved souls would be "aware" of all - even the little and small things surrounding them - but they won't be affected by them because of the "detachment" they experience all the time...

What do you think?

- Rahul

Book Review: Religion and Dharma by Sister Nivedita

‘Religion and Dharma’

By: Sister Nivedita

Advaita Ashrama (Publication department)

ISBN: 81-7505-128-0

‘Dharma’ is a term which has larger and more complex significance than the word ‘Religion’.  Yet it is by and large used for ‘religion’ almost everywhere. Dharma literally is the force or principle that binds together. Dharma for Hindus includes the whole social conception of law and conduct and worship. Sister Nivedita preferred to translate the word Dharma as the “National Righteousness”.

This book is a collection of essays written by Sister Nivedita in the early years of 20^th century. All the essays are relevant for today and for long time to come in the future also. In the pages of this book the author talks about topics of national and spiritual interests, like “Mukti: Freedom”, “Hinduism and Organization”, “the past and the future”, “the spirit of renunciation”, “the sacred and the secular”, “luxury and manhood”, “character”, “fitness”, “national righteousness”, “the task before us” and “the ideal”. All are wonderful topics which provide us with as much food of thoughts as they give us glimpse into the mind of the author.

Some quotations from the book:

“As the ignorant fight, from selfish motives, so must we fight unselfishly. Our struggle must be as intense as that of the meanest miser. We must labor for the good of the others as the drowning man clutches at a straw….”

“The struggle with material conditions is eternally necessary to the upward growth of the spirit. When Karma has been exhausted, and the moment of enlightenment is at hand, this condition also must be held to have transcended.”

“Nothing is a greater test of education than the noble employment of leisure and means. It is not nearly so much by our performance of duties, as by our selection of interests, that our character is revealed.”

This book has been a wonderful read and it provided me with much knowledge enrichment on the world at large and also insights on Hinduism and India are wonderful; an awareness of the same to the general masses is the need of the hour.

Highly recommended book for all.

- Rahul