Defective Humanity - 1

The four major religions of the world -  Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism - have major problems as they have  wrong philosophies of life and world-views that have crippled humanity, and have so far brought only discredit on themselves. These religions comprising of most of the world’s population have wreaked havoc on humanity. They fight among themselves and do not have a common minimum program for humanity to reach the One God or Power they all worship. They  have a bloody history that cannot make humans to feel good and proud of themselves. Original Sin, in Christianity and Inter-birth Sin in Hinduism and Buddhism (Janmanthara Pap), and consideration in Islam of unbelievers (Kafir) as evil and worthy of being destroyed and killed  have not served humanity well. They grievously contaminate humanity, and affect negatively every aspect of human living.  Here I am going to consider only the Myth of Original Sin in Christianity and the Myth of Inter-birth Sin in Hinduism.

1. The Myth of Original Sin:

The story of Original Sin resulting from the disobedience of the first parents of humanity to God  has its origin in the Book of Genesis common to both the Jewish and Christian scriptures.  Description of humanity as depraved and humans as worms primarily emphasizes humans’ relationship with God as that of sinners to a Savior. A humanity that is defective in its core, that is, in its substance, right from the beginning of creation, has a very poor self-image. In such a view of humanity, humans either act in on themselves and become depressed in a major way, or act out on others in aggression, and unleash various vices of domination, subjection, separation and elimination of others, and greed.  Examples of domination and subjection would be colonizing and empire building, serfdom and slavery, race and class; those of separation and elimination would be apartheid, race discriminations,  Nazi Holocaust, ethnic cleansing; those of greed would be hoarding and possessing wealth and essential goods at the expense of the vast majority.  And this is what is happening right now in the national and the global scenes.    Relationships are not based on trust but on paranoia, distrust, and hatred. Corrupt themselves and having a poor self-concept, they have very poor self-esteem, and do not accept and love themselves and others.

The concept of original sin never made any sense to me. I will never understand why I should be responsible for the sin of my ancestors. The doctrine of inherited or ancestral sin is not found in most Judaism. In the Christian scriptures, the four Gospels do not make any mention of the original sin. St. Paul (in Romans, 5: 12-21 and Corinthians, 15:22) talks about sin and death coming into the world through one man, Adam, and salvation and grace coming into the world through another man, Christ. Paul, however inspired and immersed in Christ, is just another human and follower of Christ. The concept of original sin was first alluded to by St. Irenaeus only in the second century in his controversy with certain Gnostics. St. Agustine’s formulation of original sin equating it with concupiscence deeply influenced Protestant reformers. According to them, original sin destroyed the freedom of the will. I am not going to elaborate on this. What I am saying is that we need to critically examine key concepts and speculations. We do not need to bring in original sin to justify the necessity of Christ’s entrance into history. 

The concept that is closest to original sin is predatory selfishness, to use a term of Reinhold Niebuhr, or what I would call thoroughly entrenched selfishness that needs to be systematically rooted out. Human is not depraved and defective. Christ as a preeminent teacher has a necessary role in human spiritual formation. Human is a beautiful child of God and friend of Christ, the guide. (To be continued).

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

The Happiest People

When a great number of electrons continuously keep shifting from shell to shell, electricity is generated. If the electrons were sticking on to their home shells, they would not have been that powerful. In actual practice, same is the case with love too. Love is the movement of particles called compassion. Generally, these restless particles stay compressed in the existential centre of human beings, because of a restricting force called selfishness. Irrespective of cast or race, sex or age the particles of love sometimes breaks all restricting barriers and ooze out, causing self love. If we allow love to do what it wants, it definitely will spread over to more places, until it finally fills the whole universe. Here, the epicenter undergoes a fantastic transformation, self-love turns agape. Just like electrons may cause fatal voltages, love also may turn unimaginably powerful. This truth came to my mind as I was reading the story of a mother and a child. 

After a long history of miscarriages and physical problems, Carolyne Isbister finally gave birth to a premature baby. Unfortunately, the child was only 20 oz at birth and was not breathing. The doctors had no hesitation to pass the baby to its’ mother as she wanted, because they knew that the child is destined to die any moment. The mother hugged the baby with all the warmth love could offer. It continued, until it kick started little Rachel’s heart beating. Carolyne Isbister could not believe her eyes! 

If Carolyne Isbister was demonstrating the power of focused love, Bai Fangli, a poor Rikshaw puller from China was demonstrating the experiences of a fully love loaded human being. At 74 he decided to stop this backbreaking job and returned to his home town. There, he saw children working in the fields, because they were too poor to afford school fees. He knew how important education is; he returned to the city and continued pulling the rickshaw. In 2005, he passed away at the age of 90. By the time he had earned 350,000 yuans, all of which he donated to the village school. Thanks to him many poor students could make their careers successful. The heroine of the next story I share here is a poor Muslim widow from Kannoor, Kerala, who sold out all her material belongings and donated the full amount to Khidma Charitable Trust to run their free dialysis center. All that she had was just a space of ten cents with a poor house in it. The story of Shri Kalyanasundaram from Tamil Nadu is a very popular live example of unbound love. In his thirty years of life as a librarian, he did not take a single penny for himself. He donated everything, including his pension, for the poor. Stunning stories of similar people are heard from many corners. What I have found out is that the happiest people in the planet are those who willingly share themselves. If we feel that we are unhappy, it only means that the quantity of love that flows out is dangerously low. 

Joseph Mattappally

Non attachment

Let us try to understand the meaning of the word anasakti or non-attachment. Non-attachment is generally taken to mean aversion, but it is not aversion. Aversion is a kind of attachment- opposite of attachment. Someone is attracted to sex and someone else is attracted to its opposite- Brahmacharaya or celibacy. Attachment has two faces, positive and negative. We can fancy a thing so much that we madly run after it, we cling to it- this is positive attachment. And we can be so much repelled by a thing that we want to escape it, to run away from it- it is negative attachment. Negative attachment is as much attachment as positive one. Non- attachment is altogether different. It is freedom from both the positive and the negative kinds. Non- attachment is transcendence of both attachment and aversion.

In the world of spiritualism, there are many words like non attachment. Veetrag is one such word which means transcendence of attachment, but it has become synonymous with aversion. This word Veetrag belongs to Mahavira tradition. Anasakti belongs to the tradition of Krishna, and they are synonymous. But there is difference in the approach towards the two. Mahavira attains to the state of Veetrag by renouncing both attachment and aversion. Krishna attains to the state of anasakti by accepting both positive and negative attachments. And these are the only possible ways. While their ends remain the same, their means are different. While Mahavira insists on renunciation of attachment, Krishna insists its acceptance.

A non- attached mind as per Krishna is one who accepts everything unconditionally. The interesting thing is that if we accept something totally it does not leave a scar on our mind. Our mind remains unscathed and undisturbed. But when we cling to something, or deny something, both of it leaves a scar on our mind. When we are receptive to everything – good or bad, beautiful or ugly, pleasant or painful- when we become like a mirror reflecting everything that comes before it, then our mind remains unscathed.

And such a mind is non-attached mind; it can be said as established in non-attachment.

Let us understand Krishna to understand Gita.

Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, MITRAN foundation- the stress management people

Wisdom

Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience - George Bernard Sha

Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to proper use. Scholars are a dime, a dozen, but a man of wisdom is a rare bird. Wisdom is the foundation, and justice the work without which a foundation cannot stand. Knowledge is horizontal. Wisdom is vertical- it comes down from above. There can be no wisdom disjoined from goodness. The first task of a man aspiring to wisdom is the consideration of what he himself is: what is within him, what without, what below, what above, what opposite, what before, and what after. In the face of Divine Wisdom, all that we have, or do, or know, is a gift of God, and is only an insignificant molehill compared to His fountain of knowledge. St. Augustine says, let your old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age; that is, so that neither may your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom.

According to Plato Wisdom has four parts:

Wisdom, is the principle of doing things right.

Justice: the principle of doing things equally in public and private.

Fortitude:  the principle of not fleeting danger, but meeting 

Temperance: the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.

One day, King Philip of Spain called his son to a private room in the palace. There, on a table were the sword of the King and the crown of the King. His royal majesty asked the prince to choose which of the two he wanted. The young man chose the crown. 

Then his royal father said, “No, son, first take the sword in defence of your country and win the war, otherwise your enemies will wear the crown.”

A wise man does first what a fool does last.

Sr (Dr) Lilly Thokkanattu SJL

Old Newspapers

I have a sister who is about ten years older than me. She brought me up in my childhood days and took care of me like a mother. Even after her marriage (which was at the age of 16), I spent a few years with her and had my primary education at the place of my brother-in-law’s posting. Thereafter, we kept visiting each other very frequently. She has been a very good home manager and always took good care of all the visitors within her means. 

One event, which I usually noticed with her, was the disposal of old newspapers. The deal between her and the hawker used to fail on many accounts. Sometimes it was over rate, sometimes over the weighing balance and sometimes over some other issue. As a result, quite often the old newspapers were taken out of the house and then brought back again. The deal used to conclude only after many such exercises. Seeing this, I used to feel that in the whole process, the pain was more than the gain, but my sister would not listen to any advice in the matter. In due course, as she became mature and saw life in a larger perspective, she realised the waste of energy in this exercise. Around the same time, nature brought me on the spiritual path and she started looking at me as her spiritual guide. Before this, she used to be a very sentimental woman who was prepared to sacrifice anything for others but at the same time felt sad if her sentiments were not appreciated or responded to, adequately. 

Once she realised that one should live with a sense of detachment while doing one’s duty sincerely, the texture of her life changed. Thereafter, she stopped wasting her energy on trivial matters like the disposal of old newspapers. The message of this small narration is deep. Most of us waste a lot of energy firstly in acquiring things and then in getting rid of them. The wisdom lies in applying moderation in both the areas. One should understand the essential nature of physical acquisitions. They come to us only to go. Therefore, only optimum acquisition should be our target and their going away also should not bother us unduly. While it is applicable to objects, it is equally important in terms of our relationships. One should, therefore, live like an observer in this world. Since then my sister has been a much happier person and does not waste her energy on petty issues such as the disposal of old newspapers. 

Rakesh Mittal I A S

Cosmic Spirituality

Spirituality is who we are and what we are all about. Our body is our facility to serve our spirit, where spirituality happens. Its sole purpose is to serve our spirit, our consciousness, and our immortal soul. In the modern age things got turned around. The body that is supposed to be the means has become an end in itself. The triumph of materialism made possible the cultivation and worship of the body at the expense of the spirit. Industrialization and technological advances have contributed to undreamt material prosperity. Modernization and westernization go hand in hand. The West and the Eastern countries such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore that imitate especially the United States have become models of prosperity for the East. The run-away affluence marked by enormous waste has created a throw-away society where persons gorged with fattening food have become over-weight and obese, and cannot be accommodated by ever-changing closet-full of clothes and ward-robes. Any more what matter are looks and body shapes. 

Character and perennial values are out of the window. Three predominant things, for instance, that preoccupy the minds of waking persons, especially in the United States, are how to reduce weight, how to seduce or conquer a boy-friend or girl-friend, even if it be for a one night stand, and weather. At least most of the conversation heard about relates to these three topics. Tolerance for pain is becoming less and less as each day passes by. Every house-hold is a veritable poly-pharmacy with quick remedies for every sneeze and sniffle, ache and pain, stress and constipation. Erectile dysfunction has become a household phrase. The most frequently used words even in minor conflicts relate to bodily and sexual functions. Self-control and self-discipline are taboo words for a permissive and promiscuous society. In a drug-culture that looks for instant euphoria and fix from boredom and emptiness, religion has lost its traditional, salutary, benign hold on people. Religion losing its moorings as well as its substance became unprincipled, and, lagging in leadership, got mired in defensive posturings. Instead of being champions of the spirit leading the way by broad, enlightened policies and sound spiritual guidelines geared to establish the Kingdom of God, they failed to guide and bring societies ashore from a constantly buffeted, storm-tossed, turbulent ocean. In this background of the general decline of culture and civilization that I would like to present a few thoughts and some important signs of what is called Cosmic or Universal Spirituality needed at this critical point when humanity is at the cross-roads looking for dire need of direction to take the right road:

• Cosmic Spirituality is the spirituality that everyone is born into.

• This spirituality is common to all humans as they are created in the image of God, and destined to join God as the final goal. 

• It goes beyond religions. While religions have exercised some benign control on the wild impulses of their members, they have not succeeded in moving humanity beyond a point. They have become anti-signs as they fight among themselves, and as they do not have a common minimum program for humanity wherein they can constructively cooperate.    Humanity currently does not look to religions and their leaders for creative solutions to humanity’s pressing concerns and problems. 

• As God communicates God’s Self fully and adequately in various modes and manifestations of nature, this spirituality is automatically imprinted in every human at the time of birth.

• A sublime order of nature (Prakriti Dharma) manifests for the whole humanity this unique spirituality.

• The Eternal Righteousness (Sanatan Dharma) as a way of life is another way of describing this spirituality.

• This spirituality believes in one God, one religion, one race or caste, and one class.

• It does not recognize any kind of discriminations on the basis of color, caste, creed, gender, and ethnic origin.

• It believes in the brother/sisterhood of humans and the oneness of humanity.

• It considers God to be the Truth that sets everyone free.

• It defines God to be the Love that administers justice with compassion.

• It sees everyone as unique and equal.

• It respects human rights and everyone’s dignity.

• It thrives in harmony with nature, and in forgiveness and reconciliation among humans.

• It takes from nature only what it needs.

• This spirituality is guided by one’s conscience that distinguishes right from wrong, true from false, and good from evil.

 In Cosmic Spirituality everybody finds his/her bliss while concerned about the well-being of the entire humanity.   

Swami Snehananda Jyoti  

Wicks and the Shadows

Laws control everything, virtually everything we come across. What I share with you today is two crucial laws in life. The story of the first law opens as a taxi driver was on his way to an Airport. Quite unexpectedly, the driver slammed on the brakes. The car skid away from the track a bit but saved a collision by a few centimeters. Another car had jumped into the drive way as if from nowhere. The other car driver whipped his head and began yelling at the driver in the story. The passenger in the car was surprised to see his driver smiling and waving at the other as if he is a good old friend of him. The passenger asked him,

“Why did you do that? He would have almost ruined us.”

It is this unknown taxi driver, who explained for the first time, perhaps the best finding of the century – ‘Law of the garbage truck’.

He said to the passenger in a soft voice. 

“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.”

This story came to my mind when I was listening to a brief talk done by a Catholic priest who was addressing a one day fast against corruption in politics organized by Dharma Bharathi Mission under the spiritual leadership of Swami Sachidananda Bharathi, the emerging exponent of the Second Freedom Struggle in India, which is intended to rebuild India into a poverty free, caste free and corruption free nation. The venue was Gandhi Bhavan Ernakulam and the day was 3rd Sept. 2013. The priest said that every religion and profound philosophy talk about a light in their centre. He easily established his point that being a light everywhere always is the purpose of human life. He shared one more thing, the Law of the Wicks. He warned us that living like an unlighted wick is not purely as harmless as we all assume it to be. He asked us to imagine a burning wick with another hundred unlighted wicks around. It was easy to visualize that the light we get is shadowed by the other wicks. He concluded saying that a life unlighted is always an obstruction to lighted wicks on earth. 

Joseph Mattappally