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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Identity crisis

Identity crisis
Once we are in the identity cage we refuse to come out, we fail to realize and value our various types of relationships with myriads of things, ideas, people, events etc or their relation to us. It is a dilemma wherein we unconsciously subject ourselves to limited options or reduce our choices. I felt the pathetic situation of the present day's talented, educated, intelligent , toiling youth but rudderless and not getting spotted by any sane radars as well and thought philosophically about it and wrote this essay for this New Year [this contains many references, links etc highlighting the importance of many institutions, individuals of real worth etc
Most of the individual problems and group pogroms are the result of identity crisis. This [identity adoration/affiliation] is a very important part of study of personal psychology and socio-psychology which gets neglected or does not get the prominence it deserves because the predominant factors that create these identities and factories that produce these predators are the patrons and promoters of religious and political ideologies. Now recently, technological advancement has also jumped into this band wagon [of course at least this offers tangible comforts and benefits].

These identity creating factories are afraid of free and open minded persons as these open minded persons may start questioning some aspects or the very identity itself.

There is nothing wrong with identities per se nor are they avoidable. For example if someone  is born physically beautiful, mentally brilliant, in a  highly respected family in a particular nation following certain language, religion, culture, tradition etc with some type of specific behavior then that person would be identified with all those things. What can that person do about any of those identities which he is born with, born into, groomed up with along with social inculcation, indoctrination, insistence or voluntary inclination or interest etc?

There is nothing wrong even in human mind getting into judgmental mode based on these identities which is one of the natural consequences of identity affiliation and which is what is happening all over.

There is nothing wrong even in the human mind making comparisons, analysis, criticisms etc based on these identities which are again natural consequences of affiliation to inevitable identities. 

The problem crops up when these identities create narrow walls of prisons of the mind and thereby creating incompatibilities and intolerances in the functioning of many vital tools of life and not letting life to move on smoothly in its tracks.

In brief our thoughts, ideas, actions, feelings, interactions, attitudes etc are to a very great extent influenced by how we relate to changing situations /circumstances /scenarios/events/environment/new relations etc while clinging on to our identities.
Even within specific identities there are varying degrees and intensities of manifestation.

Any identity is /all identities are a stumbling block to any realization or unbiased relating/relationship as well. AsJames Braha writes, in the wonderful book ‘LIVING REALITY-My Extraordinary Summer with “Sailor” Bob Adamson’,
 “You can only know yourself by being yourself without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever appears in the field of consciousness cannot be yourself, you will apply yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that can take you to a deeper realization of yourself. You literally progress by rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”

The real nakedness devoid of any cover of identity, probably this could be one of the connotations of the word ‘Nirvana’, may enable us and equip us to face reality unbiased and without any pre conditioning. Some great souls have even opined that we can even pose real questions only from this state as Terence Mckenna says, “You are not naked when you take off your clothes. You still wear your religious assumptions, your prejudices, your fears, your illusions, your delusions. When you shed the cultural operating system, then, essentially you stand naked before the inspection of your own psyche…and it’s from that position, a position outside the cultural operating system, that we can begin to ask real questions about what does it mean to be human, what kind of circumstance are we caught in, and what kind of structures, if any, can we put in place to assuage the plan and accentuate the glory and the wonder that lurks, waiting for us, in this very narrow slice of time between the birth canal and the yawning grave. In other words we have to return to first premises."

Do we create our identity and getting confined by it?

Or whether some identity actually influences and/or creates us?

Or can we tweak some parts of the brain surgically and create a complete leap away from affinity to identities so that individual perceptions, actions, attitudes and social behavior etc all can be freer and at least devoid of problems caused by contradictions and ideological constraints?  [After all physiologically even DNA is tweaked to produce unimaginable results]

More about identity issues in this link



When everything else fail nature takes care is or could be the only consolation/hope that humanity can hold on to.

The West predominantly and psychologically cannot understand anything outside its preconceived and stereotyped views that it looks with suspicion on everyone with long beards and certain specific names and at the same time plays dirty games in international politics with these very people to settle scores and sabotage progress from areas in the atlas which it has predetermined are not fit to become powerful politically and prosperous economically.

It is much easier to over simplify and over generalize everything as a crisis of identity and inclusion/exclusion etc. Ultimately that is what almost every analysis of the calamities both those supporting and blaming allude to.​

But a slight scratching of the surface will reveal the rotten history, hysterical behaviors and histrionic reactions to historical blunders.

Well while what Mr. Jeyamohan has written may be true to a certain extent we must remember, refer to as well as reject lot of stereotyped reactions, symbolic gestures etc; though they may be the only options hitherto known to or exercised by humanity. Unfortunately, what they do is, as usual divert humanity from addressing the issues on its inherent strengths or short comings depending on how you look at it .​

But present day happenings in international politics are the work of poly tricks where everyone engages in either justifying or defending or blaming some group/individual/ideology/religion/institution/nation etc, while in reality everyone, every nation, every political ideology and every religious group is equally good or bad, as after it everything is relative. Any religion, nation, political ideology cannot claim authority or superiority, of course, unless and until they prioritize humaneness, compassion, protecting human life and environment and providing at least opportunities to every human being to empower with a sense of caring and sharing and all these are ultimately in the interest of survival of the human species.

Whatever is happening today is a heady mix of many highly volatile things/aspects which can turn anytime anywhere equally provocative and aggressive. These manifest certain feeble atavistic tendencies; histrionic reactions to historical blunders; self created or aggravated problems further fueled by sensationalism seeking media, scandal mongering journalists, guilt inflicted international manipulative leaders and nations; fanatical bonding with misinterpreted superficiality of religious edicts; perverted unsolicited participation into the internal affairs of other nations and religions etc. There are certain common factors to all these: like misguiding and misusing certain individuals by emotionally charging them, funding them etc.

I am not going back to the times of inquisition, crusades, Nazism, Stalinism etc all of which too killed millions and millions of human beings senselessly but revisiting certain recent events.

All of us know who or which nation funded and armed Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden initially and also who attacked them later on and why? Now the same forces or nations are funding Pakistan which the whole world knows what it contributes to humanity and how women and children are treated there? Human rights organizations are too busy to get involved there so they can be excused.

All of us also must be aware now that Europe is trouble again, after being the initiators of two world wars; I pity the innocent and intelligent citizens of Europe who end up as unfortunate victims, not only dying and suffering physically but ideologically getting putrefied by a parochial propaganda mechanism which homogenizes to conveniently hegemonize and forcefully make the whole population herdish.

It did in the early 19th century through compulsory conscription wherein many potential intellectual brains who could not or did not want to take the gun and fight died. We don’t know how many potential Voltaires and Bertrand Russells the world has lost to the military madness.
    
From Indian perspective the West in addition to all the following atrocities that they have committed in their own lands in the name of inquisition, crusades, Nazism, Stalinism etc and also killing so many red Indians and aborigines and breeding Africans to use as slaves, introducing passages justifying these in their religious texts, atrocities in the name of colonialism etc are now required to answer to all the following as well.

I read somewhere this news item
German authorities have received specific warnings of the risk of, security sources told Reuters on Friday, after pre-dawn police raids on 12 homes linked to radical Islamists.

Most European nations have a soft corner for "Jihadis" seeking "Asylum" from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria etc - But will NOT allow Indian techies even a work permit let alone PR status !  They recognize such Jihadis as freedom fighters in their own lands like Pak Occupied Kashmir etc. Worse still pay through their own tax money maintenance amount for every child , well, the Pakistanis and Bengladeshies are really enjoying this. Imagine if India and China start paying some 300 dollars every month for every child! But on the other hand no work permit for Indian techies. This will go on till Belgium changes its name ( will be the first in Europe) to Belgistan ! By that time, more sensible nations would have dissolved EU.

The west has much to answer for:
1.     In the early fifties, they gave asylum and encouragement to the Naga secessionist Phizo.
2.     They gave asylum and support to the JKLF. The first non-IRA terrorism in the U.K. forty years ago was the murder of Mhatre the Indian Deputy High Commissioner by the JKLF.
3.     All western countries supported the Khalistanis. The Canadians were casual, callous and incompetent apropos of the Kanishka.
4.     Western countries supported the LTTE and still keep talking about Sri Lankan Government Human Rights violations conveniently forgetting that the LTTE used women and children as human shields.
5.     Some years ago, the Danish Prime Minister, when he was President of the EU gave India a gratuitous and sanctimonious lecture on Kashmir, Human Rights etc.
6.     In the late forties, Noel-Baker, the British delegate to the U.N. deliberately and consciously sabotaged India’s position, supported Pakistan and ensured that Pakistan would hang on to POK.
7.     The British and the Americans loved the whisky-drinking Ayub Khans and Yahya Khans and disliked our sanctimonious dhoti-wearing politicians.
8.     Wavell went on record that the British could deal with Muslims, but not with Hindus.
9.     Olaf Caroe worked hard to create an anti-Soviet Islamic grouping at CENTO and SEATO with Pakistan as the pivot.
10.  Reagan called the Afghan Mujahideen leaders the equivalent of the “founding fathers” of America.
11.  Successive American administrations till George W Bush, did their best to deny India technology and uranium and worked very hard, very persistently and very diligently to thwart Indian science and technology while conniving with the Chinese nuclear build-up and Chinese support for Pakistan’s nuclear arms. The Chinese support was supplemented by Dutch and Swiss support with the knowledge and connivance of the CIA.
12.  Nixon and Kissinger not merely connived but supported the selective genocide of Bangladeshi Hindus despite the U.S. Consulate in Dacca calling this event in no uncertain terms. Kissinger is supposed to have joked that Yahya and Tikka viewed the killing of Hindus as an entertainment.
13.  The BBC has for years opposed India and Israel.
14.  The U.S. and the U.K. denied visas to Modi while merrily giving visas to Jihadists----what an irony!
15.  Some forty years ago the Principal of a British Government school was sacked for political incorrectness because he felt that Muslim schoolgirls should learn swimming just as other schoolgirls should.
16.  The British use of the word “Asians” or Sub-continentals” is a joke. The fact is that immigrants from Pakistan as more likely by orders of magnitude to be in jail or on welfare rolls as compared to immigrants from India. This fact is always euphemistically avoided.
17.  France broke off military sales and relations with Israel after 1967, in order to curry favour with Arab states.
18.  When Indian or Israeli officials warned western officials, the western reaction was one of contempt and indifference.
19.  And now, the chickens have come home to roost!
20. Response of both European / American Administrations AND Civil Society is INEXPLICABLE on any rational grounds?
21. What could their possible motivations be in upholding human / asylum rights of primitive barbarians spouting BARBARIC INHUMAN IDEOLOGY?


Dear Devdutt Pattanaik ,

 

Your ‘Origins of Religion’ has raised more questions than it has answered. I am not even questioning or bothered whether you support, practice, and follow any religion or many religions. But you are trying to make certain sweeping interpretations with more vagueness and trying to ensconce them in flamboyant language and feeble statements like, “ Religions provide humans with maps that help them navigate through life. Yes, religions cause violence because from religion comes the notion of identity. Religions locate us in a cosmic super map. Attack religion and you attack identity, a simple fact that rationalist and atheists do not understand. This is precisely what many aspects of religion have done to humanity and diverted them from facing the stark facts and reality life and instead covered them up with all sorts of entertainment, ornamentation, appealing doctrines, ideas etc. Humanity has fallen a prey to these fancies and attractions and failed to experience life as it is with all its superb as well as silly things. Not even imaginations but hyper fancies and hyped up rituals form major part of religious way of life.

 

All religions are equal and every religion has its own beauty, beliefs, benefits and banalities.

Let us not either over simplify or over generalize to suit our preconceived interpretations and inferences but instead just observe plain facts as they are and be humble enough to accept them and try to understand, not necessarily judge, what they are? What has been their contribution? What are their inherent qualities or attributes? Etc.

What any individual /group do /did /shall do with them merely shows how they relate to it and has nothing to do with the subject matter per se.

For example if there is a cow, it is just an animal. You can do anything with it: leave it to lead its life it wants, or feed it, play with it, milk it, worship it, sit on it and ride, torture it, cut and eat it and so on. So what is done with or to the cow has nothing to do with the inherent attribute of cow but how every individual/group relates with the cow.

Let no one get emotional or act as if they are more enlightened than another religion or sect and therefore more eligible to preach or sermonize others. Let us all calmly and candidly look at facts of history starting from times of recorded history. While the whole world makes lot of money talking and making movies about terrorism and terrorist cause lot of damages to both people and property, very few try to study the underlying reason.

No one in his sane mind will resort to become suicide bomber or assume by causing calamity and ending his/her own life in the process is going to become a martyr? Then what or who causes such trends and tendencies? Be it inquisitions, crusades, saiva samana in fights in ancient Hinduism, the silencing of Bhuddism in India in remote past by Hinduism etc.

We all can see the obvious, if only we are honest. Osho used to say, ' if you say a fruit tree is great you can prove it only based on the fruits that it produces' Especially after what happened in France , I thought of communicating some simple and plain facts which must be addressed and I did to almost all the major media houses in Europe and USA through these links. Religion-its role,  evolution, purpose, religion and science etc. The first two I wrote in the last three days after what happened in France.

Religions, all religions, by themselves are a big problem why?





and fortunately the Vedas and Bhagawad Geetha nowhere mention the word Hindu. So Hindus cannot claim them as their texts though they may be part of epics and literature that has emanated from a place the present day Hindus live and they also convey many excellent and high philosophical traditions that people who follow Sanathana Dharmna have along with many unpleasant rituals of that period.

Actually religion as an entity, I am not confining to the tall claims or great philosophies in any religion, but religion, I mean all religions, as they are practiced or followed do not as Mr. DEVDUTT PATTANAIK  claims, “provide humans with maps that help them navigate through life.” But on the contrary they define the boundaries, construct fences, create cultural biases and reinforce identities to both classify and differentiate human species, human intellectual approaches, human understanding, human compassion etc based on its predefined modes of perception.
Again Pattanaikji “from religion comes the notion of identity”.

As in the cow example given at the beginning of this small write up different identities emanated from how each one related to the cow and not because of the cow.
“We are programmed by habit and constant preconditioning to create defenses against and make fences around us towards anything new [it could be good, better, best or bad I desist from using the usual good, bad and ugly as it has more negatives] that crops up in us or around us. It is a sort of protectionism that goes to envelop in some specific identity or label and further firm up our prejudices and prevent us from experiencing the new. Gradually this identity creates such strong concrete walls that enforce us to experience life only in terms of what is approved of that identity.

Almost all of us are gullible to this attribute of experiencing life through any existing or well established or socially well accepted or religiously sanctioned or personally enjoyable and pleasing identity/identities, which reflect in our actions and attitudes. We are thus led by the expected experiences which must fit into this readymade or readily accepted patterns, I am not saying either they are good or bad, but we are thus prevented from experiencing life as it is happening at this moment.

So, in real terms there is nothing new when we deal with life based on predetermined and past experiences. Or attempt to do things to get a result for a future goal. Thus, in a way we are slaves of our past or to our future. None of our behavior patterns, perceptions, attitudes or attributes are new or authentic as they are guided by prefixed identities.

In fact, in a way, most of the individual problems and group pogroms are the result of identity crisis. This [identity adoration/affiliation] is a very important part of study of personal psychology and socio-psychology which gets neglected or does not get the prominence it deserves because the predominant factors that create these identities and factories that produce these predators are the patrons and promoters of religious and political ideologies. Now recently, technological advancement has also jumped into this band wagon [of course at least this offers tangible comforts and benefits].

These identity creating factories are afraid of free and open minded persons as these open minded persons may start questioning some aspects or the very identity itself.

There is nothing wrong with identities per se nor are they avoidable. For example if someone  is born physically beautiful, mentally brilliant, in a  highly respected family in a particular nation following certain language, religion, culture, tradition etc with some type of specific behavior then that person would be identified with all those things. What can that person do about any of those identities which he is born with, born into, groomed up with along with social inculcation, indoctrination, insistence or voluntary inclination or interest etc?

There is nothing wrong even in human mind getting into judgmental mode based on these identities which is one of the natural consequences of identity affiliation and which is what is happening all over.

There is nothing wrong even in the human mind making comparisons, analysis, criticisms etc based on these identities which are again natural consequences of affiliation to inevitable identities.[1]

The problem crops up when these identities create narrow walls of prisons of the mind and thereby creating incompatibilities and intolerances in the functioning of many vital tools of life and not letting life to move on smoothly in its tracks.

In brief our thoughts, ideas, actions, feelings, interactions, attitudes etc are to a very great extent influenced by how we relate to changing situations /circumstances /scenarios/events/environment/new relations etc while clinging on to our identities.
Even within specific identities there are varying degrees and intensities of manifestation.

It would be pertinent to mention what ― Idries Shah the great Sufi writer says in Reflections
“You have not forgotten to remember;
You have remembered to forget.
 But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical.”


As a consequence of this [doing everything while clinging on to our identities]our understanding of life itself is to a very great extent depends on how well we understand our relations/relationships to these changed situations /circumstances/scenarios /events/environment/new relations etc.

Any identity is /all identities are a stumbling block to any realization or unbiased relating/relationship as well. AsJames Braha writes, in the wonderful book ‘LIVING REALITY-My Extraordinary Summer with “Sailor” Bob Adamson’,
“You can only know your self by being yourself without any attempt at self-definition and self-description. Once you have understood that you are nothing perceivable or conceivable, that whatever appears in the field of consciousness cannot be your self, you will apply yourself to the eradication of all self identification, as the only way that can take you to a deeper realization of your self. You literally progress by rejection—a veritable rocket. To know that you are neither in the body nor in the mind, though aware of both, is already self-knowledge.”

The real nakedness devoid of any cover of identity, probably this could be one of the connotations of the word ‘Nirvana’, may enable us and equip us to face reality unbiased and without any pre conditioning. Some great souls have even opined that we can even pose real questions only from this state as Terence Mckenna says, “You are not naked when you take off your clothes. You still wear your religious assumptions, your prejudices, your fears, your illusions, your delusions. When you shed the cultural operating system, then, essentially you stand naked before the inspection of your own psyche…and it’s from that position, a position outside the cultural operating system, that we can begin to ask real questions about what does it mean to be human, what kind of circumstance are we caught in, and what kind of structures, if any, can we put in place to assuage the plan and accentuate the glory and the wonder that lurks, waiting for us, in this very narrow slice of time between the birth canal and the yawning grave. In other words we have to return to first premises."
-

Life is never fulfilled with unfulfilled relationships within the family, with others in the society, with the environment, with the many sciences, subjects, systems that we come across which are useful to us, used by us or we are used by them and so on. So, the quality of life is the manifestation of the quality of the inter play of these various relationships.

Even in parenting after donating a sperm and leasing a womb and initially taking care of the physical well being of the Child it is all about weaving meaningful and mutually respectable relationships psychologically all the while factoring in many socio-cultural changes and the generational differences.

Can we ever succeed in overcoming the difficulties and fulfill all our relationships?

Probably if we sincerely, seriously and sanely try to understand them through two important primary factors, namely completely listening and curiously learning followed by involvement and responsibility and all these done with total intensity and intense totality. Very often the greatest mistakes in our relationships, overall perceptions and evaluations occur because we read three fourths, listen half, understand quarter, think zero and are indifferent to the impact of our actions, reactions, thoughts and words on humanity and the environment. [2]
The vital factor/essence of any relationship is the connectivity /link and the best way to be aware of it, savor it and sensibly understand this vitality is to be detached to the ultimate results, as Bhagawath Geetha says and again to quote Simone Weil,
“ Attachment is the greatest fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached”.

Because the fact is life is neither a mere predesigned product with preprogrammed operations nor is it merely any of the existing proclaimed and sanctified order nor is it the result of any mere catastrophic accident.

‘Neither our Brain nor our Character is Cast in Stone’ [3]

Do our perceptions and/or thoughts, feelings, knowledge etc influence our experience or our experiences influence our perceptions and/or thoughts, feelings, knowledge etc?

Do we create our identity and getting confined by it?

Or whether some identity actually influences and/or creates us?

Or can we tweak some parts of the brain surgically and create a complete leap away from affinity to identities so that individual perceptions, actions, attitudes and social behavior etc all can be freer and at least devoid of problems caused by contradictions and ideological constraints?  [After all physiologically even DNA is tweaked to produce unimaginable results][4]

Ultimately one thing is clear that there are neither any absolutes to something as temporal as individual life nor any eternally valid or universally applicable models to emulate as the only way or only option to our mortal life. There are no eternal explanations to everything in any single source. Nor is there any omnipotent panacea for everything. The vague randomness that unfolds as we live life is the very beauty of life and probably the most important sign of human evolution and growth of civilization. No single person is an expert on everything.

All relationships effect a transformation, a transition from a present status influencing and impacting ourselves, others, our environment and our very relationship which causes this and so on. This transformation happens due to many of the factors mentioned above in the normal process in a gradual way or sometimes by suddenly overcoming the constraints of time and space, and due to different affinities to various other identities. This happens when there is unqualified complete love as Jeff Brown points out "You don’t measure love in time. You measure love in transformation. Sometimes the longest connections yield very little growth, while the briefest of encounters change everything. The heart doesn't wear a watch- it’s timeless. It doesn’t care how long you know someone. It doesn’t care if you had a 40 year anniversary if there is no juice in the connection. What the heart cares about is resonance. Resonance that opens it, resonance that enlivens it, resonance that calls it home. And when it finds it, the transformation begins…"


Does reality really require an observer? Not necessarily.

Does reality change because of the observer? Not necessarily.

Has reality any inherent existence irrespective of the presence of the observer?

If it rains heavily in a very remote place uninhabited by any human being, still there would be all effects of a heavy rain irrespective of whether anyone was there to observe it or record it or measure it.[5]

Or as the great Neale Donald Walsch says, “The definition of everything depends on how you look at it. Nothing is as it seems, and the moment you change your perspective you see that. Therefore, there is no such thing as Reality; there is only the reality you create by the way you are looking at something. You are creating your reality through the use of perspective”.


So, very meaningful reality exists of its own within the realm of our observation or sometimes unnoticed, unknown and unnamed, beyond and/or beside the realm of our observation, our measuring it, our labeling etc.

Various gifted souls and scholars have tried to perceive it through various methods, expressed their understanding through different subjects, through different frames of reference in varying degrees of intensities, each one grasping the splendor of different facets of the same diamond called the totality of life. What their understanding unraveled is very educative and enlightening and highly motivating for us to explore further and deeper the meanings of life.

[5] Both Einstein and Ramana Maharshi made almost identical statements that "everything is predetermined". Nobel Laureates Eugene Wigner and Francis Crick (co-discoverer of DNA) made similar statements. The ground-breaking experimental work of Libet and many contemporary cognitive neuroscientists support these statements.

This is the first part of a presentation at the Science and Non-Duality Conference in San Rafael, CA in October 2009. The second part is covered in the video "Intelligence Choice is Impossible"; the third and last part is covered in "You Are Not In Control".

There is a new video "Predestination, free will, control and the illusion of time" which explains much on these concepts.

Additional information is @ blog:happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com website: happiness-beyond-thought.com book: Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening. Downloadable @ 
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 youTube: Gary Weber Nonduality FB

Interview @ Towards A Science of Consciousness conf @
http://youtu.be/bEOujFKnHwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLDWyk1uLQ
All these identity stuff can be found in my blog post
But whatever humanity may do or come up with religion will continue to have its sway because of various factors
I would like people like you who are much read by public, I read all your books , attended a few of your lectures, must first be convinced and then  convey that rationalism and atheism are also very much part of human attempt to explore and understand life. They may sound different, they may approach differently but nonetheless they do unravel much more reasonable, more practically applicable, logically laudable  and easily confirmable evidences rather than mundane justification like status quo addicts or passive followers or people who love to confirm to existing views with mere verbal and/or scriptural references/ justifications.
I am all the more appalled by these comments coming as they do just a day before Swami Vivekannada’s birth anniversary who wanted that Man must learn to live with a religion which commends itself to intellectual conscience and the spirit of rationality who also believed that whatever we do must be justified and supported by reason. So I would like to place on record some of his quotes here on this issue of rationality and reason being given a priority in perceiving as well as practicing religion.
“There are four general types of men—the rational, the emotional, the mystical, and the worker. For each of these we must provide suitable forms of worship. There comes the rational man, who says, "I care not for this form of worship. Give me the philosophical, the rational—that I can appreciate." So for the rational man is the rational philosophic worship.”
“The scriptures of different religions point out different means to attain the ideals of universal love, freedom, manliness, and selfless benevolence. Every religious sect is generally at variance as to its idea of what is virtue and what is vice, and fights with others over the means of attaining virtue and eschewing vice, instead of aiming at realising the end. Every means is helpful more or less, and the Gita (XVIII.48) says, "Every undertaking is attended with defects as fire with smoke"; so the means will no doubt appear more or less defective. But as we are to attain the highest virtue through the means laid dozen in our respective scriptures, we should try our best to follow them. Moreover, they should be tempered with reason and discrimination. Thus, as we progress, the riddle of virtue and vice will be solved by itself.”
“Personally I take as much of the Vedas as agrees with reason. Parts of the Vedas are apparently contradictory. They are not considered as inspired in the Western sense of the word, but as the sum total of the knowledge of God, omniscience. This knowledge comes out at the beginning of a cycle and manifests itself; and when the cycle ends, it goes down into minute form. When the cycle is projected again, that knowledge is projected again with it. So far the theory is all right. But that only these books which are called the Vedas are His knowledge is mere sophistry. Manu says in one place that that part of the Vedas which agrees with reason is the Vedas and nothing else. Many of our philosophers have taken this view.”
“When, by reasoning, Truth is comprehended by the intellect, then it is realised in the heart, the fountainhead of feeling. Thus the head and the heart become illumined at the same moment; and then only, as says the Upanishad, "The knot of the heart is rent asunder, and all doubts cease" (Mundaka Upanishad, II.ii.8).”

No single human being, nation, system, organization, institution, religion, culture, social system of governance is an island of inferiority or superiority. But each have a distinct identity which is the manifestation of variety, a fact we all must accept and appreciate.  We must strive to strengthen the interconnectedness and inter-relatedness to further the process of unity leading to maximum security and happiness of the maximum number possible involving prioritizing of people, environment and economic development.

It is indeed sad to see people still fighting in the name of religion, ideologies, national boundaries etc even in the 21st Century. When and how are we going to shape really global peace and economic development if we allow these narrow walls to distance us?

National identities are determined by the cultural and social bonds and the growth of civilization which have established certain distinct features after several centuries of churning by human beings involving several wars, cravings for utilization of resources, accustoming to certain cultures etc and settled in certain real estate places which have a distinct identity as a nation.

It is the responsibility of every educated and enlightened human society to respect and ensure to protect these national identities without engaging in destructive activities of either open war or proxy war through sponsoring terrorists.

This becomes a greater necessity in nations which are economically under developed or in the process of development. So the persons in positions of governance in these types of countries must work together to weed out narrow minded people and vested interest groups unleashing violence on innocent citizens through terrorist activities.

These are not vague generalizations but statements valid for every context involving or concerned with human life, environmental protection and economic development.


Media mafia

Media mafia.
Media when are you going to become positive, responsible and sincere to yourself and the nation?
I would like all half baked, biased, narrow minded, externally funded  media  houses to make their reporters read enough of sociology, psychology, socio-psychology , politics or at least stick on to seeing facts as they are before they sit on judgment  on everyone, analyze every issue and act as self appointed know –all and judge-all experts.
The whole media seems to be obsessed with religion either pandering to, pampering or provoking some religious outfit, religious sentiments etc which then get labeled as either saffron fringe, Hindutva brigade, Salvation Army, minority appeasement, secularists [which by connotation in Indian context is now, known to whole world as clearly anti-progressive collective vote bank] etc. The saddest part is they do all these while discussing and debating politics, governance and economic development or they become intentionally oblivious to these aspects.
They are unable to see society as made of human beings of various social statuses each working hard and wishing and hoping to improve their lives and not at all bothered about which religion they follow.
It is the religious zealots and those who practice religion as a business or as a profession and who are keen on projecting or promoting the number of adherents to their particular faith/religion who are bothered about religion and who are a minority who subjugate the rest.
Now the media too is very keen on promoting certain religious outfits who are as per prevailing labels are either the Hindutva brand or non Hindutva who are bracketed as secular/minorities etc.
This is purely because the media is keener on sensationalism and scandals rather than educating the people about important issues of economic growth, development and all activities related with that. Thus the media is diverting the attention of the people from real issues that matter.
The media is keener on creating groups within and among Indians and pit one against the other and watch the fight and fun so that it will have sensational and emotion whipping programs in their channels and newspapers.
In the book ‘MICROMOTIVES AND MACRO BEHAVIOR’ the economist THOMAS SCHELLING explained many social phenomena that are unplanned and often unwanted but that emerge from people making individual choices that affect the choice of others. He gives very pertinent example in US that a city can become segregated, not from an apartheid policy and not because anyone wants to live exclusively with people of their own race, but because no one wants to be in too small a minority in their neighborhood. Eventually all- white neighborhoods and all- black neighborhoods emerge.
Whatever the media is doing is going to help BJP in the long run because by constantly repeating and branding all non Hindus as seculars and casting aspersion on them as likely to vote as a group/herd of sheep without thinking purely because of their religious affiliation [which is actually insulting them and their independent thinking] and branding them as anti BJP they are inadvertently instigating all Hindus to unite and to vote en bloc for BJP. So even without anyone having to do anything, thanks to the media’s selective amnesia and attacks, all Hindus now know whom to vote for.

Having said that India has produced so far only one most popular leader with lot of positive qualities, dedicated mission and focused goal, though he failed miserably in his political moves i.e. The great Mahatma Gandhi who made the country united to drive away the colonial rulers and declared immediately the  group or brand name of that huge group used for carrying out that goal unfortunately called ‘congress’ [ which brand name was later on misused enormously and he visualized  it] and rightly wanted it to be dismantled as it served its purpose of  a scaffolding to build the nation or fulcrum to drive away the colonial masters. 
India has produced many great stalwarts like Dr. B.R . Ambedkar, Rajaji, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, DR. Zakir Hussein, Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad etc who were sidelined for various reasons or  were silenced with some titular posts.
Other than these India has produced only five great leaders with real vision matched with missionary zeal to unite the nation, to develop the economy and improve the lives of Indians.
They are Sardar Vallabhai  Patel, Morarji Desai, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Narendara Modi.
Unbiased global observers, economists, political analysts and historians will recognize their respective intentions, contributions, activities, impact and impeccable mark on Indian history despite all the leftists novels promoted as history, petty paid media babbles against their good work and the media’s intentional indifference towards their contributions.
So, AAP’s victory is in no way anti-BJP or anti-Hindutva or pro minority or pro fatwa [don’t make it sound as if all Muslims are anti –India, in fact many Muslims contribute a lot to India and they are very much part of main stream India- it is only the media which projects them as anti –India] AAP’s victory is an aberration which has resulted in success and success covers all blunders. Like  V.P. Singh episode AK will stoop to any level and create any new chaos to hang on to power  and popularity. AAP’s antecedents and affiliations are dangerous to everyone and now RAW and other intelligence agencies must work over time to ensure security to Delhites.

Having said all these things, MODI must actively do what Mahatma wanted to do to the congress. He must keep the fanatic fringes of RSS away or under check or totally do away with them and instead concentrate on delivering the promises as he is already doing one by one, a bit quickly; build a good team with some more leaders with similar vision; build the party which can stand on its own and ensure to take India forward without the need and dependence always on RSS cadres for field work and the tall leadership of one MODI.
When the party is strengthened as a corporate house with a goal encouraging efficient professionals then it will pay dividends in the long run. Part of the reason for BJP’s defeat in Delhi was also due to RSS’s lack of support to the nominated candidate of the party. In a way RSS cadres are dictating terms. Stop all these Gar vapsis and check NGO routes and Hawala routes to conversions etc.
People want food, water, shelter, education, employment, electricity, mobile phones, lap tops etc and they also will gradually know what or who can provide them with all these, definitely not any scripture , not any mahasabha, not any fatwa.


Saturday, February 7, 2015

Religion -The Great Brand

The blessings, benedictions, beauty, businesses, battles, browbeats, bluffs, barrenness and much more are packed as mixture inside a box with a brand name called ‘Religion’.

However, certain items are expected in this box as ingredients of the mixture especially items like God, Enlightenment, Spiritual experience, philosophical concepts, rational explanations, debates, syncretism, ideological veneration, blind faiths, belief systems, scriptural authority, devotion, worship, socio-cultural activities, traditions, customs, scripture sponsored or life’s experience propelled doctrines and so on.

Human beings born in different environments, cultures, societies are invariably initially initiated without their consent at a very young age as children and most cases even as babies to behold the box with a brand name called ‘Religion’.

The mixture is the result of the churning process wherein at different times and at different places different ingredients of the mixture dominate to the detriment of other ingredients or perhaps to compliment other ingredients.

Blessed are the poor, innocent, ignorant are meant to assuage lack of growth.


The whole problem arises because we are all groping about in the dark and are trying our best to grasp the spiritual aspect/element/facet of human life besides/beyond its two other fundamental aspects physical and mental life. 

We are all injected with a belief in a supreme power/god/divinity/universal energy which is supposed to be/ really in charge of or part of this spiritual dimension of human life.

There are many things or even anything can help in the process [ as Dhattareya is said to have learnt from many things and rightly so] like religion, reason, philosophy, psychology, science, social life, events, ideas, intellectual sharpness, crisis, nature, attitude and cultural milieu.

It was perhaps religion which primary dominated the discussion on many issues or perhaps assimilated and appropriated many rules to decipher the hitherto unknoen aspects of life and developed  multiple  belief systems and ensured that most human beings had a great affinity/attachment/atavistic association with religion along with all its beliefs, faiths, rituals etc.

While other mediums of attempting to know the unknown may have produced many works of tangible benefit to humanity;

Religion has not, except many activities of  entertainment value, festivity, unrealistic/unverifiable/unverified pronouncements  of the self proclaimed/institutionally appointed marketers of divinity/god starting from a local priests to great saints.

They have neither shown nor produced God /Divinity as they claimed.

So, as much as these marketers claimed it was all  consumer rights violation.

The whole problem hinges there on the hinge with a swaying door of uncertainty wherein some get in; some get out; some watch the door swaying whether and when the God/Divinity will reveal for sure , whether is he /she inside or whether/when he/she will come out and reveal himself/herself or can humanity have any easily recognizable/visually apparent  confirmed clarity  on this issue; let us also put aside multiple theories or long winding lectures with trite words used for the convenience of language or satisfaction of the status quo addicts because it is always easier to say that you believe in some god for various reasons and get on with life rather than getting into skeptical mode/philosophical mode/scientific inquiry  and get branded as someone with multiple labels attributed [mostly with a condescending tone] to such a position that one takes . 

Many things exist and happen irrespective of one's belief/non belief or irrespective of what any brainy chap claims/ or criticizes/condemns.

One credence that can be given to religious beliefs is that the very fact so many religions have so much of literature, culture etc indicates that some people somewhere at some time would have come in contact with someone/something like a powerful passing lightening impacting them with enlightenment and /or bliss and also played perhaps, though a very remote possibility, some role in the evolution of human species.

Otherwise humanity as a species would not have bothered to spend so much of time, energy and money in the name of religion.

Or probably in some dire situations like insurmountable crisis when all human faculties like reasoning, thinking and intellect  have failed to come to the rescue but some unknown element or happening beyond or besides the known human approaches has given a solution and helped, then, perhaps, it is only normal and expected of the beneficiaries of such elements to extol, popularize and perpetuate those elements or aspects that have helped them out in such dire situations. Some aspects of religious belief fall in this category too. Whatever happened was perhaps a part of evolutionary process wherein in probability some coincidences may have occurred. 

Of course, we have an overwhelming sea of blind beliefs, fettered faiths, frenzied following, silly superstitions, presumption that the greater the number of adherents the greater the religion is and doing many things to achieve it and many other negative and irrelevant things, unfortunately, form a major part of many religions and these things in fact bring the greatest disrepute to religions in general.