The consequences of religious bigotry are different from what faiths sermonize. Belief in ones religion creates a sense of exclusiveness and a feeling of superiority over those who subscribe to another religion. With bigotry religious intolerance is growing and places of worship are being vandalized. More nauseating then the resurgence of religious bigotry is the rise of superstition and the belief in astrology, lucky charms etc.
When religion is used as an identification mark, it creates rivalry, resulting in intolerance, hatred, violence and the desire to dominate. We need to understand the distinction between reality and religion. Language, religion, race, nationality and caste among others also create marks of identifications, which serves a specific purpose to gain short-term benefits. It is the religions identity that creates strife, not the faith. Peaceful co-existence is possible among the followers of different faiths. All that is required is to avoid the use of religion as an identity card, a label or as a brand name.
People belonging to all religions must jointly harness their energies to discover the vagaries and limitation of the religious school of thought. Religions are still struggling with the definition God, who happens to be the main character of all religion. Do we still have to give so much importance to such ideas? The concept of religions and nations cannot co-exist with peace on earth.
The support of the ruling class made the priests powerful instruments of the state. The priest became power brokers using religion as a means to achieve territorial and material gain. In this religious conflict more blood was shed in the name of religion than from any other cause.
With the support of the state, religions grew stronger with time. the priests even guaranteed places in heaven in return of monetary offerings. Power politics and too much money corrupted the religious authorities at the cost of their creed. Religion became a relic and its ceremonial paraphernalia majestic. The easiest targets for the priest were the poor, the neglected and the uneducated. The spread of knowledge was curbed by the priests because they knew that education would expose the hollowness of the holy declarations made by them.
Rulers supported religions to bridge the ruling class with the poor and the illiterate people of the society. Rulers were far removed from this segment so just by manipulating the priest they could easily influence this section of society. Nothing has changed politicians are following the same policy. Religions should strictly adhere to the policy of non-involvement with the governments of the day, the linkage of religions with the rulers and governments has turned religions to worldly matters and the very purpose of religions is defeated. Religions stated as a spiritual process has slowly lost all its significance. Now religions are run on quilt, fear and greed. Whatever breeds out of fear, greed or quilt cannot lead to human well being.
Can unification or replacement of religions be the answer or in own religion pursue spiritualism or Swadharma? Even if the fight between religions is becoming more violent day by day turning into a clash of civilizations, this is making religious people more disillusioned. Where has the religious tolerance of the followers and their leaders gone? Has it vaporized into personal interest, power, greed, craving for benefits of the religious leaders? Their infighting has also ripped religions apart.
Criminal and wicked persons have taken the refuge of religion to serve their nefarious agendas as they know well that the majority of the people in the world (80% to 90%) are deeply rooted in their religions. These mischievous elements are also familiar with the fact that the very name of religion can turn the followers blind and make them ready to be exploited to do anything in the name of their religion. Worst, today the believers of religion cannot even read the script of their religious book nor can they understand the meaning of the text. As such, all misinterpretation goes unchecked. Taking advantage of these drawbacks the rouges thrive. If people are educated and aware of the facts, such bad persons would be out of business.
It is hard to convince people to go by the book than it is to baptize them. Just like it is hard to switch to reality than to trust in grace, to have more converts it is better to stress faith and the lessening of human anguish.
Religious leaders take advantage of the flaws inherent in human nature. They even create chaos by cheating and confusing citizens and put their safety at risk. Their propaganda also attracts and appeals people but when the gullible join hands with them it ends in their ruin. By the time they realize their mistake the damage has already been done. Distortion and deviation of religion has gone too far.
Man has made blunders but he has not failed as a collective cluster. He has done well in shrinking the sorrow of the world through scientific technology and economic prosperity. While each religion continues to depend on the personal allegiance of a group consisting of their own followers and not collectively on the followers belonging to all religious groups thus creating races and nations as the commodity of their assembly. For that reason religions and nationalism are the biggest threat to the present 21st century.
Religion was a nuisance in Europe for centuries until the cultural renaissance broke the backbone of the fanatics and the onset of modern civilization relegated religion to the background. Now in Europe religion has no locus-standi. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the south-Asian countries. If religion was the curse of India from ancient times, it shows no let up in modern times, in spite of their so called culture heritage. Religious dogmas, scriptures, injunctions, fads and fanaticism have been exploited by politicians and also by leaders in other spheres of life for personal, parochial and sectarian aggrandizement.
Display of outward religions symbols like wearing veil, beards, headgear etc should be discarded as medieval relic. They do not serve any spiritual purpose except create a separate outer identity of their followers that gives arrogance and invite trouble for themselves and others due to rivalry among religions.
The universal evolving norms of civilized society are now directed to remove rigidities and observe unity in diversity to bring to an end civil disruptions, communal violence, religious conflicts and international tension. It is amazing to see how with much excitement and broad-mindedness religious people and their preachers keep pace with the latest technological development and enjoy the benefits and comforts of technology. This indeed brings a drastic change in the lifestyles which they accept with excitement and not with remorse. But when it comes to bring changes in religions to make it relevant and time friendly they become intolerant and shut their minds with narrow-mindedness. Practicing double standards simply reveals their selfishness and not any religiosity. Although religious organizations are administered by obsolete dictums and old directives but the rigidity of priests and preachers has already sapped the vitality of religion. The death knells to exit. Dancing to death before the curtain falls.
Religious authorities still go to the extreme level of sentencing women to be stoned to death, with her body buried up to her neck with sand for having babies out of wedlock or having illicit sexual relations. This demonstrates how outrageous and unacceptable are such draconian death sentence issued by the priest in the name of religious scriptures. Ruffians in religions are a lethal mix.
Any proposal to change the religious order is condemned as sacrilege. Effort to change is dubbed as a deviation from the teachings of the holy book, ignoring the fact that the only unchanging natural law in the entire universe is the constant change. Educated and economically well off people shirk to take up the profession of a priest. Commonly, the clergy comes from extremely backward, illiterate and poor families. They lack the vision of a modern society. No scientific education is taught to the students of ‘Theology’, thus the outlook of the clergy remains medieval, feudal and in conflict with the sociological requirements of the day but in conformity with the policies of the religious authorities to serve their vicious plans. The clerics relieve history as it was being made going back through time. Period of historical versions loose their relevance with the passage of time, the language, the words and their meanings also change. Yesterday’s viewpoint changes and sounds unreasonable. History is past, lying in a dead state buried long ago. Make religion history.
The clerics even now are a part of the power structure and support the political parties in power. Top political leaders may control religious organizations and the cleric may hold the manifesto of political parties. Thus both find it beneficial to resist change and reform. In this manner they stifle the spirit of religious dynamism.
When people follow religious teachings blindly, they lose their sense to reflect and judge freely on fact and fiction. All religious teaching is blinkered and commands blind faith and its dictatorial dominance. In the name of religion, fanaticism and superstitions have emerged and their bloodsucking ideas have contaminated the entire mindset of mankind. In this state of religious hated can there be peace in the world?
Those who are under the influence of religion have forgotten to look within themselves. They have blocked their judgment. Religious people can only rely on outside forces to do their thinking because they function mainly on blind faith and mechanical rituals.
Even if there is a conflict between theology and sociology, the apprehension depends on the circumstances and the mind-set of the people. The difference between religions is not between polytheism and monotheism or linked to holy books or struck by a deep disparity between theism and atheism but it is among the set of people who sense and those who do not sense others feelings.
Educated people dislike rigidity. Religion has to present itself rationally to the intellectuals. What man needs now are facts not stagnant precepts. The modern man cannot be dictated by doctrines and dogmas. It is often blind faith that tricks the trusting people in the name of religion.
Reliance without reason can be ruinous so faith without reason can turn into fanaticism giving birth to religious fundamentalism. It is time that faith should be blended with reason.
Holy wars and the holy warrior are constantly forced and fashioned to give political power to religious establishments. The feeling of security threat is raised by the cleric’s call that religion is in danger, this creates a false sensitivity and the agenda moves away from religious receptiveness to religious identity. Past experiences show that such formations were willing tools in political games and followed own course of existence afterwards. Then it became impossible to restraint such groups and the damage had been done.
Fundamentalism refers to a belief that takes into account certain articles of faith or fundamentals features of a religion, which are considered to be sacred beyond question. Beliefs such as the virgin birth or the revelations in a holy book or the infallibility of a prophet are simply not to be questioned. But are these the only conclusive fundamentalism around us? Haven’t the fundamentalist transformed the house of God into a terrorist haven.
Why religions are not liable for misleading their followers with false concepts. Why religions are not responsible to revise old percept to new realities? Religions are not bothered because they are sure that their followers will not desert them but will continue with them from birth till death. Under these conditions, why should then a son follow his father’s religion?
Spirituality is a natural urge of every human being no one has the right to impose or force it on him in the form of a religion. This is gross violation of human rights since the prey are newborns it becomes a more serious matter. The state should intervene and stop this cruel custom which curbs human persona. It gives leverage to religious authorities to create conflict-ridden religious camps at the cost of human freedom to serve their personal plans.
All religions should be made a part of the school syllabus and taught as one subject to students, after they acquire reasonable knowledge of all religions. Then each student may decide which religion he would prefer to follow perhaps one, two or many or follow his own version of religion, called Swadharma. No human being on earth will be branded or identified under the name of any religion at the time of his birth. The state must scrap all those rules wherein people are asked to declare their religion and treat religion as a private matter.
Ironically, religions survive on the concept of God to dominate the civil society but even after a survival of more than 3000 years all organized religions are still struggling with the definition of God, the biggest dilemma of all religions, although the greatest absurdity of the human mind. This proves that God is not reached through any religion or through public gatherings or religious rituals. It is only during an individual effort that godlike moments are felt by a human being at the level of his privacy. By bringing out God on the streets human civilization has suffered irreparable loss. Let mankind not be misled anymore by religions that promise but cannot deliver. Isn’t it time to wake up and correct this error?
Those who do not subscribe to the way of thinking religions enforce on them are disciplined and detested from society or expelled from the country or even beheaded. Religions are so far removed from reality that they ride roughshod over its own people.
Sexual instinct is a natural breeding activity hardwired in all living beings to procreate, indulgenced as an thing of pleasure is a folly and to suppress is unnatural, even if it were in the name of religion. The religious establishments are now realizing the fact with difficulty. The priests and nuns are compelled to observe lifelong celibacy but they have been resorting to unnatural methods to vent their sexual urge. Concealed sexual connections, homosexuality and pedophilia are some of the practices that the priests have been indulging in. The harm did by some priests and religious leaders to young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame. Compulsion of celibacy is not compatible with human nature. Degrading has reached the lowest level.
People should be decently dressed and make no attempt to display religious symbols as a dress code of their religion. No prophet would have been adamant that people living in hot areas and cold regions wear the same dress. In fact, religion should not have a dress code at all. The difference between modernity and religions orthodoxy is because the religious leaders want to take back the lifestyle to the medieval age in the time zone of their Prophets. But they do not find anything wrong in enjoying the fruits of modernity themselves.
Conversions from one religion to another are done through force, fraud or unfair inducement. There are instances where people were forced to convert momentarily to save their lives from violent mobs of another community and were readily readmitted to their own faith. This is a mockery of religion. Very few educated and affluent people renounce their religion and embrace another except for convenience when they marry people of another faith or for the sake of monetary benefits. Conversions are basically restricted to the deprived, discriminated against and destitute tribal and lower castes who hope to get a better deal in life by converting to another religion. They have every moral and constitutional right to do so.
The process of forced religious conversion of poor and innocent tribal with monetary and political support is going on full speed even today. All this is often done by means of ‘economic conversions’ a loan, a house and fees for schooling. Is this ethical? Conversion is taking place even at Gunpoint. Conversions are catastrophic to the psyche of the people. They threaten a whole way of life, erasing centuries of tradition, customs, wisdom, and teaching people to despise their own religion and look westwards to a culture, which is alien to them. Some religions are dwindling at home due to scandals, which has eroded the faith of people in them. They are thus looking for new converts in the third world. This new millennium should be earmarked for the spiritual development of the human race irrespective of the religious affiliations through the philosophy of Swadharma. Unless the world shifts from the narrowly religious to the larger perspective of spirituality, it will go towards self-destruction.
Crusades were commonly known as religious wars. More than century long conflict between Christian and Islamic interest, in the past has split lot of blood, deadly rioting, warfare in the name of religion. We should learn lessons and not repeat past history.
Innocent people are being killed in the name of religion, no respectable religion could excuse these merciless acts no moral framework could sanction these abominations and no political cause could justify murder of the innocent we know that ultimately Good does triumph over evil.
One generation after another generation has grown under the obsolete ideology preserved in our holy scriptures. Thoughts were put in by those who made it relevant to the time when they lived. Hopelessly even now the modern educated people are forced to grow under the influence of these prehistoric religious scriptures, ideas which still remain undigested and the language unreadable, without crushing down the outdated.
Religions will soon powerless. The religious community has been caught unaware by the world changing rapidly through globalization. The Solution, religions must stop seeing a global conspiracy all around them. Religions will need to institute and ensure the accomplishment of openness, change and democracy in their outfits.
An over-dependence on esoteric, high sounding theories, meant more to intimidate than enlighten creates more doubts. Those who swear by religion and who over-zealously quote scriptures only encourage over-dependence on the written word rather than understand the spirit behind them. So they quote scriptures without comprehending them and this misunderstanding fuels violence and aggravates sectarian friction. Some attribute lack of culture to an over-dependence on rationality.
On matters of faith we rely on a religion for an identity like a tag a trademark; mostly people are branded at birth and follow that religion to their grave.
Religious fanaticism is thriving by petrodollars from the Middle East and other rouge countries, unless this is stopped, control fundamentalism will become difficult. Religions do not preach bloodshed yet horrible killings are being executed in the name of religion. The fault it seems to lie with the other religion. We perceive other religions with prejudice and lack of knowledge.
If there are religious fundamentalist there are religious moderates also, if religions are not same everywhere but humans are humans everywhere. We should not be critical of religions but should be critical of closed minds. Knowing the teaching of all religions brings awareness inducing an open mind. Conservativeness comes from insecurity leading to extremism but there’s a natural resistance to any fanaticism, this aspect needs to be encouraged. Fanaticism prevails when the liberal voices are subdued, we must strengthen these voices.
Regular religious celebrations create camaraderie among multi-religious groups. Even while following one’s own religion people should participate and celebrate the festivals of other religions. This will simplify the situation of intolerance. Temper taper
Hammered with wrong notions of God, the thoughts of religious people are nailed to dogmatic intensity. Stuck to the letter of the scriptures, they overlook the fundamental nature of things. Rigidity is not natural but to seek the spirit of the godliness in nature and not in religion is indeed the natural urge to satiate human curiosity. Awaken and connect to this source of life force, which is nurtured by the natural world that manifests its forms in multiple varieties.
Superstition is a stigma and Institutionalization of religion is a shame. It reduces individuality and renders a person unreasonable and unbelievable with ruinous consequences. With a herd mentality an individual loses his individuality. An individual must be free to take the road of self realization, which is the ultimate goal of Swadharma. Religious Institutions tend to produce excess of its basic principles even justifying the killing of innocent people in the name of religion. Religion cannot be generalized for a society it should prompt individuals to go after truth. Total awareness alone will bring about ultimate liberation. Institutions back individuals who suit their interest and not the interest of an individual.
When religion chooses to adopt the path of investigation and verification, only then real knowledge will arise, by a scientific temper. On the contrary the followers of a particular religion are conditioned to believe that only their religion can lead them to heaven, while followers of other religions will go to hell.
The followers of religion overlook the fundamental nature and are gripped just with the temple, mosque or church, as if caged in them. Religions should promote unity, remove differences, we have to bear each other and live together. We are not here for eternal stay, let there be happiness in our meeting. Let there be no hatred, let there be no violence, live and let live.
Religious books, written in the time gone by must be seen as an olden record that tries to tell the shaping of our species in the period of human history where no one had the slightest idea of what was actually going on. The study of religion does divulge the development of human thought of not knowing to knowing.
The doubtfulness of God, the wickedness done in his name, the probability that God is manmade surely brings uncertainty in the existing religions. We should then explore a less damaging alternative belief system. We cannot wish away belief system. It gives hope, infuses enthusiasm and leads to the expansion of human thought
Scientific studies prove that the origin of the world at the hands of God is false, which outlines the ascent of Homo sapiens over million of years by the process of natural selection. The word of God revealed through prophets in religious texts is full of incomprehensible lapses and inconsistencies. The religious books are not universal but local and confined to cultural and geographical limitations. These documents were relevant at certain time and place in history but irrelevant now. God did not create man but man created God.
The ego of Human beings is the root cause of all evil. Religion claims to tame it by holding mankind to the will of a higher being called God. But in practice it intensifies egoism and fosters violence. Religions have ruthlessly persecuted people in the past and they continue to do so even now.
Even if today, the majority of people are more educated and more reasonable than ever before in the past, still we are not likely to see the end of religion. Be it hardwired in us or not the fact remains that the thirst of human mind to know the unknown and the unknowable is certainly unquenchable. Let us accept that the faith in spirituality and not in organized religions is here to stay so we must in our multi-religious global village find a way to make reasonable and universal principles responsible to serve this human need.
People all over the world question religion. Religion has failed. Religion is not living it is dead yet the religious words stoned are still recited but not understood even by the custodians of the lifeless religions. Let us free ourselves from these outdated and obsolete religions by widening the scope of spiritualism so as to embrace all human beings worldwide. Intelligence, wisdom and experience should be the benchmarks to develop faith in the divine, otherwise lack of vision sets in, the frog in the well syndrome disorder
Religious zealots have ransacked the thought process of religious people. They are at mercy of intolerant and crafty religious leaders, who take religion on a ride to suit their own agendas and power games. They have even invented their own code of conduct and ethics, ever since this wicked device of the cleric worked; religion stopped evolving, stagnated and is now dead. Unfortunately, everyday people are killed in the name of a dead religion. Religion has served to justify injustice and create divisions and hatred among people. It has impeded the growth and progress of our civic society. Religions have become the fossils of dead rule. When a rule merges it emerges by replacing an outdated rule. The existing organizations of religions also emerged by replacing outdated religions thousand of years ago. Since all existing religions have outlived their utility the time to replace them has come.
To comprehend reality the human mind creates a web of ridiculous and rational concepts, many evolve and some stay and the rest fade away. The vast space is mysterious. Many theories on the subject of universe and its creation are baffling. We live in a never-ending space, time and knowledge, the more we know more there is to know. To understand the mysteries of nature reality and imagination go together.
That all living beings have originated though natural processes. This is opposed to the religious view of the divine creator. Since laws are running their natural course, the role of God stands negated as described by religions. Ape ancestry and the close anatomical relationship between the humans and the primates raise the question whether God created man or not.
The observations of the founders of religions are beyond verification, they are accepted purely out of reverence or fear. Reality needs to be objectively verified, examined and then accepted, let us not fear if false concepts enshrined in religious books is sunk into obscurity and lost.
The educated people do not follow blindly. Religions were institutionalized because of the support of the uneducated masses. The circumstances have changed, now we have more educated common people, therefore the decay of religion as an institution is imminent. Spiritualism will take its place. Society does not need religions or religious people but knowledgeable people.
Extravagant spending on religious festivals is a waste of resources. When it comes to religion people have strong views and can stake their funds even beyond their means for religious and not social purposes. Clerics as creepers live a luxurious lifestyle as parasites. Clerics may be excommunicated for tarnishing the image of religion.
What place can saints and gurus have in the age of television? They are just a media curiosity, an entertainment and spiritual sop for a materialistic society. They are so hollow that people come to know about the fooleries. Society should not take them seriously and shun these religious gurus; they are actually artful dodgers conning innocent people to live at their cost in a lavish way without making honest efforts to earn their bread.
A religion based on make-believe concepts, fails to answer questions on the multiplicity of life. The challenge before the educated society is to get rid of fundamentalism, bigotry; rituals, false religious preachers and their teaching which is demolishing the base of spirituality. Faith is not an obstacle but religions indeed are. Faith is a positive feature of human mind. Faith fashions human progress.
The human mind tries to find methods to know truth, asking precise questions and framing the right agenda. It’s all about results, the rigidity of religion has led to failure, it has made huge mistakes, let us not be protectionist, not even for good reasons. A religion protects something that belongs to the yesteryear.
The author of the universe is not God but natural forces. Things combine in concert by virtue of their inbuilt value. There is neither heaven nor hell, nor is there any thing like a soul to reap the hereafter. All ceremonies, rites and rituals have been invented by the priest for their own pecuniary benefit and devised for their selfish purpose.
The authors of religious scriptures were comical, crude and crinkle. Their vision was blurred. They condemned the religious traditions prevailing at that time, when they thought that believers followed rascality they set up a new religion.
Religions are hindrance to spiritual growth. Religions are the chief cause of the evils that trail humanity. Ever since that cause became a power almost 3000 years ago. The world was a better place before organized religions arrived and will be much better after they depart from the world vowing never to come back again.
A religion was never founded by a spiritual leader. He only educated people about divinity. On his demise a crowd who subscribed to his thoughts erected monuments, fabricated a system of conception and canons, ritual and reverence to pay memorial service to keep his legacy alive an arrangement which was totally different from his teachings. With time distorted religions turn out to be a false perception of the actual wisdom. Religion is a means to an end, psychotherapy for the sorrows of life. But behind rituals, superstitions and the idea of guilt and cleansing it is the perverted priest craft that lay hidden to cheat. Universal values live by itself not by law but in collective agreement. If human values need law it has no meaning. Do we need to call upon the name of the initiator of a religion to put in force influence of religion?
Some religions are results of revelations, written and accepted as a memorandum of God to mankind to worship him wholly and thus save their souls from Hell. God’s message is revealed to a prophet who reveals it to the people. The prophet ensures salvation of the people who obey God’s commands and accept the prophet as his messenger.
The inventors of religions claimed divinity. Some claimed to be the son of God, some his messengers and some God personified obviously such teachings were a ploy to attain a divine source. Pretenders even asserted that their teachings were Gods own word. Their message was the message of the God. Their followers were not supposed to question them even if their message was fake and frivolous.
Has anybody seen or conversed with God the leading actor of all religions? Imaginary tales were scripted like stage shows with a make-believe superman as the hero and the human mind was projected as a self-governing soul in existence, which had a separate entity living in the human body, the body dies but the soul does not die and takes birth in another body was another figment of human imagination. If religions believe in soul as human mind and God as natural world it is good enough otherwise it is not worth following it.
Religions can only create false notions. Belief in the existence of God and Soul is a risky superstition. It creates the priest and the church as the controllers of the followers from their birth to death. Remove God and Soul, the whole edifice of religious establishment will collapse. Man has been ruled by the authority of religion long enough. He must learn to be ruled by his own principles. A progressive world needs to discard all religions and persuade the people of the world to follow Swadharma, where man is called upon to have himself governed by him.
Religion is the biggest threat to world peace. Nowadays the very thought of religion is characterized as fundamentalism and terrorism. It is bad to see people turn away from morals to money. Even nations suffer from this syndrome and conduct themselves as merchants of material goods rather then the defenders of rectitude.
If religions were the word of God than why do religions split into sects? In fact some sects do exist within every religion exposing the reality that how unreasonable the concept of religion can be. The compilers of religious books did not script reality but reveled in a world of fantasy. If difference of opinion can lead to killing among the associates of sects within a religion then what message can such a religion give to its followers on brotherhood and love?
Religions are historic shrines of superstition, ignorance and brutality. Religion is the root cause of human misery and conflict. More people have been killed in the name of religion than in any other cause, be it natural disasters or epidemics.
Religions have subdued scientific discoveries as they contradicted the view of religion on universe. Science and technology has made human life comfortable in the last 100 years than religion has in the past 3000 years then why do we need religion, rituals, the priest and prayers? The travesty is that the caretakers of religions make full use of scientific technology but resist the change of their mediaeval age religious strictures, height of hypocrisy. This obviously reveals their selfish agenda which does not serve the interest of religions except their personal plans.
Human feeling for peace and harmony is natural but the traces of animal instincts of man prevent it to unfold. Patience, tolerance and mutual respect for each other is necessary to activate it, which is the core conviction of human compassion. Human race craves to aver the principles of peace, righteousness and collective harmony to create a human civilization that sustains and enriches life based on love, trust and brotherhood.
No doubt religion has an astonishing grip over people. The followers of religions believe that religion serves a purpose. It gives meaning, hope and direction to their lives. But at the same time they should also recognize that religions do not fall on earth from the house of God that lives in haven. Religions are outcome of a social vacuum. Religions come into existence in a society that vouch its value, its ethos, customs and traditions, often as a protest, when it gets sullied and moves away from the path of righteousness.
Why religions are defended by its adherents by opposing other faiths? When no religion can claim monopoly than all religions is equal. The followers of religion behave alike; they discard the idea of one religion, reject that commonalities can work and ridicule the initiative to make a new religion. In this logjam situation the only workable solution is to bring in mutual tolerance for each other.
Religions must regard human values such as love, tolerance, kindness, and humanity as the fundamental principles of their creed and not merely the acceptance of God and his messengers. Religion must never be used for inspiring hatred or instigating violence. Religion should be used and not abused. Religion should promote universal values of love, brotherhood, compassion and selfless services.
If God is nature then he has no religious identity. He cannot be confined to any religious institution. If religion means to search within and attain a higher human plane, the ideal of the perfect being than it is worth following it. The inner journey reveals our real self. It explains our true nature and our relationship with the world. We are essentially blissful within; harmony is the core of our personality. With this knowledge we can live a life of ‘harmony’, harmony is a great unifying force, on realization of this truth one sees and recognizes the same energizing force permeating through all, irrespective of caste, creed, color or gender.
In the course of human observation, reflection and judgment, one generation to another generation of our primitive predecessor longed to understand the reality and meaning of life, soon after some eager people brought out their personal versions of truth in the name of beliefs. Beliefs developed from one to many and eventually it spread from an individual to a group, from a group to a community, from community to a nation, from one nation to many nations. In the process spirituality was lost. Not one but many religions were created with separate identities. These ambitious religious group sought power, in the struggle of power religions started dividing people from one group to the other by killing, looting and converting the losers to their brand of religion. Even after 3000 years this process has not stopped. The solution lies in returning back to the individual, to Swadharma.
To promote morality religion instills a fear psychosis and helps shed the animal instincts in a man. A society bereft of morality would be a jungle. Religion can make a ‘God’ out of a man and take him beyond the limits of human perception. It connects man with his eternal spiritual nature. Such is the power of a clean religion.
The energy of consciousness pervades the whole universe, it exists in our present, it existed in the past and it will exist in the future too. It establishes an eternal relation between man and God, God is a concept created to explain the existence of cosmic consciousness to a layman. God concepts are absent or presented differently in a religion. When we their symbolic similarities are recognized then the differences between the atheist and the theist tends to evaporate.
The progress and prosperity of mankind depends on nurturing nature and not praying to the Gods of religions, if there is a religion that promotes a harmonious relationship between man and nature then it certainly offers oneness of creation. Such a religion motivates people to love nature and inspires them to develop a sense of reverence and devotion to nature. The gospel of religion to love nature and not to harm any living creatures is worth following it. Since universe is pervaded by a life-force. It is that essence which sustains the world and all living creatures residing on planet earth.
Religions should abhor violence. Sermonize the end of wars and establish a peaceful human race on earth. The horrors of the world wars and the frightening weapons of destruction are real. War is certainly evil and must be abolished. People must learn to dwell together in peace. Yet we have not made provisions to make the world a total “NO WAR” zone so far. As long we live in fear, war will not vanish from earth. Only the message of oneness can remove this fear.
The grip and hold of religion will continue to strangle people as long they are born with a religion. Why everyone from birth is merged, tagged and branded with a religion? An imposed religion is surely an erosion of human freedom. It is thrust upon without giving a chance to choose. Religion should not be an identification mark. Disassociation and not identification with a religion should start at home from the birth of the child.
Religion indeed tries to reform a society by providing certain ideals and values but religious behavior is indeed different. People adopt these ideals and values selectively to protect their personal interest, group interest, inspirations, social mores and traditions or national expectations.
The eternal natural laws are not contradictory because they deal with reality about living beings. But even with clear contradictions in the explanation of God by religions, this weird and wonderful belief has done a great service to mankind in subduing his animal nature and rendering him psychological protection against the insecurities and uncertainties of life.
We live in a world where information flows freely. The intermingling and interaction between individuals and communities has increased. This massive interface of mankind has set people’s long suppressed nature to criticize others more freely and more openly than ever before under the cover of reason, without fearing reprimand, in a world sailing rudderless in the ocean of data. But when it comes to religion people tend to give their own version and blunt reason, close their minds, slay the spirit of inquest and drift away from reality and chase fantasy with much hue. Religion must not be followed blindly in its present form. It must incorporate universal spiritual concepts to create a just and prosperous society. Religion is not merely the expression of love for God. The energy and the consciousness of religion for eternity must bring oneness and promote goodness for mankind.
The belief in religion will gradually fade away from the believer. But the disbeliever will never become a religious activist now or in future. The educated people in the world know that there is hardly any evidence to support reality in religion, yet this fact hasn’t barred believers from believing in religion. What is most intriguing is that there is still a hostile hunt for religious symbols to rally them rough by rouges for exclusivity.
Religions are abstract by inventing rituals religions offer a meaning and purpose which gives false assurance of experiencing religion that too with unproved methods. These complex rituals, symbols and everyday practices have become an inseparable part of people’s life and their identity. Besides many other surreal elements are put together to reassure the followers that religion is something real.
Religion identifies itself with its relics and artifact associated with the founder as testimonials. The book contains the word as the timeless authority of all questions that mankind faces the utterance of the word is by itself holy, the emphasis is more on reciting the word rather then following its message. The interpreter is the priest who presides over all important occasions in the lives of its followers under the grab of divine beneficence, extracting monetary benefits from them. Most religions have a central pilgrimage place an attraction that exerts a powerful pull on its followers, which holds the religion together geographically.
The daily pray rituals remind the follower of his religion. Customs, festivals and fasts sprinkle religious meaning to him and religion is showcased in showroom, grand structures named churches, mosques, temples and pagodas. All this is done to make their identity noticeable. Religions even encourage displaying its belief system externally to create a separate appearance from the people of other faith. Exclusivity distances people from each other.
Scientists, philosophers and theologians have used science to prove or disprove religions, the attempt to prove religion through science is not only futile but complicated but disproving religion through science is simple indeed.
Rigidity blurs the vision. The law of nature, coveys a strong message of change, the principles of reality are subject to change of opinion under shifting time-zones. Rigid regulations in religion create discord.
Remains of faith in non-believers and doubt in believers are leftovers of thought processes. Interface to exchange each others viewpoints can bridge the gap. All sets of models build variety only consciousness can create reality. In the current situation ancient viewpoint is mismatched and does not bode well for humanity. The world is keen to know the meaning and purpose of life and living and not dwell in the abode of fantasy.
To counter religious fundamentalism, the humanist and atheist look to enhance their stature, some nations come under the pressure of militants to become a theocratic state. The emergence of religion activism and born again faithful should be opposed, only the idea of secularism can overcome religious onslaught on human values.
Democracy gives equal status to all citizens under a common law that pertains to all. But law enforced to cater religious groups will result in social fragmentation. Laws must efface religious sentiments from the public ambit.
Spiritual masters never wrote religious books, their followers had put down their teaching in their own way, making religion a mechanical ritual. People even now follow religion as an obsessive ritual. A herd instinct, aversive to reason has created bitterness all over the world. We have to use our intellect, must learn to reason, using our mind and not be governed by maxim and mandate. The faithful are dogmatic. They go by the letter of the scriptures and miss out the essence and become rigid, let them seek the spirit of the spiritual masters with an open mind.
It is but natural for people to value their religion, culture and language, this sense of belonging certainly creates a community. But at the same time we should also recognize the fact that this bonding becomes bondage. To prevent this, it is necessary for us to respect the sentiments of other communities as well and inculcate a sense of togetherness and evolve strategies for a spiritual growth for mankind.
There is no disagreement between worldly and spiritual life. The human mind is spiritual. To survive human beings have to earn to live, money to rear a family and connect with people. Even while earning we should not disconnect our spiritual nature. this is the only way to live reasonably.
Asia has been the cradle of many religions, its civilization, cultural and spiritual resources, rooted in the values of peace, harmony, justice, respect for pluralism, coexistence and dialogue can rewrite the past and contribute to build a better future of the world as a whole.
Everybody is in search of reality. What we are looking for is already there, ignorance prevents to discern it. To know is to become aware of it. We can understand it within the limitation of human grasp. Reality is infinite. No word, no language can explain it fully. That’s why the expression of reality in language it carried with it an abstract, fictional element that allows reality to be perverted. Infinity cannot be explained by logic that is when religion comes.
Dialogical pluralism is a platform for people to speak about the ways in which they view the world to make it more decent. It’s an environment of dialogue and mutual respect. This idea has failed to reach out the religious communities to ponder.
Secularism accepts diversity of religions and cultures. It has trans-cultural and inter-faith prospective. Diversity and democracy also go together, both are essential for peaceful coexistence. When liberalism and universality of ideas are spread, fundamentalism fizzles out then multiculturalism, multi-nationalism cohabitation and coexistence materializes. Democracy and diversity, globalization, religious toleration and religious liberty are the important values for peaceful coexistence.
Globalization offers new identities yet old identities react to reassert. Educated people are shedding their religious personality. Every nation should ban religious identities. Faith is not indicated by outward signs. People without using religious symbols prefer a contemporary facade and are more faithful then those who adorn it.
If religious leaders believe that a society deficient in religion can give rise to harmful human tendencies then they should also think how to prevent extremist tendencies and terrorism prevalent in religions. They need to be receptive to other schools of thoughts and inculcate a broader perspective of a multi-religious culture.
A multi-religious culture promotes religious liberalism and gives freedom in the choice of religions. We can have freedom of choice only if we encourage those with different views to freely propagate them otherwise religious liberalism is meaningless. Even rationalist and atheist must have the right to spread their views. If we take away the right to propagate, persuade and convert then the whole notion of religious liberalism is destroyed. We must accept the fact that religions along with atheism will survive as long human species does not become extinct, it is wisdom that liberates otherwise all school of thoughts are bondage.
Religion must address righteousness. People have to carefully understand what religion actually is and reject the false ideas in a religion so that no one is misled. It is the duty of educated people to know what is true and false in a religion with impartiality and without any discrimination. First find out truth and than accept what is true and discard what is false.
If a religion is good than why do we have several religions? Why religions oppose each other? The simple reason is that religions are not in sync with each other. Had it been so there was no point to give different names to religion. The fact remains, that each religion is different and its teachings divergent from one another. But the religion in which one is born is measured as the best and all other religions are considered as deceptive, which misleads their followers to misery.
If an enquirer after truth turns and asks, I have not embraced any religion yet, which you think is the best religion in the world so that I should embrace it. The answer would be our religion is the best others are all false and lead their followers to hell. All right the enquirer said, I will see the holy men as well and make enquiries about their religions, I will afterwards embrace the religion in which I have faith. The holy man said why you are in doubt. These people will mislead you and ensnare you into their nets. Don’t you ever go to any other religionist, take refuge in our faith or else you will repent, our faith holds out the prospect of enjoyment of sensual pleasures as well as the hope of salvation. Well anyhow I will enquire into this question form others; others gave him the same sort of answer as latter had done with additions. Then he proceeded further and put same question to a Christian, who answered him the same with this addition, all men are sinners and cannot free themselves from sin by their own exertions, no one can be saved until he has been purified through faith in Christ, who revealed mercy by sacrificing his life by way of atonement for the sins of mankind. Come and become a Christian. Having heard this, he went to Mohammedan priest and asked him the same question; he gave him the same answer as others have done with this addition that no one could obtain salvation without believing in one God, incomparable without a second, his prophet and the holy Koran. Whosoever refused to believe in this religion will go to hell; he was an infidel and deserved to be put to the sword. As the enquirer went further he found that every religionist called his own religion the best and the truest and were all opposed to each other. He came to the conclusion that there was not one among them, whose religion he could embrace. They were no better than deceitful shopkeeper (merchants of religion), prostitutes and buffoons who bragged about their own commodities at the expense of others. My mind is greatly perplexed by the wrangling of these various sects, what I should accept.
Religions are the creation of ignorance. Religions are in conflict with reason. Religions misinform the ignorant and the foolish just to trap them in their network. These poor, ignorant people fail to see the ephemeral objective of their lives and waste it in chasing the hypothetically lasting celestial things spread by religions. We should only recognize Swadharma as worthy to be acknowledged.
Religious leaders should encourage the spirit of inquiry. If discussions are not carried on and the eminent gatherings of thinkers do not deliberate the feeling of affection for all then it is unfeasible to arrive at any conclusion to the correctness of a religion. In order that realism may triumph and uselessness may fail, it is the responsibility of intellectuals to conduct debates, discussions in a sociable spirit to enable the mankind to progress.
The ignorant are quick to fall into superstition, empty rituals and brainless blunders. Society needs to save them from this kismet. The objective is to express disapproval of perverseness and give rise to reason to enable them to weed out truth from falsehood. The intention is not to condemn any religion at all.
Reasonable people accept tolerance and reject intolerance. The evil of hatred with each other has been wrought by religious intolerance. It is unworthy of a human being to injure other human beings. The censure of religions is intended to lessen intolerance, inflexibility, distrust, hatred and useless bickering. The mind of a human being has an inbuilt ability to find out truth and discern what is right or wrong, to tread the path of righteousness. The laws of nature will ultimately triumph.
Human beings are able to laugh. Strangely, religions are the biggest opponent of humor. People take their religion too seriously. Is religious conviction vulnerable to jokes? Sense of humor is a natural process to soothe frayed emotions. Laughter is indeed, a part of spiritual experience.
Life should be a blend of materialism and morality. Morality should not be under the charge of religion. Morality must be seen in a different perceptive and not as a monopoly of religion.
MISUSE or ABUSE OF RELIGION
Lack of understanding of ones or others religion is dangerous for communal harmony. Knowing this well the so called religious leaders have exploited and misguided innocent people to create discord in society and provoke them to indulge in cruel acts of violence. People involved in acts of terrorism surely do not understand the teaching of their faith, no religion permits to plant bombs to kill innocent people, if it does, than it is no religion.
Any institute, which is managed badly fails to function properly, the institution of religion is mismanaged in the same way. Drastic changes are required to make it function well. To-day the world stands divided on the lines of religion. There is a legitimate concern about the spread of religious fanaticism and fundamentalism in today’s world.
The fundamentalist, godmen, charlatans, magicians, conmen, dodgers, trickster, criminals and mavericks under the guise of religious leaders have exploited the trust of the faithful and are spreading irreligion in the name of religion, giving falsehood and double standards a free hand. People have lost faith in religion.
The reasons to convert to another religion can vary. Some convert collectively along with other members of their caste or ethnic group, some for political or economic advantage and some after spotting on the religion they really like. Often conversions bring changes in religious practices by the new en-rollers.
The prophets of religion like to complicate the matter with a vested interest so that the followers are discouraged to raise questions to know reality and are left confused, if they dare to find fault, violent methods are used to curb criticism, this makes religion irreligious by its own actions. It is here that the rationalist and the atheist are justified to take position to disagree with religion.
The root of religion is morality and for politics it is power, the combination of religion with politics is a deadly mix. Religion has often been used to give legitimacy to those in power in the past. Religion was used to justify wars, invasion, persecution, and slaughter, insurgency, pulling down work of art and run over civilization. When religion is used for political gains it turns down ethics and becomes tainted.
When religion can give access to heinous crimes than the definition of that religion should completely change. We need to redefine religion now. Dubious religious preachers have converted religion into a brand of fanaticism and their followers are even willing to embrace death, which is totally opposed ethics.
Morality has a universal appeal. When different moral considerations apply for different people then we lose morality and cease to be religious. The anger created in the name of religion by the fanatics by pitching one religion against another in a clash of civilization is indeed frightening.
The fanatics are foolish. They believe that killing innocent people is a divine call for a holy war, their route to paradise. This is clear but when nations extend financial assistance and official support to terror tactics then it is seriously wrong. The world should unite and fight against this evil. This brand of religion operating from debased locations backed by nation(s) is a potential danger to our civilized society.
Modern technology is acceptable to religion. Religious places are tech-savvy. The priest does not prefer to ride on a horse or a camel to travel but uses a car or an airplane. It is odd that the same priest refuses to accept any change in the medieval outlook of his religion tagged to history. The world needs to promote a proper understanding of each religion, with a mind on reform. Even the founders of religion in the past had fought against obscurantism and injustice then why are the present preachers too sensitive to bring changes in their outdated scriptures?
To make the principles of religious moderation operative, reason must prevail over religious injunctions. Evolution of important set of guidelines takes several shapes to modify so it is imperative not to praise one’s own religion or ridicule another’s. Each person must honor the religion of others. By doing so each religion stands to benefit from each other or else its influence diminishes and becomes the cause of religious discord.
Is there something common amid diverse ideas? We view religion as a part social philosophy of life and at the same time it is improbable that one religion or school of thought can answer all the questions of life completely. Had it been so then there wouldn’t be a need for another school of thought to ponder.
The mystery of existence will remain unanswered that’s why the deep ideas found in religious literature are unbelievable. In fact the basic questions are either unanswerable or cannot be explained through words. He who is supposed to have the answers becomes an object of worship, his book, his idol, his grave or whatever. This devotion comes out of curiosity to know or out of respect for having found the answer.
Fear, greed and sex are the most powerful human emotions. All religious institutions are managed by humans and hence it cannot remain untouched by these emotions. Its impact on religious institutions is vividly visible. The advantage of the amazing power religion has over people gives the preacher(s) confidence to combat criticism, brutally, exposing a typical outcome of human emotions.
Fanaticism is counter productive it negates the essence of religious values. An ethical society shuns bloodshed and destruction. Let no one grade which religion is the best one. The message that other religions are not on top gives muscle to crusaders, suicide bombers or dogmatic despots to take up arms to protect their religion in peril. No religion is superior then any other religion. The common ground is to respect each others point of view and live in peace.
To keep their profitable enterprise intact, the religious leaders create division among people by claiming that only their religion is acceptable and not any other. Fanatics thrive on it. Going beyond a reasonable point offers wrong interpretations and stating that all religions have the same impulse is to deny others their right to practice religion in their own way. The idea that everybody must believe in God is to stretch too far the horizon of human thought. These are some areas that lead to disagreements and conflict.
The rule of the priest is through power and not by the merits of religion. He uses religion as a stratagem and makes it fanatical and authoritarian to keep him in power. We need to disconnect the priest from religion. Religion is for the followers of faith and not for the brokers of faith.
Nowadays the majority of the followers of religion cannot read their Holy book. For that reason, they have started worshiping the Holy Book. Nearly all Holy Books are written in a language which is incomprehensible to the followers who simply recite it as a ritual without understanding its meaning.
Rather than reading and understanding the contents of the Holy Book, the followers lay emphasis on the wrapping and unwrapping of their Holy Book with expensive, ornate silks and brocades. Can worshiping a book lead them to enlightenment? Such wrong moves suggest that religion has lost its meaning. However, to carry on, religion has turned into a business enterprise that sponsors rituals and creates superstitions to fund the lavish lifestyles of its promoters – the priest, the mullah and the Guru.
The old school version of religion preached by the clerics and the inherent vulnerability of religious scriptures to gross misunderstanding are surely the signs of dissolution and distortion of the Holy Books. Religion is being used as a tool by manipulators and terrorists to achieve their personal agendas and religion related conflict have become a part of our lives. Fanatics are governed by emotions. Emotions can lead to clash and reason to calm.
The motto that religion is in danger is kept alive by crafty religious leaders to arouse the sentiments of the gullible followers to protect their leadership. By exploiting sentiments they produce potential fanatics, militants, terrorists and war makers. Emotions can motivate the naive to kill others. It is, indeed a matter of concern, that terrorism still remains the biggest menace all around the world. Wipe out this nuisance and halt the gruesome murder of the innocents.
Obsessed by foolish belief in the superiority of their religion and exaggerated reaction of grievance against the followers of other religions, innocent young men are mind washed to hammer the philosophy of hate by the trouble mongering mentors, who are the enemy of humanity. A number of religious schools are breeding grounds for fanatics and places of worship are misused to spread religious hatred. Hating and killing each other in the name of religion is saddening.
When we resist change we invite criticism. Critics are the agents to change. They compel us through their persistent criticism to research, renovate and renew our ideas and beliefs. A world without critics is a world without change and change is the fundamental law of nature. Criticism is a force to confront the status quo. Healthy criticism pushes us towards excellence.
Criticism is essential. It provides a viewpoint. Criticism should always be welcomed. We need a constant evaluation of religion. Religion imposed on followers choke creativity and the joy of freedom is lost. Beliefs are product and not patent of the human mind. Religion does not deserve loyalty. It requires change.
There are counties where they keep a tab on people belonging to other religions. They imprison followers of other religions setting a bad example of a narrow-minded faith? And there are even such priests who issue holy diktats on non-religious issues like how to dress and make-up. Never has frivolity acquired such seriousness towards fantasia religiosity.
Religious conflicts are diluted through inter-faith dialogue. It is difficult to arrive at the actual religious differences without moving away from ones own faith. To avoid, the religious leaders resist exchange of ideas and keep their campaign to protect their religious freedom in the public domain alive and pay no attention to settle issues like terrorism and conversions through inter-faith dialogue. Humanity can live in peace only if it develops harmonious relations with each other, despite creedal differences.
World must move towards spirituality, though globalization has amplified a religion fellowship among people. The old tradition imposed on children to inherit religion from their parents and not through education must be discarded. If children in schools are taught all religions of the world as a subject on spirituality this would empower them at this stage of their intellectual development. The impression gained in formative years built the foundation on which the human personality evolves. Learning to display devotion and rituals also tend to carry on into adulthood. If the tender mind of a child during formative years is drilled with particular information and repeatedly made to memorize, it will not help the child to understand the real essence of religious knowledge. A revival of religiosity amongst the questioning and thoughtful young people is a sign of hope. Swadharma is just an option. We should welcome all faiths as essential for world peace.
In a world were basic resources are inadequate; the use and accumulation of these limited resources had to be at the cost of others. As a consequence the model of economic and social justice failed to work. To keep the deprived out from it, the exploiters kept their minds occupied with religion, promising them justice afterlife. Religions are enemy of human rights. Religions have no monopoly in a democratic system.
The language in which religious books were written have died out, despite having lost its relevance, the custodians of religion struggle to keep their meaningless time worn content unchanged. That there exist a scope for improvement is unacceptable to them. It is a fact that Sanskrit and Latin the chosen language for religious texts are no more a living language.
Religious services are being outsourced, rituals are being relocated and priesthood is on the decline with fewer people seeking it as a livelihood. There are places of worship where e-religion is booming, catering a plethora of religious services to its followers worldwide. Mass media and the internet are playing a significant role to expand the religious space in the global society and cultivating a sense of congregational bond that transcends national boundaries and creeds. Outsourcing is nothing new in the domain of religions. Buddhism was outsourced to Japan by China.
Due to mass awareness individual religions will fade before long. New age spiritualism will emerge having a mass. Many adherents of electronic media aver that the next prophet will manifest on this medium.
The written books on religion tend to become rigid. Envisioning flexibility to give change a freehand the religious masters in the southeast preferred to teach their disciples orally rather then create written record of their teachings. Their disciples preserved their teaching through memory and transmitted them orally from generation to generation. This was a magnificent method developed to expel the outdated and update it, from time to time. Rules must change with time.
There are no revelations nor divine messengers nor any supernatural power that rewards or punishes. There is life and a struggle to live. Intolerance is an enemy of religion. All religions are just as fine. One must not blindly believe any religion. One must accept a religion with a reasonable mind which goes well with him. Discard superstitious rites and ceremonies, meaningless sacrifices and penances for ones purification.
Civil and criminal laws are amended to be in tune with time, even the laws applicable today are not perfect though rational in the current scenario. The protector of laws justification to prescribe law can always to be questioned, so what is wrong in applying these principles to reach remedial finding in case of religion to make it relevant to time. There is a vast gap between the medieval and the modern age. Why turn back the clock to revert back to stereo type.
Expansionist religions with the battle cry of a Holy war to invade, loot, kill and conquer was barbaric and not saintly and forcing religion on others resulted in an armed confrontation slaying the very essence of brotherhood, keeping the campaign of hate alive among religions. We need to mend this intractable situation. The initiative to do so must begin at the individual level. Following Swadharma is a dynamic choice by an individual to rise above this state.
Religions suited a social structure where the local priest rationalized the intangible claims made by the religion he follows and devised ways to attack other religions to create fear. Organized religions have no future. Its influence is mixed, waxing and waning, leaning to lift on religious figures.
The support of religion is a continuing trend. History changes with time but can also repeats itself after a lapse of time. Let this rigmarole of change reverberate to remove the wrong practice of religion and restore its time tested wisdom. Religion has swapped its core spirituality as a commercial hub. Religion should dwell around needs rather than abstract ideals around experience rather than rituals. Do a SWOT analysis of religion, if you can.
The religious activists motivate people to spread their religion and have nothing to do with the believers of other religions. There are rewards for killing the people belonging to other religions. In such a situation, it is impossible to live in a multicultural, multi religious society and be secular. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
No religious organization should be allowed to operate under religious immunity. It should not violate existing law of the land or oppose public policy or international conventions. Some organizations are already in existence, the regulators of law must ascertain, whether people are associated with them by freewill or under the evil compulsion of the organizers to prevent religious militancy.
Killing people in the name of religion has happened in the past, is happening now, if not stopped it will happen in the future too. This illustrates a chronic religious behavior. Intense beliefs produce intense hostility. The history of religion is a horror story. Atrocities in the name of religion are deplorable, educated people find religion disgusting.
Promoters of Peace are not supposed to condemn religious terrorism in a selective manner. They ought to crucify the guilty without compromising human dignity and human rights. Those who claim the license to promote world peace must not crack whip on those who do not listen to them. It is distressing to see that condemnation of terrorism and violence is biased and not the same universally. Terrorism is not treated on an equal footing across the world.
Majority thrashing minority is observed universally. As minority citizens, people become remorseful about their religion when pitched against a religion followed by the majority of the people. Hindus are seen as idol worshippers of snakes and monkeys, Muslims as crusaders waging a holy war, Christians as missionary out to convert people of other faith to Christianity and Buddhist as escapist. These symbolic castings are sheer nonsense. This thoughtless stereotyping serves to strengthen the forces of fundamentalism.
Our objective is to defeat terrorist of all faiths by isolating them from their social order. Terrorist have no religion, no nationality and no ideology. Terrorism is not confined by borders. We cannot declare a particular nation is guilty for terrorist acts. When nations are linked with religion they truly become dangerous. We need stringent laws and enforcement machinery. The modern world’s legal system must promise social equality, religious tolerance and non-discrimination to end this menace.The saga of religion is the history of religious persecutions and Holy wars, the followers of religion, to prove their zeal for God, threw the bodies of their fellowmen to the flame. With the aid of swords, guns and money religion was spread not through its merit but by deceitful methods.
The outward form of displaying religious symbols and dress code is common by the holy men. A holy man may wear a holy garb while his mind is immersed in worldliness. A holy man who dwells on religion and yet coverts worldly vanities is a worldling, while the man in worldly garments who lets his mind soar high to divine thoughts is holy. There is hardly any distinction between a layman and the holy man.
Religious delusion comes from false religious books. It is not the fault of the terrorist but the responsibility of the priest who misleads them. We can leave the wicked to their fate and their evil deeds will soon come to an end. But terrorist are not wicked people they have been misguided by the religious leader to commit heinous crimes by rewarding a luxurious life in heaven after they sacrifice their life to protect religion.
Religions have undermined the faith by forcing its way through endless fantasy. It has raised fundamentalism and nurtured terrorism, which is a real threat to world peace, thus ruining the image of religion. This is creating a new ground for religious thought. Will Swadharma produce a constructive effect in this mess of religions? The process has begun. There are several schools of thoughts. Yet the grip of religion or God has not weakened.
Religion is too often used as a tool to create hatred. Doubt comes from the useless ideas spread by religions. Religions have become one of the most dangerous forces, a major problem and threat to the modern society. The time has come for mankind to decide and accept that world would be a better place without religions.
The world of old religions can no longer satisfy the mind of the educated people. People look for an answer in contemporary language. It is not a generation to grow under confused thoughts without seeking rectitude. There is a natural law that operates the cosmic consciousness which yearns to reveal itself to seekers as they grow from one level of understanding to another level of thoughtfulness. If silence is uncertain to explain it in words then whispers cast a shadow on its bearing and figurative metaphors just heap one symbol over another symbol. The natural laws of nature operating at the non-physical level are indeed difficult to write, as formless as the rest.
TRIVIALITY OF RELIGION
Religions are reliving history, they go back in time when they where being made. Their past editions have lost their relevance and its proof buried in past, in a state of no return. However the biggest paradox is that the practitioners of religions use modern technology and stick to their medieval religious books. The challenge before mankind is to replace the mediaeval religions with a new faith, which is in sync with contemporary order and time.
MISUSE OF RELIGION
Religion is becoming dangerous for socio-communal harmony because it is rude to other faiths. This lapse has been exploited by perpetrators to create conflict in society by acts of violence. No Holy Scriptures permits to plant bombs to kill innocent people. Religions have failed to promote mutual understanding, social justice, peace and freedom.
The problem is due to the malfunction of religions institutions. Like any other institute it has been misused and will be misused now and also in the future before its basic functional aspects are not drastically changed. To-day the world is being divided on the lines of religion, race, nationality, language, class and ideology. These days there is legitimate concern about the spread of religious fanaticism and fundamentalism in society, which has overshadowed the positive aspects of religion as personal faith and as a social force.
The ever pure and sublime faith was the vehicle used to propagate religious beliefs. But fundamentalist, God men, charlatans, Magicians, conmen, dodgers, trickster, criminals and mavericks under the guise of religion have exploited, corrupted, vulgarized criminalized and commercialized the trust of the faithful and are spreading irreligion in the name of religion, giving lies, hypocrisy and other vices a free hand. People have lost faith in religion.
The reason for embracing a religion can be quite varied. Some embrace it collectively along with other members of the caste, tribe or nation some embrace it for political or economic advantage and some after studying the religion. More often than not, the social structure does not change remains the same but religious practices do. ngle religion with politics. The basis of religion is morality, while that for politics
There is an inherent problem of trying to inter mi is power. In the course of history, religion has often been used to give legitimacy to those in power and their exercise of that power. Religion was used to justify wars and conquests, persecutions, atrocities, rebellions, destruction of works of art and culture. When religion is used to pander to political whims it foregoes its high moral ideals and become debased by political demands.
The adage, ‘He who knows does not speak, He who speaks does not know’. Religion has become a commodity, Guru the brand after the 9/11, the heinous crime under the garb of religious activity has completely changed the definition of religion, which now needs to be redefined. Dubious religious preachers have converted religion into an abhorrent brand of religious extremism and their followers are willing to embrace death a fountainhead of terror totally opposed to the qualities of morality.
It is a situation of moral dilemma, in which different moral considerations apply for different people. But truth is one, as soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. The upheaval created by continuous terrorist strikes has numbed the civilized world echoing one religion vs. other religion frenzy or a clash of civilization
Take a look around, there is bloodshed everywhere, Bomb Blast have become a routine and thousand civilians die in the name of religion this has left the entire world shell-shocked. To day, all of us have to unite to save this beautiful planet from further destruction and fight against terror. In the vicious ideology of holy war, conditions are created for the terrorists to treat all those who do not belong to their religion as their enemies. There are many nations in world who give financial assistance and official support to terror tactics. These misled criminals, terrorist and their handlers even have the audacity to think that their actions are the route to paradise. The terrorist are misguided lot, fighting a Holy war, they are killing and maiming million of innocent people, who go about their daily lives, without harming anyone.
The fight against terrorist therefore must be treated as fight against evil and the world should unite to fight against them and not succumb to any undue pressure. The threat of terrorism is likely to remain for sometime, we need to get organized to combat it. Otherwise, persons of evil disposition and low character will continue to spread their terrorist activity from debased locations in the name of religion and those who succumb to their brand of religion will be governed by ignorance making them merciless, vindictive, greedy, discontented, arrogant, hypocritical, quarrelsome, deceptive, untruthful, idle, dull, cruel, sorrowful, lusty, disillusioned, gluttonous, wretched and full of fear, these people who are growing in number can be a potential danger to our civilized society. The need is to educate them and impart true religion.
Religious places are tech-savvy, introducing a number of I.T. innovative services. And their preachers do not prefer to ride on a horse or a camel to travel but prefer to use car or an airplane. Sadly the same people resist changes, which naturally come over a period of time in the practice and usage of religion tagged to medieval history. They encourage fanatics, which leads to violence and civil disorder. We need to promote the true understanding of religion, with a mind on reform and not that which protects obscurantism and injustice against which all the founders of religion as reformers of the past have fought so now why the present preachers get so edgy? Hatred never cease through hatred, through love alone they cease. This is eternal law. Thus with a little sharing and love, we can indeed make this world a better place for all of us.
Progress of essential doctrine takes many forms but its basis is the control of one’s speech so as not to extol one’s own sect or disparage another’s on unsuitable occasion. On each occasion one should honor another man’s sect. For by doing so one increases the influence of one’s sect and benefits that of the other man. While by doing otherwise one diminishes the influence of one’s own sect and harms the other man’s. Again, whoever honors his own sect or disparages that of another man – wholly out of devotion to his own, with a view to showing it in a favorable light, harms his own sect even more seriously, therefore, concord alone is meritorious. The Indian emperor Ashoka in his edict 2,300 year old leaves even present national governments behind in expounding the operative principles of religious tolerance. Commonsense must prevail over religious injunctions
Is there something in common across diverse ideas for each one of them to be identified as religion? Religion is not a distinct social philosophy of life otherwise existentialism and many other significant philosophies of life would qualify as religion. It is unlikely that one religion or school of thought has answered all the questions perfectly because then there wouldn’t be a need for another group of thought to encourage.
If the questions were answerable in simple accessible terms then the most impenetrable ideas that are found in some religions literature would be laughable. It would appear, that the basic questions are either unanswerable or at least cannot be transmitted. And hence, anybody who is supposed to have the answers becomes an object of worship and the followers will pray to him, his book, his idol, his grave and his tree, whatever is supposed to be connected to him. This worship is bred out of greed of knowledge and favors or the fear of having breached some code of conduct and sometimes out of respect for having found the answer. They act as psychological cushions or leveler of high and low mental turmoil.
Fear and greed are the two most powerful human emotions and religious institutions managed by humans are unlikely to be untouched by these emotions. The man managed religious institution like all other institutions does everything to maintain hegemony deal with corruption, which is bred by the amazing power it has over people, fighting off any school of thought that threatens its pride and place.
Religions fanaticism is dangerously counter productive because it negates the very essence of religious principles. You cannot be religious and vicious at the same time. Religion shuns violence and destruction. If each religion is allowed to believe that it is the best one, is to give strength to those who send out aggressive crusaders, suicide bombers or bigoted despots to persist that only their religion is the most superior of all other religions. The need is to find a common ground so that we can live in peace.
What religious leaders are seeking to do is to create permanent divide and tension among people of different religions by insisting that each must be resolute on the right to believe his religion as the only acceptable one. Endorsing this sort of thinking is against human nature. Going beyond a reasonable point is to become victim of wrong interpretation and inspiration. Militant fanatics in the name religions thrive on it. Judging that all religions stem from the same impulse is to deny others their right to practice their religion in a different way or to impose the idea of God upon another or to insist that everybody must believe in God can lead to disagreements and conflict.
Rule of the clergy is based comes through power and not by liberty. Using religion as an ideology makes it intolerant and authoritarian. Religion is for the lovers of faith and not for the dealers of faith.
The religion as it is practiced today and the attitude of the followers of sacred texts is in a sorry state of affair. They do not bother to read and understand the message. They take the easier and brainless path of worshipping holy books. Most of the sacred texts are written in a language which is incomprehensible to 99% of the followers who recite them. They take great pains in wrapping and unwrapping holy book with expensive, ornate silks and brocades rather than reading every line carefully and understanding its meaning. Sacred texts are our codes of conduct, which should be carefully studied and meditated upon. Worshipping them is the wrong way to approach them. The significance of religion has been debased and its true message lost through time. Religions has become a business it promotes rituals and creating superstition
Some religious states take up frivolous issues by declaring toys and dolls as a threat to morality, complaining that the revealing cloths of the toy are offensive to their religion. Such conservative interpretation of religion is a symbol of decadence and perversion of religion by the clerics. Religion has been reduced as a tool in the hands of manipulators and terrorists to achieve their personal agendas. The rise of fundamentalist groups, the strife among various ethnic and religious groups worldwide indicates that religion related conflict has become a part of our lives. The scriptural aspect of religion is vulnerable to misinterpretations as a group.
All fanaticism, militancy, terrorism and war are flash-points of opinion, viewpoint, argument or a case of grievance carried to excess. Avoid excesses everywhere follow the middle path. No case or argument is strong enough to be an excuse for excess, for breaking peace. All human being are charged by one and the same life force. He who realizes this never becomes a fanatic. If sentimentalism can become a cause of war than by reason we can bring about peace. When we tend to sentimentalize then we are a potential fanatic militant, terrorist or a war maker. Sentimentalism is the motivating force, which convinces that killing others is not too big a price for what we love. It is a matter of concern, that terrorism still remains the menace all around the world. Nothing has happened to eradicate this scourge of the modern world, which takes a ghoulish pleasure in the murder of the innocents.
That terrorism has an appeal for a section of people was evident from the praise bestowed by religious groups. Driven by an irrational belief in the supremacy of their creed and by an equally mindless feeling of grievance against the followers of other religions, scores of young men have been indoctrinated by their bigoted mentors in the philosophy of hate, they are enemies of civilization. Some religious schools are suspected to be breeding grounds for militancy even some places are worship are being misused to spread religious hatred. Destruction of property and human massacres are always traumatic events in a community, saddening and enraging.
We should dismiss the notion that a particular religion was to be blamed for global terrorism or that any religion is a source of terrorism. Most of leaders of all religions preach hatred among themselves. As such arguments to discredit one particular religions of the world are unfair.
In reality, the ones who challenge us to change, it is their relentless criticism that forces us to introspect, re-think, re-invent of future. Critics are the change-agents of history. Compelling us, through their persistent criticism, to research, renovate, renew our ideas and beliefs. They rid us of our clichés and complacence and force us to recognize the need for change. A world without critics would be a world without change, for the dialectic of history rests on the power of criticism. Criticism is not betrayal but a force to confront the brute might of the status quo. It is a fascist fantasy where no one will ever question.
In fact, healthy criticism is the single-most powerful weapon of change that relentlessly pushes us towards excellence? In eastern philosophy deny, denial, negation is the first step towards self-realization. It is they who have challenged our smugness, sought alternative solutions, do not accept anything blindly be it defeat or success. Therein lays strength. Therein lies our future.
Criticism is essential, without it, we would all head aimlessly. It provides an alternate perspective, a viewpoint; criticism should always be welcomed and is valuable because constant evaluation is essential. Yes, it hurts at times but dealing with it is a far greater accomplishment so criticism can be inspiring. Code of conduct and ethics should be necessarily adhered too, we need to admire self analysis and corrective criticism, at the end of the day and it’s a free world we live in. Religion with the sense of order imposed on followers stifles creativity or the joy of freedom in spirituality. Imposition can torture and lead to self-destruction. Do not dictate others what they should perceive, encourage them to reveal their perceptions to build a creative spirit. Thoughts are a factory product and not patents.
Religion does not deserve unswerving loyalty. It deserves much more than that. It deserves openness. Where anyone can question and challenge the other, without having their motives questioned. That is the only way to move towards truth by cheering dissidence, encouraging doubt, allowing the brave to put up an opposing view.
There are counties where minister in charge keep a tab on people belonging to other sects or religions. They are even imprisoned by the police thus setting a bad example of coercive belief. And there are priest who issue religious diktats as guidance on fashion trends stating that patronizing beauty parlors is unreligious, they permit women to wear make-up to look beautiful but do not allow them to remove their hair by waxing or bleaching or wear men’s clothes or colored contact lenses. Is using latest gizmos, plane and car not sinful? Never has a frivolity acquire such profundity towards the evangelical surge.
In a period of intense religious conflict, inter-faith dialogue must be initiated to discuss the practical consequences of religious differences; inter-faith dialogue in the strict sense of the word is still not possible without putting ones faith in deviation, the popes and the mullah, resist by saying that intercultural dialogue which deepens the cultural consequences of basic religious ideas was important, why such issues are not confronted in public forum, to condemn terrorism and protect religious freedom and address issues of conversions. How can we know the truth about how we ought to live justly, despite creedal differences?
There is a definitive trend towards spirituality worldwide, wider range of religion fellowship activity. No doubt, empowering so many students or children at this juncture of their intellectual lives is a very hopeful development, impression and habits gained in formative years run deep and aren’t easily forgotten. During formative days mind is drilled with particular information, repeatedly memorized, this baggage of load is heavy on a tender grasping mind, it does not understand the real essence of religious knowledge. A display of devotion is seen, we should not try to look down on such display of devotion even if they be without full knowledge. Even by devotion things are not understood despite faith, this trend will carry on into adulthood. A revival of imposing religiosity among the questioning and thoughtful young when coupled with broad mind Swadharma is something we should welcome for people not only to follower of the faith genuinely but also appreciate other faiths as essential for world peace.
We have stopped to speak of economic and social justice. In the world were basic resources like water, air and land are limited, when a small class uses their resources purely for recreation, it can only be at the expense of others. The one effective way of keeping the poor from understanding all this is to occupy their minds with religion and other forms of identity politics. No one is genuinely supportive of the underclass, the longer the religious rights stays in power the worse it will be for the democratic system.
It is hardly unusual that languages are evolved because of linguistic churning forcibly spawning a new usage. The language in which religious books were written have changed but ironically the content in some religions continues to be the same despite its having lost its relevance. There is always a scope for improvement, always a higher degree of perfection to reach. Sanskrit is the oldest literary language of India, died out as a living language by 100 BC, however Sanskrit continued like Latin as the preferred language for religious texts.
Religious services are being outsourced off shored because of lack of priest, rituals are being relocated and priesthood is on the decline with fewer young people seeking it as a vocation. It makes sense for rites and rituals of a diminishing sect be outsourced, lock, stock and pulpit. There are temples where e-religion has become a thriving practice, overseas devotees have e-puja and other religious services performed on their behalf by priest of there places of worship.
Modern mass media and the net have a significant role to play in enlarging the religious space of global community. A magazine urged readers to send requests for joint prayers and meditation which would help them overcome the problems they were facing. This service fostered a genuine sense of congregational empathy and established a spiritual bond transcending boundaries of geography and creed. Indeed outsourcing and market integration are nothing new in the religious realm, Buddhism itself, a BPO for Hinduism in turn was outsourced to Japan via china and returned to India through Ambedkar. But much more than any individual religion today, the fastest expanding faith is what might be called ecumenical spirituality which largely borrows from all, encompassing Indic teachings such as Vedanta. New age or pop spiritualism is refreshingly unabashed about its mass non-hierarchical appeal which does not discriminate the artificial barriers of caste, gender or nationality. Indeed many adherents of this electronic era faith aver that the next messiah or Bodhisattva or divine avatar will be made manifest on the net. On the other hand religious hatred seems to be flourishing on the web. A number of extremist militant websites espousing violent or racist views is growing as hate sites on the internet.
Written religious scriptures have proved to be rigid, visualizing this rigidity the religious masters in the east left no written records of their teachings, their disciples preserved them through memory and transmitting them orally from generation to generation a wonderful mechanism devised to absorb changes from time to time i.e. bring up to date
There are no divine revelations, nor divine messengers or prophets nor subservient to any higher supernatural power which controls destinies and rewards and punishes, nor does it claim monopoly of truth. Intolerance is the greatest enemies of religion therefore do not condemn any religion; all religions are equally good because you will not be able to judge and whether what they say is correct. There should be no dogma that one must blindly believe no creed that one must accept on good faith without reasoning, no superstitious rites and ceremonies to be observed, no meaningless sacrifices and penances for ones purification, however no rule is forever, rules may be changed with the times and see if there was any need to revisit the rules it requires deeper probe and a detailed scrutiny.
What to say about religion, even laws may be reasonable but this should only be an assumption, laws made by human being are far from perfect they are also not always carried out in the spirit in which they were prescribed. The motives of guardian of law are always to be questioned, so what is wrong to apply these principles to reach corrective judgment in case of religion.
Expansionist religions with the help of conquest, plunder, murder and loot was uncivilized, demanding the whole planet to be covered with one religion resulting in a battle of religions. In spiritualism faced with an intractable world you start repairing, mending yourself instead of demanding the word to have a particular frame of mind or intention which then leads predictably to a particular form of knowledge. Swadharma is an active decision by the individual, then how can an individual be the cause of his own suffering.
Religion suits a social structure where the elite priest attempts to rationalize unverifiable claims and finding ways to demonize other religions creating a scare, organized religions have no future. The clout of religious figures have always been present, varied at time, waxing and waning, influenced by god men, soothsayers and religious figures, people are still deeply influenced by them.
The urge of religion is not a static phenomenon. It keeps changing and history changes our view this needs to be reflected in the present day practice of religion. Religion has replaced its core spiritualism by market place commercialization. Religion has made a significant contribution to conflicts at all levels it should dwell around needs rather than abstract ideals and around experience rather than imposed rites and rituals. Do a SWOT analysis if you can.
Adhering to religious militancy would make it impossible to live in a multicultural, multi religious society, if people are faithful to the edicts of such a religion they will have difficulty in being secular. The religious militants motivate people to spread their religion only, has nothing to do with the believers of other religions, kill them, they are untrustworthy, they are unclean, their rhetoric is full of this. There are rewards for killing the people belonging to other religions. If this means being a faithful follower of religion then multi-religious society in world would become impossible.
A religious organization seeking to operate as an arbitral body could do so provided that its awards aren’t in violation of existing law or contrary to public policy. Some organizations are already in existence but it is difficult to ascertain whether it is genuine freewill that guides many women to them or a malevolent coercion or for that matter whether due process is observed.
Atrocities in the name of God, people find the religion of masses offensive, killing people in the name of religion has happened in the past, is happening now, if not stopped will happen in the future too. It typifies religious behavior that have been recurring for centuries, the record of human experience shows where religion is strong, it causes cruelty, intense beliefs produce intense hostility, the history of religion is a horror story, anything that divides people breeds inhumanity, religion serves that ugly purpose.
Peace brokers are so busy crucifying those they deem to be crucified that they forget the tenets of human dignity which they have introduced into international human rights instruments. People claim exclusive privilege to promote world peace but are ready to break heads of those who do not listen to them. Condemnation of terrorism and violence is selective. Private and state terrorism are not treated on an equal footing.
Minority bashing is a favorite pastime of opinion makers everywhere. Hindus in the west feel constrained to be apologetic about their religion because misinformed propagandists have given those societies wrong ideas. Most Muslim women are not veiled, Muslim men hate the sword but that is how they are pictorially depicted. Most Christians have missionary interests but mere utterance of a Christian name creates the image of an evangelist out to convert others to his own faith by using coercion and even deception. Most Sikhs excel in wisdom and intellect but the community is subjected to fun-poking and ridicule. All this stereotyping is sheer nonsense.
Portrayed as absolute zealots who would expunge everything that doesn’t fit their brand of religion, Muslims are the most misunderstood community. Without acquiring adequate knowledge of Islam people mock even the most revered personalities held in high esteem by millions of Muslims. When the Muslims react in a state of anger and desperation they are branded as fundamentalist and terrorist. Ignoring the mainstream thinking of the Muslims, outsiders judge them by the bigotry actions of a handful of individuals who are misled by fanatics. This thoughtless stereotyping of Muslims serves only to reinforce forces of bigotry.
The modern world’s legal theory promises social equality, religious tolerance and non-discrimination. Our goal should be to defeat terrorist of all faiths by isolating them from their societies. Ideologies and crime are not confined by borders so we cannot say a particular nation is responsible for terrorist acts. When they are linked with religion or belief system it becomes more dangerous. Terrorist need not be from outside, they can be home grown all we need is stringent laws and enforcement. Terrorist have no respect for life, they have no religion, no nationality and no philosophy. They are blind to reason
The history of the western world since it accepted Jehovah as its lord has been mainly the history of religious persecutions and religious wars, followers of Christianity proved their zeal for God throwing the bodies of their fellowmen to the flame. With the aid of sword and guns, the thirst for plunder, filthy and barbarous and now through money religions have spread and not through its merit but by force and deceitful activities. All religions start with certain assumptions and when these assumptions are contradicted by the growth of knowledge, they deplore.
The outward form of displaying religious symbols does not constitute religion or affect the mind. A person may wear an ascetics garb while his mind is immersed in worldliness. A man who dwells in lonely woods and yet coverts worldly vanities is a worldling, while the man in worldly garments may let his heart soar high to heavenly thoughts. There is no distinction between a layman and the hermit.
Terrorist commit murders of innocent men and women. The veil of religious delusion covers their eyes. If they could see things as they are and not as they appear according to their false religious books, they will no longer inflict injuries and pain on others. It is not the fault of the terrorist but the connivance of the priest under the shelter of religion misleads them. We can leave the wicked to their fate and their evil deeds will sooner or later in one way or another bring on their own punishment. But here the terrorist are not wicked people but they have been misguided by the religious leaders.
Religions have really undermined the faith of the people all over the world, by forcing its way through endless fantastic fantasy; it has raised fundamentalism and terrorism, a real threat to the personal security of innocent people and world peace, thus tarnishing the name of religions. This situation is creating a new ground of religious thought. Will Swadharma produce a positive outcome in this mess? As now the process has begun, all school of thoughts is concentrated round one focus on the fundamental terrorism nurtured by religions. There are several schools of thoughts. Yet the grip of religion or God has not weakened. But the world of old religions can no longer satisfy the mind of the educated people of this age. Now people look for an answer, in the new language of their own age. Let not one generation after another grow up under confused thoughts and pass away, without seeking rectitude. There is a natural law operating in the region of spirituality which is subject to the law of perceptibility. It tends to reveal itself. Silence is uncertain and if whispers darken the world more. It requires formidable courage to accept this fact. If their fancy symbols are heaped unceasingly on symbols, wherever thought turns, new gods and new miraculous power confronts it, each as formless as the rest but the true god is the one who was before all gods and all existences, the creator of the world, nature.
Faith has passed through many phases. It was never fixed in the times of yore and was never as rigid as it is now, it was variable and fine tuned with that moment in time. Wandering back, we observe that the earliest traces of faith were linked with mans appeasement to save him from natural incident such as lightening, storms, rain, flood, earthquakes and volcanoes etc. The weird act done by man to control the natural calamities was called magic so religion initially came to be identified with magic. Even today the magic of religion enthrall and hypnotize the followers, nothing seems to have changed and there is still a mass hysteria in the miracle of healing and the healers are still unwilling to put their claims to scientific scrutiny and insist that prayers are responsible for the miracle of healing. They sound so similar to the vain claims made by the primitive voodoo man trying to calm the awesome lightning, rain and floods by his rambling mumbo jumbo.
Religion is too often used to hate each other. Disbelief comes from the useless ideas framed by religions. We fight for religion, a slur to human dignity. Religions have become one of the most dangerous forces and a major problem and threat to the modern society. The time has come for us to accept that mankind can live without religion but he cannot live without spiritualism, which helps man to develop compassion, love and universal brotherhood and tell that the world is one.
ROBE & ROUGE: (GOD MEN / HOLY MEN)
The greatest exploiters of religion is the self-styled Godman, who calls himself a Guru, Swami, mystic, Baba, Babu, Bhagwan, Brahamchari, Maharishi, and so on. There has never been a shortage of charlatans, in any religion In India, they are available in all seasons. They wear a robe, grow a beard and support a hairdo, as a trademark, and use religion, to build their credibility, character and capital.
The weakness of religion, as a tool, to handle lies, lay at its foundation. As religions cannot be tied to reason, they have often been wronged, by the Godman. By promising supernatural rewards, they offer hope, against the most common affliction of human beings, helplessness and hopelessness. Faith provides sufficient space for dubious characters, whose religious purpose, is fraud rather than service.
There is a vacuum in our lives, something seems to be missing. Faith can lead people to believe in something or someone. That is were, the wonder of the weird, the Godmen and the Gurus come in. The ignorant see them as special people with divine powers. In fact they are charlatans preying on human helplessness.
When people are dissatisfied with their lives they need to believe in something that can relieve their frustrations. That’s when gurus and godmen give them hope and offer divine placebos. Blind faith and trust defies all reasons. People believe in what they say and plunge in the dream that is being promised to them.
People who are successful are the most vulnerable of all. They fear failure since they cannot handle it. That’s why they believe in anything. The guru, the godman, the amulets, the gemstones and astrology represents hope, which gives them the guts to fight back the insecurities of their life. Common people cope well with failures.
Life is full of suffering. Many wishes remain unfulfilled and at last life comes to an end with death. With hope life is no more tragic but an optimistic pursuit, which can even extend to higher level of reality beyond the reality of our world. The Gurus and the Godmen hold the promise of an access to this higher reality, full of miracles and full of happiness.
The human attraction towards the mysterious is stretched out to other complex celestial causes than the mere stupidity over reason. The godman exists because of the people’s faith in his powers as a healer and not for the reason to gain the knowledge of the scriptures or obtain spiritual attainments.
The healing moment and miracles in the encounter of the Godman and the follower enhances his image as a Holy Father and that of the follower as a little child. Vulnerability of a follower to the charms of a Godman is a reflection of his helplessness that needs to be reversed by reverence and identification with a Godman. When the follower surrenders totally to the Godman he is misled to believe that the Godman begins to manifest in him as an instrument of spiritual transformation. The attraction towards Godman is drained from the dawn of human civilization.
In the religious marketplace there is a gang of Godmen, each marketing a particular brand of solution. They offer quick fix solutions to all problems. They offer the manna for the mind, balm for the body and salvation for the soul. And help achieve all that one desire, a tall order, indeed.
Many Godmen mesmerize to manage the minds of their followers and rob their wealth and ruin them financially and emotionally. Many have been caught by the camera performing simple magic tricks with the sleight of hand beneath the cover of divine miracles
The followers of fake Godmen are pretentious and suffer mental disorders as a result of pursuing foolish teachings taught to them. When these followers realize their stupidity than they find hard to face reality and take to escapism by drinking alcohol or taking drugs.
Today there are many rogues masquerading as masters, who intentionally freeze the freethinking of their followers. They jolly well know that it is difficult for a follower to discern the real and false master in a dejected state of mind they more often approach them. Such followers are time and again deceived.
Rouges under the garb of Godmen are now a part of our social scenario and that is troubling indeed, they mislead people to believe that their problems can be solved by their mumbo-jumbo. The worried human mind accepts the Godman as the panacea of all human ills. Godmen sell hope to the helpless like merchandise in the bazaar of religious beliefs.
We live in a world of cheaters and the cheated. There are several charlatans who are readily available to people seeking religious blessings. Religiousness should not be left to the fad of bearded anchors who assert to be acquainted with God. They are clever psychologist and exploit human weaknesses to live a luxurious life without earning it. Their followers shell out money to buy peace of mind but in turn get more unrest and agony. People should not be misled by them.
Some Godman who own T.V. channels, appointed his own Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers of an unusual organization of Global Governance floated by him. He even printed currency notes to finance aid programs in developing countries. It is a wonder that with such stupid pranks he could attract the elite and the intellectuals of the society.
Godmen and Gurus are stress therapists. To attract followers they use all types of entertainment like free sex, magic, music, pomp and show, drugs, yoga, breathing exercise, meditation, silk smooth talk with valvet voice and hymns to relax them.
Sex is for procreation even the animals know but for the pervert few moments of pleasure. Many Godmen urge their followers to have sex freely to reach the state of super consciousness. The Tantrics claim that the power of Kundalini enables an individual to direct his sexual energy into spiritual channels. This in fact demeans the inspiration of a divine union. There is a need to set apart sex from spiritualism. Sex has no role to play in the spiritual ascent.
We are surrounded by those who shape our emotions and the actions. They use their rank and reputation to compel others to carry out their chosen plan. They are the opinion makers. They fuse knowledge, experience, personal charisma and the understanding of human issues. They enjoy admiration and emotional support from the people.
People have spent a life time with Gods name on their lip but they have hardly felt his presence. The absence of God in fact starts right from the time people begin prayers, they live in a continuous state of spiritual pain till death. Their tormented mind fails to find God and they themselves doubt his existence.
The Godmen also lives with this disparity. However as con artist they masquerade their personal and the public demeanor. Their discourses are engaged in verbal deception as if their heart was in love with God. Being hypocrites they depict self-contradictions. What they speak is completely different from what they do. They themselves live in a blurred religious reality.
They entice and entrap the seekers. Their dangerous designs are not visible until it is too late. They simply are after money. Spiritualism does not dependent on salesmanship. But Godmen behave more like salesmen and less like a hermit to cajole and coerce people with vague promises.
The ancient Gurus did not preach for money and lived a simple life but a lot of image building goes in the making of a modern Gurus, who are totally commercial and motivate people to give donations, they accept expansive gifts and live a king style life, they are often seen occupying decorated thrones in massive halls and reach out to millions through television. They are smooth talkers, superficial and inept to set free disciples from their sufferings. If the elite have Gurus to enhance their social standing, to boot are politicians, who seek them as vote banks. There is hardly any spiritual pursuit in such activities.
Myths were created to define the mystical. The faith that Avatars, Prophets and God will descend on earth from heaven to communicate directly with mankind is an ancient belief held closely by the followers of all religions. It is this gap the fake Gurus time and again encroaches to exploit the believers.
There are false Godmen among us, who on the sly bring disparaging deviation of ethics and spirituality and many follow their wicked and wrong ways. These shameless men propagate a doctrine of their own and having entered religious life they do not cease from committing sins and push others to commit sins.
Abstract religious concepts offer plenty of opportunities to manipulate and deceive innocent people. Under the cover of religion the false Godmen has lifted the art of deception to new heights, even than the world is growing less tolerant towards them and becoming more obsessed with their real feedback.
The ‘POP’ creed is becoming more and more a means of escape for the youth disheartened by religious beliefs. We need to take active part in supporting social processes rather than retreat into the comfort zone of feel good spirituality. Discourses and meditation have become default replacements for institutional support structures like counseling centers.
Some Gurus use laughing gas to infuse happiness on their depressing disciples, some chose to perform tricks straight from a magic book rather then preach theology. Even the Guru’s hairdos keep the hair full or shave them all has become a trademark like their dress code.
Criticism is stifled. Protest is profanity, only praise of the Godman is allowed. Under this protective cover it is easy for imposters to fabricate and spread a number of contradictory creeds. Like the blind and the deaf, the Guru does not see his followers and the followers cannot hear what their Guru says, both are smitten by sensuality, greed and passion. These conditions are not conducive for spiritual evolution.
Meditation and Yoga are merely relaxation exercises. Gurus make them cumbersome, tedious just to justify the wages they extort from the disciples otherwise they are all simplistic method and can be learned without the assistance of these Gurus, who have made a big business out of it.
Media serves to play down the problem we need a regulatory authority to deal with the charlatans by stringent laws. We should stand together to oppose all attempts to form new sects around any Godman or Gurus. In fact people need religion so the easy to fool folks continue to fence in the false Godman. Why corrective measures are not taken? Why state laws are not set up to enforce punitive action on those who racket religion? When will the state get up from its self induced slumber to deal with the reality of religions?
The Godmen and the Gurus have churned out many ready reckoner and topsy-turvy treatises to know God. They are a clan of clerics and pseudo priests who play havoc with the lives of believers. They are self proclaimed messengers of God who sell religion and develop odd ways to garner devotion and dependence from their followers. Many blackmail their followers into submission by asserting publicly that if they changed their Guru, they would earn the wrath of God, their interest lies in the continuation of ignorance to serve their own interest.
When conmen become Gurus, lies and deception increase the learned lament. Gurus hold congregation and urge their disciples to venerate them and preach that salvation can be attained by serving them. The simpletons who believe them come under their command.
Unbelievable yet true, those who are selfish, lascivious, deceitful, licentious, lazy and profane declare themselves as Gurus and demand respect. Only men of learning and rectitude are worthy of reverence. The fake Gurus flourish because there are no laws to punish them. State should enforce laws to hold them back otherwise they will continue to cheat innocent people in order to make a good living for them.
They quote holy books to create an atmosphere of divinity, their discourse even though superficial is reasonably convincing but their real teaching does not rest in what they say. Their mind is not rooted inwardly but is centered on the outward world. There is something sneaky about them. Their face is incapable to hide their inner feelings. The insightful can visibly detect their crafty concealment behind their two-facedness and recognize the gross inconsistency in what they espouse and practice.
Today there are many fake Gurus masquerading as masters. The naive are often tricked and trapped in the strategy of deceit laid by them. Why chain your liberty to a con Guru? There is no need to rely on external help to gain internal strength.
Godman bring solace to a large number of their disciples, some of them even open schools, colleges and hospitals from the offerings they receive and do not engage themselves to solve the problems facing the society. These so called religious teachers set certain acts of charity to hoodwink and pocket most of offerings themselves.
They serve as amateur psychiatrist and swindle money from the sensitively troubled but trusting people. They believe that their strength lies in distracting them from truth. How can such frauds promote progress?
An amulet or a locket or magical charms cannot ward off misfortune. All these are false and superstitious practices, which people should not heed. The alchemists, the magicians, the sorcerers, the wizards, the Godman and the Guru are cheats. The people and society should expel and eliminate them from the social order. Their useless knowledge promotes superstitions, which confuse and cause misery to people.
The charlatans should neither be trusted nor served. They put on show a presentation of virtue but do not practice any virtue and cheat others in the name of virtue. They are greedy, deceitful and show off; such wicked persons should be considered rouges.
One whose main objective is to accomplish his selfish agenda, through deception, even knowing that he is cheat, he is falsely modest and puts on a saintly appearance to deceive others, such a wicked person should be considered a rouge.
A glimpse of their Guru or just his presence is considered holy by the devotees. It is falsely preached by the gang that Gurus are a storehouse of divine energy and just being in their presence the problems of the devotee are unburdened and he is religiously rejuvenated.
Wiliness becomes more evil under the devious disguise of the Godmen and the Gurus who full of sinister tricks pervert the plain and direct rules of religion and create cults and sects, which flourish by opposing customary norms. Since nothing is more popular than giving license to carnal pleasure and a voluptuous life, they en-cash this to the hilt.
The eloquence of the Godmen and the Gurus is fluent, lush with convincing speech, just like a crafty and a corrupt mind that wears a mask of virtue but dwells to divert and defile to discord and discontentment. Men become followers to discover themselves in trust but the Gurus are full with mistrust.
False Godmen are wealthy and continue to exist because they know how to trade religion, they drill in the mind of innocent people that religion is the panacea of life and they are the custodians of religion. The conventional conditioning and the culture of silence on religious matters make their wicked ploy work and fools follow and serve them like slaves. Religious matters should not be protected at the risk of being cheated. Each one has to go through a period of denial before taking action against false Godmen.
The Godman, the Gurus of today are deceitful dodgers, they have fine-tuned their acts of fraud to flawlessness. They copiously use the shrewdness of communication and the stuff of stage shows. In a manmade language there is a gap between the natural feeling and artificial words of a speaker, this gap will endure eternally. Truthful communicators try to narrow down this gap but cunning communicators manipulate the spoken words and enthrall the audience to a hypnotic height just to mislead them. Knowing this society should discard them.
Our own efforts are essential in the pursuit of self awareness. Many spiritual seekers go to Gurus for guidance but their teachings do not satisfy them and their search to find a sage goes in vain. They read books reflect over them and relate to valuable suggestions but ultimately on the path of self realization we walk alone like a rhino. There is no guru disciple involvement on this path; A Guru is someone who sits by the river bank selling water in bottles anybody can go directly to the river to fetch water without going to him. The spiritual seeker has to walk alone.
Most people perceive the Godman as a guide but behind the religious mask the Godman is interested in religions value for money, fame and power rather than its worth in enriching the life of the people and instill love for mankind.
When the spiritual urge grows a spiritual seeker tend to knock the door of the Godman or the Guru, once in his commune, going along the hype he starts worshipping and obeying the Godman. Eventually he realizes the buildup of covert activities contrary to what is being preached. They give up and realize having fooled themselves and began to appreciate to follow their own self rather then any other outside authority.
Sex, money scandals and murders are linked to the so called Godmen and Gurus. They are the biggest thieves, bullies and sex addicts in the cloak of religious preachers and manage a multi-million dollar by selling pseudo spirituality. They fleece people for money. They are lazy at leisure good for nothing unemployed people donning the robe but as rogues extract the hard earned money from the pockets of innocent people. People should stop going to such Gurus for guidance and blessing. A real Holy man will never deceive people, nor will he seek their favor, nor mislead to earn name, fame and money.
People are gullible when they are vulnerable. The God man openly plays on the gullibility of innocent people searching for an anchor at a time of emotional instability and mental unrest. Media is a mirror to society, it is required to give its viewers what they want but paid shows from god men have failed to justify this approach. Television has catered clients for god men. The weakening of organized religions has left a vacuum that god men with their magic portion and bizarre solutions are rushing in to fill. Besides those who are unable to handle the uncertainties in their life are likely to believe in god men, who promises to help them to gain some measure of control. Blind faith of people is so strong that god men raise huge funds from them to expand their business-like organizations, without the responsibility of listing them on the stock exchange and pay taxes.