Swami Virjanand :- Hinduism is The world's oldest dogma. "Is it possible that any moral man can tolerate the supremely disgusting and insufferable stuff to be found, for instance, in the Linga Purana? The feats of the Linga, though heroic (!) indeed, are a record of shame and a tale of utter indecency and, obscenity. Do such books teach religion? If the reply be in the affirmative, then I say that they teach religions which can only debase the people." Source – Wikibook
One will find lots of information about the Vedas in Maharishi Dayananda who was an authority on Vedas in his book SATYARATH PRAKASH is a yardstick to bifurcate Vedic from non Vedic add-ons.
Superstitions in the form of religion became deep rooted in Indian society. This had a prejudicial and adverse effect on Indian society. Idol worship gave rise to temples, which had the vested interests of the priests. The priests dominated the ideas of the masses and exploitation became rampant.
Lord Shiva has the figure of a beautiful youth with serpents around his neck and a crescent on his head. His son Ganesha has the body of man but the head of an elephant and he rides a rat. Brahma, the creator, has four faces. Lord Vishnu is shown as relaxing on the surface of waters. Goddess Sarasvati is a charming young lady with fore hands playing the Veena, and Lord Sesa has the form of a serpent.
When the people were completely brought under subjection, knowledge, intellectual power, courage, and all other good qualities were lost. They became very negligent in their duty, and immersed in sensuality thus started the many sects of Hinduism in its most sensual forms. A few of these sects still exist, such as Jainism, where the priests practice their doctrine in complete nudity, and Shivling, worship of the Penis and Vagina of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati respectively.
The concept of non-violence started and practiced by Jains became the foundation on which Hinduism was built also. In reality this brand of ideology reduced them to that of cowardice resulting in India's constant subjugation by foreign forces.
"Many Hindus believe that all their sins are washed away by having a dip in the holy water of the Ganges. Thus it is seen that the great philosophical religion which conceived Unity of God in the beginning, brought up corruption and degradation of high ideas, when His attributes as the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer were divided and allotted to different deities possessing separate entities in different forms.
Indians have, through ignorance, fallen into the abyss of superstitions and idol worship; the source of all other religious dogmas.
There are many forms of deity worship, practiced by many denominations and which consists of their numerous gods which took many forms; human (male and female) and animal (Elephants, monkeys, snakes, rats, etc.). Each form is said to represent the different attributes, characteristics and nature of One God. The largest denominations consist of the Jains, Charvaka, Vama Marga, Puranics, Krishna Consciousness and Vedanta.
Hindus perceived that heaven as very simple to achieve through devotion; e.g. taking a dip in the Ganges (in this way many animals can go too), renouncing all material wealth at old age, and going on Holy pilgrimage. Many believe salvation can be gained from a priest through formulas and rituals and not necessarily through austerity. The heaven of the different sects of Hinduism differs in many respects.
The Jains believe their heaven consists of going to Shivpuri and sitting there quietly on a platform called the stone of salvation. The religion of the Vama Margis flourished in the eighteen century and their heaven is going to Shripur. Amazingly, what would be deemed sudden hell for us now, was the criteria for their heavenly abode. Their salvation consisted of consuming meat and alcohol, listening and singing romantic songs and enjoying promiscuous sex with women who could even be their mothers or sisters.
They look upon all men as Mahadeva or Vishnu (Gods), and all women as Parvati or Lakshmi (Goddesses) and enjoy themselves with one another. They maintain that there is no disease in heaven and that you will always remain young. When the ignorant are guided by such sensual enjoyment to salvation is it any wonder why so many are attracted to it?
The Shivites, Vaishnavites, and the Gosaaeens are promised enjoyable life by means of beautiful wives with pretty dresses. The dwelling consisted of luxurious houses and dining in delicious food and drinks.
The Puranics believe in many kinds of salvation. They find residence in the same world with God, living with Him as His younger brother and becoming Godlike in nature. The closeness to God is like a servant living near his master brings an intimate union with God.
This particular sect of Hinduism is surrounded with mythologies. But it does not bother the faithful in any conceivable way as they stress devotion and not reasoning. To a Hindu, the chanting or listening to chants of mantras of the Puranas, Ramayan and Gita, accompanied by music is devotion enough. For him, there is no need to enter into an intellectual debate with logic.
The mythologies of the Puranas (one of Hindu's sacred scripture) is mystically intriguing and to dispute such myth is considered "blasphemy." Many of their incarnations and saints were not born but created one after the other out of thin air. Anjani was impregnated by seminal fluid poured into her ears. She gave birth to Hanoman, their monkey-God who swallowed the sun at one time; and a bull, standing on a turtle supports the earth. There are many such myths present in the Hindu theology.
The sacred book, the Bhagvat, gives the story of creation as a lotus sprung from the navel of Vishnu (God of sustenance) and Brahma (Creator) out of the lotus. Swayambhava (One who is self-existent) came out of the right big toe of Brahma's right foot. The queen Satyrupa came out of his left great toe. From his forehead were born ten sons such as Rudra and Marichi who begot ten Prajapatis whose thirteen daughters were married to Kashyapa.
Out of these thirteen wives of Dashyapa, Diti gave birth to fiends, Danu to demons, Aditi to the sun, Vinata to Birds and Dadru to snakes. Sharma gave birth to dogs and jackals, and others to elephants, horses, donkeys, buffaloes, grass, straw and trees, etc.
In this modern age is there anyone who really believe such nonsense from the idiotic authors of the Bhagvat. This was the backwardness of the masses, when true knowledge died. The cunning imbeciles took advantage of this scenario to enhance their own greedy life styles. This pattern of greed and ignorance became the stigma of future dogmas to come.
In the Markandeya Purana, the section devoted to the goddess Durga, it is stated that out of the bodies of the gods came forth light. This light formed a goddess who killed a demon called Mahishasura or Raktabija. A drop of blood fell from his body and many demons were produced to fill the whole world.
In the second chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavat, Narayana blesses Brahma saying,"Thou shalt never be a victim to infatuation, either during Creation or Dissolution." In the tenth chapter, it says Brahma stole calves through infatuation. When this book teaches that there is no love, hate, anger, jealousy or pain in heaven (Baikuntha), why did Sanaka and others become angry at the gate of heaven? It is simple logic that if anger was there it was certainly no heaven.
In the Bhagavat, Hiranyaksha folded the earth and made a pillow of it which he placed under his head and went to sleep. Vishnu incarnated himself as a boar, and caught hold of the earth from under his head. This woke him. A battle began and Hiranyaksha was killed. When Hiranyaksha rolled up the earth into a pillow, and placed it under his head, what did he sleep on and what did the boar walk on to engage him in battle? There was no end to irrationalities, as the Puranas and other such books, were put together by these misguided infidels.
Prahlada, the son of Hiranyaksha was a great devotee of Narayana. When his father sent him to school he would ask his teachers to write the word Ram (another Hindu God), his father's enemy, on his slate and it would infuriate his father. He simply would not obey his father who had him tied up and pushed from the top of a mountain into a well. He remained unhurt.
The father's second attempt to punish him faired no better, by embracing a red-hot iron pillar, daring his God, Rama to save him. Prahlada had doubts, but Narayana (a God) made rows of ants to crawl on the pillar as a protector from the heat.
The pillar then burst and a lion came out of it and ripped open his father's abdomen. It then began to lick Prahlada lovingly and ask him to make a wish. He then requested his father to be saved and the lion blessed him saying that twenty-one of his forefathers have been saved. How on earth can these things be true? It is beyond comprehension that people in this day and age believe and accept such ridiculous stories.
Another story of the Bhagvat was about Ajamil who named his son Narayana at the sage Narada's advice. When he was dying, he shouted for his son (by name) and in came Narayan (the God) instead of his son. Since Narayana was supposed to be God he should have known that Ajamil was calling for his son. If calling the name of the Lord is such a meritorious act as evidenced by the above story, why does Narayana not come now and relieve those who call his name of pain and misery?
The dimension of the Sumeru mountain given in the Bhagvat Puran differs a great deal with the teaching of the Science of Astronomy. Oceans were caused by the tracks of the wheels of King Priyabrata's carriage. The earth was 2,450,000, 000 miles in diameter. There are countless numbers of such absurdities in all the Hindu Puranas.
In a land where ignorance has no bounds, even a rogue with a few of followers can be called a saint. This happened all over India in the past centuries and is still prevailing in our supposedly modern world where sciences and logic have rightly disputed these irrationalities. Many of these swindlers like Prabhupada, Rajnishi and Sai Baba were able to make their cult known in a gullible Western society where they amassed great fortunes.
To do good to the world is to enlighten mankind and bring them out of pain and miseries, rather than leaving them to the grace of God. It is only through the wisdom of God, that man can understand his mistakes. It is imperative to disseminate the Vedic knowledge and assist in liberating souls and at the same time elevate your own soul.
Undoubtedly, India can boast or pride herself in being the most secular nation in the whole world. Refugees of religious persecution in all religions including Charvaka Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Muslims and Buddhists all took refuge in India. Throughout the ages, religious tolerance has become a universal message. There are thousands or perhaps millions of temples, churches and mosques, an exploitation no other nation in the world can surpass.
Almost a billion people engage in some form of spiritual worship. This takes place in temples, mosques, synagogues and churches, homes, factories, along riverbanks, in forest or mountains, streets, in trains, buses, wherever they may be. One can easily relate to such profound symbolatry as truly a divine paradise for the seekers of spirituality. But strangely and unfortunately, it was not meant to be so.
The prevailing conditions of India have cleared the oppugnancies that all religious dogmas do lead ultimately to Salvation. The practices of these doctrines have definitely proved that destitution is a languishing pain for the poor, and happiness, a distant dream for the privileged. The diminished glorious ages of India, once the cradle of civilization, where only one people worshipped one God, is long gone.
[Source:-SATYARATH PRAKASH]
Looking at all these facts there is a need to bifurcate whatever is not Vedic to know the pure Vedic essence which is mixed in the sea of mythology, superstitions and dogmas. No god can exit without man. Man has to exist first for god to exist. Thus god is dependent on man’s existence. Therefore, there is a need to unfold the mystery of man’s existence, and then only it is possible accept the god’s existence.
It looks like the idea of god is adopted from Abrahamic religion and introduced with mythological base. There is no use of arguing with anyone with all these facts because all these things make one believe the illusion[universe] as reality. The main goal of the truth seeker is to acquire self-knowledge.
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