More than many other things, Islam matters.
But I think it matters mostly because it is the banner of a reactionary political movement.
Otherwise, Islam is no different from other religions.
You can find just as much misogyny, cruelty and inhumanity in the Bible or other religious books as you can in the Koran.
And Islam, Christianity or Judaism are fundamentally no different from Scientology or Moon’s Unification Church, which the German government deems to be ‘cults endangering social and personal development.’
After all, what do they think religion is?
But even so, today – as we speak – there is still a distinction to be made between religion in general and Islam in particular but for no other reason than that it is the ideology behind a movement that is, in many places, part and parcel of the state, the law, criminal so-called ‘justice’ system, judiciary, and educational system.
I think this point is key for a principled criticism of Islam and more importantly a progressive and humane response to the totalitarianism of our era.
This means, firstly, that we have a duty to criticise Islam; this goes beyond the mere right to and freedom of speech and expression.
Clearly, the German government – in fact all European governments – the United Nations, the religious nationalist European left and other apologists for Islam don’t think so. Germany’s Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble, for example, is so concerned about Islam’s image that he is quoted as saying that media reports on Islam often concentrate on the subject of violence and rarely focus on the reality of Islam in everyday life.
But the reality of Islam in everyday life is far more violent than anything even a minister in a government with close relations with the political Islamic movement could fathom. Entire generations slaughtered over decades and buried in mass graves in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The human cost of Islam in power is enough of a reason – the only necessary reason – to make criticism a task and duty.
After all, it is impossible – let me repeat impossible – to challenge a political movement that has wreaked havoc primarily for the people of the Middle East and North Africa if you are not allowed to fully and unequivocally criticise its ideology and banner.
Now I know some say that the problem is not Islam but the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. But in my opinion, there can be no Islamic feminism, Islamic reformism, Islamic democracy, Islamic human rights, and moderate interpretations of Islam when it is in power.
Of course there are Muslims or those labelled as such who have humanist, secularist, moderate, feminist, atheist, communist and other progressive viewpoints but this is not one and the same with Islam in power being as such.
In my opinion, a ‘moderate’ or ‘reformed’ religion is one that has been pushed back and reigned in by an enlightenment. And not before.
Criticism of religion has always been an important vehicle for progress and the betterment of humanity’s lot.
And it is within this context that criticism of Islam finds meaning. The right wing’s virulent criticism of Islam and its sudden championing of women’s rights in the Middle East – whilst legislating religious morality and misogyny here at home – self-servingly ignores the main issue at hand, which is religion and political power.
If we are going to win this battle again – as in centuries past – we have to push Islam and religion out of the public sphere. Full stop.
There can’t be any compromise because too many lives are at stake. And compromise includes the misguided liberal attempts at interfaith coalitions thereby increasing the numbers of religions and beliefs that have access to power in society or more reactionary sorts of appeasement such as that of the German government or the likes of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. In case you haven’t yet heard, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation launched recently in order ‘to promote respect and understanding about the world’s major religions and show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world.’ Religion wouldn’t need one public relations campaign after another if it was so good, now would it? Even calling it ‘faith’ and avoiding the term religion won’t get around the fact that it is the genocidaire of our age.
Either way – misguided or purely out of economic and political interests – these endeavours only serve to increase, justify and consolidate the role of religion in society – and are part of the problem rather than any solution.
The fundamental problem being that they are more concerned with religion – either apologising for it or trying to show how much better ‘their own’ religion is – than with real live human beings.
In my opinion, you have to choose.
You must either defend the human being or you must defend Islam and religion. You can’t defend both because they are incompatible with and antithetical to each other.
Of course this doesn’t mean that people don’t have a right to religion or atheism. Of course they do but as a private affair.
Labelling millions of people as Muslims and collaborating with Islamic organisations as the German government is doing with its Islamic conferences only helps to hand over millions of often resisting people to the political Islamic movement. This despite the fact that according to the government’s own admission, the Islamic organisations at the annual conferences represent at best 10-15% of those it has deemed to be Muslims.
This type of politics ignores the distinction between the oppressed and oppressor and actually sees them as one and the same. It ignore the important distinction between Muslims and those deemed to be such and Islam and political Islam. It is politics that implies that people want to live the way they are forced to. That they actually deserve no better because it is ‘their own culture and religion’ imputing on innumerable people the most reactionary elements of culture and religion, which is that of the ruling class, parasitical imams and self-appointed ‘community leaders’.
And so, criticism of Islam is deemed racism; it is not.
And so rights, equality, integration are raised vis-à-vis religion rather than the human being. Since when has people’s integration meant the integration of their so called beliefs?
As I have said, whilst criticism of Islam and political Islam is an historical duty and necessity it has to be based within a politics that puts people first to have real meaning and affect real change.
It has to be done but for humanity’s sake.
In the face of this onslaught, secularism, universalism, citizenship rights, a humanity without labels and values worthy of 21st century humanity can only be defended via another transformative enlightenment by this century’s avant-gardes. We must give no more concessions to religion and cultural relativism; we must no longer respect and tolerate inhuman ideals, values and practices. An uncompromising and shamelessly aggressive demand for secularism is only a minimum if we are to ensure that humanity is safeguarded. Today, more than ever, we are in need of the de-religionisation of society – a concerted battle against the religion industry, which is above the law, unregulated and never held accountable for its fatwas, murder and mayhem.
As Mansoor Hekmat, the late Marxist thinker said: ‘It has been proved time and time again that pushing back religiosity and religious reaction is not possible except through unequivocal defence of human values against religion. It has been proved time and time again that preventing religious barbarism does not come about through bribing it and trying to give it a human face, but through the fight against reactionary religious beliefs and practices. What price should be paid… to realise that Islam and religion do not have a progressive, supportable faction?’ (Mansoor Hekmat, In Defence of the Prohibition of the Islamic Veil for Children.)
The above is Maryam Namazie’s speech at an alternative to the Islamic conference in Koln, Germany on May 31, 2008.
The above was first published in WPI Briefing 205, dated June 3, 2008.
What utter clap-trap….
You should take your sermon elsewhere, there must be someone, somewhere, with some form of disorder who will appreciate it..
That is neither a comment or an essay. Please try and be more comprehensive.
Religion of Soul – Religion of All Saint Tara Chand Ji Maharaj generally used to say in his discourses– Brahamana (a higher cast in Hindu cast system) is that man who has dissolved himself into Brahamic (cosmic) consciousness. He does not accept donation, but tries to give, whatsoever he has, to the needy, indigent and destitute. Power of Word, the Creator, reveals in his soul which fulfills all his desires. The Lord of imaginations (Kalpavriksha) accepts his offerings of Love and devotion and provides all the treasures of life to him. Saint Charan Das says- Brahmana is that who identifies Brahman (God) in himself Becomes introvert and seeks the vision of Lord His senses cease to travel outward He nurtures compassion for every creature He becomes devoid of passions, anger, lust, greed and ego; Brahmana is that who possesses these virtues. We are devoid of internal treasures embedded in the deeper layers of our Self because we have not identified the hidden enrichment inside. The actual bliss lies inside but we are groping outside in the gloomy world of passions and grief. We are adopting lopsided approach which create imbalance in our life energies. The outer achievements are dominating over the spirit of rationale and wisdom which has created imbalance between the inner and the outer world. The result is tension, instability, selfishness, individuality, unhealthy competition, nepotism, communalism and terrorism. The reason of this imbalance is that we have not awakened the spirit of Wisdom seated in the middle of eyes (Third eye); the Lord of which gives all the orders; all the actions originate from this sphere (Ajya Chakra) of actions. Ajya means command, Chakra means sphere. All commands emanate from this sanctioning authority. All the senses respond to the mandate of this housing spirit. But the inner Self of this sanctioning authority has been sleeping in his den for innumerable lives. We have not made efforts to awaken its power which is sleeping encoiled for many past lives. When it awakens, the life force starts dancing which is seen and enjoyed by the devotee, the yogi. The Hindu scriptures have called this state as the ‘Awakening of Serpentine power’. It is called serpentine power as it opens its vistas of light like the expanding and contracting face of a snake. Sri Aurobindo has called it Psychic being who is the actual representative of Supermind and master of transformation in this phenomenal world of actions and reactions, and cause and effect. It is the immutable spirit which dwells in the mutable spectrum of physical consciousness. It is the glimmering spark of eternity amidst the fort of dark forces of relative existence. Bhagwat Gita has narrated this power as Kshara Purusha; the mutable Spirit of universe which goes on changing upto the time this cosmic play persists. This Kshara Purusha is the Lord of Works and Psychic being remains in its fold as the representative of Supreme Being, the Satpurusha. It coordinates and commands all the activities of this Ksaras Purusha in any individual existence. Upto when this psychic Being is not awakened, its spirit remains liable to mutability and perishability and remains the instrument of the changes of time, space and causation. It follows the principle of cause and effect. Its eternity does not manifest in its self. Its bliss does remain unveiled and disguised. The friability and fragility of its grounded nature becomes slave of lust and passions. Problems, sorrows and grief of the lower nature remain integrated part of its spirit. This state of helplessness and weakness of the spirit is called ‘Jiva’ in Hindu jurisprudence. When this spirit identifies its natal strength of Real nature, Para-prakriti, Para-shakti or Radha, it awakens and the higher nature of imperishable, intangible and immutable Purusha descends into the brittle regime of Ksara Purusha and dismantles the domain of illusion and hallucination. This immutable spirit has been called as Aksara Purusha, Aksara Brahman or Shabd Brahman; the eternal and imperishable power of Supreme Being which manifests through the melody of celestial Song (the Word Power) in the universe. This Aksara Purusha or Brahman is the Lord of knowledge; the originator of all the streams of mental consciousness from where outflows all the gnosis of visible and invisible spheres of the existence. Discriminative power of mind and wisdom are the results of the outpouring of this Sun of luminous knowledge. Lord of Works draws its vitality from this Sun of gnosis. This Purusha has also been called Savitri-Surya or Gayatri-Surya. This sphere of consciousness is the golden womb, Hirnaygrabha; the womb of universe where lies all the seeds of this universe. The universe takes birth from this womb of Lord of knowledge; the Aksar Purusha. There is third layer of consciousness which reconciles the opposition of Ksara and Aksara, mutable and immutable, God and non-God, thesis and anti-thesis. All the physical, vital, mental and spiritual forces become satiable in this stratum of consciousness. All works, all knowing and unknowing plunges into the ocean of Bliss of this Purusha (Soami), the Satpurusha or called Purushottama in Gita. Sri Aurobindo calls this state of bliss as the Supramentalisation of the being. This realization of the Self can come through self-giving as it is the inherited legacy of the Lord of love and devotion. The fortified spheres of Ksara and Aksar can only be surmounted and churned through the intense longing of love and devotion for Satpurusha. This realization goes beyond all the boundaries of abysmal lows and sublime highs. All the limitations and perceptions of life, mind, gods, and non-gods, virtues and non-virtues get vanished after taking a sip of the ambrosia, Amrit, of the sanctity of Satpurusha. The path of self-realization starts with the awakening of sleeping power lying within ourselves. It is called opening of Third eye. Buddha says it Divya Chaksu, supernatural eye of brightness. Mahavir Swami says it Param Jyoti, the supreme Light. Hazrat Muhammad calls it Noor; Light as the embodiment of Allah. Jesus Christ calls this experience as the Light of the world. In this experience, supernatural powers of gods and goddesses of goodness and virtue shower their grace on the yogi. The endowed grandeur of cosmic energy starts flowing unobstructed through the yogi as through a vessel of Supreme Being. But this opening of third eye is the initiation of spiritual realization. It is the opening of consciousness of Ksara Purusha, the Lord of Works or Virat Purusha, from where all the physical and gross form of cosmos originates. It is the starting of celestial or heavenly experience. Kapil, an Indian sage, calls this state of realization as the attainment of the power of discrimination, Vivekkhyatiprapti, and intuition. Patanjali Rishi narrates it the vision of cloud of Virtue, Dharammegha Samadhi. Sankaracharya, Sri Aurobindo and other seers of reality have called it the experience of Samprajyat Samadhi, a state of trance where all unknown becomes known. Vedic literature says when the Sun of Truth rises, the dark of ignorance vanishes; tat satyam suryam tamsi ksiyantam. This Sun of Gnosis remains refulgent for ever within the soul of yogi; adityavat prakashyati tat param. When this Sun shines inside the Soul of yogi, every kind of knowledge starts flowing towards him; yasmin vijyate sarvam vijyatam. When yogi surpasses this experience of refulgence, he reveals the truth in the form of superconscient light; not visible even with the supernatural eye of the Being. Th
e fervour and intensity of this light becomes so dense that it is not visible through the celestial eye of gods; the Third eye. This is the experience of Sahasrara; the seat of Param Purusha (Supreme Being). This experience has been known as the realization of Nirvikalpa (beyond all alternatives), Asamprajyat (beyond all knowledge) and Nirbeej (devoid of all the seeds of happiness and sorrows) Samadhi. Christian mystics have called this state as the ‘Dark night of Soul’ or ‘Dark Secret’; the experience of which was engrossed by Prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. In this experience he was enveloped by a cloud of darkness when he approached the abodes of God. It is a blissful experience where the spirits of God and non-God get immerged into the ocean of Bliss of transcendental Eternal. The experience of Sahasrara has been considered just a milestone in Radhasoami Yoga. It is the lower seat of Brahamic (Cosmic) consciousness. Osho opines that upto when the Ajya Chakra, is not awakened, man cannot break the shackles of slavery. He always remains in bondage of physical, economical, social and religious slavery. A slave of many masters, inner slavery as well as outer; an instrument in the hands of whimsical and unflinching forces of lower nature. Once released from the clutches of one master, he is incarcerated in the prison of another. He can not give command; he is not capable of giving command. He can only accept the orders because his power of Command, Ajya Purusha, is sleeping. Tantric philosophy says that senses are the food of third eye. This eye is hungry for many lives because it has undergone through the trance of deep sleep thereby losing its sense of intuitive discernment. The gate of its sensibility has been locked. Key is missing. Key which can awaken the serpentine power has been lost. The treasure can only be unearthed with the key of wisdom and the power of true discrimination. This enclosed bud can open its petals of wisdom only through the incense of psychic enlightenment. Once this psychic awakening is realized, the gates of benevolence and magnanimity will open. All the treasures of life and knowledge will become accessible. The adamant and obdurate walls of ego and ignorance will shatter and their consciousness will ultimately transform into the gnosis and bliss of superamental Power. The impressions of grief and hunger will vanish from the mantle of humanity. The sense of self-giving will dominate the sense of wit and the doors of ‘Heaven on Earth’ will be opened to the aspiring humanity. The sign of true religion is that it makes a man independent and provides redemption. It does not imprison him through the temptation of heaven and fear of hell. God lives within and it can be revealed by self-giving as love and devotion is the soul of supreme Realization. This realization is complete in all the respects. It fulfills a person in totality. The beauty and outpouring of enlightenment from the Self enriches the depleted consciousness of body, life, mind and psyche.Darkness is nothing but the depletion of light. Sorrow is nothing but the depletion of joy and bliss. Poverty and hunger is nothing but the depletion of faculty of mind and physique. Anger is nothing but the depletion of love. Vanity is nothing but the depletion of compassion. Greediness is nothing but the depletion of the spirit of self-giving. Communalism is nothing but the depletion of vastness of religion. Terrorism is nothing but the depletion of spiritualism from the core of the heart. Soul, being integral part of bliss, eternal splendor and consciousness, love, compassion, sacrifice and grandeur of the Supreme Being, impregnates all these qualities. All the virtues flow exuberantly and dwell inherently in the religion of Soul and Self-realization. God governs all because he exceeds all and dwells in all. Hence the religion of Soul is the religion of God and the religion of all. That is why the religion of Soul is capable to replenish all the depleted energies of an individual as well as the whole humanity and the whole existence. It is a converging and enlightened state of all the diverging and combating energies and vital forces of the universe. Radhasoami Heaven on Earth Thousands years ago Vedic Rishis (sages) had dreamt of peace, order and co-existence of all the living creatures not only on earth but in whole universe. In times to come king Aggrasain made it to happen in his rule and laid foundation of a prosperous and progressive empire where no one was in sufferings; all the citizens used to help each other. This kingdom was a unique example of spiritual socialism. In the west message of “KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH” became strong voice of common man on the advent of Jesus Christ. In a very short period it became an eye-sore of the then emperor when this Message started taking swing as a movement. It became a fear of the emperor. The emperor started thinking that this man has become a threat to his empire and he should not be allowed to remain alive. The Emperor ordered for his crucifixion. Jesus Christ left this world but this message started spreading like wild fire. The institution of Church fixed the day of doom also and proclaimed the reincarnation of Jesus Christ on earth and declared: only that person shall be able to book entry to heaven who is a member of the church. This opened a race for registration as a church member and within a short span church turned into an institution of mammoth wealth and power. Church priest and custodians of Christianity became slaves of comfort and leisure like Indian gurus (spiritual masters) of the present day. On the other front, religious revolution perpetuated in Christian religion, affected polity of the world and started showing impact on social and economic set up. This resulted in many religion battles and different strategies, ethical or non-ethical, were adopted for propagation of imperialism. Slowly and slowly Christian religion spread its wings to such an extent that Sun never set in their empire .Even on date number of followers of Christianity is the highest among all the religions. Hence, before we discuss “Heaven on Earth”, it is important to know the original character of Christian religion, without analyzing the conscience of this religion it would not be possible and fair to know whether laying the foundation of kingdom of God can even be thought of in the prevailing and never ending diversity in religion, politics and human nature. It is important for both believers and non-believers to first understand true form of religion and spiritualism before we proceed further.Since initial times, some doubts crept into the mind of followers of Christianity which created unusual situation in front of the Church fathers. When Emperor Constantine declared it the religion of the State and appointed the priests to high positions, people started doubting if Jesus Christ was really an angel Of God or he was an ordinary man?As the time passed, Christian religion became more consolidated and powerful. Church turned into a large institution of wealth and power. Some questions were still unsolved on the mental horizon of common man but none could make it open to others for the fear of being victimized, because voice against Jesus Christ or Bible meant invitation to death. Slowly and slowly modernization followed. As a result wealth, power and position were enjoyed by god fathers. In a short span combination of industrial and science development wrote a story of revolution of all round prosperity and development in the western countries. People had a feeling of comparatively more independence and economic freedom. Expansion of literacy was also riding the wings of the air. Invention of printing press gave acceleration to it. This helped in dissemination of knowledge to far flung areas. It encouraged for seeking explanation of religion and holy literature in a scien
tific way. This emancipation of people was not acceptable to church and efforts were made to curb it. But it could not withstand the arguments and logic put forth by the people and to meet their unquenchable thirst for emancipation. Church restrained people from giving new explanation to holy books but the intellectuals argued that it will help spreading the religion with more vigour and it will also help in disseminating message of Messiah to distant areas. This argument proved to be true but it also threatened the supremacy of church.People started expressing doubts on competency of both Jesus and Bible. Bible was composed after many years of departure of Jesus. It was compiled by putting together the memories of different people. It was not easy for the common-man to understand the secrets of what Jesus said, as thinking of Jesus was advance by thousands of years. People, based on their understanding, nature and liking, narrated the teachings of Jesus Christ; thus changing their meaning partially or totally .Man has got a liking for miracles, so Jesus was projected as a man of miracles. Experience of his Soul was not taken as the essence of his life; rather his Messiah being and his miracles were given importance. It is not that Jewish Religion was devoid of spiritual wealth at that time. Rabbi’s cult was overflowing with divinity at that time which had a reflection of old Arabic spiritualism. But like Upanishads, knowledge this knowledge was also not with in the reach of common-man and he was fearful of his exploitation by priests and Jewish religious ceremonies which were the burden on common. As Mahatma Buddha shared his knowledge with the people in their own language and by approaching them at their doorstep, Jesus also became adorable to the people in a short span. His teachings, which suited their needs, entered their hearts with in no time He had a large following of poor, grieved and destitute. This was the reason why path of miracles was adopted. Today also, for award and recognition of a Saint his miracles are counted and there is no yardstick to measure his spiritual enrichment.Science does not recognize miracles. The happenings beyond our sight and understanding become a miracle for us, therefore, old Dharmas (religions) which propagate superstition do not appeal to modern man. The meaning and definition of religion has taken a different shape just like the definition of an atheist. Marin Mersenne (1588-1648), a scientist of France once declared that there are fifty thousand atheists in Paris alone .When a verification of this statement was made, it became evident that all of them have faith in God but because of having some doubts about the teachings of Christianity, they all were presumed to be atheists. Yester years atheists are now counted in theists’ class.Science opened the door for new knowledge. Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Ludwig, David Hume, Laplace, Diderot and many other great personalities denied accepting the existence of God. This gave rise to a new discussion which encouraged people to raise queries, causing instability to basic structure of Christian religion.Is God so cruel that He handed over his own son Jesus to tyrant people? Is God so coward that He could not protect his own son? Is He so tyrant that he took lives of so many people for protection of religion? Lacks of Jews were killed and due to their enmity Protestant, Catholic and Puritan Christians took toll of so many lives just to prove the superiority of Jesus and their religion over others. Was God ignorant of Adam’s sin ? If He was having its Knowledge why He allowed this sin to happen and thus made total humanity a party to it? Why His Angel Michael was shown so difficult way, which resulted in so many killings, religious crusades and enmity? Path of Adam’s liberation could have been easy, why it was not adopted? Is He not more intelligent than man? Is He not gigantic than man? If He is so incomplete, infirm, killer and cruel then how His existence as a blissful God be accepted? Was Jesus’ birth possible with out physical contact of man with maiden Merry? The trinity (God or Father, son and holy spirit) principle has always agitated east and west church.Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) in the twentieth century was of the view to negate the very existence of God because acceptance of his being diffuses human liberty. According to Morris Ponty (1908-61), if we admit God as a doer of every thing then nothing is left to be achieved by man. Camus (1913-60) went to the extent of saying that people should be bold enough to deny the being of God so that they could love human being .Acceptance of God’s existence reduces our creativity; even if He assists us in resolving our problems then also He decreases our share in our accomplishments and also our wonders. Logical positivists, linguistic philosophy and other related institutions’ intellectuals proclaimed that there is no entity like God. Whom we can’t see in our life, we can’t experience in our deeds, we can’t prove with our senses; what is the meaning of being such an entity (God) of false promises. Another section of the people advocated that Dharama (religion) is a necessity of life; without it every thing shall shatter, distinction of good and bad shall diminish, man will become selfish and it will give rise to individualism and disintegrate the society. Anarchy shall be created. Atheist rulers shall become more brutal. Individual’s liberty will get curtailed. Man, who lives in dreams, will lead a life of restraints. Today’s dreams are reality of tomorrow. What seems to be a dream and impossible to happen today is a reality tomorrow. Therefore, man’s wings shall be chopped. He dreams and flies high on the assumption that religion and God are limitless and never ending .If optimism and imagination die, life shall become devoid of joy. Human life finds its foundation on hopes; therefore, a super hope is also a necessity. Man carves a picture of superman in his mind and finding such a super-man in this world is difficult, so he always endeavors to progress and to attain perfection.In this respect Marxist philosopher, Ernst Bloch (1884-1977) opines that thought of God to human being is natural; total humanity peeps into future. We feel imperfection and voidness in our life. Unlike animals we are never complacent and always demand for more and more .We always endeavour to improve upon ourselves and aspire for further progress to acquire capability to put a step forward .As a small child toddles and wants to grow into a bigger child ,the same way life progresses. Our all dreams and desires remain always aiming at acquiring which we do not possess. Religion philosophy also follows this principle; whereas it is a path where all has to be shunned or forgotten; but here also the thought of not now, not now continues to elude. Socialism also takes this utopia along with on its path; however Karl Marx has negated faith in any Super power .But Dharma (religion) certainly exists where there is a ray of hope. Bloch has perceived existence of an ideal God who has his abode in man and not somewhere far away.Modern Christian visions of a God who always remains within the reach of man but he should not be limited to a corporal form. His presence in the world should not be restrained by limitations of humanly imperfections, forms, colours, cast, creed, time, space and land; who is away from hatred and He should give a message of love and affection. This is the reason why west has admitted Hindu Dharma’s principle of Brahman-atma (God-Soul), teachings of Buddhism and yogic actions have gained acceptance in western world. Man is turning towards such mystic religions which do not bind him in numerous religious practices, rather it takes care of his liberty as an individual .He does not want to become a slave of others’ whims and fancies, rather he opts to become a master of self. He does not want to be allured by the awards offered to him in the kingdom of God
, rather he should be an inseparable and indispensable spirit of God. He should taste the bliss and Ananda of God in the present life only.Karen Armstrong in his book ‘A history of God’ states, “Hindu religion does not render much importance to gods & goddesses”. Position of Guru (spiritual master) has been given priority over all the deities. This highlights importance of a man in society. Hindu and Buddhisms do not deny the existence of gods and goddesses. They say, if propagated, this theory may devastate humanity. These religions have carved a higher throne for Brahman and Nirwan (salvation) than Deities. Upanishads which were scripted about two thousand five hundred yeas ago, numbering around two hundred two, speak of only one message , “There is also something beyond Deities which is very fascinating, very blissful, it can neither be spoken nor heard, yet it is inner soul (centre) of all matter or living being”. Describing the superiority of Brahman the author quotes Chhandogya Upanishad, “Shretaketu, son of Uddalaka studied Vedas and Shastras for twelve years. After gaining complete knowledge in the company of his guru when he returned, his father asked him a question regarding Brahman but Shretaketu could not reply. His father then asked him to bring water in a large pot and told to drop some salt in to it. Son obeyed. His father again asked him to come back the next morning. When he came next morning his father asked him to taste the water from different corners and tell its taste. Son replied, “Taste is same at all the points, it does not taste differently.” Then his father told him, “Brahman is Omnipresent in this universe just like salt is in this water”. Saint Kabir Says : “As sesame (Til) contains oil and stone has fire, Your beloved (God) abodes in you, if you can awake”.Mahatma Buddha Says: “Taste me or bite me from any part of my body, you will find the same flavour i.e., compassion and only compassion. This is Nirwan (Salvation).This can’t be given any name like Atma or Pramatma (Soul or God). This can only be lived or experienced .To attain this experience, one has to pass through yogic Dhayan (concentration) and practice which enables the yogi to know his own self .He gains his universal form, like a small drop attains body of sea after completing its journey ; it attains a bigger self after loosing its entity to a larger existence. Will of the almighty now becomes his own will .Once some one asked Mahatma Buddha –where Buddha lives after Nirwan? He replied: the question is Irrelevant and it does not have any pertinence .It is just, like a burning lamp extinguishes and some one enquires where the flame goes. Exactly the same way when Buddha is no more, no desire remains to be fulfilled; question of sorrows and bliss does not arise. Buddha lives for others and this is Bodhisattva and any person can attain this state by making conscious effort. All the religions of this world have their origin in mind; they find their birth in sentiments which has been called ‘Alam-al-mithal’ in Suhrawardi sect of Islam. This is a world of imaginations, full of forms and figures; which have to be crossed to reach the God. It is an invisible world which does not have any limit, which can’t be experienced through wisdom and knowledge. It is habitat of deities and angels or good and bad streams of life. All the religions have risen from this centre of spirit. Power of this mandal (spiritual segment) words in accordance to our desires and longing and become visionary in Dhayan (concentration) and dreams. Power of this mandal pushes the person, who is slave of mind and desires, in the world of illusions and hallucination. Deities gift Ridhi-Sidhi (miracle powers) but these block his progress on the path leading to God. If the Sadhak (devotee) is a holy soul then these powers help him in his efforts to move ahead. It is a centre of all Satoguni (Divine}, Tamoguni (Dark and demonic) and Rajoguni (sensual passions) powers. If a person is Tamoguni; dark forces shall come in his vision; It Rajoguni then forces of love, hatred and pleasure and if Satoguni, angels and deities shall be visible to him. Desire behind one’s deeds decides its fruits, as one desires as the results obtained. These natural powers extend help in the direction of one’s desires. It is said that Hazrat Muhammed experienced Alam-al-mithal in his dream one night when Angel Gabriel gave him a ride from Arabia to Jerusalem on a flying horse .On his return journey he met ABrahman, Moses and Jesus. Then both Gabriel and Hazrat commenced their journey, through difficult terrains, to Seven Heavens. Ruler of every Heaven was an ambassador of God. Judaism also recognizes that Moses reached into the lap of God after traversing seven Heavens, who was a source of eternal Noor (light) .Saint Paul says, “His friend, who belonged to Messiah, was stopped at third Heaven. There, he heard various sounds that can’t be described in man’s Language”.Rabbis saints of Jews religion say, “One needs Guru‘s blessings to cross the mystic world; who, from time to time, protects and cautions against dangers to come in the divine journey”. Guru is also not an ultimate destination in this journey; He is also a mile stone only. A devotee realizes enlightenment must have cleared his soul of all the selfish thoughts, forms or structures or pleasant visions of gods and angels. His limited perceptions and imprints on his subconscious mind also must have been shown the exit door. He starts bathing in the glow of physical, vital and mental conscience transformed into super conscience now. His spirit becomes a continuous spring of light; he feels so enchanted that he is no more interested in material comforts in front of beauty and love of God. He sees only one universal power at every point of time and space. He feels God only, in every atom or particle. He even loses his own identity to God and dedicates his entire life to the cause of God .Now every worldly matter, rules and principles, which propagate hatred amongst people, become irrelevant for him. Love and compassion become priority of his life. Whenever any problem erupted in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, these mystics helped and provided firmness to the foundation of the religion. Rabbis and Kabala sects of Jewish religion, Suhrawardi and Sufi sects of Islam religion contributed to strengthen the roots of the religion from time to time. These mystics played a bigger and special role in recognizing Jesus as Messiah and in affording a wider and acceptable definition of the principle of trinity. After three centuries of crucifixion of Jesus, when it was being discussed and argued in the parliament of Nyssa whether Jesus Christ was a Messiah in reality? If he was, then what was his position in the kingdom of God, is he a synonym to God or inferior to him? Then assistants of Arius and Bishop Alexander projected their conclusions. These arguments were going on with the consent of Emperor Constantine. In the view of Arius, Jesus was an ordinary man .He was claiming that Jesus became parallel to God only Became of his sacrifice, thus paving a way for others to follow. Had Jesus been of God’s nature he would have not been of any use to the mankind; it would have not been possible for us to follow his teachings and tenets of life because man can never be of equal status to God. Because of this fact God gifted him with a position of equality with Him as an award for his sacrifice; Jesus has been given a status of Logos (Word). We can also acquire a share in this status only through sacrifice.Contrary to this, Athanasius argued that Jesus was of God’s nature and he was not born with man’s nature. He was Logos by nature .That Logos which was the source of whole universe and which was present before the creation and shall exist even after its dissolution. This Logos is inseparable part of ours and so is of whole c
reation, so that we may also acquire His nature and become an integral part of His higher nature.It is explicit that Arius wanted to promote Jesus as an impersonal God. He wanted to fix him an inheritor of God, as a person who resembles us by nature and is one amongst us, where as Athanasius wanted to establish him in a universal form of God where Jesus should be worshiped as Logos, impersonal God and not as an ordinary man. He should be worshiped as Logos (Word); the creator of this universe, who dwells in the heart of every person in the form of a spark which never dies. Jesus as a person is bound to have an end but Logos never dies. Logos–Jesus appeared as Jesus in the world just to show us a path to enable us to imbibe in the higher nature (Parashakti) of God and enabling us to become one with God and as a benefactor for mankind; after which he retuned to his original Being and shall remain amongst us for ever as Logos is immortal. Common man and literate section of the society was more convinced with the view of Arius because he was talking of a Jesus of their own. He was talking of personal –Jesus. But the Council adopted the resolution of Athanasius because he advocated for a wider form of Messiah, who is responsible for creation, sustenance and dissolution of universe. Saint Paul and Saint John also recognized this form of Jesus. “ Word (Logos) existed prior to creation, Word was with God, Word was God and this Word created the whole universe”, this quotation was accepted as foundation of Bible and Christian religion. THIS WORD, DESCRIBED AS ANAHAD-NAAD (EATERNAL WORD) IN UPNISHADAS, FORMS THE BASIS OF SURAT-SHABD (SOUL-GOD) YOGA. THIS WORD IS THE GIST (ESSENCE), A CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF RADHA SOAMI YOGA. In search of this word, a devotee enters into his self by adopting mediation and demolishes his self into the unending, infinite, eternal, limitless and blissful form of God. Athanasius’s God –Jesus and Logos-Jesus was not an individual –Jesus, He was God of a mystic’s vision who was having its base beyond all boundaries of mind (Alam-al-mithal). He was God of a Sufi (Muslim Faquir ), Kabir, Nanak, Maulana Rumi, Khusro, Rabia Basri, Sri Aurobindo, Ravidas, Socrates, Rabbis, Kabala Saints and Upanishads. He was a God of profound love and deep compassion. This form of God was beyond the imagination of common man. This was the reason why the principle of such kind of God always kept the mind of Christianity in turmoil internally. The differences between the church of east and west never subsided because of this reason. Eastern Church was always inclined towards Athanasius’s mystic God where as western church favoured Arius’s individual–Jesus (Personal God). As and when intellect level arose, Arius’s God emerged stronger but when some mystic appeared on the scene, Athanasius’s God became prominent. But with the rise of renaissance and scientific period, death of mysticism was happened and Arius’s individual-Jesus attained the focus of masses and became more and more individual. It completely adopted Semitic and anthropomorphic form of God. More attention was given to linguistic meaning of words of Bible. Meaning and message hidden in the words and between the lines got ignored and its meaningful explanation of mystics was considered as a sin. Acquiring knowledge of secret education and mysticism became a crime. Bible In one hand and sword and bread in the other hand became a movement of the time. Finally it resulted into declaration of death of God by some intellectuals.Arius and his two confident companions did not accord their consent to the decision of Council of Nyssa and they did not put their signatures on it. Even after the decision of Council in favour of Athanasius, the church fathers kept encouraging Arius’s principle. Slowly and slowly Arius and his companions got successful in obtaining recognition of their principle by the emperor. During this period Athanasius was tortured and was ousted from the country five times. With the acceptance of Arius’s principle of individual-Jesus, questions about principle of trinity (father, son and Holy Spirit) and specially regarding the position of Son in the kingdom once again erupted. These questions are automatically resolved through Athanasius’s principle. Antony, a saint of desert, known as father of Christian monasticism (Ashram System) favoured Athanasius’s principle. Antony lived an unprecedented disciplined life in the desert of Egypt. He struggled continuously for twenty years with devil forces in his Meditation tomb. It is said that when he came out of the tomb his body did not show any sign of advanced age; like Jesus he adored Logos. He went fighting up to the abode of devil and came out of the tomb after defeating him. Athanasius in his book ‘Life of Antony’ attempted to show that any person can become one with Logos by adopting path of mortification (Tapasya), celibacy and meditation (Dhayan) and he can have sight of God’s eternal and Logos form as Antony could do. This can become a reality only and only through meditation and continuous practice (Abhyas). Necessity of such experience was also felt by other Christian seers and sages such as Clement, Origen, Denys etc.People were still bewildered to know whether there is only one God? Is Jesus God? At this time three great personalities of Cappadocia in eastern Turkey came with a reply to these questions. They had a vast experience of practical spiritual knowledge .Their reply could satisfy church of east only and differences’ with western church remained unresolved .For church of west, sin of Adam, his descending from Heaven and deliverance from this sin still remained points of focus. Church of West always kept giving priority to the thought that man’s birth is a result of Adam’s sin and he can’t attain a status of God and he is not capable of becoming an integral part of God; he can never gain the purity of God. Adam committed this sin and we can only pray and repent before Jesus (Individual God) for the sins we have committed. There is no other alternative to get rid of this sin. Equating ourselves with God or understanding the self equal to God is an unpardonable crime. People against this thinking were seen with hatred in the Christian religion and they were punished. Search of God through meditation or yogic actions was considered an action of devil and attracted criticism. Church of west was always against searching God into the inner self by the people as did by Saint Augustine because it could become a danger to the institution of church if they have a sight of luminous and eternal Jesus within their soul. Had people experienced God within their self church would have been deprived of issuing directive in respect of God. Their main objective was to keep people weak and superstitious so that they could be exploited in the name of religion. Today’s Vatican Church is a part to this endeavour, which completely disapproves of Word–Jesus and Dhayan (meditation) and yoga. Three great mystics of Cappadocia named Basil, Gregory of Nisa and Gregory of Nazianzus said, “Truth can’t be expressed in words, it can only be viewed with the eyes of soul (spirit) by practicing meditation. The essence of God can be known through dogma and Kerygma. Kerygma is the outer from of religion, it is the philosophy which can be explained in words in the churches but dogma is inner spirit of the religion which can only be experienced and the hints of its being can only be obtained in the form of signs. Dogma is not a thing which can be discussed or made to understand and can be effectuated through rituals and ceremonies. They explained it by quoting Plato and Aristotle and stressed that experience of spirit is not possible through the gates of wisdom. These three were under the influence of spiritualism of Greece. Eastern Orthodox Church seems to be influenced by philosophers of Greece and their Knowledge. They advocated for bearing silence to understand secrecies of religion.We
stern church believed in oral description of God; its subject was Kerygma and not dogma. Gregory of Nyssa told that any description of God can only be a shadow, a false comparison. It doesn’t reveal the secret of God .We should not develop any conception of God rather we should have faith in it. We should look beyond all kind of knowledge and observe complete silence. This was experienced by Hazrat Moses on mountains of Sinai. When he happened to approach God, instead of finding God there, he was surrounded by a cloud of deep darkness. Indian sage Patanjali termed this experience as Dharammegha Samadhi or clouds’ religion. Swami Vivakananda called it cloud of virtue. Basil quoting Saint Philo said that God is essence (ousia) the glimpse of which is out of the reach of intellect and he can only be known through his outer expression (energeia). Athanasius had also told Arius that ousia (essence ) of God is beyond human understanding, his hypostasis (outer face) can only be described in words. Essence of a thing represents its inner substance and hypostasis is that which is visible by our eyes. Therefore, only one element resides in Trinity (Father, Son and Holy spirit). When God wants to reveal his Self to people, his outer face is visible. God can’t be given a name, He has three faces; Father who is inaccessible and a source of unlimited light, Son who is in the form of Word (Logos) and creator of whole universe, Holy spirit which is embedded consciousness of the universe, Father is the creator of this universe, He flows outward or inward through the Son and Holy spirit beholds it. This principle of trinity has been called Supermind, Overmind and all-pervading Spirit by Sri Aurobindo. When spiritual experience becomes so ripened that we feel the presence of God within ourselves and all around, this state exhibits presence of Holy spirit. When this spirit takes the form of matter it is called Aparashakti (illusionary power) and on attaining the form of Supermind it becomes Parashakti (supreme Force). Experience of the saints of Cappadocia exhibits much similarity to primitive Indian divine experience. Describing the experience of trinity in nutshell Gregory of Nazianzas says, “When I feel experience of one, I am filled with the splendor (light) of all the three; when I discriminate between them, I again contract in to one and when I live anyone of these, I find all these three amalgamated unity and my eyes and body becomes full of light.In eighteenth century real understanding of God diminished, Bible’s literary meaning remained prime source of understanding spiritualism. True sense of words became redundant .Eastern church‘s dogma (essence) died and domination of church of west got established. Dhayan (meditation) and mysticism were declared an illusion. A competition to prove God’s existence through proof and wisdom was set on His search on the strength of mind and reasoning got started. As a consequent, many intellectuals declined to recognize the very existence of God during nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Many mystics of Christianity expressed that we can’t have a vision of eternal form of Essence of God, it has got the nature of darkness. It has been called ‘Mool Prakriti’ (Basic nature) in Indian Sankhaya and yoga philosophies, which comprises of Sat, Raj and Tama. These three elements are in equal proportion in Mool Prakriti. Therefore, movement of all the constituents of nature comes to a halt, because, if there is no movement of energy it appears dark. This Mool Prakriti, when undertakes task of creation these three constituents start disturbing their proportions which causes tension and waves in it. When we meditate, its Sat element appears in the form of light at the place of third eye between the eyebrows. Therefore, we can see outer form of nature and not its Mool Prakriti because it is dark. When yogi (devotee) realizes this original form of nature, his spirit acquires knowledge of qualities (constituents) of nature and becomes free of all limitations as he does not fall prey to the weaknesses of lower nature. This experience has been termed as Asamprajyat (beyond all knowledge), Nirvikalp (without alternative) or Nirbeej (seedless) Samadhi (blissful state of spirit). Adwait philosophy also describes this state of consciousness as Nirgun Brahman (absolute God), a result of Vivek (discriminative power) and intuition.Gregory of Nyssa called it a cloud of darkness and Hazrat Moses had also experienced this on the mountain of Sinai and Greece Christian Denys, in sixth century also called it dense cloud of darkness where nothing is visible. Afterwards, when Pope Gregory–the great came, he told that God has kept total knowledge concealed in the womb of large cloud of darkness and fog and He himself is also hiding in this inaccessible cloud. Maximus and Meister Eckhart, mystics of thirteenth and fourteenth century called God as an experience of darkness, such a darkness which can’t be termed as devoid of light; rather gives a reflection of strange light. Sri Aurobindo called experience of such darkness as Nirvikalp Samadhi where the intensity of light becomes so intense and dense that its movement comes to a halt and it gives impression of darkness. He called it luminosity of superconscient light. Buddha called it putting off a lamp. Other Christian saints called it dark night of soul. Bohme called it dark secret.In the opinion of these mystics anything visible is God’s outer face or form; it doesn’t represent it’s inner Reality. Some Christian Philosophers describe God’s Luminous form as follows: In the words of Symeon in tenth Century: O Light that none can name, for it is altogether nameless. O Light with many names, for it is at work in all things,How do you mingle thyself with grass?How, while continuing unchanged, altogether inaccessible,Do you preserve the nature of the grass unconsumed? Symeon stated that this whole universe is safely reserved in the form of seed in the luminous womb of God. This luminosity remains present in every creature and in its ever changing nature and contrary to this there is also an entity which always remains stable, Agamya and Agochar (not accessible and visible). As per their statement, Saint Paul and Saint John affirmed having attained complete soul unity with Jesus Christ. They made it clear that this unity with Jesus doesn’t mean being one with his physical body, rather with his luminous and formless being which is unified and inseparable from the soul. Saint John says, “Souls which identify themselves with Jesus become one with God (Father) also. Saint Augustine calls this luminosity of God a force of transformation of soul. Saint Bernard realized descent of God’s light into his soul which stationed him in supreme consciousness. Saint Binjan described divinity as live form of light. Desert’s Saint John Cassian says, “Regular meditation fixes soul in divinity”. George fox said, “All holy books come out of inner light, inner light is the only source of all knowledge”. This thought remained a cause of contention between mystics and the church for a longer period. George Fox, James Naylor preachers of Quaker’s sect and their followers gave a message that all the men and women can establish their direct contact with divinity .Every Human being is having a source of light with in his self. This source can be searched by and equal opportunity without any kind of discrimination and by any person belonging to higher or lower class or caste. Anyone can practise it and attain Mukti (salvation) during his ensuing life time. Dionysius says, “God who abodes in super conscient darkness is having aura of light around him. Hindu saints call it Jyoti-Swaroop Brahman (luminous Divine). Attainment of Param-Jyoti (Supreme Light) is called realization of Samprajyat, Savikalp or Sabeej Samadhi i.e., all knowledge, all alternat
es and all seeds of Karmas (actions and works) in balanced state of consciousness.In Islam, Allah has been called ‘Noor’ (light); Hazrat Muhammad appeared from Noor of Allah and Imam, Maulvi and Sheikh took birth from the noor of Hazrat. It has been written in Koran that both Heaven and Earth are the creations of light (24:35). Hazrat Muhammad found Allah in the form of Noor in his last experience (53:13-17). Alike Greece sages, the seers of Suhrawardi sect of Islam have also realized God as the experience of light. Guru has been called Sheikh-al-Ishraq i.e., a master enlightened with the Noor of Allah. Support of Qutb (living and charged Guru) is necessary to experience this Noor. Suhrawardi philosophy is also known as Ishraqi philosophy. Ishraq means noor and noor is ommipresent, every thing in this world is because of Noor. Allah in Pak (pure) form is noor of Noors. Every mandal (sphere) of the universe down the ladder is illuminated because of illumination of upper sphere. In Other words, every downward sphere is based upon upper more illuminated sphere. In this way, traveling downwards a spectrum of regions of lesser light got established and after reaching at a certain point, due to overshadowing of one sphere by another upper sphere, shadow came into existence; which is responsible for this whole creation and darkness was thus created. When a yogi or Sheikh experiences a flood of light within his self, Vivek (wisdom) takes birth in him which is known as Hiqmat-al-Ishraq (Wisdom of illumination). Kabala sect of Jew religion also recognizes upsurge of this universe out of light. According to this sect when God desired to create the universe, a flame like gamut of rays resembling to smoke emitted from this aura, the colour of which was neither white nor black, red, green, or any identifiable colour. This mass of rays or light created the universe. Some mystics crossed all the limits of experience. In 6th century, Denys, who was a Christian of Greece and a successor of Cappadocian fathers, narrated his experience in the book ‘The Divine Names’ without declaring his identity to avoid any difficulty in publication of his book. Like priest Basil, he took the difference between dogma and Kerygma very seriously. He told that it is not a matter of ordinary experience; it can only be imbibed by a person who has been baptized by a Guru and who is away from any conception and mental shrewdness. God can’t be given any shape nor can his experience be described in any language or through mental capability. Knowing secret of his experience is also not possible through study or analysis of scriptures. Calling God a ‘God’ or ‘Supreme being’ will also be a dishonesty because He is an experience of sunya (Nothingness). He can’t be given any name or identity. If we really want to understand God then we shall have to negate every knowledge and understanding taking its origin from intelligence. We shall have to say that He is God and also non-God. He possesses qualities of both good and evil, He is knowledge as well as ignorance. To know and experience this being, we shall have to demolish all the conceptions which we have made about God. We shall have to rein our every thought of mind so that it does not form any frame with regard to God’s colour or shape or develop any concept. Only by doing so we can have an experience of essence of Theoria or Dogma of God and we can become one with him and we can have experience of mount Sinai of Moses. Denys spoke of his experience which resembled to that of Buddha and even more than this, proving the contents of Upanishads or Gita. He said, “God is inner soul of this visible world, which is completely realistic, Nirgun (having no quality) as well as Nirakar Prajya (having no shape of knowledge) i.e., beyond any quality or shape or name. This experience of Denys resembles entirely with that of Indian sages described about ten centuries ago. In 3rd century, mystic Plotinus also spoke of an experience resembling to Greece and Indian Rishis. Plotinus desired to come to India for having spiritual knowledge but due to certain reasons he could not do so. This Indian knowledge and experience traveled to Greece through Pythagoras which was later followed by Socrates, Plato and other stoic monks. During 13th and 14th centuries, European mystic Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) made it amply clear that wisdom is not sufficient to know God ,this is an experience beyond senses and does not fit into any frame made by us .He also told that God is an experience of nothingness. Father along with Son (Jesus) takes birth in the soul of man and not from Virgin Mary’s Womb. Eckhart also says, calling God a ‘God’ is also a disrespect to Him, therefore, for God’s shake we shall have to think beyond God itself and other conceptions about him; only then we can enjoy the experience of being one with him and can share his Ananda (bliss) .He further said, “My own existence should coincide with God’s existence and I should feel Him with in myself, only then we can become inseparable spirit of God’s kingdom”. In Upanishads this experience has been dictated as aham-brahmasmi (I am God), ayam atma Brahman (This soul is God), Tatvamasi (You are God), Soham (I am like Him) etc. Eckhart’s this secret principle of gnosis became a cause for displeasure of priests of Germany and he was declared a culprit and was tortured.In 17th century, Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) having scientific approach advanced even ahead. Like Anselm and Rene Descartes, he told that we can’t even think of non-being of God. This thinking itself confirms existence of God’s kingdom. Where there is a thought, how we can deny non-existence of its thinker. A great thinker can only be a father of small thoughts, who helps us in carving these thoughts and making appropriate decisions. Descartes of France says, “I think therefore I am”. Saint Anselm, who happened in 11th century, also said that this thinking of non-being of God itself proves the very existence of God .Spinoza found that truth can’t be divided in to two parts, God and devil; there is only one spirit, God and devil both. Spinoza represented the dawn of new age of theism of atheists. It was followed by an era when existence of such God was denied which can’t be acceptable to mind (intelligence) and is cruel and weak like Jesus and who is not capable of providing protection to self and his first son. Spinoza further explained that God is a rule or central principle, which is a sum total of all ruling systems at lower level .This central principle rules the total universe .His such thoughts sent tremors through whole Jewish religious section which resulted into his ousting from Synagogue (worship place of Jews) at an early age of twenty four. Religious people prayed in synagogue: May God keeps him in great agony in hell day and night, while awaking or sleeping, entering or exiting and at all places; and he may pass through wrath of God, God may never forgive him! God’s anger may always keep burning him. Every punishment scribed in rule book of God may shower upon him and his name may be scraped from this world for ever. Some people describe Spinoza a great master for providing modernity to the religion and his path of secular salvation is followed by them. In 19th century Germany’s Hegel gave a separate philosophy called Dialectic method (Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis).This theory was adopted by Karl Marx also for describing socialism. According to Hegel, Jewish religion is a most degraded religion because it propagated false conception of God since its inception; it projected God as oppressor, aggressive and cruel before the People. Jesus made every effort to dispel this notion of people about God but after his departure Christian religion also nurtured the old path and they also projected same picture of God. Hegel’s view seems to be right because origin of all the three religions; Christian, Islam and Jewish is from the same source and all the three have less tolerance level. But in future,
perhaps, this view of Hegel became a cause of slaughter of Jews when Hitler killed lakhs of Jews brutally to take revenge for their act to Jesus. They were thrown in the chambers of poisonous gas. They were slaughtered by searching one by one. All the religions or philosophies that followed soul-searching or revealed deep secrets took mankind to greater heights. They don’t see God in a particular man or within a limited sphere, rather they see him in each atom and in the ultimate experience they realize that man is also God’s integral part, he is part of His eternity. Some found God in the form of light, some experienced His ‘Ananda’ in deep after the stage of light ; which is a zone of tranquility, quietness, stability, and calmness of super consciousness, infinite soul and mental peace ; finding depth of which is impossible. Only a few of them have experienced even more deepness of divine force, where in the tranquility of super conscience there is a consistent echo of God’s silence. When this state of trance appears, our body and mind are filled with eternal music. Some call it Word, some Logos, Naad, Anahat, Udageet, Vaani, Akath Katha, Kalma, Awaje-mustkin etc.; Hazrat Muhammad says that some times Koran’s Ayaten (subject matter) descended in him through the sound of a large bell and that was the most difficult experience for him. This description of sound of bell is also given in Rabbis sect of Jew religion and Christianity. Sound of whistles resembling to that of fast blowing air are also heard. Many Christian and Islam sages and Indian Rishis and saints have also talked of many cosmic sounds. Some of them like Mahatma Buddha said that giving any name to God’s experience is not pertinent. This is an experience beyond both God and non-God and it can’t be bounded. Only danger of this experience is that it can lead a person to atheism. If we seek to establish true peace in this world, every one of us shall have to lift himself above the faith in impersonal image of God. Especially in Christian religion, Jesus is worshiped as an individual God, the results of which have not been encouraging. In Islam Allah is not worshiped as an individual but like Christians Islam also maintains supremacy of Koran and Hazrat’s teachings. They categorically reject possibility of any experience or philosophy of God beyond this. Unlimited has been made limited and He is measured with words and wisdom of man, where as to understand God’s divinity human wisdom and knowledge are very limited and equal to nothing. Man can presume God’s stature according to his wisdom only. How he can go beyond the limits of his thinking? How a man having boundaries to his wisdom can make a guess regarding Eternal? It is just impossible.A person can not guess about God as described by Jalaluddin Rumi in his selected small stories. One such story goes as follows – “One day Hazrat Moses happened to hear a voice coming from earth. That voice was of a shepherd boy who was completely engrossed in his prayer to God with his closed eyes and folded hands, ‘O’ God I wish to help you! You might be clothed in dirty dress, I wish to clean your clothes, I wish to wash your feet before you sleep so that you may have a sound sleep with out any disturbance. I wish to love you, I don’t know If anybody loves you or not”. He was expressing his emotions by saying so. Hazrat Moses was astonished with his foolishness and made him conscious of his bad behavior to God. Hazrat reprimanded him that you are talking in such a crude language to God who is creator of this whole world and of all the heavens; He is not your relative to whom you can talk like this. Hearing this shepherd boy was full of repentance and went to the desert in agony. God was annoyed with Moses for this all and told him that he has not done a right thing. I don’t deal in words, I weigh the love and thirst of my beloved, could you not see the vigour of love in his heart, you heard his words only.This story carries two good messages. First, every person evaluates God on the ability of his wisdom only; he establishes His picture in the frame of his mind. Someone asked a little girl what first will you do if God happens to come to you? The girl instantly replied, “I shall offer him the tasty lump of soil and lot of toys”, It means that every body fixes God’s image based on his taste, his nature and wisdom and behaves accordingly during his life time. Second message is that God does not admire or recognize wisdom; rather He adores love and thirst for Him. There can be different levels of knowledge in every man and religion where as soul of love always remains the same. God inhabits every heart and He inherits love, therefore, Sufi Saint Bulle Shah exclaims: “Demolish Temple or demolish Mosque, Demolish what so ever you can; But never demolish any heart, It is abode of God.”Love is the greatest treasure of humanity. The day God is accepted in the form of love that day man could be able to live in peace and harmony in this world. Sitting in the non-living leaves of Gita, Bible and Koran the dead God shall disappear that day. Jesus is living God, sleeping in human heart when awakened. He shall upsurge and shower the wealth of His love upon mankind. Jesus claims, “God’s kingdom is with in you”. So searching Him in Temple, Masque, Church or Gurudwara is a futile exercise. Rafi Sauda says: “What if Quaba dismantles, It is not a heart, That can’t be rebuilt”.Looking upon behavior of today’s religion some one says, “Fighting in the name of religion is hamaqat (a thing of laughing) and fighting for hamaqat is religion.This battle in the name of religion shall continue till we do not reject individual’s God or God that fits into the structure made by our wisdom and we do not start worshipping omnipresent God who is showering love on every particle and existence. He is not a God manifested in one individual. He takes birth in soul, called Virgin Mary by Christian Saints who is sinless in its enlightened form. Such soul is absolutely innocent like a child and in such a pure soul birth of light of intuition and gnosis is Jesus’ resurrection. By calling Jesus a son of Virgin Mary we do transfer our sin upon mother Mary. We project our battle with lust (sex) in the name of religion to satisfy our desire and exploit the people through propagation of superstition. Misuse of sex is a sin but it becomes a boon if used as a power.Individual God takes shape out of our passion and thoughts. This is a result of Alam-a–mithal. In all the three religions; Christian, Islam and Jew, personal God or scriptures are in the centre of method of worship. Hindu religion is also not away this ritual but this religion allows freedom to a person to adopt another stream. He can embrace his own opinion. It clearly exhibits that this religion is more open and provides congenial environment for emancipation of soul or salvation. Spiritual knowledge of Hindu Shastras (scriptures) does not project individual God as the ultimate aim, rather they harbour a God who is Nirlep (sinless), Nirgun (virtue less) and Nirankar (incorporeal and shapeless), even then He possesses every shape and virtue of the universe. He creates the universe through his Viraat Swaroop (gigantic form), bears total Suksma (invisible) existence in this Hirnyagrabha (golden womb) form which is center of all mystic powers, Ridhi – Sidhis (miracles) and a bowl of all treasures . This is mental world of all the imaginary powers, a sheet of Swarg – Narak (Heaven – Hell). It is abode of all the gods – goddesses and angels, who delude a seeker,
give food to his weaknesses. A seeker having lust for sex gets glimpse of beautiful fairies ; if greedy , offered treasures and his material desires start getting fulfilled , if aggressive, all the powers of aggression come forward and if he is a Satoguni (virtuous}, a God of goodness or angel fulfills his desires. It is a house of Kalptaru or Kalpvriksh (Divine tree) or Kamadhenu (Divine cow) which satisfy all the desires of the seeker.This God is known as Aksar–Brahman, Surya-Brahman or Aksara–Purusha (Word–God or supramental Logos) because this God is creator of total suksama (invisible and subtle) knowledge. Above Hirnyagrabh there is indescribable form of divinity, a god of Sushupti, who is the master of super conscient darkness, deep ecstasy and love. Total physical and suksama world exists in its seed form here .It stays here in its kaaran (causal) form. After passing through this stage, a person returns to dreams (imaginary world) and awakening state (physical world) and commences his routine life again after gaining freshness and revival of his energy, same way the universe rests in Susupti after doom’s day and again takes to the task of creation. Susupti is a centre of complete tranquility, an experience of sunya (voidless void), it is limitless. This is known as soul’s dark
Other religions did not have a prophet like Mohammad who married a 9 year old girl and killed thousands of people along with his followers. Other religions did not condone slavery and so many other things that I would rather not mention here. You are wrong when you say Islam is not fundamentally different from other religions. It certainly is different and it is this difference that has led to the car bombings and beheadings and other types of violence that only occurs in Muslim countries. I commend you for the work you are doing however. Thank you and keep it up.
See this.