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Is Work Worship?

Certainly work is worship, but the question is - whose worship?

 The object of one's worship can be determined from the goal of one's work. Most people work for the sole purpose of earning money so as to enjoy to the fullest the bodily pleasures offered by the senses. For such people who do not give much importance to the Almighty God, their senses become almighty; their senses control and direct their lives. Just as a devoted worshiper constantly meditates on how to satisfy his object of worship, such people always think of how to satisfy their senses. Thus their senses are their objects of worship and their work is worship of their senses.

 Even those who profess to be working not for themselves but for their families are also at more or less the same level; their families are extensions of their own selves. For example, parents shower great love and affection on their own son, but not on their neighbor's son or on an orphan on the street. Why? 'Because he is my son. Through him and his glory I experience pleasure.'

 What is the result of such worship of the senses?
In a world with limited resources and unlimited wants, the desire for sense enjoyment (which is nothing but lust) leads to cut-throat competition. The media blitz which bombards practically everyone in the modern world tends to multiply lust disproportionately. As lust increases, it is bound to be unfulfilled due to limited ability to enjoy and finite resources with which to enjoy. Dissatisfied lust transforms into anger, which manifests itself in various forms of violence. The increasing violence that the world is experiencing is thus the end result of the worship of the senses. Hence if work is meant to worship the senses, such worship is tantamount to courting global disaster.

 What about those people who want to 'be good and do good' - those who are relatively pious and charitable?
They are certainly at a higher level than those who are grossly materialistic. They do not seek much personal sense enjoyment. What is their object of worship? Their object of worship is subtler; their charity is motivated by the desire to be known as noble-hearted, magnanimous souls. Even if miniscule fraction of them give anonymous charity, still they feel gratification within, thinking, 'Just see what a great soul I am.' Even if they have some concern for those in need, their real goal in giving charity is egoistic aggrandizement. Thus their object of worship is their ego.

 And what does such worship of the ego result in?
Suppose a wealthy person opens a hospital giving free medical care to the poor. A diseased drunkard from the slums goes there, avails of the free treatment and gets cured. He then starts drinking again and returns home to start beating his wife again. This is no exaggeration. Most beggars use the alms they get for smoking and drinking; they have their sources for filling their bellies. The point here is not that the needy should not be helped but that most people who avail of charity continue with their self-destructive behavioral patterns. Therefore such worship of the ego fails to do any lasting benefit to anyone.

 Hence the key question is: who is the right object of worship? By whose worship will the worshiper and everyone else be benefited? The world's most ancient philosophical masterpiece, the Bhagavad-gita, states:

 yatah pravrttir bhutanam                yena sarvam idam tatam
 sva-karmana tam abhyarcya               siddhim vindati manavah

 'By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection by performing his own work.' (Bhagavad-gita 18.46)

 This verse states that God is the father of all living beings; He has created everyone. Not only has He created everyone, but being a responsible father, He has also provided for the needs of everyone. Heat, light, air, water, even food are all provided by God. Even if one may claim to be working to earn one's daily bread, where does one get the body and the intelligence with which one works? From God. Thus God in His position as the Universal Father has made complete arrangement for taking care of the needs of everyone. Therefore for cultured human beings - those who understand how much God has done for them and who feel grateful to Him, God is the specific and exclusive object of worship.

 And what is the result of such worship of God?
In a family when the children love their father, then out of that love they tolerate their mutual differences and live peacefully. But when there is no strong love for the father, then their mutual differences lead to the breakup of the family. Similarly when one had devotion for the Supreme Father, one's love for God naturally results in love for all of His children. One therefore sees all living beings as one's brothers and learns to live peacefully with them in spite of any differences that might be there. But when God is relegated to the background as in the modern times, people see no common point among each other and thus quarrel, fight and even have wars over trifles. Srila Prabhupada would therefore assert that the first requirement for universal brotherhood is the acceptance of the Universal Father, God.

 So how can one worship God through one's work?
For this the goal of one's work and indeed of one's life should be God. This is possible only when one has devotion to God. For such devotion to be steady and not just sentimental, one must understand the science of God. Like any other science the science of God has a theoretical aspect and a practical aspect. The theoretical aspect can be understood by studying under proficient spiritual scientists - wise saintly persons who have studied deeply and practiced diligently the principles of spirituality stated in the authorized textbooks of spirituality - the scriptures. And the practical aspect involves connecting one's consciousness with God through the simple and sublime process of mantra meditation i.e. the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha mantra or any other bona fide name of God.

 An aspiring spiritual scientist i.e. one who wants to worship God through his work has a daily regulated program of spiritual practice or sadhana - ideally at the start of his working day in the morning. This spiritual practice creates a foundation of spiritual consciousness on which he can build the work of the rest of the day. Through mantra meditation and scriptural study, the spiritual scientist imbibes devotion to God. And when one works with that devotion, then and then alone does one's work become worship. This is actual yoga, which according to the Bhagavad-gita is 'the art of all work'.

 By this simple process, anyone - right from a scientist to a farmer, from a doctor to a street sweeper, from a scholar to a housewife - anyone can transform their ordinary mundane work into divine soul-uplifting worship. By such a combination of worship and work, one will find lust transforming into love, greed into satisfaction, anger into tolerance and envy into respect. One will find one's work and indeed one's life becoming a joyful journey, in which one is peaceful and content at each moment and is simultaneously advancing at every moment towards the ultimate fulfillment of life.

 In conclusion work become worship only when it is done in divine consciousness. One can have such divine consciousness possible only when one gives time for exclusive worship of God. Without such exclusive worship, work is simply fruitive activity, which results in bondage, suffering and the repetition of birth and death.

 NO TIME?

'I live a very busy life. Though I would like to, I just can't see how I can spare time for exclusive worship of God. Is there any way out?'
'Do you worry - about your work, your family, your future?'
'Well, sometimes?'
'Sometimes?'
'Well, actually I am constantly worried - about practically everything.'
'Bhagavad-gita does not ask you for your work time but for your worry time.'
'What?'
'When you spare time for exclusive worship of God, God reciprocates by giving you faith and inner strength by which you can stay unshaken through the upheavals of life. Knowing that God is your best well-wishing friend, you no longer dissipate your energies in useless worrying. Rather you channelize your bodily, mental, intellectual and spiritual resources towards finding constructive solutions to the challenges facing you. Thus you become an integrated, creative and productive individual. Therefore stop worrying, start chanting.'

Join us next month for another session of thought-provoking discussion.

The Tea Quake

THE BRITISH LEGACY

The British may have left India, but every morning brings a jarring reminder of their continued conquest of India. Its (you guessed it right) tea; the "slow poison" drink that is their post-independence legacy.

Tea is alien to the original Vedic culture. The British started extensive tea-fields in India to meet the demands of the Western market. Once the Western demand was met, they realized that their profits could be multiplied manifold if they could generate a local market. So through economic coercion (the government holds all the tax strings) and false propaganda (the innate inferiority complex of the Indians made them only too ready to imitate anything Western), they hooked the Indians to tea. And the vested interests of the tea barons have ensured the perpetuation and proliferation of this useless addiction.

"MY DEAR TEA?"

Mr Armchair_Critic sits on his easy chair in the morning, sipping a cup of tea and reading the newspaper, "O my God, 50,000 people killed and 1000 crores property destroyed in Gujarath earthquake!" In the same breath, he calls out, "Ramu, get one more cup of tea; make sure its hot and sweet."

Statistics indicate that the population of India exceeds 100 crores. At least 25 crore people drink 2 cups of tea everyday. If each cup of tea costs Rs 2.5, India spends Rs 125 crores just on tea everyday. So if Indians stop drinking tea for just 8 days, it can compensate for the entire quake loss. In other words, the seemingly harmless tea cup causes a devastating quake in the national revenues that takes a toll of 1000 crores every 8 days.

If some prefer coffee instead of tea, that's even more expensive. And if its soft drinks, that hurts the economy even more.

Just imagine if all the hundreds of acres of land now devoted to cultivation of tea, coffee and the like were utilized for cultivating foodgrains - our hunger and starvation problem could be eliminated from the root.

And there's more in store - the health costs involved. The injurious effects of nicotine in tea, caffeine in coffee and several ingredients in soft drinks have all been well-documented by health experts. And needless to say, they have been equally well-hidden from the public by the powers that be. (It?s a matter of big money)

Our financial woes in a nutshell: "A tea cup a day keeps economic health away."

"IT PEPS ME UP"

Just about everyone who drinks tea knows that it has no nutrition value. And yet everyone keeps drinking it. Why? "It stimulates my brain to work better. In a day full of dreary, burdensome work, the tea-break is practically the only thing to look forward to. It helps me cope with problems better. So what's wrong?"

The Vedic scriptures propose a radically different approach to problem management: "Instead of temporarily forgetting the problems in a tea-induced hallucination, find out fundamentally why the problems are there and tackle them at the root level." Tea doesn't solve the problem; it only puts people into a forgetful illusion. And as the clock ticks on inexorably, both their problems and their bodily systems worsen, while they keep gulping down tea and keep trying to forget the reality. Till they die. And become hogs and start gulping sewage water.

WHEN PAINKILLERS REPLACE MEDICINES

An analogy from medicine will make the pernicious effects of tea and the like more clear. When a patient has acute pain, just the medicines don't provide immediate relief; they take time to cure the disease. So he is given some painkillers to numb himself to the pain. Now suppose he thinks, "The painkillers are what relieve my pain; the medicines do nothing." And he starts taking just the painkillers and avoids the medicines. What is the result? Due to the temporary cessation of pain, he lives happily in an illusion of good health. But without his knowledge, the disease is devouring him from within. And one day, even the painkillers stop working. But by then its likely to be too late.

The Vedic scriptures explain that:

• The disease of all living beings in the material world is ignorance of their real identity. The direct symptom of this disease is the feeling of incompleteness, the feeling of a lack of real happiness that everyone in the world experiences time and again.
• The process of devotional service is the medicine for this disease; it awakens the living being to his actual identity as a spiritual being - a son of the Supreme Lord. Once he is reinstated in his original identity, the soul relishes eternal ecstasy in loving service to God. This is his healthy state.
• Material enjoyment is the painkiller, which helps to temporarily cover the pain of the disease of ignorance. So it is allowed by the scriptures; but only in a strictly regulated way so that it does not interfere with the real treatment, the real business of life - devotional service.
   

   

"IT GENERATES EMPLOYMENT"

"But the tea industry provides much-needed employment to so many people." That's like saying that pick-pocketing provides employment to so many people. The tea industry doesn't benefit its customers; rather it harms them. The only people who gain are the tea barons. So how is the tea industry different from pick-pocketing?

Of course the ad industry by its awesome power fools people into thinking that they are very elite while they are actually being stripped of their hard-earned money. An inside secret of the ad industry - the key to successful advertising: "The best ad is that which can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo." Nice to hear and laugh, but in simple language, it means that the best ad is the one which cheats the most. Isn't that what the entire ad industry is? Cheating business. Do they ever advertise rice and wheat and other necessities? No. The only things that are advertised are those which no one actually needs. Through a series of moving optical illusions, the masses are made to think that they can't live without such things. And thus they are plundered - willingly. The entire tea business is a glaring example of such open robbery.

A RECIPE FOR WISDOM

Why don't we learn all these things in our schools and colleges? Could it be because the powers that be want us to stay in ignorance so that they can continue exploiting us? So although in one sense this entire racket is so obvious, the whole system programs us to think in such a way that we just can't perceive the obvious. Common sense thus becomes conspicuously uncommon.

Is there any way out of this whole mess?

The world's greatest masterpiece of philosophical wisdom, the Bhagavad-Gita (10.10) gives a remarkably simple recipe for getting both pragmatic common sense and profound philosophical wisdom. The Lord is the source of all common sense (and all uncommon sense and all super sense too) When a living being engages in the devotional service of the Lord, the Lord gives him intelligence from within. Equipped with this intelligence, the living being can see things as they are. He thus become a genuine intellectual acting for the true welfare of his own self and of the whole world.

In the present age, devotional service can be performed very easily through Mantra Meditation - through the repeated chanting of the maha-mantra (the great chant for deliverance).

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

The Holy Name is the inner light which opens the eyes of the chanter to the reality of the world he lives in. It also reveals the higher realms of reality where he actually belongs. And most importantly it bestows him with the dynamic intelligence by which he can live in this world as a champion of truth and ultimately achieve the ultimate truth - the kingdom of God.

Mantra Meditation has worked for countless millions of people throughout history. And it is working for millions of people all around the globe even today. Why not give it a try?

Join us next month for another session of thought-provoking discussion.

The Spiritual Dimension of Life

10 friends lived together on top of a 100-storied building. Once when they returned after an outing, they found, to their dismay, that the lift was not working. Having no alternative, they decided to lighten the arduous climb by narrating a humorous story each. By the time it was the turn of the last person, they had almost reached the top floor. The tenth person said, "I am sorry, but my story is really tragic. Hearing it will break your hearts to pieces. Its only a one-line story though. I have forgotten the key downstairs!"

THE DEAD END

Right from our early childhood, its drilled into us that the way to becoming happy is to make it big in life. And accordingly, we roll back our sleeves and get down to work. Slowly, painfully we struggle up the ladder of material success. School, SSC, HSC, Engg / Medical, MBA / MS, Project Leader, Manager?.Managing Director. The dream career growth chart. Assuming that one succeeds (a big assumption), what next?

Just take a look at the life of any of the supposedly successful people around you. Big money, big cars, big houses. And big enemies, big underworld dons?.?big tensions, big terrors. You don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes to understand that they are not happy. But wasn't happiness their goal when they started off? What went wrong?

Just as the ten friends forgot about the key while hearing anecdotes, the modern man also forgets the goal of happiness while working hard for achieving his goals. He gets so caught up in the struggle for success (or at least survival) that he forgets that he is not getting any happiness. And it goes on till the 100^th floor?death. "I forgot the key to happiness. I foamed and fumed? in vain." But by then its too late.

Lets look at our own lives. Till whatever rung we have climbed on 'the ladder of success', have we become happy? "Its there. Grab it" ??"Hey! Where did it go?" No matter how much we achieve, happiness eludes us. "Its just one step away", but that's the way it always stays no matter how many steps we take. "Try but don't cry", exhort the diehard materialists. But an intelligent person will think, "Just a minute. Is it intelligence to believe that which has not materialized for me or for anyone else despite years of diligent pursuit?"

WHAT'S MISSING?

The Vedic scriptures explain that each one of us is an eternal, individual being - atman or soul. Our fundamental need is love. And as we are eternal, we need an eternal object of love - the Supreme Person. The ecstasy of this endless love completely satisfies all the innermost desires of our heart.

Everyone implicitly recognizes that love alone can make him happy. But the big mistake that almost everyone falls prey to is to search for that eternal love in the temporary realm of dead matter. People think that by giving more and more wealth to their loved ones, they will get more and more love. But that just doesn't work. People love the wealth, not the wealthy. And finally the separating sword of time is there to ruthlessly cut off even the wealthiest people from all their loved ones.

The Vedic scriptures do not negate our loving propensity; rather they redirect it to the right person. When we learn to love the Supreme Father, then automatically we develop true love for all living beings (including our loved ones). And this love is truly the wealth of the heart; it can never be thwarted; it conquers all limitations of space and time.

"SPIRITUALITY? I CAN DO WITHOUT IT "

Let's see what Chemistry Nobel Laureate Richard R Ernst has to say: "Science and technology alone cannot solve the problems of the new millenium. We need additional guidelines for our actions? These guidelines have to do with ethics, with philosophy and with faith."

A person may be able to live without a spiritual dimension to his life, but then he will also have to live without direction, purpose, meaning, happiness and love.

"SPIRITUALITY? THAT'S SENTIMENTAL AND UNSCIENTIFIC"

Eminent Mathematician Jagadish N Srivastava, CNS Research Professor, Colorado State University refutes this categorically, "Spirituality is not just a bunch of emotions and fantasy. It is the Reality of our existence. Physics lives inside it only."

A possible doubt, "Most religions worldwide have degenerated to a set empty rituals, which the masses are told to follow without understanding. Isn't this the cause of the disillusionment of the intelligent and inquistive younger generation with orthodox religion?"

That may be true, but it is important to understand that bad application of a thing does not make the thing itself bad. Actual spiritual life is a higher dimensional science with authorized universities and textbooks. The aspiring spiritual scientist is carefully guided by an expert professor of spiritual science along the path to success in the experiment in spirituality.

"SPIRITUALITY? MY LIFE IS TOO FAST FOR IT"

Once when a plane was in flight, the co-pilot made an announcement, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we are going very fast and the bad news is that we don't know where we are going!"

For most people, life is like a 100 meter (or rather 100 year) sprint. No time for thinking. But it?s a strange sprint. Everyone - the gold medallist, the silver medallist,.. the last runner - gets the same prize - death.

If someone still insists that he just wants to come first in such a sprint and that he doesn't care for anything else, what can be said? "Where ignorance is bliss, it is foolish to be wise."

"SPIRITUALITY? THAT'S TOO DRY FOR ME."

Can love ever be dry? The love of the material world dries up quite fast. "Love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener."

Spiritual life is however the ultimate love. Actual spirituality is not inane inactivity, it is dynamic adventure for the pleasure of the beloved. A real spiritualist sings, dances, travels, works, jokes and rejoices - all in service to God. In fact, he alone enjoys life to the fullest. Spirituality is not self-abnegation, it is self-fulfillment.

"SPIRITUALITY? THAT'S ESCAPISM"

A true spiritualist does not run away from the world; rather he lives in the world and actively fulfils all his responsibilities in such a way as to also achieve the ultimate goal of life-- love of God. Being a satisfied, happy, dynamic and responsible individual, he is a beacon light for the whole world.

He differs fundamentally from a materialist because he has received the highest education (raj-vidya), by which he knows how to add God to everything in his life. Thus he lives without becoming entangled in the selfish intrigues of this world. His principle is "Be in this world, but not of this world."

Spiritual life is an education. Teachers are needed to teach spirituality, but that does not mean that everyone who learns it has to become a teacher. Even in the Vedic times, only a tiny percentage of the population renounced the world and became full-time spiritual teachers. The greatest text of spirituality, Bhagavad-gita, exhorts its student, Arjuna, not to renounce work, but to do work for the Lord.

Thus spirituality can bring happiness into the life of anyone who accepts it. But only the intelligent will take to spiritual life and become happy - now and forever.

Join us next month for another session of spirituo-scientific exploration.

The Significance of Janmashtami

Festivals are an integral part of every culture. They provide a welcome break from the humdrum routine of daily life. The Vedic culture is special in that every aspect of it is oriented to bring its followers close to God. Every festival celebrated in Vedic culture is deeply related to God and is meant to be celebrated in such a way as to help everyone come joyfully closer to God. Recently worldwide Janmashtami was celebrated fervently. Let us try to understand the inner significance of this historic festival.
 

A MYTH?

Is Janmashtami not just a traditional Hindu festival? Is Krishna not a mythological figure?
The 5000 temples of Lord Krishna in the tiny 88 square miles of Vrindavan, the birth-place of Krishna, bear eloquent testimony to the fact that devotion to Krishna is no imaginary sentiment. The remains of Dwarka, gradually being found in the Arabian Sea, reveal the majesty of that erstwhile city built by Lord Krishna. Kurukshetra, the site of the massive fratricidal Mahabharata war, continues to exist even today. So Krishna is indeed a historical personality and Janmashtami a factual historical event.

WHO IS KRISHNA ?

The design, order and structured organization evident throughout the creation insist that there is a Super-intelligent Creator. The Vedic scriptures and, indeed all scriptures throughout the world, give us further information about this Supreme Being, who is known variously as Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Rama and so on. The Supreme Person is full of extraordinary attributes, which make Him universally attractive. The name which describes this all-attractiveness of the Lord is His most complete name. Hence the name Krishna, meaning 'the all-attractive one', describes the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in full.

THE AVATAR

The Lord administers the world through the laws of material nature - gross such as the law of gravitation and subtle such as the law of karma. But when there is too much of a disturbance in the universal order, the Lord descends Himself "to deliver the pious, annihilate the miscreants and reestablish the principles of religion" paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge  (Bhagavad-gita 4.8)
Such an incarnation is called an avatar, 'one who descends'

THE LORD OF THE HEART

The Supreme Lord is not just a neutral administrator, but the best friend of all living beings suhridam sarva bhutanam  (Bhagavad-gita 5.29) The love that the heart longs for through relationships with various persons finds fulfillment only when it is reposed in the Supreme Person God. Because it is only then that the love is never interrupted, never betrayed, never let down, never disappointed. That is why saints and devotees across the religious spectrum throughout history have been the happiest persons, radiating love towards one and all.
But unfortunately in this world of matter, all living beings are attracted not to the Lord of their heart but to matter and material enjoyment. However matter being limited and finite can never fulfil the unlimited desires of our spirits; material enjoyment satiates but never satisfies.
So the Lord comes into this material world and performs superhuman activities which reveal His supreme position and His unparalleled love for His devotees. For example, the Lord lifted a massive mountain Govardhan in order to protect His devotees from oppressive rains. Such acts appear impossible to the logical mind, but an ant would similarly consider the lifting of a book by a human being as 'impossible'. For the Lord possessing unlimited power, such an act is not at all difficult.
Through such incredible acts, the Lord shows all of us how much He loves us, His children. By attracting our hearts back to him, He desires to take us to the realm of eternal happiness away from this realm of fleeting enjoyment.
 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JANMASHTAMI

5000 years ago on Janamashtmi, The Lord appeared at midnight. This is indeed a historical fact, but it also has a deeper significance. Midnight is the time of maximum darkness and from the moment the Lord appeared the darkness started diminishing. Similarly our heart is dark being afflicted by multiple anxieties and miseries. But in the darkest hour of our life, when we turn to the Lord and He appears in our heart, all the darkness recedes and the light of eternal hope starts streaming in.
The Lord appeared in a prison cell amidst shackles and then freed His parents . This indicates that all of us  who are shackled by our own material desires can be freed by the Lord who appears in our heart which is like a prison house.
So the real Janmashtami will take place when the Lord appears in our hearts. Though we do not know it, all of us are actually pining for this Janmashtami to occur. All of us want love, care, protection and happiness and this is what the actual Janmashtami - the appearance of the Lord in our heart -  brings.

THE KALI YUGA INCARNATION

How then can we make the Lord appear in our hearts? Indeed amidst all  the chaos and disorder prevalent in the present Age of Kali, why has the Lord not appeared as per His eternal promise in Bhagavad-gita?
It is said in the Vedic scriptures kali kale nama rupe krishna avatar "In Kali Yuga the Lord incarnates in the form of His Holy Name" That is why all bona fide religions teach their followers to chant the names of God. For example, the Bible says 'Let the Lord always be on your lips', the Islamic religion mentions the 99 names of Allah to be regularly chanted and the Vedic scriptures abound with instructions regarding the chanting of the Holy Names. And among all the mantras (empowered sound vibrations) mentioned in the Vedic sciptures, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare" is said to be the most potent. Sincere spiritual practitioners from all religions testify to the purifying potency of the Holy Name. It helps them to become free from all carnal desires and awakens within them love of God.
Thus for all of us living in Kali Yuga, the real Janmashtami will occur when by regular mantra meditation our heart becomes cleansed and the Lord appears in our heart, thus freeing us forever from the clutches of misery and transporting us to the realm of eternal enjoyment.
 

Join us next month for another session of thought-provoking discussion.

RELIGION -

IS IT FOR VIOLENCE OR PEACE ?

Religion. Many people feel that the world would be better off without it. Their sentiments can be understood considering that the modern times have seen large-scale violence in the name of religion.

RELIGION & VIOLENCE - ARE THEY RELATED?

But is religion the only cause of violence?

The last century witnessed people fighting over practically every issue, including nationalism, regionalism, language, even sports. Most of the wars in recent times, and throughout history at large, have been fought due to greed for wealth and power. Religion  is just used as a convenient scapegoat by the powers that be to conceal their grossly materialistic motivations.

If religion had been the singular cause of violence, then the countries where atheism was the national ideal should have been free from violence? Facts hardly agree with this conclusion, as can be seen from the history of the East bloc countries.
 
 

IS RELIGION DISPENSABLE?

Can the human being really do without religion?

The universally accepted goal of life is the quest for happiness. When man neglects or rejects religion, then, consciously or unconsciously, his conception of his own self becomes "a lump of chemicals which has by chance come alive". The quest for happiness then degenerates into a savage struggle for carnal enjoyment. Wealth, women and wine (www) become the only goals of life. Such a conception of life is individually frustrating & globally disastrous.

The fundamental need of the individual is love; everyone wants to love and be loved. But in the material conception of life, there can be no such thing as real love. People put up a facade of love for another person as long as they get sensual pleasure from that person. When that stops, they dispose off their object of love (?) just as fast as they would dispose of a dysfunctional TV. And in their heart of hearts, people know that no one loves them, no one cares for them. Naturally they feel lonely, rejected, insecure and frustrated. This is the root cause of stress, hypertension, depression, all types of addictions, delinquency, criminality and even suicide. Studies in psychology have confirmed that there is no better an insurance for an individual from self-destructive behavioral patterns (including drinking, substance abuse and suicide) than a strong religious faith.
 

At a global level the rejection of religion leads to a setting, wherein ethics, morality, selflessness, love all become utterly meaningless. Although the anti-religionist may feebly urge us to "be good", such an appeal falls on deaf ears. "If the goal of life is to enjoy and I am here for who knows how long and there is no life after death, then why wait? Just enjoy. Beg, borrow, steal or even kill, but enjoy." Thus making religion dispensable is tantamount to courting global disaster.
 
 

RELIGION - THE VEDIC DEFINITION

So what exactly is this mysterious phenomenon known as religion? The Vedic texts of ancient India give an understanding of religion, which is quite different from the common understanding. (In order to avoid the negative connotations that the word 'religion' inevitably brings, we will use the word 'spirituality' to designate the Vedic understanding of what is commonly called 'religion'. The difference between the two terms 'religion' and 'spirituality' will be discussed in due course.)

According to the Vedic texts, spirituality imparts an individual with the vision to see the cosmos in the proper perspective and to live in harmony with it. The fundamental teaching of the Vedic texts is that the cosmos is made not just of matter; the cosmos has a spiritual dimension to it. The Bhagavad-gita (13.27) states, "Know that whatever you see in existence, both the moving and the nonmoving, is only a combination of the field of activities (matter) and the knower of the field (spirit)." Modern scientific research in fields like past life memories, near-death experiences (NDEs) and consciousness studies also strongly suggests that there is a spiritual part of our being which continues to exist even after bodily death.

The Vedic texts explain that our actual self is anti-material; our material body is animated by a spiritual particle called the atma or the soul. The supreme spiritual being who animates the entire cosmos is called the Paramatma or the Supersoul. And the relationship between the two - the soul and the Supersoul - is explained to be that of loving service, somewhat like that between a son and a father. This loving relationship exists eternally in the highest realm called the spiritual world. When the soul refuses to be in harmony with the will of the Supreme, this relationship is temporarily obscured. The soul is then placed in the realm of matter, which is the place where all of us currently reside.

The Vedic texts further explain that genuine spirituality is meant to awaken the soul to his original spiritual identity. This is effected through a harmonious combination of philosophy and religion, which constitute the two rails on which spirituality runs. The philosophy aspect of spirituality involves the study and understanding of matter, spirit and the controller of both - the Supreme. And the religion aspect involves the following of certain rules and regulations, which bring about the actual realization and experience of the spiritual realm.
 
 

A HIGHER DIMENSIONAL SCIENCE

The striking similarity of this understanding of spirituality with the approach of modern science to study the cosmos is worth noting. Modern science involves the formulation of hypotheses to explain the observable phenomena within the universe (similar to the philosophy aspect of spirituality). And it also involves the following of certain rules, which regulate the laboratory environment in a way by which the validity of the hypotheses can be verified (similar to the religion aspect of spirituality). Spirituality thus constitutes a higher dimensional science, in that it deals with realms of reality higher than the mundane.

The spiritual scientist, by dint of systematic practice of both philosophy and religion, realizes the actual nature of the cosmos and learns to live in harmony with it. Having realized his own identity as an eternal spiritual being and his loving relationship with the Supreme Being, such a realized spiritual scientist sees all living beings as his own brothers. His vision of universal brotherhood precipitates him to spontaneous, selfless and spiritual service towards all living beings. About such a spiritual welfare activist, the Ishopanishad (Mantra 2) states, "One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man."
 
 

THE CAUSE OF COSMIC DISORDER

Imbalance occurs in the cosmic order when the individual does not live in harmony with either of the energies of the cosmos. The preponderance of the material concept of life over the spiritual constitutes dharmasya glanih, the decline of spirituality. Spirituality may decline when its religion aspect or its philosophy aspect or both are neglected. HDG A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON and author of the most widely read English commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, remarks, "Religion without philosophy is at best sentimentalism and at worst fanaticism. And philosophy without religion is just mental speculation." And absence of both religion and philosophy marks the degeneration of the human species to the animal platform. Whenever such a cosmic disorder occurs, the Supreme Being descends to the material realm to re-establish universal order by which humankind can once again learn to live in harmony with the totality of the cosmos.

In the present age, dharmasya glanih is all-pervading since the aspirations as well as the achievements of practically the whole of humankind are all within the realm of matter.

Most people have no interest in philosophy whatsoever. Even those interested in philosophy mostly pursue it as means to an academic career or as a medium for intellectual aggrandizement and not as a zealous search for the Truth. Consequently they themselves are unable to understand the actual truths of the cosmos; the only service that they can do to their followers is to mislead them.

Similarly most people are not religiously inclined. Even those who are somewhat religious are mostly ritualistic and mechanical in their religious practices; they have little scientific understanding of what they are doing or why they are doing it. People often claim to be fighting to protect their religion, but if questioned they don't even know what the fundamental tenets of their religion are. And even if they know them, they are not interested in following those tenets. Such pseudo religionists are interested only in their personal aggrandizement and they use religion as a tool to promote it.

CORRECTING THE IRON AGE CHAOS

The defects that have crept into spirituality can be compared to a cataract in the eye. To cure the eye, the cataract has to be removed; the eye should not be plucked out. Similarly the decline in spirituality has to be arrested; spirituality itself should not be rejected. Just as plucking out the eye would render the individual blind, rejecting spirituality per se will render humanity devoid of the precious eyes of divine wisdom resulting in disharmony and chaos. The spiraling rates of criminality and violence all over the globe give us a tiny glimpse of the anarchy that is in store if humanity continues to neglect spirituality.

To correct the enormous disorder prevalent in the modern times, the Supreme Being descends in a form, which transcends all restrictions of time and space. He descends in His Holy Names, which always stay with us, irrespective of time, place and circumstance. That is why we see that all the major religions of the world including Christianity, Islam and Hinduism enjoin their followers to chant the Holy Names of God, which is the universal religion for the current age. And among the innumerable names of God, the Vedic scriptures assert that the most potent is the maha-mantra or the Great Chant for Deliverance, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

The Supreme Being has also given a concise and complete manual for the present age in the form of the Bhagavad-gita, which constitutes the condensed essence of Vedic wisdom. It thus serves as the recommended textbook for the aspiring spiritual scientist. About the Bhagavad-gita, Ralph Waldo Emerson states, "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."

A CALL TO THE YOUTH OF INDIA

Eminent thinkers throughout the world including leading scientists like Nobles Laureates Charles H Townes and Richard R Ernst, peace workers like Noble Laureates Oscar Arias Sanchez and Betty Williams and spiritualists like Dalai Lama and Bhakti Swaroop Damodara Swami firmly believe that only a synthesis of science and spirituality can lead the world out of the present troubled times.

The youth of India have a unique position in the whole world. By virtue of birth in this holy land of India, they inherit the priceless wealth of spiritual knowledge expounded in the Vedic texts. And by virtue of their education and training, they have developed the scientific spirit of rational inquiry. Thus they are best suited to bring about the much-needed synthesis of science and spirituality that thinkers all over the world are searching for.

Prof Arthur Ellison, Head, Dept of Electrical Engineering, City University states, "Surely the great and unique contribution that India has made and must continue to make to the world's progress is in the field of religion - of truth and reality....India can most certainly help the West to find the spiritual way back towards reality which is essential for all real progress."

Therefore let the youth of India, in the true spirit of science, study the theory of spirituality with all seriousness and simultaneously perform the experiment of mantra meditation in their personal lives. Those who take up this challenge will become living spiritual scientists and will be instrumental in ushering in a new era of peace, understanding and harmony in the history of the world.

Join us next month for another session of thought-provoking discussion.

Made Just For You

John walks into his bedroom on his tenth birthday and "Hey Presto!" The first thing that catches his eye is a new easy chair that's just the right size for him. He looks around and sees a brand new jacket that fits him exactly. Also there are shoes and stockings that are just perfect for him. To his great surprise and pleasure, he finds several new items, which are all, so to speak, tailormade for him.

WHAT DOES HE CONCLUDE ON SEEING ALL THIS?

"That's elementary, my dear Watson. It's a birthday surprise arranged by his father."

The arrangement of John's room is an example of an acausal phenomenon. That is, knowing the effect that one wants in advance, all the causes are adjusted to produce that effect. Acausal systems clearly need an intelligence, which understands the effect desired and then arranges the factors involved so that the effect is achieved. In the above example, the effect desired was the various birthday gifts for John and the intelligence that arranged for them was John's father.

THE TABLES HAVE TURNED

Acausal phenomena are unfamiliar to modern scientific thought, which mostly studies causal phenomena, wherein a cause produces an effect. The general agreement among the scientists till a few decades ago was that the design of life on earth was a result of aimless causal processes. Thus they seemed to have explained away the need of an intelligent designer for the universe.

But in the last few decades the tables have turned dramatically. So much so that Robert Jastrow, Professor at Columbia University and Founder and Director of the Goddard Space Center, has made this astounding comment in his book God and the Astronomers,"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story [of the big bang] ends like a bad dream. For the past three hundred years, scientists have scaled the mountain of ignorance and as they pull themselves over the final rock, they are greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." In other words, scientific investigations, which were meant to disprove the existence of God, have ended up proving His existence!

THE ANTHROPIC PRINICIPLE

This counter-revolution began with the postulation of the Anthropic Principle by Brandon Carter in 1973.The Anthropic Principle, in its simplest form, states that we can observe in the universe only those things, which are conducive to our existence as observers.It means that the entire universe, the solar system, the earth, its geology, weather, flora and fauna are all designed to make our existence possible.

On a freezing cold night, John runs trembling into his bedroom and shuts the door. To his amazement, he finds that his room is warm, cosy and fresh. On further observation, he realizes that his room has been sealed from all sides with a special material in order to be 100% cold-proof. He also notes that a room heater is the cause of the warmth. He also sees an oxygen cylinder, which accounts for the fresh air.

Let us now see something quite similar in nature - the four remarkable properties of water, which preserve aquatic life in the water bodies throughout the long winters.

• Water has maximum density at 4 degrees centigrade. And ice due to its lower density remains on the surface thus preventing the entire water body from freezing. This is similar to the cold-proof covering around John's room.
• Water also absorbs vast quantities of oxygen at low tempratures, which is akin to the oxygen cylinder in John's room.
• And water also releases large quantities of heat as it freezes, which achieves an effect similar to the heater in John's room.

The same principle holds true even for our existence.

• We need oxygen to survive and there is oxygen in the atmosphere. Lest all the oxygen get exhausted by our breathing, there is a natural arrangement to replenish it - photosynthesis in trees.
• Water is essential for our existence, but all the water lies in the ocean. There is a fantastic natural water transport system thruough the airway - the rains. The mobile water tanks in this system are so incredibly designed that an entire plane can pass right through the tank and yet there is no leakage. Guessed what we are talking about? Clouds.

One of the remarkable discoveries of the past 30 years has been the recognition that small changes in any of the universal constants produce surprisingly dramatic changes in the universe, rendering it unsuitable for life, not just as we know it, but for life of any conceivable type. For example

• If the strong force which binds together the nucleus of atoms, were just five percent weaker, only hydrogen would be stable and, needless to say, in a one-element universe, life would be an impossibility. On the other hand, if the strong force were just two percent stronger, very massive nuclei would form, which are unsuitable for the chemistry of living systems.
• If the relationship between the strong force and the electromagnetic force were to vary only slightly, we would have had a universe either rich in beryllium and little, if any, carbon or alternatively, a universe rich in oxygen with no carbon. Without carbon there would be no organic compounds and obviously no life.

The anthropic principle and its implications can be better appreciated with an analogy. Suppose I am playing a dice game with my life at stake. If the dice gives a '6', I live, else I die. I roll the dice and it gives '6'. "Good luck saved you", you will say. If I get '6' five successive times, you will start smelling something fishy. If I get '6' 1.000 successive times, you will be practically sure that the dice has been rigged.

This is exactly what we see in the universe. Everything in the universe has to have a particular value for our existence to be possible and everything has exactly that value. Everything - right from the rate at which the universe expands after the big bang, the percentage of the nuclear fusion energy on the sun which is converted into starlight, the distance of the sun from the earth, the delicate ecological balance on the earth, the anomalous behavior of water.... The list goes on and on. In marketing language, it could be confidently said that the universe is "made just for you".

AN ACAUSAL UNIVERSE

The philosophical implications of the anthropic principle shake the very foundation of mechanistic science. Sir Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer in the book The Intelligent Universe comments, "Such properties seem to run through the fabric of the natural world like a thread of happy coincidences. But there are so many odd coincidences essential to life that some explanation seems required to account for them."

The conclusion is unmistakable. The universe we live in is an acausal system, that is, it has been designed with the express purpose of enabling our existence here. And that means it must have an intelligent designer. Surveying the available evidence, George Smoot, Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, states in unambiguous terms, "It's like looking at God."

Join us next month for another session of intellectual adventure.

Made For Each Other

"You're saying your research proves this higher reality exist?" asks writer Vince Rause.

Prof Andrew Newberg of the University of Pensylvania replies, "I'm saying the possibility of such a reality is not inconsistent with science."

"But you can't observe such a thing in a scientific way, can you?"

Newberg grins. He hasn't simply observed such a state; he has managed to take its picture.

DIVINE FINDINGS

What you are reading is an extract from a fascinating article in the Jan 2002 issue of the Readers Digest, Searching for the Divine (pg 125) Prof Andrew Newberg is a leader in neurotheology, an emerging science which explores the links between spirituality and the brain.

Newberg and his team took pictures of the brain of the subjects in a normal waking state and in deep meditation. When they studied the scans, their attention was drawn to a chunk of the brain's left parietal lobe which they called the orientation association area. This region is responsible for drawing the line between the physical self and rest of existence, a task that requires a constant stream of neural information flowing in from the senses. What the scans revealed, however, was that at peak moments of prayer and meditation, the flow was dramatically reduced, indicating a decrease in neuronal activity. In such a brain state, the subject loses awareness of his physical self, goes to a state of complete relaxation and deep satisfaction and ?experiences a higher reality.

Newberg concludes such an experience of God by the human brain is as much a reality as any perception by the brain of "ordinary" physical reality.

This article is representative of what modern medical science is discovering (or rather rediscovering). More and more rigorous and unbiased studies are providing impeccable scientific evidence establishing the benefits, and indeed the necessity, of spirituality as an integral part of human existence.

LET THE DATA SPEAK

Consider the following data compiled by Patrick Glynn, Associate Director at the George Washington University, in his book God: The Evidence:

Suicide: A large-scale 1972 study found that persons who did not attend spiritual prayer meetings were four times as likely to commit suicide than were those who attended spiritual prayer meetings frequently. A review of twelve studies of the relationship between religious commitment and suicide found a negative correlation in all twelve cases. Lack of spiritual prayer meetings attendance has been found to be the single best predictor of suicide rates, better even than unemployment.

Drug Abuse: Numerous studies have found an inverse correlation between religious commitment and abuse of drugs. One survey of nearly 14,000 youths found that substance abuse varied in inverse proportion to strength of religious commitment, with the most conservative religious youths abusing the least. The authors concluded that "importance of religion" was the single best indicator / predictor of substance abuse patterns.

Alcohol Abuse: Several studies have found that alcohol abuse is highest among those with little or no religious commitment. One study found that nearly 90% of alcoholics had lost interest in religion in youth , while among the non-alcoholic control group 48% reported an increase in religious commitment in adulthood and 32% reported no change.

Depression and Stress: Several studies have found that high levels of religious commitment correlate with lower levels of depression, lower level of stress, and greater ability to cope with stress. Religious people recover from surgery more quickly than do their atheistic counterparts.

Divorce: A number of studies have found a strong inverse correlation between spiritual prayer meetings attendance and divorce. Spiritual prayer meetings attendance also correlates strongly with the expressed willingness of a partner to marry the same spouse again - a measure of marital satisfaction.

Marital and Sexual Satisfaction: A study found that spiritual prayer meetings attendance predicted marital satisfaction better than any other single variable. Couples in long-lasting marriages who were surveyed in another study listed religion as one of most important "prescriptions" of a happy marriage. Most strikingly, an analysis of data from a massive survey of Redbook magazine readers found that "very religious women report greater happiness and satisfaction with marital sex than either moderately religious or nonreligious women" So religious people even seem to enjoy better marital sex!

Overall Happiness and Psychological Well-being: Strong religious believers consistently report greater overall happiness and satisfaction with life. In one Gallup survey, respondents with a strong religious commitment - who agreed that "My religious faith is the most important influence in my life" - were twice as likely as those with minimal spiritual commitment to describe themselves as "very happy"

Thus statistics show that it is difficult to find a more consistent correlative of mental health, or a better insurance against self-destructive behaviors, than a strong religious faith.

A REMARKABLE REVOLUTION

That psychology and its affiliated fields have come up with these findings is remarkable, to say the very least.

Since the early 20^th century, a group of psychologists has been caustic in their condemnation of religion. They have branded faith as a form of mental disorder, a disorder that they predicted humanity would outgrow. Such thoughts have led to the predominance of the atheistic mentality in the psychology and other related fields and in medical science at large.

But even in those times there were renowned thinkers who differed markedly. Consider for example what the famous Carl Jung remarked in 1932:

And the findings of the late 20^th century show that the atheistic challenge to religion, made under the guise of science, has collapsed - that too under the weight of scientific evidence. That this has happened in such an emphatic way in psychology itself, the field where it once gathered great momentum, is eloquent testimony to the sheer magnitude of the revolution in science vis-a-vis spirituality that we are witnessing.

The physicians are coming up with similar findings. Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine Herbert Benson states that contemporary medical research is showing that the human mind and body are "wired for God". A Time cover story puts it even more explicit terms. When it comes to health, "the faithful actually have God on their side." Several other fields as wide-ranging as sociology and ecology are coming up with increasing evidence showing that only a spiritual way of life is sustainable and satisfying; atheism courts disaster at every level.

THE REDISCOVERY

Thus modern science is slowly and painfully rediscovering what all the religious scriptures have been teaching since time immemorial: the living being and God are made for each other. When a living being rejects God, he is, by deliberate misuse of his God-given intelligence, stripping his own life of all meaning, direction, substance, peace and happiness.

The big question however remains. Has modern man experienced enough to learn this lesson? Or does he want to continue in the school of hard knocks? At a global level, time alone will tell. But at an individual level, the Spiritual Scientist will be there to help its readers make the intelligent choice.

Join us next month for another session of spirituo-scientific exploration.

How Everything Began?

THE CONVENTIONAL STORY

Look up at the night sky, full of stars and planets. Where did it all come from? These days most scientists will answer that question with some version of the big bang theory. In the beginning (or before the beginning, if you will), you will hear, all matter in the universe was concentrated into a single point (known as a singularity) at an extremely high temperature, and then it exploded with tremendous force. From an expanding superheated cloud of sub-atomic particles, atoms gradually formed, then stars, galaxies, planets and finally life. This litany, having assumed the status of revealed truth, is elaborated in countless text books, paperbacks, slick science magazines and television specials complete with computer generated effects.

As an exciting, mind grabbing story it certainly works. And the big bang theory does seem to be based on factual observation, and the scientific method.

The big bang theory, though appealing and apparently plausible, literally collapses when confronted with one gnawing question: where did the singularity come from? Here the scientists face the same difficulty as the religionists they taunt with the question, `Where did God come from?' And just as the religionists respond with the answer that God is the cause of all causes, the scientists are faced with the prospect of declaring a mathematically indescribable, physically unrealizable point of infinite density and temperature, of infinitesimal size, existing before all conceptions of time and space, as the cause of all causes. At this point, the hapless scientists stand convicted of the same unforgivable intellectual crime that they have accused the saints and mystics of committing - making physically unverifiable supernatural claims.
 

THE CHOICE

An open-minded thinker now has to choose between two options about the origin of everything - a dead insentient unintelligent singularity or a living thinking intelligent designer. Neither of these is `scientific' in the sense in which the term is presently used; in fact anything which is beyond the realm of space and time is actually beyond the jurisdiction of science. Therefore an approach of an entirely different nature is called for to deal with this question.
 

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

`To observe a chain of events only from a certain point in time is unscientific and gives only incomplete knowledge. We must know where things begin. If we carry out our investigations far enough, we will find that the origin of nature is achintya-shakti (inconceivable energy).'

Eloquence, it is said, is truth spoken concisely. The eloquence of Srila Prabhupada, the greatest exponent of spiritual science in the modern times, can be seen in these words. In these few words, Srila Prabhupada has captured the essential flaw of the entire scientific methodology, as propounded by modern science. He has also delineated the fundamental basis of research in higher dimensional science.

Srila Prabhupada provides the philosophical basis for such an approach with a beautiful analogy. When a person accustomed to living in darkness suddenly comes upon light, he is likely to think that the darkness has produced light. The truth however is exactly the opposite. Light is the origin, the beginning and the absence of light is known as darkness. So light is the source of darkness and not the other way round.

Similarly, the modern scientist is accustomed to dwelling in the world of matter, studying electrons, atoms, molecules, and other such insentient nonliving things. And when he stumbles upon life in a complicated combination of matter, he automatically tends to think that life has come from matter. But no one has been able to come up with even a theory to explain how life came from matter, leave alone replicate such a `lucky accident' in the laboratory!

On the other hand, our practical experience shows that an intelligent living person can easily create a variety of things; a carpenter creates a bureau, a civil engineer makes a skyscraper, an automobile engineer produces a Mercedes. There is absolutely no experience of the raw materials aligning by themselves into a useful product. Just imagine what would happen to the unemployment rate worldwide if that happened!
 

THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSION

The point is that it is far more logical, rational, reasonable and even scientific (used in the broadest sense) to infer that the starting point of everything was a living person rather than a dead singularity. Lord Kelvin, one of the world's greatest physicist, has stated this same conclusion in these profound words, `If you think deeply enough, you will be forced by science to believe in God.'

Also a thoughtful person can decide which doctrine to embrace based on what the consequences of that doctrine will be. In the previous issue, Treason against humanity', we discussed how a purely materialistic conception of life is individually frustrating, socially disastrous and globally unsustainable. (When we reject either God or the soul as `unscientific' and thus relegate spirituality to the realm of mythology, such a result is inevitable)
 

DID MAN CREATE GOD?

Of course, it should be emphasized that the conception of God is not a `survival mechanism' that the evolving man came up with to succeed in his struggle for existence. The wonders of creation all around us bear eloquent testimony for a superintelligent creator. Organs of extraordinary complexity in our own body such as the eye and the brain defy all reductionistic explanations. In Darwin's own words, `To suppose that the eye could have been formed by evolution, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.' The incredibly delicate ecological balance in nature, the mind-boggling magnitude of the solar energy and thousands of similar fantastic facets of the world insist that there is an intelligence behind them. (Refer to the previous issue A giant in a tiny package') In simple words, man did not create God; rather God created man and everything else.

In this issue, we discussed how even accepting that a big bang occurred, there is ample scientific room to consider that `God might have caused the big bang.' In subsequent issues, we will discuss whether the big bang is actually a scientifically admissible theory at all and, even if it is, what it requires to get from the big bang to where the universe is at present. Do join us as we continue on a journey that expands the frontiers of science and even goes beyond them.

Join us again for another session of thought-provoking discussion

FOOLOSOPHY

Pascal's Wager

The famous mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal offers an interesting "thought experiment" concerning religious belief. The scriptures state that if we follow God, we will dwell with Him in the realm of eternal happiness. And if we refuse to follow Him, we are making future appointments with suffering. Taking an agnostic position, Pascal states that revelation (the words of God as given in the religious scriptures) are intrinsically beyond experimental scientific verification; we can't know in advance what actually happens to us after death.

With this premise, he proposes that our life is a wager. (This is one wager which no one can avoid) If God exists and we bet for God, then we rejoice eternally. If God exists and we bet against Him, suffering awaits us. If God doesn't exist and we bet for God, we still are not the losers because everything is anyway going to be finished at death!

"That's too much?."

The controversial issue here is the sacrifice of carnal pleasures by those who follow God. If God doesn't exist, then have His followers not been cheated of bodily delights in the pursuit of an illusion? Pascal agrees that the religious have to, in his own words, "curtail" their "passions", but he points out that the purely rational benefits of a life in accordance with standard moral principles outweigh the restrictions that may be imposed by scriptures: "Now what harm will you come by in making this choice? You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere friend, truthful. Certainly, you will not enjoy those pernicious delights - glory and luxury, but will you not enjoy others?"

The atheistic counter-attack to Pascal has been that he has unduly minimized the sacrifice end of the bargain; the carnal delights of a "free life" are too much to give up. Indeed that is the reason why many people shy away from spirituality, "It will obstruct my enjoyment of life now." This has become the essence of most modern philosophical thought: the pleasures that the world offers are the ultimate goal of life. The atheistic leaning of modern science can also be traced to this fundamental belief. The principal thrust of contemporary technology in all its diverse fields has been to enhance the quality and the quantity of material pleasure that man can enjoy in this life.

The Confrontation: The Myths and the Facts

The upsurge in atheism in the West from the 1960s onwards fuelled the free sex revolution or what was in euphemistic terms called, "value-free living". Self-restraint was dubbed as pleasure-denying, stifling, dogmatic, unreasonable and unnecessary and was thrown to the winds. All kinds of sexual perversions became the vogue; everything that one could imagine (and even that which one couldn't imagine) was attempted in order to maximize bodily pleasure.

This free sex culture has now spread its wings even to India, especially through the media - newspapers, magazines, star TV, movies etc. Before we embrace it, being enamored by its promise of extraordinary erotic enjoyments, let us see what has been its consequence on the West.

In The New Harvard Guide to Psychiatry, the editor Armand M Nicholi, Jr, a Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor, makes these remarkable observations:

This report is not an exception, but rather the trend in psychology these days. There is a growing body of evidence that licentious behavior and unhappiness have a strong correlation.

Free Sex - Free Shocks

Little needs to be said about the menace that STDs especially AIDS pose to humanity. The dreaded AIDS epidemic if unchecked is feared to be likely to devour a large portion of the entire human population by the middle of the next century. Unbelievable, but true. Medicine doesn't seem to offer much hope; a cure seems as far away as ever. And even if AIDS is cured, medical history shows that a new even more deadly disease is waiting to take over as soon its predecessor subsides.

And the social consequences of divorce (a common result of sexual promiscuity) are ominous, to put it mildly. The Costly Consequences of Divorce: Assessing the Clinical, Economic and Public Health Impact of Marital Disruption in the United States, a National Institute for Healthcare Research publication, shows that divorced and separated people are more likely to suffer serious physical and mental health problems and are at significantly higher risk for alcohol abuse, premature death and suicide. The effects on the children from broken homes are even more disastrous, extending from poorer school performance to higher rates of juvenile delinquency and teen suicide.

The Crowning Irony

Who could ever have thought that science, and that too psychology and psychiatry (with their libido concepts), would one day end up confirming the fundamental injunction of all religions: sin breeds misery?

What then is the verdict of science vis-a-vis Pascal's wager? Is the pleasure of an unrestricted life too much to give up? Patrick Glynn, Associate Director at the George Washington University, in his book God: The Evidence answers unambiguously, "Modern research in psychology makes clear that the morally unrestrained life is not worth living. The crowning irony is this: Even if their beliefs were to be proved illusions, religiously committed people lead happier and healthier lives, as numerous studies show."

Patricide and Suicide

From an emotional point of view, atheism is patricide; the atheist is by his intellect and reason, murdering his own father God. Of course God is not going to die just because of the atheist's disbelief. (Remember "the fox and the sour grapes" story?) But his belief has disastrous consequences on the atheist himself. Rather than being a loved, cared and protected son of the omnipotent Supreme Father, he makes himself a lonely, destitute, fearful orphan. Such a life full of uncertainty and anxiety with the crushing intellectual burden of dogmatic atheism is hardly worth living. Though breathing like the bellows of a blacksmith externally his heart is dead like a stone internally. Thus his atheism leads to his committing virtual suicide.

There is one difference between such a person who is dead within and a person who is physically dead. A physically dead person can do no harm to anyone, but the frustrated atheist only tries to fool the gullible masses with the venomous idea that athiesm is a scientific belief, whereas in actuality there is no scientific basis for atheism. (Refer to the earlier issues, How Everything Began and Made Just For You). As misery loves company, the miserable atheist makes it his life's mission to make others similarly athiestic and thus miserable. When the blind lead the blind, all of them fall into a ditch.

Why?

Atheism is not beneficial at any level - whether emotional, mental, physical or sociological. There is no reason, no logic, no justification, no intelligence to an atheistic world view.

So the weight of the available evidence makes atheism a doctrine devoid of any sense of rationality at all; if atheist were denounced as mad, it would be difficult to give any scientific evidence to refute the denunciation. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is a foolosophy (the sophistry of fools) The facts show that the atheists and their followers are on the way to MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). There's no point in even wishing "Good Luck." Without God, there can be no good for them.

Join us next month for another session of thought-provoking discussion.

THE SONG OF GOD