THE MASSES IN INDIA CRY TO SIXTY MILLION GODS, AND STILL DIE LIKE DOGS.
WHERE ARE THESE GODS?
Knowing this, stand up and fight! Not one step back that is the idea. ... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us! Death means only a change of garment. What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards. ... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune. You have cried to all the gods in the world. Has misery ceased? The masses in India cry to sixty million gods, and still die like dogs. Where are these gods? ... The gods come to help you when you have succeeded. So what is the use? Die game. ... This bending the knee to superstitions, this selling yourself to your own mind does not befit you, my soul. You are infinite, deathless, birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it does not befit you to be a slave. ... Arise! Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must. There is none to help you. You are the entire world. Who can help you?
- Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II
(Delivered In San Francisco, on May 28, 1900)
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Lectures And Discourses/The Gita II
Kabir views Humanity as being caught up in illusion, searching for Ultimate
Reality in all the wrong places, always seeking It outside of ourselves in
various rituals, temples, forests and mountaintops, not realizing That for
which we seek is already hidden within us.
The ultimate truth or Brahman dwells within the
three states like fragrance in the flower;
Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar." Until one trace the
truth within the three states the illusion of birth, life, death and the world
is experienced as reality.
In Vedas the God has been described as:-
Sakshi
(Witness)
Chetan
(conscious)
Nirguna
(Without form and properties).
Nitya
(eternal)
Shuddha
(pure)
Buddha
(omniscient)
Mukta (unattached).
All this the above is the nature of the soul, the innermost self. Thus
the innermost self is God.
That is Atman is Brahman.
All individualized God and goddesses are false gods based on the false self(ego or waking entity) within the false experience(waking). All these individualized Gods are barred by Vedas. In self-awareness nothing exists other than consciousness (Atman or soul) . thus consciousness is ultimate truth and ultimate truth is Brahman or God.
Physical & mental discipline such like Karma, Mantra Yaga, Yajna, Puja
Japa blind devotion to deity or guru is not the tool for liberation or freedom
from experiencing the duality as reality. It is dualistic cult including
tradition Advaitic orthodoxy propagate this discipline has no value if one is
seeking truth to get non-dual moksha.
That is why Gaudapada says that: - The
merciful Veda teaches karma and Upaasana to people of lower and middling
intellect, while Jnana is taught to those of higher intellect.
So, Yajur Veda indicates that:-
They sink deeper in darkness those
who worship sambhuti. (Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair,
idol etc [Yajurved 40:9]
Those who worship visible things born of the prakrti, such as the earth,
trees, bodies (human and the like) in place of God are enveloped in still
greater darkness, in other words, they are extremely foolish, fall into an
awful hell of pain and sorrow, and suffer terribly for a long time." [Yajur Veda 40:9.]
The religion of the Veda knows no idols
Max Müller says:- "The
religion of the Veda knows no idols; the worship of idols in India is a
secondary formation, a degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal
gods."
Therefore, there was no individual god or temples and worships in Vedic religion, which existed prior to Buddhism. Thus the individualized gods and temples must have been built later on, when the worships of idol were introduced. Thus the Vedic religion which existed in the past was free from idol and nature worship and idol worshiping rituals.
Therefore, there was no individual god or temples and worships in Vedic religion, which existed prior to Buddhism. Thus the individualized gods and temples must have been built later on, when the worships of idol were introduced. Thus the Vedic religion which existed in the past was free from idol and nature worship and idol worshiping rituals.
Thus, the present day’s worship of individual gods, created things,
nature and human are against Vedic teachings, and it looks like it has been
fabricated and introduced by priest craft. Since it, has passed on from one
generation to the next it is hard for the people to believe the truth of their own
religion, because they have sentimentally and emotionally involved in it
and they refuse to accept anything else
other than their inherited beliefs.
It is impossible to find and realize the truth via religion and
scriptural study. Even Upanishads conform this.
Mysticism, scriptural knowledge, penance
based Scholasticism are great hindrance to self-realization. Inherited blind
belief with corresponding actions based on scriptures,
worship, ritual faith which imply certain mental and physical discipline, or
scripture supporting belief, faith, creed, ritual, theological knowledge personal
or opinion leads to hallucinated knowledge. All these become great hindrance in grasping
understanding, assimilating and realizing the Advaitic or non-dual truth.
Scriptural mastery including ancient Sastras, Tarka, Samkhya disciplines to support Karmas & belief Bhakti Argument & interpretation with help of logic, grammar etc.to support beliefs, revelations, prayers etc. Also dogmas, theological or other based on authorities.
Yoga, Silence, meditation, rituals and
devotion are based on the false self and false experience does not yield truth
one seeking for because the truth is beyond false self [ego] and false
experience [universe]. Mysticism is based on individual experience. The self is
not individual because the self, which s in the form of consciousness, pervades
in everything and everywhere in all the three states. Blind beliefs without
verification and argument and interpretation on the base of false self are not verified
knowledge therefore it is not truth.
That is why in Mundaka
Upanishad says:- The rituals and the sacrifices
described in the Vedas deal with lower knowledge. The sages ignored these
rituals and went in search of higher knowledge. ... Such rituals are unsafe
rafts for crossing The sea of samsara, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck
are those who try to cross The sea of samsara on these poor rafts. Ignorant of
their own ignorance, yet wise In their own esteem, these deluded men Proud of
their vain learning go round and round Like the blind led by the blind.
And also in Isa Upanishads indicates that:- By worshiping gods and goddesses and going to the world of gods after death is of no use. The time one spends in ritualistic practices is wasted; one can spend same time moving forward towards Self-knowledge, which is the main goal. One cannot reach the non-dual destination by glorifying god and goddesses and by doing that, one goes deeper and deeper into darkness. It surely indicates the fact that, the seeker of truth has to drop the worshiping god and goddess in order to get Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.
It also indicates that, Religious
Rituals (Avidya) is Karma (action) and therefore a hindrance. By
performing Agnihotra and other sacrifices [Avidya] is a roundabout way of purifying the mind, and it is also groping in the
dark.
In addition, it indicates the karma
is limited only to the religious rituals, not on the whole human life. This
karma theory based on the human conduct must have been adopted from Buddhism
and other theories based on human conducts.
When it says: Perform the obligatory
karmas without any attachment to the fruits, and at the same time worship gods
and goddesses, again without any desire to go to heaven - then you can get the
benefit of both, liberation and bliss. For those who are not yet ready to
renounce, this path is recommended, it mean that the religion and its
idea of god and goddesses and code of conducts, and its rituals are meant for
the mass who are incapable of thinking of the beyond.
In addition, it also speaks of heaven
the abode of gods, where one goes after death, and it speaks of rebirth, this
contradiction, seeker has to conclude that religion, rituals god and its code
of conducts are meant for the mass that is not receptive to Self-Knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.