RELIGION
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Part 1
Religion, in the popular concept, is the belief in a power, above all that is seen or heard, creating, nourishing, and destroying the whole universe.
When the earth, in the early days, was sparse of population, compared with a the area of the land, the people lived in isolated areas, and developed their different ideas of the world.
The one problem, which troubled them, was the origin of the world, who created us, and why, afterwards destroyed, a seemingly arbitrary person, whom nobody can know or question, but believed doing everything for our good, a fatherfigure, the Father in Heaven, in short, GOD.
Every land gradually all, living peacefully, accepted that each could have its God, without claiming any superiority or supremacy over others.
This could not go on forever, but inevitably they clashed, leading to a state of continuous warfare, between sections, who asserted that their God is more
tolerant than the other tolerant Gods.
This natural habit is not easy to change, many great men tried to do so, but, in spite of the reverence in which they were held, as God himself or his messenger, come to earth, for leading the errant in the right direction.
The wise thinking were not satisfied with the explanation
of God, as the supreme Power, over all other gods because, if one God rules all beings, who creates and destroys all, the question arises, who created that Creator, and who created Him.
This will go on forever ad infinitum, an absurdity, which disproves the original theory of several gods one above the other, without end.
So, as a result of concentration on the ultimate cause of things, concluded that what is conceived as the supreme Being, can never be known.
They came to the conclusion that, to ask, who and where the supreme God, is the wrong question to ask, for there is no reason to believe in the existence of such a Being, somewhat like a human being, weak, subject to human frailties, illnesses, birth death physical as well as mental diseases.
What is it then ?,
Nobody can ever know, for how can one, inside a shell know who what’s outside?,
those outside however can; we are inside the shell of the world, which there is no way to know the creator of the created world.
At best, one can enjoy the stories about the imagined creator, but they would be taken as true only by the simplest minds, as is common among the people, who worship the actors, acting the part of gods in cinema shows.
The intellectually inclined, could not accept such a simplistic idea, that GOD was like human beings, subject to the weaknesses of hunger, passionate desire, jealousy, anger, and a host of negative feelings.
Some of them believed that the figure of God could be clearly seen in their mind ready to accept it, by preparing the mind, for which many treatises were written, noted among them being Pathanjali’s Yogashaasthras, which enumerates the different steps to attain that state of mind.
These steps are Yama, bodily cleanliness, niyama, mental cleanliness, praanaayaama, breath control, prathyaahaara withdrawal from of objects of senses, dhhaarana keeping an idea in mind, Dhaarana concentration, dhyaana contemplation, samaadhi union with the Universal Soul.
Everybody was agreed that following one’s nature, could attain the ultimate, without interfering with others, and accepted the idea that all are parts of the universal soul, but that they could not devote time to the practice of the steps of the Yoga philosophy.
Keeping this in mind, they went on doing the various duties for the upkeep of their families, drawing strength from this philosophy of all being equal, regardless of gender, power, learning and wealth.
Through the whole world, be it Greece, Arabia,Africa, India and China, this view
prevailed, and lived happily in peace and harmony, although the adventurous and powerhungry disturbed that as usual, and led to great wars at times.
But arose another opposite view in the desert sands of Arabia, regarding the nature of God.
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————————-
Part 1
Religion, in the popular concept, is the belief in a power, above all that is seen or heard, creating, nourishing, and destroying the whole universe.
When the earth, in the early days, was sparse of population, compared with a the area of the land, the people lived in isolated areas, and developed their different ideas of the world.
The one problem, which troubled them, was the origin of the world, who created us, and why, afterwards destroyed, a seemingly arbitrary person, whom nobody can know or question, but believed doing everything for our good, a fatherfigure, the Father in Heaven, in short, GOD.
Every land gradually all, living peacefully, accepted that each could have its God, without claiming any superiority or supremacy over others.
This could not go on forever, but inevitably they clashed, leading to a state of continuous warfare, between sections, who asserted that their God is more
tolerant than the other tolerant Gods.
This natural habit is not easy to change, many great men tried to do so, but, in spite of the reverence in which they were held, as God himself or his messenger, come to earth, for leading the errant in the right direction.
The wise thinking were not satisfied with the explanation
of God, as the supreme Power, over all other gods because, if one God rules all beings, who creates and destroys all, the question arises, who created that Creator, and who created Him.
This will go on forever ad infinitum, an absurdity, which disproves the original theory of several gods one above the other, without end.
So, as a result of concentration on the ultimate cause of things, concluded that what is conceived as the supreme Being, can never be known.
They came to the conclusion that, to ask, who and where the supreme God, is the wrong question to ask, for there is no reason to believe in the existence of such a Being, somewhat like a human being, weak, subject to human frailties, illnesses, birth death physical as well as mental diseases.
What is it then ?,
Nobody can ever know, for how can one, inside a shell know who what’s outside?,
those outside however can; we are inside the shell of the world, which there is no way to know the creator of the created world.
At best, one can enjoy the stories about the imagined creator, but they would be taken as true only by the simplest minds, as is common among the people, who worship the actors, acting the part of gods in cinema shows.
The intellectually inclined, could not accept such a simplistic idea, that GOD was like human beings, subject to the weaknesses of hunger, passionate desire, jealousy, anger, and a host of negative feelings.
Some of them believed that the figure of God could be clearly seen in their mind ready to accept it, by preparing the mind, for which many treatises were written, noted among them being Pathanjali’s Yogashaasthras, which enumerates the different steps to attain that state of mind.
These steps are Yama, bodily cleanliness, niyama, mental cleanliness, praanaayaama, breath control, prathyaahaara withdrawal from of objects of senses, dhhaarana keeping an idea in mind, Dhaarana concentration, dhyaana contemplation, samaadhi union with the Universal Soul.
Everybody was agreed that following one’s nature, could attain the ultimate, without interfering with others, and accepted the idea that all are parts of the universal soul, but that they could not devote time to the practice of the steps of the Yoga philosophy.
Keeping this in mind, they went on doing the various duties for the upkeep of their families, drawing strength from this philosophy of all being equal, regardless of gender, power, learning and wealth.
Through the whole world, be it Greece, Arabia,Africa, India and China, this view
prevailed, and lived happily in peace and harmony, although the adventurous and powerhungry disturbed that as usual, and led to great wars at times.
But arose another opposite view in the desert sands of Arabia, regarding the nature of God.
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