Karma, Rebirth & Moksha/Nirvana - Understanding the Philosophy

Karma 
actually pronounced as "Kar-Ma" (in Sanskrit) instead of "Kaar-Maa", is a more widespread belief, in most societies, than Rebirth or Moksha. Its because it is seen in our day to day lives.

When we do something, we pay for it in similar terms. Our stories, our movies and our tales and superhero comics are mostly based on these lines. When we do good, eventually we will recieve good and vice versa. Our advice to others, our solving of other's problems, and our kindness in general or lending a helping hand, is based on the same motive. We do it sub consciously all the time and thus its easy to see examples from everyday life. 

For example : If a customer has a bad experience at a shop and is angry, but the shopkeeper smiles and takes care of his customer's requirements, 99% of the time, the customer will be happy & impressed, and will keep coming back in-spite of the initial bad experience. Good emotions and care shown by the shopkeeper, gets him loyal customers. Karma at work.

Vedic scriptures establishes it as the only rule by which the cosmos works :

ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - and so on...

We should not think of ourselves as separate from this universe, we are actively a part of it right now. Infact if we did not have this consciousness, we would not even think of ourselves as separate from the rest of existence. Truth is, that we are the universe itself, and all separations within this universe is deeply connected. We are ONE. A change in one part of the universe, will definitely lead to a change in the other part. That's how Karma works.



Another example : 
Imagine that we buy tomatoes from a grocer, the grocer earns from the sale, the truckers who delivered the tomatoes earn, the farmer, the stockist, the packing guys, fertilizer makers and all the employees who work in these various ancilliary companies earn from it. Our one action has affected so many people in tiny bits and pieces.  
Now see the reverse reaction to our action : These companies pay heavy taxes(which are levied because they earned from people like us when we bought the tomatoes) and society uses those taxes to build the roads and generate electricity, which are benefits for us. 

Existence itself, means to give and take continuously, to be bound by Karma, and thus no one escapes from it, not the humans, not the animals, not the plants, not even the Gods. 
One should understand, that they cannot escape Karma at all. If I think that - Let me cheat this once, and no one will notice because nobody's around; I would be terribly wrong. Why ?

I'm noticing myself. Who Am I ? I'm the soul connected to this universe thinking that I'm separate and smart enough to cheat. The universe, how complex it is, how it works, we would never understand, but we should definitely know, that if we try to cheat, for example, steal from the grocer mentioned above, the electricity and roads will never get made. 

When we believe in the philosophy, we see it unfold in our lives. This gives us the strength to understand that when we go through a bad patch in our lives, or just have a rough day, it is our Karma that is balancing. We might have, stolen a buck / kicked a dog / coveted / been disrespectful / driven rashly / or some or the other way we must have been a pain / trouble for other humans, animals or nature, even if we didn't realize it then. We surely must be paying for it. Thinking this way, our life will become much more stress free and devoid of complaints.

Some powerful / rich people who do all the bad things, but still get away, also pay for it; if not now, then in their next lives.

The Issue of Rebirth
Some believe that we are here as a result of organic mutation and there is no such thing as our purpose in life; we just are. We live then we die. Some believe that we go to heaven or hell for eternity, according to our deeds we ought to do according to some texts.

Vedic/ Hindu teachings guide that if we weren't here for a purpose why would we even strive to understand what our purpose is? 

We could just be like insects who work all day, not knowing that one day they'll die. They just live, and then they die. But we humans prepare for middle age & old age, we prepare for building a career, we also created a measurement & calculation of time so that we can plan things accordingly, because we know that one day we would die. Why would we do that? 

People want to become scientists, aspire to become lawyers, train hard to become teachers, experience struggle to become good businessmen, etc., but fail to explain; What is the need to struggle to achieve and prove this or that ? One day we will anyways die, so why not just be? 

It doesn't make a difference in the natural world, what we become, but still we struggle.
It seems like we're constantly searching for something that will end our search, fill us with satisfaction to the brim, but maybe we're looking at all the wrong places.

We are most definitely conscious beings and since we have the ability to be aware of ourselves and also feel the pain and happiness of others within ourselves, we can say that we're born to understand the reasons for our existence. Till we understand that, we keep on searching for the next best thing. How many people have you seen who are content and blissful with the current state of affairs in their lives. Actually when someone is, we usually term that person as lazy and one who's lacking ambition.

Since our birth, we try searching for meaning in family, friends, in jobs, in relationships, in situations, in dream houses, in amazing cars, in wealth and property. But if we get old doing so and are still not able to find satisfaction, get rid of worrying and attachments, still wishing and regretting, then our consciousness has to continue after leaving this unstable state of affairs(our body) and thus starts forming a new body in a new womb. Remember, that we are all one and connected, so the part of the consciousness that was bound within us, our mind and body, builds a new one to continue the search for meaning. 

But unfortunately, in this process a lot of information is lost. Children still remember past experiences till a few years after birth but as soon as the ego of identity develops (at the age 4-5), we forget all that and become a part of our new reality. Ever wondered why new born babies smile in their sleep, and dream so rapidly, when they haven't even experienced the world? Ever noticed how our body resembles that of our parents but our characteristics and souls are independent of their ways of thinking. We are usually not in tune with our parents, we feel like a separate soul, even when our body, height, features and complexion or race matches.

Rebirth has been proven several times but here are a few examples :

Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, investigated many reports of young children who claimed to remember a past life. He conducted more than 2,500 case studies over a period of 40 years and published twelve books, including "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" and "Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect".

Stevenson retired in 2002, and psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker took over his work and wrote "Life Before Life". Other people who have undertaken research on reincarnation include Satwant Pasricha, Godwin Samararatne, Antonia Mills, and Erlendur Haraldsson. Research methods have involved analysis of childhood memories, corresponding birthmarks, and psychological/cultural characteristics. Skeptics and the scientific community in general consider reincarnation research to be pseudoscientific. Some parapsychologists advocate developing protocols to guide, sort, compare, and evaluate cases studies. But then everyone has their methods and beliefs.

There is a portion of Islam that believes in reincarnation too. The idea of reincarnation is accepted by a few Muslim sects, particularly of the Ghulat, and by other sects in the Muslim world such as Druzes. Historically, South Asian Isma'ilis performed chantas yearly, one of which is for sins committed in past lives. (Aga Khan IV) Sinan ibn Salman ibn Muhammad, also known as Rashid al-Din Sinan, (r. 1162-92) subscribed to the transmigration of souls as a tenet of the Alawi, who are thought to have been influenced by Isma'ilism. Modern Sufis who embrace the idea of reincarnation include Bawa Muhaiyadeen.

Why can't we go to heaven or hell for eternity?

The answer is very simple and logical. If suppose, we do a bad job on earth for 60 years and then die, we should pay for it in hell for 60 years and be relieved from it. 

In some faiths, the punishment for stealing to fill an empty stomach and that for murdering someone for greed is the same; ie. burning in hell for eternity.
If so... then how is God just?

Hindu scriptures indicate that only Supreme consciousness is beyond time / eternal and other than it, nothing is constant, no beings and no worlds(heaven / hell). God is basically the state of everything (including us 7 nature) and every consciousness in unison, without the feeling of separateness. That is why only God in that form (ie. collective Us / souls) is eternal. None of its forms (individual separate identities) are eternal - whether its Shri Krishna, Christ or any of us humans searching for answers.

Hinduism / Vedic Culture indicates that God is the law of Karma itself. You pay only for what you've done and then you get another chance. So heaven and hell (these are planets in different realms) aren't permanent but only are there to balance our Karma if we cannot do the same in our lifetime, and once our Karma is almost balanced out, we transcend again into a womb with a little backlog of our deeds. This backlog defines our birth situations, families, abilities, etc. 

We go to heaven and hell to clear our Karmic baggage only because we cannot manifest into a pure baby (animal or human) if we already have a lot of karmic backlog, because then our whole lives will be shaped up and would not seem justified.

For example : Suppose I do a lot of good work inspite of being really poor in this life, and immediately after death I take birth in a rich family to enjoy that life as a result of my good Karma. But suppose I turn out to be a young brat in the new rich family, but because my good deeds in previous life, I have so much positive Karmic baggage, that I won't fall into trouble inspite of the brat I've become. This certainly would not be fair to other lifeforms. So, instead of taking birth again, I shall enjoy in heaven and when my Karma gets balanced, I shall be given another chance in this world. 

BUT another chance at what ? Well another chance at achieving enlightenment, knowing my true nature and trying to realize the truth that other than the One Consciousness in its blissfull state, there is nothing else, and we are also it, lost in illusion that God and Us are separate. 
If we achieve this enlightenment, we could achieve Moksha. 

What is Moksha ?
Moksha is the state of bliss in which pure consciousness stays. 

Our bodies are made up of so many tiny organisms. There are so many organisms in our bloodstream, in our intestines, in our stomach, lungs etc. These are living organisms which constantly take birth and keep dying. Our body as we know it is changing every moment. Old cells fall, new cells form. In a year, about 98% of our body gets regenerated. Our bodies are not things but are processes. 

But we are not called processes but are called beings, because we "BE" in a particular space and time, but our body changes constantly. In every different space and time, our bodies have changed as explained above, but do we feel the change in ourselves - Our Beings. 

It feels the same way when I was 12, when I was 20, 40 or 80. The being / " Me " knew that my body has changed, my mind has changed, but the feeling " Me ", has that changed. Me - the observer - has the observer changed ever ? If not, then why would death stop it?

The mind is also just a reflection of learnings, a database of images and videos, and soundfiles and experience of touch. But the " Me ", or the soul is the experiencer which uses the brain and its database to make decisions and to exercise choice.

What does "Me" experience ? The other, always the other.

I experience through my senses - the music, the food, the beauty, the softness, the fragrances. To an organic machinery (our bodies and minds) it would be just sound waves, fuel, rays of colored light, texture, particles hanging in air, respectively. 

Our soul derives the meanings, which is why it changes over time. I used to like rock music when I was young, but now, its too harsh for me, but my friends still find it cool. Our bodies and minds would react in a set pattern, but it is our will / choice /soul that experiences emotions; and it does through the other.

When a soul through observation in meditation learns that the reason why my soul feels connected to anything else and experiences bliss or hate, is because it is the same soul everywhere, that is trapped in an illusion of a separate body and mind, it achieves Moksha. It doesn't need to form another body (take rebirth) because now it has found what it was looking for- the meaning of existence. It has found itself finally so it is emotion free and is in a blissful state. It merges into the unending consciousness and does not get formed into a definite body again, yet remaining conscious forever. This is the way of enlightenment and meditation.

In Hindu scriptures it is mentioned that Moksha can also be achieved through selfless love and devotion, and few other practices as well, also depending on our Karmic baggage.

Aim of every soul is to attain Moksha, and every soul reaches there some way or the other.
So lets clean up our Karma, and pray that we become enlightened in our next birth and achieve Moksha. 

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Where is My Soul ? Experience your Soul... Right Now (Guided by Hindu / Vedic teachings)

There are many who say that they don't believe in a soul. Fair enough. Why should one, when one cannot experience the Soul? Our schooling doesn't teach it, and sometimes scientists also say that there is no such thing as the Supreme Soul... Hell... There is even no such thing as a Soul.

Its all mental and nervous mumbo-jumbo, of our amazing brain. We are chemical structures reacting and acting in a particular way, and that's what makes us feel love, hate and such emotions. Nothing like a Soul exists.


How did I experience my Soul ?
Now this is not the only way, its just my method, and I wanna share it. It could be useful.
It is simple and I'm sure many people can do it. Takes a few seconds and a little practice whenever one's got time and solace. If interested, you can give it more time.

Whenever I'm just relaxing, closed eyes or open, I realized that I see a lot of thoughts rushing by in my head, like images and videos, one after the other, which is what we call "Thinking". This thinking always projects images in connections to each other. For example, I could start with - "Oh, the dinner was tasty... yesterday had tasty food at that restaurant... its wall had a picture of a guitar... guitars are cool... that guitarist at yesterdays show was awesome.... "(cont.) and so on. And then I think... What was I thinking in the beginning... and what am I thinking now?
These don't seem like involuntary actions at all, it seems like I'm voluntarily letting the memories flash one after the other, like playing with them. They form a chain in connection to an instance in one thought, leading to another, but as soon as I like something, I voluntarily and creatively start imagining by changing my thoughts, (cont.)... I'm learning to play the guitar... there is a guitar in my hands... crowds cheering for me... I'm dressed in black jacket.... riding in my Bentley... rich rockstar... and so on.

I realize that all this while there is an entity(Me) that was using my brain to browse through and produce these images by will. The brain was like the super computer producing such fast results, animating and editing videos(thoughts) in split seconds;
the nervous signals were like a super duper heavy duty video/animation software;
the memory was like the 50,000 GB hard drive which stores so much information.

But who was the video editor? 

Oh no, I got so lost in all these videos and images, that I never realized the existence of that one entity that is operating all this. That was Me. I was using my brain. I was in control. But who am I ?

Then I thought, my body is a machine. My brain being a part of it, functions like a machine too. When it functions well, my reflexes are fast, my imagination is good. When it malfunctions, like in the case of all sorts of mental disorders, it does not function properly. Now I started thinking that suppose I have an accident and lose my memory, or some part of the brain stops working to cause paralysis, my consciousness will still be intact. I know that I'm paralytic and a part of me isn't working. I KNOW that. Even the heaviest of brain damages do not take away that sense of "Me". Suppose, if I go into coma, and wake up after many years, supposing that my memory is washed, and I'm even not thinking stright, can't calculate, but still, the question I would ask is, Who Am I ?  Somehow I still know the existence of ME.

Sometimes people call this, The Soul. 

"Aatma" in Sanskrit(Vedic language) means Soul.
"Paramatma" = "Param"(Supreme) + "Atma" = Supreme Soul / God

In Vedas, it is clearly established, that if we learn to see our own soul, in other words, when we realize it more and more, see our souls activated and in constant action all the time, we start getting closer to answers to that very basic question - What/ Where/Who is God ? Because all the souls who think they are separate from each other are actually the same Soul trying to find its meaning by forming different forms / bodies and using different "Indriyas"(senses in sanskrit). Once we start to control our "Indriyas", we can clearly see the Soul - Live in action. Once we know the soul completely, all the desires which are projected through the senses seem so unimportant in comparison to the true bliss.

I realized that my soul/Me, its constantly working and making decisions willingly. It does what is necessary without rest. And why would it rest, it never tires. My body gets tired, I decide to sit. My mind gets tired, I/ my soul decides to take a break, go out. But if there is urgent work, I pressure my body to work, I pressure my mind to work. This sense of urgency depends from soul to soul so differently, that it cannot be calculated. If it were upto the brain, it would have calculated the stress levels of my body in terms of chemical imbalance, and would have put me to sleep. It believes in the survival instinct, so why would it let the body perish knowing that over working is not good for the body. But I / The Soul is thinking about commitment to work and others benefit, which is why it pressures my body to work not listening to the signals of my brain.

I'm actually never getting tired. When I say that I'm getting tired, it just means that my body is getting tired, or my brain is, but try to see that one being, that is You, that never feels tired. 

I also realized, that when I'm doing something out of greed or thrill (like over-speeding in traffic, or refusing a beggar whose asking for alms, or stealing someone's job, shoplifting, or even over pricing a product to earn a little more from a customer, or telling a lie for personal benefit, etc), at that very moment my Self splits into two; one tells me to go for it, one tells me not to.

Its generally my social learnings and values, my mental structure, my thinking, etc which tells me to think of myself, my pleasure, my greed, my fears, my reputation (what is also called for the devil / satan). But there is this other strong force, always there, which knows what is wrong and right once it gets information. Its so sensitive, that it pricks me in a slight way even when I'm having meat these days, for example. Since the time(about 6-7 years of age) I realized, that a whole animal has been killed, and customers like me are the reason why they're being killed frantically, I started to get that poking from the soul whenever I had meat.

Q. What would my brain tell me based on evidences it grew up with over the years, and survival instincts? 
A. My parents eat meat. Everyone has it. Its tasty, its proteins. If humans can grow them they can kill them too. This is our societal norm. People have been doing it for ages. People would think I'm stupid if I quit. Food chains promote it. Its delicious. Being Bad is Good in today's world.

Q. What would be bugging / poking me, even when the brain is giving evidences?
A. Why should an animal die for my taste buds. Humans give birth on intention too, so does that mean that the parents can kill their child. All these arguments are being given by the brain to satiate addiction of the senses; in this case, its taste buds.

Even after this, I pushed my soul away and continued with meat for more than 25 years since birth. It was because I liked it and could not refuse it. Later, when I started to pay attention to this poking going on inside me, I decided to quit eating meat. I saw myself going closer to peace, understanding and happiness. By body became healthier and my mind could work much faster and sharper.
I slowly started to develop control over my senses and thus the addictions too.

I saw, that the Soul constantly thinks of the other(other than me), which is why the virtues come up to pinch me, but my brain only thinks about its own survival and greed, and it argues with my soul constantly, and most of the times I let my brain and body win.

Why does the soul always think of the other??? 
Could it be that it realizes that the other is also itself. And it realizes that the brain and body are locking it in illusion but it is eternally connected to every other soul in the planet. Which is why when we see a person cry, we start to feel the pain. Even babies, their thinking and understanding is not so developed. But you keep a crying baby in a room full of babies, soon they'll all start crying. There is something connecting them, even when they do not have the means to communicate.

This is why the Vedas indicate that babies are like purest forms of God themselves. Their soul is so pure, because their brains haven't developed yet. They know no fear but are able to sense everyone's pain. You would sense that capability in pets also. And yet sometimes we grown up humans, who have so many advanced tools and techniqueswith the mind and body, cannot understand others pain and others problems and point of view. That's because we have so covered up ourselves in materialism and materialistic thoughts(career, house, car, reputation, sex, bank balance, self image) always. That is why we always feel insecure and intolerant of the other.

People don't even wanna adjust with their families anymore, forget the rest of the world.

When its a case of survival, and you haven't had food for 3 days, your Soul justifies stealing this one time. Brains wouldn't function that way. Brains would work according to programming. But souls(The Real You) make the same body and mind function differently in different situations.
It only knows right and wrong.

You'll notice that the soul never rests.
If the body is too tired, it lies down, but the soul keeps observing. Even when we sleep the soul imagines (what we call dreams). It uses the brain's data and plays around with it and also creates new imaginary mixed  up stuff that never existed in the brain, in quite the same way, when we were thinking voluntarily, remember?

When you wake up from sleep, it seems real till 
the time you've woken up.

So if our soul is behaving exactly the same way when we are awake or asleep, it means that our souls are not in the control of our brain. Its the opposite. Our soul / We have a different reality with our eyes open, and a different reality in sleep.

One real world for the soul

Another real world for the soul

I like the dialogue in the movie - "The Matrix". A question is asked - "Imagine if you could never wake up from your sleep, how would you know the difference between the two worlds".
In our world(not in the movie) somehow we can never teach ourselves, when we dream, that it is a dream right now and I will wake up from it. Its only when you wake up, that you realize that it was not reality.
I think that when we sleep in this world, we (our soul) wakes up in the another world and we say to ourselves - "Oh that was just a dream", and when we sleep there, we wake up here, and say the same thing. And this happens every single night. No matter how much you try to tell yourself that you'll just be dreaming at night and that it isn't real, you still believe that its real, till you wake up.
Why would that happen?

An Experiment with the Soul
I imagine if I was blind since birth, I wouldn't have this immense video gallery in my memory obviously.
If I was also deaf since birth, I would have no sound files in the memory.
If I also did not have any other senses of hearing, taste and touch, I would basically have no means to experience this world through my senses, thus no memory at work, thus no imagination.
In that case, would I still have, pretty blank surely but still, a sense of myself? What would it be like? I would know no happy moments, no sad ones, I won't feel when someone pushes me, throws me, no sensory feelings basically. But would I sense my existence in a very still manner or not? What do you think?

Try feeling this. Ok wait, even imagination wouldn't work in a person like that, so how would you imagine.
Mmmmm.... if only you and I could blank out all our senses, which basically means all our connections to the outer world, would we be able to realize what that would feel like. Just the soul.

Could meditation help?

Let's try this simple one right now. Close your eyes, and focus on certain imaginations constantly for 5 seconds each - like a tree, a laughing girl, a laughing boy, a dog, sunset, etc. Like this make a few projections of your choice (let them come randomly) and keep each constant in your mind for a few seconds(but don't count, don't be rigid with timing, let it be natural).

Realize that these images are all in front of you, so you should turn your focus inwards on the one who is looking at these images. Feel the presence of You - the video editor.

Feel the stillness that is not your body, and not your mind.

And Ask
Who am I ?
What I visualize as myself is just my body and face, what if I did not have my eyes.
What I imagine is just my name(given by parents) and designation(given by society),
suppose I could not hear.
What I love in food is also a sensation only. Suppose I could not taste or smell.
What I feel are touches on skin, suppose I could not feel touch.

But do I still feel me, as still as a rock , but do I sense the presence of ME?

Note : Those who are disabled from one or two senses are known to be more sensitive to love and emotions. The soul is always as active, as loving(like a child), as innocent; Maybe its the memory of the senses that form an illusion of who I am, build my ego, build selfishness. The soul is like unending love and is the same that runs through everybody(which is why it can sense pain of others). Its the mind that covers it up in "Maaya" (an illusion).

When we try to separate the illusory senses that wake up our ego, we should be able to feel the presence of The Self - The Soul.
When we realize and feel the same Self / Soul running through every being, we feel the essence of God, omnipresence of God. When we're able to practice this, we are filled with knowledge, peace and senses that are far more capable than the basic 5 senses we think we have.


Keep Realizing the never tiring Soul every moment.
Saurabh Dey (OmCultr)



TAGS : Hinduism, Hindu, Vedic, om, India, Veda, ancient, natural, Brahma, Hindusthaan, Idol, worship, Philosophy, avataar, body, consciousness, devotee, devotion, existence, hanuman, idol, images, learning, love, meditation, mind, moksha, religious, shiva, soul, tribals, vedas, vishnu, you, Diversity, Harmony, Kaali, Kali, One, Polytheism, Unity, Unity in Diversity, belief, brain, communal, communities, competition, demon, dessert, education, experiment, eyes, food, forest, goddess, happy, indigenous, karma, lakshman, lakshmi, laws, living, loving, me, nirvana, ornament, love, our, pantheism, parvati, people, powers, prosperous, ram, ravan, rebirth, reincarnation, religare, religion, sage, saint, saraswati, save, search, shakti, share, sita, society, soul, searching, still, trinity, us, we, world, worship

What is Religion ? - an observation

There are so many registered religions across the planet. This post is especially targeted towards the mindsets which practice the race in number of followers through conversion. I have noticed, that whenever I see a clipping in newspapers on tension between different faiths(Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews, etc), I never see the word "religion" written. It says - "Communal Tension" or "Communal Violence".

But on the other hand, another term - "Religious Communities" is used to segregate people of a certain kind of belief from those of other beliefs. So even if they are siblings, they can be of different religions, depending upon various factors. Therefore it definitely is not something that is biological or geographical in nature. It is something that just came into existence, and definitely out of a motive. Most of the self righteous, conversion fanatic religions, are actually the youngest belief systems with their own set of rules and laws.

It seems very political to me as natural communities and belief structures always have their core values straightened out, and they are pretty much the same and are used as philosophy rather than to frighten people, and then there comes a class of people with dogma in their hands, which makes others uncomfortable. The dogma constantly needs to be explained and re structured in words to make people believe it. That shouldn't be the way if it was the word of God, particularly when God constantly keeps asking people to fear Him. 

The Vedic texts indicate that fear never brings love and respect, it only brings animosity and jealousy.

Here are some conclusions I have come to as to why and how religions came about to be.

Note : Vedic culture (Hindu, Buddhist, etc) is a way of life, not a dogmatic religion.

The Oxford Dictionary gives this definition of religion :

noun

[mass noun]
• the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods:ideas about the relationship between science and religion
• [count noun] a particular system of faith and worship:the world’s great religions
• [count noun] a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion:consumerism is the new religion

I would say that its quite a modified, twisted definition.
The word "religion" is a derivative of the Latin word "religo/religare," meaning "to bind".

This was later interpreted as, binding yourself to worship of one true God. But the Latin word probably wasn't developed thinking that way. It quite literally meant - "to bind". Thus I don't see religion any where close to God or spirituality. Spirituality attracts and enlightens, it certainly does not bind.

I have witnessed some conversion techniques. The argument given is that - "It is the right way", "We need to show you the right way", "We know better than you", "You are going astray", "This is God's will" etc. This is almost always followed by an emotional tearing down of confidence and mocking of beliefs of the victim. But then that's only an argument.

The real reason for conversion is greed of economic and political power through subjugation. Religion ensures both. I mean, if a person has certain beliefs, that's good; but why would he/she propose to dictate the same to others as law. Yes, that's right. Dogmas are laws, do's and don'ts without the explanation of Why? How? What? They say that the laws if followed will take the believers to heaven, not that if they are kind and nice to all, then that is supposed to happen.

Communities have always existed everywhere as a group survival tactic. Communal diversity is very natural in animals and humans. It is primarily the development of a society in a particular place with a certain resources. There used to be a time when all communities around the world used to behave and act naturally harmonizing with their surroundings. The dessert dwellers acted according to their habitat, the forest dwellers according to theirs. Even towns, villages and civilizations that were created in the same places, people's eating and clothing habbits, ornaments and traditions, rituals and cultures, depended on the climate, food sources, water availability, soil fertility, etc.


 
Such indigenous people still exist, but can be seen only among the tribals and forest dwellers away from the modern civilization. They have maintained their ingenuity and belief structure till this day, probably because of their non materialistic ways, shyness and simple minds, who know no shame, no fear, and no regrets, who live free and treat men, women and nature equally.

Rudyard Kipling's poem - "The White Man's Burden" explains the conquest over these beautiful indigenous people of the world. Religious conversion was quite a flagbearing event while conquering indigenous people. Religion sometimes helps to justify atrocities, in the name of the unknown - God. It was an excellent plan for mental conquest and automatically the economical and infrastructural plunder followed.There are loads of documented history on how ancient civilizations, had been converted into subjugation, changing their culture, food habits, clothing and other habits, by ridicule, by force, by laws and by religion.

Religion is also called "Faith", but to me, it isn't so. Faith would be to believe and trust. Religion on the other hand is quite opposite of faith in creation, it boasts of self righteousness and total intolerance.

If studied, interesting similarities can be drawn out of the core beliefs of all these ancient civilizations, regarding God's presence in nature, culture of dance and music, social gatherings, culture of ornamentation and clothing, harmony and respect, equality of women and men, strict punishments for thieves and robbers, etc. It can be studied that their developments were based on far more logical conclusions than the religious preaching.  The jungle dwellers and tribes across the continents, still have this similarity and simplicity. They may look different but their core values are the same. The respect for "Unity in Diversity" is the same.

Why is there agitation in the name of Religion? 
People focus too much on which religion is better / correct. It becomes a matter of pride and ego. Religious books sometimes seem to be like law books and order punishments for particular behaviors.. It seems like its the law of a particular land not eternally applicable. I feel, this is where the main problem is. If the religious books had focused more on eternal truths of body, mind and soul, and how to find God and peace in one's life(which can be experienced) rather than finding God after death (which no one has experienced), they would have been followed in a much better way. Atheists might not have appeared into the scene at all.


The Vedic culture / Hinduism / Buddhism / Jainism etc, isn't seen as a religion by many experts. There are no particular conducts of a person that need to be done in order to please the clergy. No conversions. No changing of names. There are farmers in south India, who are Christian, but follow Vedic practices and rituals in farming. 

They do it primarily because it helps their yield. No differences. They know that these Vedic practices (Homa Farming : Youtube video) are based on nature and environment alone, some ancient science probably, but no dogma, no politics. The best part is that they never had to convert.

Here is an example of another Australian Christian family : Youtube video

So many people around the world do Yoga and Meditate in the name of Om. Did they have to convert. On the other hand some fanatics see it as a threat and something that will make their followers astray.
Here is an example : Video
This to me looks like the fear that people will be set free and none will fear them and their laws. What's the need I ask, what's the requirement of such intolerance. When the whole world adopted their culture and ways, clothes and music, what is the problem if there is a little exchange. Its quite foolish.
I as a kid, brought up in a Hindu family, Vedic at heart, was sent to a Christian missionary school. I've learnt about Jesus Christ and his life and sacrifices. My parents or the society never had a pinch of doubt or fear that I would get converted. That's the case with a lot of Hindus.

The Vedic scriptures and books, focus on soul searching and secrets to happiness in every sphere of life.
Yoga and meditation are only a few ways. Thus more and more scientific verification of Vedic knowledge is being heard of in recent times. Many modern scientists have read and respected the Vedas for its philosophy and forward approach towards finding the Truth.

Humans are naturally born looking for answers, finding their purpose, with logic, in search of love and spiritual experiences. Breeding intolerance will only make them angry and self destructive.

Use the soul to make decisions as your mind is only a reflection of others. That reflection called Religion.

Saurabh Dey (Omcultr)

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