Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!news.daionet.gr.jp!news.yamada.gr.jp!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!news1.optus.net.au!optus!news.optus.net.au!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "THE RADIANT LIGHT OF SPIRITUALITY" Newsgroups: fj.life.religion Distribution: Global Subject: THE RADIANT LIGHT OF SPIRITUALITY WTicDu X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 220.240.202.21 Message-ID: <41402000@news.comindico.com.au> X-Original-Trace: 9 Sep 2004 19:18:56 +1000, 220.240.202.21 Lines: 242 Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 09:18:59 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.194.27.1 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comindico.com.au X-Trace: news.optus.net.au 1094721539 203.194.27.1 (Thu, 09 Sep 2004 19:18:59 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 19:18:59 EST Organization: Comindico Australia - reports relating to abuse should be sent to abuse@comindico.com.au Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.religion:468 THE RADIANT LIGHT OF SPIRITUALITY, NOT THE DARK FACE OF DOGMA ------------------------------------------------------------- It is impossible for a spiritual person to think that their country is the only one of merit. Cries like 'God Bless America' and the like which do not mention the whole human race are falsities and represent a misunderstanding of the Omniscient Consciousness that is God. These limited sentiments are called geo-religious sentiment. They are a restriction and cannot represent spiritual awareness or understanding. "This geo-economic sentiment is causing enormous harm in social life. Here, there is not the least concern for rationality. Rationality is a human quality only; no animal possesses it. The same applies to geo-religion. There is a place of pilgrimage in a certain country where if even a crow dies during that pilgrimage, it is sure to go to heaven, what to speak of a human being! There are some people who want to make a show of their devotion, saying, "I am a slave of Vrindavana" (the holiest of places associated with Lord Krs'n'a). This is an extreme geo-sentiment. Vrindavana is a place -- how can you be its slave? Have you lost your reason? Another says, "No, no, not slave! I am the dust of Vrindavana". What are you saying? You are a human being; you are made of the five fundamental factors; why should you become dust? Still another goes a step further and says, "No, no, not dust, I am the excrement of a crow of Vrindavana". This is the height of absurd devotional display. They have lost all sense of rational judgement, and have not the least vestige of logic. This is an expression of geo-religion. Some people say, "Since I must die, I will die only in Kashi [Benares]". How strange! All countries have been created by the Supreme Consciousness, so all countries are equal. The universal concept of dharma (spirituality) that God is all-pervasive -- this universe is the expression of the latent All-Pervading Entity -- this essence of dharma has been forgotten. Ultimately dharma has been reduced to a geo-sentiment centring around Benares. "At least once in your life you should visit such-and-such place of pilgrimage -- then a cottage in heaven will be reserved for you!" What sort of mentality is this? All countries are equal; why worship with your face turned only towards the east, or the south, or the west. All countries, all directions, are equal. "East, west, north, south, northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, upwards, downwards -- my Supreme Consciousness encompasses all the directions." Then why should I give undue importance to any particular direction? To do that means geo- religion; not dharma, but simply a religion." (THE LIBERATION OF INTELLECT, DISCOURSE 3, GEO-SENTIMENT, 7 March 1982, Calcutta) Another such religious sentiment goes like this: "It has been said, "The flow of the Ganges is the water which washed the feet of Na'ra'yan'a in heaven, and this water ultimately flowed into Shiva's matted locks. Then, piercing through the snow-white moon, it spread in all directions in a bright cascade. The clear water that dwells in Shiva's matted locks". This means the water of the Ganges. This is all the imagination of the authors of the Puranas." (NAMAH SHIVA'YA SHANTA'YA, DISCOURSE 8, ALL BASK IN THE GLORY OF SHIVA - 3, 30 May 1982, Calcutta) Such is the way of religious merchants. "On other occasions they resorted to blatant falsehood and said, "These are the commandments of God. Those who contradict these commandments will be damned to eternal hell-fire ... Your eyes will develop cataracts and your throat will contract goitre if you do not read the scriptures and pray to God every day ... If the offerings made to God touch your feet, or if you do not touch your forehead after handling consecrated food, you will develop leprosy ... It is God who has made caste divisions, the division of society into rich and poor, etc." (RELIGIOUS DOGMA, Prout in a Nutshell Part 16, Shabda Cayanika' Part 16, 3 April 1988, Calcutta) "In the Vedic ages priests even taught ordinary people that if they bowed their heads only once a day before the Ga'yattrii deity, this will take them a step closer to heaven. Women are considered second class citizens in each and every religion. If equal status is given to women, it will be very difficult to exploit them. So to avoid this happening, women are kept oppressed. The exploitation of women has been continuing for centuries. Some religions say that if the husband is virtuous the wife is benefited, so the wife does not have to do anything herself. Other religions say that men can go to heaven, but women have to remain standing at heavens gate. All this is dogma. Intelligent people know that nobody can share the virtues or vices of others. Everybody has to move with their own reactions to past actions." (THE RUDIMENTAL CAUSE OF RELIGIOUS DOGMA, RELIGIOUS DOGMA, Prout in a Nutshell Part 16, 13 April 1988, Calcutta) No serious spiritual aspirant can believe these things. "Does the Supreme Consciousness reside in heaven or Vaekun't'ha above the seven realms of existence? No. He is omnipotent: He is in Vaekun't'ha (heaven) as well as in the lowest hell. In fact, any place where God is non-existent, cannot itself exist. Hence to substantiate the existence of anything, the presence of the Supreme Consciousness is essential. So if so-called sinners complain that God does not look at them, they are mistaken. He does look at them - He is with them. The moment those sinners will say with tears in their eyes, "O Lord, please, take me in Your lap" He will immediately lift them upon His lap and brush the dust off their bodies and say, "I am cleansing all the dirt and dross of your sins". Hence under no circumstances should anyone think that God can remain far away from them, because He cannot remain away from His created beings at all - it is contrary to His very nature." (SUPRAMUNDANE HERITAGE AND SUPRAMUNDANE DESIDERATUM, Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 11, 3 April, 1979, Siliguri) On the humorous side, one can even go so far as to say: "The Supreme Consciousness is my Father, the Creative Principle is my Mother, and the three worlds of earth, heaven and hell are my native land." (DISCOURSES ON TANTRA VOLUME 1, TANTRA AND INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION, A Few Problems Solved Part 1, May 1959, Muzaffarpur) And: "We are ready to live in hell, if the Lord is there in hell. We are not ready to go to heaven, if the Lord is in hell. This is the proper mentality of a devotee." (SUBHA'S'ITA SAM'GRAHA PART 21, JAEVA DHARMA AND BHA'GAVATA DHARMA, 24 October 1971 DMC, Vishakhapatnam) Why would a devotee or lover of God think like this? "As an Entity, God is as sweet as He is soft. People experience His softness in the deepest cavity of their hearts and in the controlling point of human sentimentality. There is no scope for harshness there. When one thinks of another entity, he or she thinks with the softness of the heart, not with harshness. For instance, suppose a little girl does not go to school. Her mother, in displeasure, bursts out, "Blast you -- neglecting your studies. You naughty child! If you don't change your ways, you'll go to hell". Later on she has second thoughts about her words, she realizes her mistake. She tells herself, 'It wasn't proper to chastise my little child that way. Supposing she didn't go to school, what of it? I wished her death. O God, I beseech You, don't take her life. They were only words from my mouth, O Lord. I didn't really mean them.' The subterranean Cosmic flow operating in the human heart is always soft, never harsh. This is the flow of the touch inferences in human beings. This is how the Supreme Consciousness is attracting people in the world of touch inferences. He does not allow people to be harsh, He wants them to remain soft. Outwardly, these soft-minded people will have to assume a harsh composure against the wicked. This is the way of the world. By nature you are not hard-hearted. There are people whom we call cruel because of their hard-heartedness. But if those very wicked persons go deeper into their beings, they will no longer remain wicked or hard-hearted. Mostly it is just that they take a superficial view of life. Had they gone deep into their minds, had they tried to realize God with their sentimentality, they would certainly have felt the presence of the undercurrents of His softness. The difficulty with them is that they never go deep into their sentimentality and hence they have a tendency towards hard- heartedness." (NAMA'MI KRS'N'ASUNDARAM, DISCOURSE 27, KRS'N'A AND SUPRA-AESTHETIC SCIENCE, 12 April 1981, Calcutta) From this it can be seen that no religion can condemn anyone to hell. To do so is a love for the violent and the hurtful. Similarly, when one leader of the world claims that his or her country is the chosen one or that it will be blessed by God over other countries, it is also a narrow sentiment and a hurtful. The object of such talk is merely to create division. "With complete trust at the feet of these intellectuals, people did not realize that they had sold themselves to cheats. The illusion of escaping the misfortunes of this life, and going to heaven in the next, cloud their simple minds." (HUMAN SOCIETY PART 2, THE KS'ATTRIYA (WARRIOR) AGE) "They also created many fanciful and appealing stories, and demanded that people accept them as the truth. They declared that those who listened to these stories with reverence, holding a copper pot containing Ganga water and basil leaves, would attain heavenly bliss, while those who showed any disrespect or disregard for them would be annihilated. Common, fearful people accepted such dogma without the least protest, and believed that the absurd, mind- boggling stories were spiritual discourses. Dogma has had a extremely negative influence on ordinary people. This is the consequence of the play of dogma. Isms can never help establish universalism. Rather, they merely whip up artificial differences amongst human beings. By arousing narrow sentiments, the adherents of dogma hope to fulfil their selfish aspirations. Isms are nothing but a collection of dogma. Modern, educated people must be liberated from all sources of dogma and petty isms. They should reject the worn out shackles of the past and welcome the new, crimson dawn with an open mind. This will prepare the way for all-round success in human life, and the attainment of the highest fulfilment. The followers of dogma do not want people to tread the path of rationality. You must have noticed that the flag-bearers of dogma do not support scientific development. Although some scientific theories are based on dogma, and although some scientists are hesitant to leave the labyrinth of dogma, dogma has comparatively little influence on science. The worst propounders of dogma --the kings of dogma -- do not want people to develop mental clarity. They do not want the penetrating illumination of the sun's light to pierce through the mists of dogma. They do not want people to bathe in the radiant light of the day and stand under the clear, unclouded sky." (RELIGIOUS DOGMA, Prout in a Nutshell Part 16, Shabda Cayanika' Part 16, 3 April 1988, Calcutta) "Movement which is devoid of logic and reason is called "dogma," and a collection of dogma is called an "ism." When the advocates of dogma and the followers of isms lack sufficient charisma to convince people through the power of their personalities, they tried to persuade them by taking the name of God. They openly exploit others in the name of the Supreme. Sometimes they said, "I have received certain instructions in a dream. God's commandments are that you should follow these instructions." At other times they would intimidate people saying, "If you violate these commandments you will suffer eternal damnation". Thus, they created complexes in the minds of the people, and they force them to accept all kinds of dogma and follow them out of fear." (RELIGIOUS DOGMA, Prout in a Nutshell Part 16, Shabda Cayanika' Part 16, 3 April 1988, Calcutta) Today's age requires the radiant light of the clear unclouded sky for society to develop spiritually, not the dogma of religious merchants. from works of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti 6SR3QsCzLDAJrUAFawBILAGw3RTWvEAXn4V3mgFQBCiCdq5NRhwpIny15S2y8rOQVtFJeAVVMQogr3jbCzPXugAwrXf