From: Libu Balakrishnan
To: Swethambari Seshadri
hmm...i think this might be a fiery one....
I cant take the existence of a single person who pulls string in a way that connects us all (including flaura and fauna and climate). What I do think is that, we have a reservoir of energy ever since earth came to be, which keeps getting transffered from one being to another. An excess use up is compensated by a "starved" being in some other place.
Religion is just a user handbook to help people understand this flow. And a flawed handbook at that.
From: Swethambari Seshadri
To: 'Libu Balakrishnan'
well, i believe in the existence of a power too and that in order for the "simple" people to understand the workings better the power has been idolized.
hmm, an energy eh? that sort of brings back the concept of "ether" doesnt it? all pervading, omnipresent. there must have been some catalyst that stimulated the original single cell and later on the other creatures from that (if u believ ein evolution that is) if u think of god as energy then i should say that the muslim and the zoroastrian sects come far more closer to the concept of "energy" than anybody else.
but this concept of religion has been way too mutilated that now the basic concept of God is forgotten and ppl parry about about who is greater. but does this mean that if we were given the authority and the ability to execute, we would do away with religion? preach a common diktat as to one "power" and follow that one? i believe religion is a necessity for any culture to bring some order into it but hardliners are always a by product in such an arrangement.
From: Libu Balakrishnan
To: Swethambari Seshadri
oh ok, that is what I too believe that is what has happened, the idolisation of power. And yes islam is the one which actually touches close to this concept(i know practically nothing about zorastrian religion). But they have put in so many clauses and stipulations that I think the persons who got down to creating the rules, could not understand nor want to believe what they were told ! Same is the case of other religions. Each of it has its own trademark, to attract more people to it, and some even have stringent entry conditions as an attraction !!!
Religion as far as I understand was founded to help man drive away his fears, to provide him a cushioning in all his falls. Each ritual is designed to give man an sense of achievement, which goes a lot to lift him above his misery or whatever it was he wanted to rise from. The way the rituals where executed then forced the man to inflict on himself some sort of misery. As far as I have read and found, most of these rituals had some specific tasks and the outcome of performing these tasks in a way helped the person to overcome his misery or sickeness....what i mean to say is that the ritual had some genuine basis behind it.
But nowadays its just a farce, theres a shortcut for everything, and man fools himself as to his achievement, and this according to me is a dangerous state of mind. Jesus is supposed to take upon himself the sins of mankind. He certainly wasnt giving people the license to sin, but and ordinary person can take his words to mean that.
There are methods to achieve discipline and a peace of mind, but yes it is possible to corrupt them too...
From: Swethambari Seshadri
To: 'Libu Balakrishnan'
* a long one, havent proof read, may be total "blah blah"
yes, each an every ritual had some meaning or the other and the rigour and frequency also depended on various biological as well as psychological reasons. but these are the days of mail order confessions and over the counter pardonings. everything has been customized to suit the lifestyle and its more like religion being amended to go by the ever baser human life. religion gave man a moral highground to prevent him from doing certain things and was meant to channel him towards better ways of living. we never understand anything that is simple. pack it all up and call it a "art of living" class and put a price of Rs. 2000 on it and u have takers.
in this same vein u can also discuss punishment. that if u do this god will punish u, u r condemned to hell, u'll have a tough life! they are all nothing but cause and effect scenarios, ofcourse except the hell part. as nobody knows what it really is and as the fear of the unknown is always greater than the fear of the known, i believe they were used as tools to educate the masses abt the ways of life.
this is one of my very favorite sayings from the bhagavad gita that talks about the wrath of God:
paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
"In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium."
this means that god has the capability to destroy. so as per our theory of "God is energy" do we say that whatever is happening around us these days, say the hurricanes and the earthquakes, can the Hindus take it that God wrecked this havoc in pakistan because of the way they act? i know that the muslims think that way abt the hurricane devastations in USA. this statement can be true for all the religions, does this mean that some of these are followers of the "negative energy?" the energy that spreads diseases, famines and draughts?
why does religion have to preach vindictiveness? why does it have to say that "convert so many ppl and i'll give you sainthood"? why the quarrel "where tirupathi exactly belongs?"
i am a very firm believer in god and i believe in deliverance. i believe that u reap exactly what u sow and everything has a reason and a reaction. my belief in god helps me navigate my path accordingly and yes i do believe in violence and the abolishment of any harm or threat to mankind. but why is it always that a person of the other religion is the threat? most of the unrests are caused by religion? i worship a hindu god because that was how my faith was instilled and that is the only method that i know of to express my faith, that does not make me less tolerant towards any other religion. if my limited knowledge of the hindu scriptures has taught me this much then why havent the learnes scholars of various followings havent been enlightened to this? why is it that they become more obsessed towards monarchy of a single religion than the common good? what makes them think that they are better when their so called holy books never preach any of those things?
From: Libu Balakrishnan
To: Swethambari Seshadri
Oh yes iam with you on almost everything in your mail. I have always felt that God came into being, so that people can have there superheroes. Times of distress and situations where theres nothing a person can do, you ask God to take care of it for you. At least that way you feel that you are doing something.
And about reactions to calamities. People give reasons for them, so that they feel secure. They want to pinpoint what has caused it. And theres no reason better than you are not responsible for it. But thats not enough for most people, they must find a scapegoat, or to be specific they must target a scapegoat. For me all these happened because of imbalances. The world is changing every second and the unrestrained advancements we have made have affected the world so much, that after a couple of years(thousands or millions), the world as we see it will cease to be. There could be new climates, new regions, new settlements......All these natural calamities just lead to that. That we can do nothing about controlling this energy only states the power of the same. Of course it could also be that the world is just continuing on its journey and whatever we are doing makes no effect on it. Just like a behemoth rolling down a hill unaware of the numerous beings it leaves dead in its wake.
Religion is something like a brand war now. The problem here is, it has got a huge mass following, most of whom have been captivated by its colorful characteristics preached by a strong presonality. They forget that religion had initially meant something more. And that something more was attained after hardship and not because of a fat bank account. And is the case when you have a mob, they are easily incited and gullible. They do things, which they would not have though possible if they were by themselves. Now religion just trys to markets itself, so that they get the fattest doles !!
The religious texts are another instrument that has been abused. The words in them mean so much, but they are very abstract too. People twist the meanings to suit their ends,and for this I blame the people who wrote it. But if you look at it from the perspective of the people who wrote it is justifiable, coz they intended only people who have some worth to pursue religion. Such people are not fooled by the meaning that these texts seemed to scream out, but they hear the murmurs that lay beneath and they follow the sound !! Yes in some cases people who follow the sound do not come out well , but at least they heard the murmurrings.
I dont belive in religion or God because of the world I live in right now. I dont want to fall back upon someone when things go wrong for me. The reason being there is no one. It is just me who would have to help my self. I never had the inclination to follow religion coz I thght there was a direct connection between God and religion. But that is not the case. I dont think theres a connection. Religion is just a another branch of study. Its aim ? The development of ones self.
Then the Gods we worship. They were people. They all existed for sure. But they were people. Great people I guess. But they still were people.
I admit that when things go all black for me, the first thing i say is "oh God !" and look up to the sky. But that was something instilled in me when a child and its tough to throw off the habit (and it helps when things are black, I admit!!)
I guess whats above is a rant rather than anything else. But thats the way I see things now !!
From: Swethambari Seshadri
To: 'Libu Balakrishnan'
*** more ranting
hmmm,
as for your argument that the gods that ppl believe in were infact once real beings. i beg to differ on that count. there is no exact proof that there indeed was a rama or a jesus for that matter. yes, they found the remains of a bridge between india and lanka through which rama was supposed to have crossed, numerous are the stories abt the holy grail and the shroud that covered jesus christ and so on and so forth. but in order to avoid mass hysteria, even if the truth were known to a select few, i think most of the scientific and archeological findings have been muted so that the ppl dont completely lose their faith in things and are at least a mite afraid about sinning.
when i am in trouble or agitated, i pray. that focuses my distracted psyche and a solution presents itself. my belief, be it childish, that God can help me, soothes my mind and although i do realize that it is me in the end who has come up with the solution, that belief in God helped me focus and zero in on a probable solution. its more of a moral support than just throwing up ur hands in vain and saying god will take care (exactly the mentality of some christian followers who deny medical attention for their loved one because they feel god will cure them, there have been many cases where parents have watched their kids die in pain thinking that god will take care!)
i would think that this is exactly what nirvana means. that u reach such a level of highly focused concentration that u begin to see the pattern in things, u begin to feel the vibe of the "power", u begin resonating with it and u understand everything. that is enlightenment.
u can say that u look at this world and see that u cannot sense the presence of any "good" power, but i always think that u need chaos to prove pattern, u need war to realize the importance of peace, u need noise to appreciate silence, u need calamities to temper down, to slow down and realize what u r doing. can anything be done to amend it? can anythng be done to avoid further deterioration? could it be that this "intuitive power" wrecked these havocs only for us to stop and think for a moment?
science questions the existence of god. technology denies god or any such power. and these are the causes that go ahead discrediting the equations of harmony and balance and end up upsetting the scales. i am not saying tht science and tech are bad and that they are the nemesis! anything can be used as a weapon, isnt religion being used as one? what i am saying is we need moderation in anything that we do, a temperance in our actions, some kind of a dampener to the destruction of energy and this is provided by the so called "religion" and "God". it teaches us respect to whatever creations are found on earth and makes us think twice before doing anything that would affect them (or it) be it in a good way or bad. any excesses in the name of religion can be held in check by science and technology when the beliefs go to the point of being absurd. it could be symbiotic. it would be a better world but there is no such thing as "ideal" is there?
From: Libu Balakrishnan
To: Swethambari Seshadri
A better world does not exist anywhere except in our minds. What is good for one is always bad for the other. And as a group there is no one place where they would be satisfied in.
The symbiotic existence between science and god, is well nigh impossible. The reason could be because there are fanatics on both sides. Hmmm...when we say god we mean religion. The mentality right now is that religion is for the upkeep of god. If any such person or power exists, it does not need any "upkeeping". It is infinite by its own virtue, indestructible, moving things from here to there, because, "there" does not have enough of what is "here" or vice versa.
We do not see an immediate physical manifestation of this, I admit, but that doesnt mean that this transfer does not happen. The pattern out of chaos is a very good example. We are in transition, every single moment, there are infinite pinpoints of energy that are moving, creating chaos. But all these movements are directed at some goal (what it is no one can say with certainty), the shape of earth, the shape of the universe, everything is being set by these billions and billions of movements. Yes, these movements have resulted in the havocs that is going on. And yes we should stop and think. We are nothing in this world, we are just by products, we were created in one of these havocs and most probably might be destroyed in one of these havocs. But these havocs are again going to create something. They must have already and we wouldnt know.
To feel a oneness with this power is great, but it is futile, because there is no way a person can harness it and theres no way a multitude of persons are going to harness it. They most certainly wont be able to control it. I have meditated. The best I have reached is a coolness inside your body. It was too much of effort and concentration. You dont feel tired, i admit, but i jsut cudnt do it again. That someone can meditate or through some other means feel this power, is possible, I guess because we were created by it. Animals are prime examples. There instincts are basic and tuned for these things. We have been corrupted we are not atuned to our surrounding without considerable effort !!
But I still belive it is this power that we ignorantly call god and that religion is just an aid to understand this. I know I have just outlined an other god and named it power. But somehow thats the way i like it. My belief in this too is for moral support. If I ever have to do something, I do not expect someone elses help. If I sit and pray, I would do nothing on my own accord. Its the way I am and guess my beliefs are something which helps me overcome this. The belief that Iam miniscule and that my actions would not result in anything significant sometimes takes away the pressure. And sometimes it doesnt.
Another rant i gues :D !! Anything new(in this or any other topic) to suggest ??
