Bhakti - Now and Then

            Bhakti is a very important mechanism to expand one’s mind to approach God. This mechanism thrives on the mind and its emotions. Mind can naturally dwell on things it likes for prolonged periods of time, though its default nature is to keep jumping between different ideas. A common experience for many people will be that of intense love between couples, yearning during separation. This kind of love has no impact on the inner moorings, but still demonstrates the ability of mind to stay intensely lodged on a single object of desire. Rishis of the yore used this nature of the mind to be channelized towards a deity of choice. Since all the mental makeup will not be inclined to the same deity or entity, in Sanatana Dharma, we have so many options. We find some are more inclined to Shiva, that too just the linga form, whilst the reclining AnantaPadmanabha or standing Venkateswara or the fearsome Narasimha or Kali may be inspirational. This natural gravitation is due to the vasana baggage of each individual. A detailed insight has been provided how this can be used as a tool to study oneself in the article – BMI chart – Swami Chinmayananda’s teaching aid.

            Sanatana Dharma views time as a cycle of four yugas – Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, with each of the preceding one being twice, thrice and four times of Kali. The duration of each yuga seems to be different based on the scholars, either ranging in millions or mere thousands of years. To keep it simple, we will not wade into the mathematics behind. Every yuga has its own unique features. That dominant dharma for each yuga is called Yuga Dharma. In Kali, it is obvious to see unrighteousness everywhere. The natural prevalence of Adharma is not an excuse for either doing Adharma or giving excuse for not doing Dharma. One has to strive to rise above these tendencies. But to its credit, in Kali Yuga, the mind naturally gravitates towards Bhakti. Great Sage Narada has emphasized Bhakti as the dominant vehicle to reach Paramatma in Kali Yuga.

            Bhakti is very easy and natural, unlike meditation where the mind has to be trained or Jnana where the intellect is constantly being challenged. This also happens to be a bane, as each one imagines being an expert. When ideal bhaktas like Meera or Thyagaraja are shown, pat comes the response, we are not in that league, so why aim that high

We will walk through what is happening now and some of the wonderful gems given to us in the past for training our mind in better bhakti. Through this oversimplification, we will not use this analysis to beat others down, but ONLY to CHALLENGE OURSELVES.

Bhakti NOW

            No assumption is made to categorize true bhaktas. I seek their pardon ahead of time, if anyone gets the wrong perception that I am placing all of them under these labels. I place my prostrations and obeisance to the genuine bhaktas. We live in a world even the world Bhakt has been made into a derogatory political term by the useless sickular liberal media and its band of believers. Yet we do not challenge such a poor choice of using a word that can take us to the transcendental plane.

 

One way of reading the title is appropriate in describing the way we do Bhakti these days – Bhakti – Now and then. Before exams the asprin prayer is give me easy question paper. Exams are over, in comes now and then Bhakti seeking more marks. Replace exams with situation of choice. For any situation we use this temporary connection, which is like the dial up router of yesteryears, instead of using the Wi-Fi to stay connected all the time.  The Ishta Devata has been downgraded to a psychological safety valve to reassure and retain some hope. Many times, we lean on to hope as the plan. Some great devotional saints in the past saw this trend, even back in the times, and sang songs seeking Bhagwan to keep them immersed in problems. Problems seem to naturally take us towards his feet, whilst God is totally forgotten in good times

We also have a transactional mindset towards Bhakti. We pray God and say, if you do me this, I will do that. This is like the most ignorance in the universe formed as our blockhead. Universe is Paramatma that includes us and our offerings. What is our offering going to benefit? Why should God take our bribe and do a favor for us? We reduce God to a wish granting genie, which runs at our beck and call. If God were to be reduced to such a state, we may be more powerful in the first place. What an idiotic folly on our part.

Worse still is the fact we go back sometimes to thank HIM by sharing our fortunes. It is akin to making God as a shareholder to our crimes. A variation to this theme is the fact we use our relationship with God (our perception) to seek for atonement – prayaschita. We seem to be partly inspired by some desert religions which have an option to dump all their papas to the burden bearer. We have tried to cheaply copy this into our format, going to God for showing escape mechanism from our karmas. We sincerely believe that God will protect us from ourselves. (Whose karma we suffer… only ours)  Such an atonement bhakti does not take as anywhere as we soon realize that karmas bear their fruit in their time, but our band aid prayers did not work for the heart attack of the karmic burden and our ignorance. Bhakti being used to escape from reality gets us more disillusioned.

Rituals are a key ingredient in any Bhakti sampradaya. But we have hijacked rituals as bhakti. Many a time, it is often evident that the rituals are either done due to compulsions of time or driven by desire. In either case, bhakti becomes futile as there is no spiritual benefit. In India, we have so many festivals, each one giving us a great opportunity to not merely celebrate life, but also a channel to get closer to ourselves. We are too busy lost in the festivities that we forgot the main reason why we are even having it in the first place. Take Diwali, Holi, Sankaranti. We can blame the outside psedo-secularizing forces of we can turn the gaze within.  Worse still we have even taken these events to extreme bestial heights. For instance, if one were to relate the gross incidents happening around Navarathri in Mumbai-Gujarat region. 

Ritual becomes SPIritual when the focus is either dissolving the “I” into Paramatma or when the “I” understands it is a manifestation of this Cosmic Energy, just like every other “I”. In other words it is a Special I Ritual.  If this purpose is not attained, then one fails to gain anything spiritually.

Bhakti becomes a cloak for showing to others that they are still a practicing Hindu. Instead of using this great vehicle for personal liberation, we are merely trapped with this facade. Tradition exerts a strong pull, which has been weakening in the last few decades, to continue the past practices. Mindless chanting of mantras without understanding the great meaning hidden within is a good example of how mere rituals have been. Unfortunately bhakti of modern Hinduism is steeped in far too many superstitions.

To get a resolution to all these chronic ailments peddled as bhakti today; one must turn our gaze to the past acharyas, sages, rishis and scriptures.

Bhakti THEN

            The above examples of Bhakti, we practice today, are all centered on some desire to obtain some benefit from God. This is called Sakamya Bhakti.  This is also referred to as Anya Bhakti. When we shed all desires in our unadulterated attention to God or if the only desire is a burning desire to be bathing in Spiritual Bliss of HIS grace, it is called Ananya Bhakti, also known as Avyabhicharini Bhakti, as described by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita.

            Great acharyas, sages and all our great scriptures have constantly been underlying great values which aid in our spiritual journey. Swami Sivananda has collected many such gems on bhakthi and strung a beautiful necklace in this must read book – Bhakti Yoga. (Do not miss some great links to Swami Sivananda’s nectarine wisdom below)

Another way to see Bhakti is Apara(lower) and Para(higher). The beginner uses rituals like flower, aarati, offerings as a way to direct and develop one’s bhakti, which is called APARA. Eventually this leads to a higher state where everything around is seen as GOD’s presence. This state is called PARA bhakti, which is possible only by going through the former. At this exalted state, many great personalities have revealed that there is no difference between them and Jnani.

Though there are more ways to dissect bhakti, we will not be dwelling on that aspect. The bhava behind determines both the means adopted and the outcome in Bhakti. This bhava is both the karana and karmaphala of the current actions of bhakta as well as what he reaps in future. We saw in detail in the series Whom Does God Love, where Krishna goes into great detail about the values that a Bhakta ought to have to find favor in HIS eyes. (Whom does God love? – Part 1, Whom does God love? – Part 2, Whom does God love? – Concluding part)

This list which Krishna has provided is perhaps bit longer for many beginners and the standards may be higher, depending on the vasana baggage each one carries. Many great Acharyas and Rishis have provided their insights to aid the extremely vasana hardened people to take up bhakti. Acharya Ramanuja is one such exemplar who out of his love for humanity has given the following traits, which every bhakta must master. (Eleven points for Development of Bhakti – Swami Sivananda)

The need for these values which a bhakta must possess, not mere emotional connect as perceived by masses, has been described Swami Sivananda as –

It would be a gross mistake if you consider Bhakti as merely a state of emotionalism, while it is actually a thorough discipline and training of one's will and the mind, a sure means to intuitive realisation of God Almighty through intense love and affection for Him. It is a means to thorough apprehension of the true knowledge of the Reality, beginning from the ordinary form of idol-worship right upto the highest form of cosmic realisation of your oneness with Him.

            The eleven points detailed by Acharya Ramanuja:

• Abhyasa - Constant practice of thinking about God

• Viveka - Discrimination

• Vimoka - No other longing, except for God

• Satyam – Truthfulness (This is not just non speaking of lies, but also trying to go deeper into understanding the true nature of things, which comes from Viveka)

• Arjavam – Straightforwardness or Honesty

•  Kriya – Doing good to others, almost like Karma Yoga but voluntarily serving others

• Kalyana – Wishing others well; nothing but goodness comes from the heart for others

• Daya – Compassion – Always viewing others through the lens of compassion, even if it is at a personal cost

• Ahimsa – Non Violence – In thoughts, words and actions. Ahimsa is perhaps one of the least understood of ideas.

• Dana – Charity – Giving away has been a central practice of Sanatana Dharma

• Anvasada – Cheerfulness and hope

Without these traits, barely having focus on emotions takes the bhakta nowhere. A bhkata may or may not have any of these traits to begin with, but with constantly focusing on these attributes, eventually bhakti takes a deeper root.

In Srimad Bhagavata Purana, Prahalada explains what types of relationships happen to a Bhakta –

      Sravanam Keerthanam Vishnoho:

Smaranam Padasevanam,

Archanam Vandanam Dasyam,

Sakhyam Aatma Nivedanam

Sravanam – Hearing the Lila’s of God, we may interpret, reading about it also. King Parikshit had only 7 days to live, focused to listen to divine stories to enable him to evolve spirutally.

Keerthanam – Singing his glories, bhajans – Many saints in Dasar lineage like Purandara Dasa, Swami Thyagarajar are good examples. Sage Narada may be on the top of this category.

Smaranam – Remembrance of HIS name and presence. Prahalada (No kidding – Follow this child – Part 3)

Padasevanam – Service to his feet – Bharata is the foremost amongst the Bhaktas. But if one notices the feet of Narayana, Sri Lakshmi is eternally found there to remind Bhaktas to practice this relationship.

Archanam – Adoring the beauty of God. Real archanam is exemplified by Gopikas

Vandanam – Worshipping God – All the bhaktas seem to have this relationship.

Dasyam – Looking at God as the master – No better example can be given than Ramabhakta Hanuman.

Sakhyam – Friendship – Arjuna is the best example

Aatma Nivedanam – Complete Surrender – Saranagati is the central tenet of Sri Vaishanvism. Rama Avatara is filled with many Saranagatas like Guha, Sugriva and Vibhishana.

            Humans have relationships with Paramatma based on certain bhavas, according to Sri Chaitanya Charanamrita:

·         Shanta Bhava - Attitude of a sage or saint

·         Vatsalya Bhava - Attitude of a mother, Yashoda

·         Dasya Bhava - Attitude of a servant, Hanuman

·         Sakhya Bhava - Attitude of a friend, Arjuna

·         Madhurya Bhava - Attitude of a lover, Andal, Meera

It is interesting Krishna also categorizes the bhaktas into four categories.

चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन ।
आर्तो जिज्ञासुरर्थार्थी ज्ञानी च भरतर्षभ ॥७- १६॥   

chatur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛitino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī cha bharatarṣhabha ॥7-16 ॥ 

Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me, O Arjuna, and they are distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of wealth and the wise, O Lord of the Bharatas.

Artha: Such a devotee seeks out for the grace of God, in order to get rid of some sorrow or pain. Pain elimination is the primary motive. When Draupadi found there was no hope of saving herself from Dhushasana, despite the presence of her five husbands and all the elders of the Kuru family, she realized that her only solace and hope is Bhagawan Shri Krishna. Gajendra, the king of elephants fought the crocodile for such a long time, even Vishnu was overanxious to come and help. When the ego got bruised with the slipping energy, Gajendra gave out a cry, Adhimoola, and Vishnu was there to assist.

Jijnasu:  Is a seeker of Knowledge. To such a devotte, Bhagawan's grace will solve a lot of unanswered questions. He is not after trivial pursuits of sensory pleasure. Uddhava was a reat devotee of Krishna and thanks to his relentless pursuit of Knowledge, we have Uddhava Gita.

Artharthi:  There are different angles provided by different commentators. The most common one is the seeker is after money, spouse, children, power, position, name and fame. There is a subtle draw for the worldly objects even in their surrender. Sugriva's friendship or Vibhishana's surrender had the hopes of getting the lost kingdom and getting rid of Ravana respectively. Such commentators view Artha and Arthaarthi under one category where the seeker is after paltry things, whilst Jijnasu and Jnani are after more subtler things. They opine the order should have been flipped but for maintaining the metre of the song.

Swami Krishnananda opines otherwise. Since Artha means Value and Jijnasu means Knowledge and the Jnani is ultimate Wisdom. It appears there is a gradual ascent in the sequence of devotional spirit. He opines Artharthi to be interpreted as the fulfilment of purusharthas of life, which would include dharma-artha-kama-moksha. This category, Purusha Arthaarthis, would be a perfect way to interpret this third category.

Jnani:  A man of self-Illumination. Sucha a person is the devotee of the highest order. Sage Narada, Suka Maharishi, Prahalada are few prime examples.

            Let us use all these pointers given by these wiser folks who have not only travelled this path before, but also laid it. The paths may seem different and will suit differently based on one's vasanas, but they fuse with the rest. We have a Adi Shankara, a great Jnani sing like a Bhakta, whilst Andal, a great devotee is filled with Jnana. My pranams at the feet of all true bhaktas.

Om Tat Sat

Suggested Reading:

·         Bhakti Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda

·         Eleven points for Development of Bhakti – Swami Sivananda

·         Nine Modes of Bhakti Yoga Sadhana

Jehovism Deconstructed

WHY THIS ARTICLE?

            This article is dedicated to the untiring efforts of Shri Rajiv Malhotra, a dharmic warrior par-excellence, who has been shining light on the various issues plaguing Sanatana Dharma.  For decades, he has lamented, despite great following, few do more than watch the bull fight from the popcorn stands. I refuse to participate in the heart ache of this intellectual giant, hence this squirrel’s contribution to the Sethu bandana, of raising the awareness of Hindus. I begin with a clarion call to all dharmis to get onto the arena as players and not merely be spectators.

PURPOSE

            In the tradition of PurvaPaksha, we try to understand other traditions and logically, theologically and intelligently challenge the loopholes in their theory. The intention of the article is not to dwell on the inconsistencies within the bible, gross inaccuracies despite a massive bibilical archeology push or to expose the uncharitable acts of the missionaries or proselytizers, since the invention of that religion. For the latter, one can read more in Breaking India – Rajiv Malhotra.

            An UttarPaksha is given, highlighting the inaccuracies and logical flaws in the theology of Christianity. A large overlap exists with Judaism. Hence, both are included as Jehovism, who is the Father in the Heaven for Christianity. 

The article aims at educating Hindus and arming them with facts which should help them in combating the ever-growing evangelical and proselytizing attempters in India. The article will not disrespect any of the traditions, however illogical and wrong they are. Reading these type of articles should aid Emotional Kshatriyas(EK) to become into Intellectual Kshatriyas(IK). IKs must take such information and put it into action.

So far, we have seen only pathiris (Church Father) and proselytizers do campaign calling all of us sinners. We need to turn the table around based on clear understanding of their theology. For a quick easy version, I recommend reading the Hindu Good News.

PurvaPaksha – Quintessence of Christianity

            There is only one God. God Exists as Trinity, who are three, yet one – Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Father is also referred as Jehovah, son as Jesus and Christ and Holy Ghost as Holy Spirit. God is the one created this world from nothing (The Christian interpretation of the world as flat and created six thousand years ago, is now increasingly morphed as God created the Universe to be in line with modern science). This beginningless God wished to create, so he made angels and the Heaven. Some of them (a third) disobeyed and were sent to Hell. God took six days to create the world and then took rest on the seventh day, Sunday, also observed as Sabbath.

            God created the first man, Adam in his image. He created it from dust and breathed life through the nostrils and placed a soul in him. He then took a rib and made the first lady, Eve. He let them into the Garden of Eden to enjoy and forbade them to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Satan, the fallen angel, Lucifer, took a form of a talking snake and enticed Eve to eat the fruit. She partook and also convinced Adam to follow suit. Jehovah discovered this lapse and cursed them and all their future unborn progeny (a bunch of curses). This is the original sin and all humans are born with it. It gets transmitted to next generation, irrespective of the human behavior. 

            Souls are put in this world per God’s will. Souls are by nature born into sin and are naturally attracted to it. God sent many prophets to steer mankind. After 4000 odd years, God took pity and the Holy Ghost descended into Mary’s womb to be born as Jesus Christ. This virgin birth was necessary for God to help mankind get over the original sin. After a series of trials and tribulations, Jesus Christ gives up his life. He gets crucified on a cross and dies as a sacrifice for all sins of mankind, stemming from the original sin. He then comes back to life and ascends to Heaven to occupy the right side of Jehovah.

            All souls are given free will (This doctrine appears to be a later construct more as an explanation to the questions posed, not literally found in the bible). Salvation can be had ONLY by liberating from the Original Sin and all the following ones. This can be ONLY had by having faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior. As the world comes to an end, Jesus Christ will appear in all his glory to make Judgement. He will call all those who are alive and bring back the dead to their physical bodies. The good ones line up on his right and the bad ones to his left. Faith in Christ is the primary merit which determines which side one lands up (so by this logic, even Buddha and Gandhi are destined to Hell). Upon judging their merit, the good are sent to heaven to enjoy for eternity. The evil ones are sent to eternal hell, consigned to raging fire.

            Souls who attain salvation are free of sins, live in heaven, praising God, enhancing his glory and experience God forever.   

UttarPaksha

            This segment is focused on taking each of the core Christian idea and proving it as an air castle. Demolishing any one is sufficient to disprove their tenets. Yet, we will see how multiple ideas can be demolished and prove that their entire theology is an artificial construct.

Original Sin – Its creation and propagation is the only sin

            There are quite a few interpretations given by Christians to circumvent the flaws, including asserting that science is not correct to creation story is an allegory. All of them showcase the hollowness of the core ideas. No idea is more central and essential than the idea of Original Sin in Christianity. Yet even a school child with decent logic can knock off the legs on which this entire religion stands.

            To counter this, the tools deployed by the church include increased fear based on hell and Satan, dealing severe punishments (luckily in the modern world we do not have burning women as witches on stakes, they seem to be exclusive to radical Islam).

            Hearing the footsteps of Jehovah, Adam and Eve, overpowered by shame and the idea of nakedness, an idea given to them by the fruit of wisdom they partook, try to hide themselves from him. Jehovah looks around and calls out, “Where are you?”.  If Jehovah was Omniscient, how come he has to wonder what happened and where they were hiding? Should he not be aware even before hand?

            Jehovah had already witnessed a rebellion of angels. He should have at least been aware of Satan’s motives from his track record.  He failed to read Satan’s mind again or could he not read him at all in the first place. In either case, he is not Omniscient. If Jehovah was absent when Satan tempted Eve as a talking snake, He definitely is not Omnipresent. In case, he knew, but failed to stop Satan, he is definitely not omnipotent.

            Let us give the benefit of doubt and assume Jehovah knew it all and still let it happen, fully aware of the consequences, and then he is definitely demonstrably not displaying compassion. Which Father will let their own children to be subject to such a terrible condition, knowing well that the children may not be able to handle and still be declaring oneself to be called as compassionate? Even animal parents do much better as we see in the world.

            To top this compassionate claim, Jehovah places a series of curses on Adam and Eve and entire humanity.  How can entire mankind be made to pay a price for the mistake of one couple, far removed in space and time? If on the other hand, it is argued, these were part of his plan to increase his glory, which again seems to be a vain display, who is interested in showcasing the glory? Before humanity, only he existed, so what a bloated ego to create entire humanity and universe, just to have a bunch of robots singing paeans.

            If we continue to argue that Jehovah created the entire universe, per his own plan and design, then it also follows that the original sin was predetermined and premeditated. In such a case, how can one accept that the original sin stems from Adam and Eve, it must definitely be from Jehovah. If at all anyone deserves the punishment, it must he Jehovah himself as he is culpable of putting entire humanity’s fate on the hands of one couple who were not made aware of Satan at that point or even the protection of the Omnipresent creator.

            Not only is this original sin doomed to exist till Armageddon or Doomsday, but also passes on from parent to child like a genetic disease or a venereal one. Thus even a newborn, just out of the womb, can be ridiculously be called a sinner. What sin would a new born commit? Yet the compassionate Father in heaven declares it so. 

Satan and Hell – One hell of a hole in their theology

            Satan and Hell are at the core of Christianity, one can even say on par with Jehovah. If such an idea doesn’t exist, then any logical mind will start seeing all the holes in the theology. To hide these, they manufacture fear and fuse all the holes into one and label it as Satan and banish him, along with the ones who question, to hell.

            Christianity deems the universe as black or white. If you do not accept any interpretation, however ridiculous it may be, as it is, then you must be inspired by Satan and destined for Hell. They pushed the very thought oriented Greeks and Romans into a medieval dark age. Till Renaissance happened due to the contact of ideas flowing from elsewhere, they held complete sway on the masses with a vice like iron grip. Even today, in bible belt school districts of the southern US, evolution theory is not even taught to school kids.

            One is constantly being reminded how cunning Satan is. Yet God is busy watching? The alternate solution offered is blind belief and demands that reasoning be kept away. 

            Logic demands that God created a perfect world (later interpreted as universe, as the Christian logic could see only a flat world with stars flung for decoration in the sky). Even before he created his best creation man, he had witnessed a rebellion from a third of the angels. So doesn’t it amount to an imperfection? Instead of fixing the root problem, Satan, he lets him persist and toy with his more precious creation, Adam and Eve. Was he not aware or powerless against Satan? One really wonders with the constant ways Satan is being described of his powers, if he is more powerful than even Jehovah?

            The Hell presents deep problems to Jehovistic ideology. It is one hell of a problem, which Jehovists will never be able to climb out of. It is declared that after Judgement Day, all non-believers, who are all sinners by default, get sent to hell to be roasted in hell fire for eternity. So who is running the Hell kitchen fires – God or Satan? If Satan, why is God still tolerating Satan, but not the poor mankind who are far inferior to Satan. If Satan, is it part of a deal with him that God will send poor souls for fueling the fire? If it is God, why is he so cruel and sadistic to those who merely didn’t believe in his glory? Why is Jehovah such a bloated hubris? That too the punishment is for eternity. So by their book, Mahatma Gandhi and even Buddha and all Jain Tirthankars will be busy roasting in Hell. What an idiotic, imbecile way to look at the Universe.

            The Hell problems fester at the core of Christianity. Let us assume someone borderline case, realizes as soon as he is about to be pushed into Hell. One cannot rule out such a theoretical statistical possibility. If such an individual, incessantly repents and prays from Hell, will they attain Salvation? If the answer is Yes, then stay in Hell is not eternal for such a person. It also means there is a potential backdoor from Hell. If the answer is No, then the fact that Jehovah and Christ are not compassionate is evident beyond any doubt. It also disproves their marketing ploy, “Faith will bring Salvation” is as big lie as their religion itself.

            We already saw that how all sins get trumped by the biggest one of all, disbelief and there is only one punishment – hell fire roast for eternity. On the flip side, in heaven, will the enjoyment be proportionate to the deeds performed by the individual? Or is faith the only entry point and qualifier for all enjoyments. If so, one can safely conclude, Jehovah has no sense of justice, since he displays no sense of proportion in either heaven or hell. This defeats the very claim Jehovah is a just God. If the answer is no, there are gradations in heaven and hell, it opens up more serious issues. Do the enjoyments get adjusted for the sins performed? If that is so, then why not the ones roasting in hell, get their punishments in accordance to the merits they have performed? 

            In either case, Jehovah is caught between heaven and hell, which seem to be equally problematic for the ideology.

            Hell’s problems do not stop there for Jehovah. Where does Hell exist? If Hell exists inside God, within his domains, then part of God is Hell, which is untenable to Christians as God cannot be impure. If that be the case, Hell exists outside God. This definitely proves that God’s presence or access is not there everywhere. This negates the basic idea God is all pervading.  So either they must accept hellish attributes exist in God or they must accept that their God is not Omnipresent, which obviously implies, he is not omniscient and omnipotent.

            We can thus logically conclude that Jehovism is riddled with more holes than all of Hell they describe.

Exclusivity – a tale of Hare’s horn

            Throughout the existence of the monotheistic desert religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, they have insisted on exclusivity. Only certain individuals and certain tribes were favored by God, not only to receive information, but also qualify as the chosen ones. None of them venture to qualify what sets them apart.

            Old Testament, which deals with the exclusivity of the Israelite tribes, fails to get in line with science. Why were other civilizations much older than the biblical ones not chosen by God for the message? This also explains why the 19^th century indologists like Max Mueller, Robert Caldwell were desperate to tie the vedic period to just prior to Christ. The minute Saraswati valley sites started popping up, they kept this artificial barrier by repeatedly propagating the lie that the Vedic period was after the Harappan times. No one was allowed to venture and ask what if the Vedic period could have been contemporary to the Saraswati valley civilization or even predate it, per the oral traditions of India.

            We have thus seen the effects of exclusivity that keeps introducing strong prejudice even in seemingly unrelated academics.

            The Christian ideology took this further and reserved the exclusivity around the individual – Jesus Christ. Till date there are no proven historical documents or records from the contemporary period of Christ. Though there are ample proofs unearthed for many Old Testament events. We can for the time being ignore the fact that the Gospels were written several decades after the supposed historical figure Christ. We may also ignore the severe internal inconsistencies commencing from his birth to death. We can also try overlooking the fact that most of what is the framework of modern Christianity did not emerge three hundred years later through the Nicene Creed.

            Why did Jehovah try the various attempts to instruct mankind (read only Israelites) end up as failure? God could have made Eve conceive Christ instead of Mary and cured the mankind of this grave Original Sin. Didn’t he get the idea till he experimented with various prophets from Moses to Abraham? If one were to say he tried his best, but humanity with free will kept going back to sin, then we must acknowledge that Jehovah’s plans were not foolproof. Why didn’t he consider all the aspects before coming with the plan? Was he not aware? Again dents his claim as Omniscient.

            He kept following this Israelite tribe like a shadow, yet the so called compassionate God didn’t choose to give his ideas to the other major civilizations that existed like Indus Valley, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian. We can at least overlook the rest of humanity were not as advanced. 

            It appears this exclusive deal doesn’t conclude with Old Testament. The New Testament and Christ’s exclusivity can be best summed in Michael Arnheim’s words – “And yet there is no religion in the world which is more insistent than Christianity upon its claim to truth or more confident of its superiority to all the other faiths”.

            Once any logical person gets exposed to Sanatana Dharma and gets an idea of the different paths that lead to realization, one is compelled to be charitable to entertain the notion that there must be more than blind faith as the path. Ekam sat, vipraha bahuda vadanti thunders the Vedas. 

            This lack of charitable feeling based on an elevated understanding compounded the by the evangelical zeal is at the root of many evils mankind is facing today. Rajiv Malhotra has repeatedly explained the mess behind this history centric approach to Truth, which makes one arrogant to call other religions as demon inspired or worshippers of demons. We already saw how shallow the demon centered arguments of Jehovism lacks legs.

Virgin Birth Conundrum

            It is contended that Mary and Joseph were betrothed. Yet Jesus Christ was born without any contact from her man or other. To save Mary’s life (as death by stoning was the prevailing tribal method to deal with out of wed lock), Joseph has Mary to move in with her. They do have other kids after Jesus. So how does it negate that Mary did not conceive from either Jospeh or another man. This proves that Joseph and Mary were neither ascetics nor thinking beyond the flesh.

            In Christian theory, every child inherits the Original Sin. If that’s true both the mother and the father should have to have been above the Original Sin. Mary is born under normal circumstances and hence a sinner. How come Jesus did not inherit the sin, because only the male parent is the Holy Ghost? So arguing that the child born from one sinner gets the sin absolved due to the contact with Godhood is circular.

            If we contend the Holy Ghost was the only reason behind Jesus Christ’s birth, then where was the need for Mary? If Mary was also a required cause, then how come the sins do not contaminate the special child?  Again we go back to special case exclusivity. If the Holy Ghost could protect Jesus Christ from the sins, in that mechanism, why didn’t God have so much compassion to protect the sins from getting passed along like a venereal disease? Again points to lack of compassion. 

            The usual cop out given by the faithful is God’s ways are mysterious. Anything we cannot explain or when they get cornered, God is indeed mysterious. Of course, humanity does not have all the answers in Nature, nor will it ever in future. Yet, if one were to merely accept the exclusivity argument, one can safely conclude it contradicts the compassionate nature of God.

            So either the idea of virgin birth, which existed in many surrounding cultures at that time, has to be accepted as a myth or it must be given the same status to all the cultures that believe in virgin birth as a possibility.  If we agree that all virgin births are true, it kills the exclusivity idea of Christianity. If on the other hand, if we continue to insist only Jesus Christ as a progeny of virgin birth, then it is pure myth. Obviously all the theology and ideology based the myth crumbles to dust.

            Science is adding more to the acceleration of killing this virgin birth myth, which is why many conservationists do not want any research on these lines. Many animal examples are documented beyond doubt to give birth in an asexual way, called Parthenogenesis. Many include invertebrates, few vertebrates like amphibians and reptiles. In humans, already stem cells have been produced from unfertilized eggs through parthenogenesis. Once science proves a fully viable embryo can be produced from a woman, it will permanently exorcise the exclusivity arguments which are critical and central to Christianity.

Resurrection

            The Christian doctrine recently has been amplifying the idea of Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Ghost is all the same entity. If they are all the same, then it is obvious Jesus could have never died. If he never died, then he was not immortal. If he died, it means that even God is mortal. This paradox is being avoided by the explanation that Jesus was not the body - Oops are they finally accepting the Hindu philosophy that you are not the body. Please put shutters on the shop or accept you are stealing from Hinduism. 

            If Jesus was not the body that died, then why make the big deal of the sacrifice as anyway he was the soul.  The sacrifice appears meaningless if one were to focus on any soul only is important argument. Isn’t death in other humans the same event where we sacrifice the body, albeit not per our choice? Even in Christ’s case it was not his preferred choice. He keeps lamenting to the Father why he had to undergo all these. He did not keep reiterating the church’s claim which should have kept him at peace knowing well that it is part of the Sacrifice for mankind plan.

            If Christ was continuously aware of his being GOD and going through the motions, emotions and commotions in the body, then the entire Resurrection episode as narrated in the bible, stands on a quicksand. God completely aware of the body and soul idea (sounds like Vedanta) goes through this exercise of sacrifice where he sheds the body. So what does that sacrifice amount to? How did it pay for the sins, because someone vicariously suffered for you? Then what happens to the people who were born prior to Christ, who never heard of Christ, like Buddha for instance.  At least Moses, Abraham and the Israelites have had special chance. What about the various great souls like Confucius, Lao Tzu prior to Christ in civilizations far away? If they get the same grace of Christ then why not others in other periods who do not believe in him?

            Resurrection is such a critical event in biblical history, yet the four authors give different account on the time that lapsed between Christ’s placement in the tomb and when he emerged. Also the number of people who first saw varies completely that it cannot be even treated as a testimonial. Even if one were to give varying accounts of the number of hare horn spotted and the place they saw, hare's horn is still a fantasy.

Sin

            Sin is a very central idea, essential to the very existence of Christianity. If the world needs to follow this idea, unless one is psychologically brainwashed to condemning oneself as a sinner, one may not feel the necessity for redemption. A detailed comparison on the idea of Sin can be found in the article – Are you a Sinner?

 

            Christianity’s core idea that Jesus Christ died for all the sins of humanity begs some serious questions. It is argued that God wanted all the people to know of this sacrifice, hence their underlying missionary zeal. If so, how many have died before Christ’s birth and how many in future will be born without ever hearing Christ’s name or deeds? So God was very unkind to all those who never came in contact. Since it was the wish of the Father and clearly this wish has not come to pass, so it was either an ill-conceived plan or a special one to keep many unfortunates away. If it is argued that the ones who were born, who never heard of him are given special privilege, then it is against their tenet that one must have faith to get salvation?

            Hell is the permanent residence for all sinners. Since Jesus Christ takes all the sins, does he get sent to Hell? No comes the response as he was faithful to his Father. So what happens to the fruits of action, Karmaphala? We already saw in the earlier sections that there is injustice in the way Jehovah operates.

            Since all the karmaphala are coming after the Judgement Day, why do we see so many evils and sadness all around? Why are so many babies afflicted with fatal genetic diseases? Pat comes the response, God created them with a special purpose. If the argument is they are sent to the world to give a message, it still does not justify the suffering why as individuals they undergo. Hence suffering has become another central idea. Any amount of probing give us only the circular logic, God’s ways are mysterious, we, humans, are too puny of an intellect for us to understand the ways of the Lord.

            Christianity has always kept the Doomsday at an arm’s length. Not a generation, in its history, has passed without the fear of an upcoming Doomsday. This enables them to keep their masses within the circle of fear and a constant reminder that the Judgement Day is around the corner.  Over the two millennia since Christ, when devout Christians, in their millions are eagerly awaiting the Judgement Day? Where are they waiting? What is the status of their souls? Are they in heaven or hell, what do they experience? If it is in accordance to their future heaven or hell tickets, then why have Judgement again? If not, why get punished while waiting?

            How come the judge (God) can be impartial, if he knew at the time of creation what a soul is going to do? Increasingly it is being argued that God gave free will and the individual soul is empowered to make its own choice. Then it implies that God does not know of this choice before hand, reopening the argument that Jehovah does not seem to know everything. One cannot have both the extreme ends of opposite choices. One may not be able to contend that God destined a few at their inception to a doomed future and still argue that the soul has the free will choice. Perhaps the Christians may start stealing probability theories next, they need to begin applying Hiesenberg’s Uncertainity Principle in their theology, and the mere thought of science coming to rescue the ideology is enough to make the hardcore Bible believers cringe.

            Now let us analyze from another viewpoint. Jehovah sent his son to die for all the sinners. Bible argues it took four thousand years of human history for Jehovah to figure the right solution. Why did Jehovah let so much time lapse between Adam and Christ? Again, one of those unexplainable, mysterious ways of the Lord is the best response one can hope for.  The ones who literally go by the book will rush to his defense that Jehovah was not quiet, sent us so many prophets to help this specially chosen tribe. So all those prophets prior to Christ were not effective prototypes? Or they were still part of the plan. If argued they were not designed to be ineffective, what was the plan with all the prophets to get them out of the Original Sin? If the argument is Jehovah did a step by step approach to eradicate sins, it again goes back to their famed hopeless escape, mysterious are God’s ways and we are too small to understand the argument. The same small brain only has so far broken down all the available logic given by the blind followers of the blind faith.

            The argument is God first let the world to be plagued by Satan, continues to let him trouble poor humanity and then redeem it, sounds more like an evil plot right off the pages of Hollywood.  Jehovah has premeditated this entire scheme as he is ready to send the dissenters by creating Hell. If his plan was to rescue all, then why was there a need to create Hell. We already looked at the holy Hell mess.

            If sins, were already removed by Jesus Christ, all believers should have instantly attained salvation. But all souls are supposed to wait for the Judgement Day, which follows the Doomsday is still around the corner. A little more wait for these souls may serve them better as they are promised an eternity in heaven.  It is argued that children who die very young will also attain salvation. This is due to the grace of God we are informed.  If that is true, why not provide the same grace to other non-believers who might have never come in contact with even the word Jesus Christ?

Snapshot since Creation – The mess really begins here

            Man was created in the image of God. Is God with or without a form? If without, how come man has one. If the image stands for the soul, then there is a more interesting knot. God created man from dust, in his image and breathed life. As God’s breath was already pre-existing, creation is nothing more than a rearrangement. So only the body was created and not the soul, as it literally is God’s breath. (We will not bother asking what God is breathing and if that is a prerequisite for his existence).

            God created this entire world of diversity. Science has shown the timeline, per bible, not only to be absurd and ridiculous but also untenable. Let us assume that only the timing was wrong, then why does such an incredible diversity exist, in far corners where mankind has not even reached like sea trench. Again mysterious are the Lord’s ways that he created those creatures for singing his glory in the depths of the ocean.

            Why only a specific desert community was chosen amongst others, again mysterious are his ways is the only response. If God gives both happiness and sorrow, what is the criterion, without repeating the default response? There seems to be grave injustice at the root of such an explanation, not glory.

            Interestingly God existed before creation for eternity. The suddenly one day he decides to create a universe of automatons who will be singing his glory. Knowing pretty well, some of the folks will not follow his plan, as he could not design them properly in the first place, he creates Hell for those dissenters. He did not learn from his first rebellion, which proves his limited powers, a far cry from being Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. His prophet series did not really solve the Original Sin. So he comes with a very innovative sacrifice of merely the body, which was perishable to start with and calls it a sacrifice for all mankind.

            From the repeated claims that the Son was sired by the Holy Ghost, it proves that the Son was non-existent prior to this event. Yet it is claimed that both the Son and Father are the same and equal, which is untenable.

Conclusion

            With this small walk through, we have completely deconstructed Jehovism. It is my sincere endeavor that more innocent Hindus are protected with this information. We have completely, logically demolished all the strong points of Jehovism. But, we are not out of the woods. If one were to read Breaking India - Rajiv Malhotra, one can easily understand the long powerful hands that are holding the Indian society.

            Let me again end this article with a call for all Sanatana Dharmis to unite and understand the road ahead. Let us spread the awareness of the flaws in the Jehovist ideology. Let us understand our responsibilities. Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha. We have a responsibility to protect Sanatana Dharma and in turn that Dharma will protect us.

Om Tat Sat

Suggested Reading:

·         http://rajivmalhotra.com/library/articles/hindu-good-news/

·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajiv-malhotra/the-hindu-good-news-you-a_b_854904.html