Religion & Intelligence

What is Religion?

True religions possess two important limbs, namely, its philosophy and its ritualistic injunctions.

Mere ritualism, bereft of philosophy is only superstition,
while bare philosophy without ritualistic practices tantamount to madness.

Both the aspect should go hand in hand. Philosophy reinforces the external practices of rituals and gives them a purpose and goal for realization.Together, they bring out the meaning, significance and purpose of religion.

Philosophy is the theoretical aspect of religion which, with scientific and rational analysis, elucidates the why and where for of life and universe and contains a coherent system of thought for interpreting the reality.

Ritualistic injunctions deal with the practical aspect of the religion and lay down the spiritual practices to be followed for reaching the ultimate goal in life.

Religion, therefore, is a happy and intelligent blending of philosophy and ritualism. If the two aspects are not synchronized properly, there can be no religion. Unfortunately, however, man commits the blunder of projecting one of these two aspects and calls it religion and attributes its decadence and failure to religion as such.

What is different Religions then?

Religions are like so-many paths leading to the same goal, i.e., God. Man reaches his religious goal when he attains his highest moral development. All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions.

It can be explained like this. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea and begins at the sea.. All are one in the sea (god). A truly religious man should think that other religions also are paths leading to truth. We should always maintain an attitude of respect towards other religions.

Why do relatives or parents get angry when I say that I want to follow another religion?

The main reason being they are attached to their own religion and they think it is the best in the world. Furthermore, they want you to adhere to their particular manner of thinking, to their group, their race, their class; and ALSO, if you follow another religion you would become a nuisance, a trouble to family.

What happens when you leave one organized religion to other? Have you not merely moved to another prison? As long as mind clings to a belief, it is held in prison. What is important to see is that when you take up another religion you have merely taken on a new set of dogmas in place of the old. You might be little more active, a little more this or that; you are still in the prison of belief and dogma.

So, don’t exchange religion, which is merely a revolt within the prison, but break through prison walls and find out for your self what is god, what is truth. That has meaning. But merely going from one prison to another and quarrel about which prison is better – this is a child game. Only the man who is free of belief can discover that which lies beyond all belief, which is immeasurable.

“”Swami Vivekananda wrote:
If you want to be religious, enter not the gate of any organized religion. They do a hundred times more evil than good, because they stop the growth of each one's individual development. ... Religion is only between you and your God, and no third person must come between you. Think what these organized religions have done! What Napoleon was
more terrible than those religious persecutions? If you and I organize, we begin to hate every person. It is better not to love, if loving only means hating others. That is no love. That is hell! If loving your own people means hating everybody else, it is the quintessence of selfishness and brutality, and the effect is that it will make you brutes.
[The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume I,Topic 'The Gita III'] ””

What is True Education & Intelligence?

Intelligence is the capacity to think freely, without fear, without a formula, so that you begin to think for yourself what is real, what is true; but if you are frightened you will never be intelligent. Where there is fear, there is no intelligence. Revolt against everything – against tradition, against organized religion, against the present rotten society. Find out for yourself what is true. Not to imitate but to discover – That is education.

We see the world is caught up in endless wars; it is guided by politicians who are always seeking power; it is a world of ambitious men and women all wanting position and all fighting each other to get it. There are also so-called saints, the religious gurus with their followers; they also want power, position, here or in next life. It is a mad world, completely confused. Everybody is against somebody struggling to arrive at a safe place, a position of power or comfort. The world is torn by conflicting beliefs, by caste and class distinctions, by separate nationalities by every form of stupidity and cruelty.

Don’t take it for granted that this is orderly society. If you see decay, you have a challenge: You are challenged to find a way of solving this urgent problem. And how you respond to the challenge is important.

Conclusion:

God is everywhere but he is most manifest in Human. So serve Human as God.

Recomended to view/listen to " I CAN ONLY IMAGINE "

After view/listened to the link above, try to find out, who is the god for whom.

- Vineeth Menon

Cosmic law – Do the Power Hungry Politicians know about it?

The most important lesson involving human conduct and interaction, from individuals to governments, is seen in the Cosmic Law of Cause & Effect or karma. Knowing how the Law works helps to understand the means to achieve inner and outer peace, and why governments need to be "reconstituted".

The lesson begins with the understanding that the universe is a SEA OF ENERGY that can be either calm or stormy, depending on how it's used.And science has shown how this field of energy works;

“For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction."

It's the law, and it was expressed in spiritual teachings long ago;

"Be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

A modern addendum is "don't get even, get smart".

Governments have continued from antiquity the practice of initiating physical force to control people, contrary to timeless wisdom;

"You must not propagate lies as a truth to establish righteousness by the power of civil governments or by the inaction of secular laws. You must always labor to PERSUADE human minds .You must never dare to compel them."

For government, the Cosmic Law of Cause & Effect, or karma, means "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The Cause of Initiating physical force produces in-kind Effects, or karma, at some point in time. It could be IMMEDIATE or in FUTURE.

Every human thought, word and deed is a Cause that sets off a wave of energy throughout the universe, creating calm and desirable, or stormy and undesirable Effects.

Every Cause, whether individual or collectively by government, results in an Effect, from the microcosm to the macrocosm .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the 1997 edition of his book "Rising Out of Chaos", spiritual leader Simon Peter Fuller emphasized the importance of living in harmony with the Law;

"We are totally responsible for our every thought, word and deed while on Earth, and karma, both positive and negative, ensures that we re-balance all the energy or matter (so called sin) we have ever disturbed."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deepak Chopra, a leader in mind-body medicine, identified the issue in his 1993 book "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success";

"...no debt in the universe ever goes unpaid. There is a perfect accounting system in this universe, and everything is a constant `to and fro' exchange of energy."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the Law for all human action in government, business, labor, education, etc., as well as individually.

The Cosmic Law of Cause & Effect requires that governments holding to the karmically-incorrect practice of initiating physical force, or violence of any kind, be RECONSTITUTED with positive principles, policies and practices in harmony with the higher Law, a new way of looking at government.

Being consciously unaware of having caused negative energies that must be re-balanced, humans generally regard themselves as "victims" of some undesirable Effect, but somewhere in the individual or collective history there was a Cause, possibly during past incarnations. This may be better understood by reversing the words of the Law;

"For every Effect, there is a Cause."

There are only Effects of Causes and Causes with Effects.

With regard to government, the bottom line is every thought to be projected in government Principles, every word to be carried out in government Policies, and every deed to be carried out in government Practices, must be assessed for its karmic implications. And this requires an AUTHENTIC CONSTITUTION in harmony with the natural Cosmic Laws of the universe.

This can even be said like this in present circumstances to more than 5 million citizens.
"You didnt use your right to vote - so you suffer" - Also a cosmic Law

- Vineeth Menon

Education and Reservation

RESERVATION IN EDUCATION IS RUINING MALAYSIA

Are the politicians misusing the word reservation to serve their power interests?

What educational reservation can do may not be visible now. But it has the potential to ruin the nation. We are living in the 21st century, but we still believe in the race or religion based reservation system.

Looking back, that is 50 years after independence; we have made its mark on the economic front. But when it comes to universities, it is falling behind in the global context. What then plagues it?

The major obstacle has been reservation, which is more an outcome of a political game plan than a genuine compassion to uplift the left-behind populace. It has opened the university doors preferentially for certain races, putting merit on the backburner. It shows the extent to which the corrupt politicians, for whom there is nothing more important than vote, to grab power.

Every citizen is entitled to the best possible basic education. Reservation in that domain therefore might be justified, if the economic criteria have been preferred over race or religion based reservation system.

But the greater area of concern is university education, which is a gateway to the professional world. Race-based reservation is of no use in the changed circumstances. This is even dangerous as it will forever keep the country divided. Reservation will also compromise with the quality of student intake and thus the output.

Let’s think of years from now when the country would need a greater pool of talent performing optimally. We need to change our reservation policies and rectify our past mistakes.

Is reservation a necessity? isn't it embarrassing?

Is Reservation still the need of the hour? How long should it exist? Some people were given a special privilege because it was the need of that hour. In order to bridge the divide, the government or rather the leaders of that era felt the need to implement policies that would give these people some privileges. The aim of these policies was to improve the standard of living of the people who are referred to as Bumiputras.

This race system is man-made and therefore the question of granting privileges does not arise. It is like hurting a man’s dignity and then making up by giving him some privileges. I again say that I am not against reservation, but undue relaxations are not welcomed. Awarding reservation in education is not justified because bumiputras also have the mental capability required to work hard and do well. God bestowed them with equal mental power. It is the politicians and many of us, who made them weak and now in order to rectify our own mistakes, we are committing more.

Financial assistance up to a certain extent is acceptable. If a person is competent enough, no race and no system can stop him/her to achieve success. Success doesn’t come by your race. It is the fruit of your hard work. No organization selects a candidate on the basis of his/her race (In Malaysia may be). I don’t understand why our society is still driven by such race based reservation systems.

Man has reached Mars and still on Earth we treat each other as creatures!
Spiritualism is gaining momentum and still we look down upon others!
Oh God! I sometime wonder, are we moving ahead or going back. We do not respect each other. We are still following the mistakes committed by our forefathers. We sit in a Mercedes S Class but refuse to part with those 100 year old thoughts. Modernization has taken place in the world, but it is yet to reach our minds, our souls.

Ends
vineeith@yahoo.com