How to realize the true nature of religion?

Dharma or religion is of two types (1) material and (2) spiritual . Normally, when people talk about religion or god, it is the material version. That sort of religion is primarily practiced for selfish reasons. Men have unlimited desires so the reasons to practice religion selfishly is also unlimited. By and large these desires are to promote one's own family, social, economic and political status. In short, material opulence and selfish desires impel one to practice some sort of religion. However, we see in today's day and age, even that sort of religious adherence is declining because people find alternate avenues to satisfy their passions. As a result, all places of worship today is either closed or functioning as a cultural relic.

Srila Prabhupada very astutely captures this idea in his book Teachings of Lord Chaitanya.

Thus driven by sense gratificatory consciousness, men perform religious rituals and pious activities with the aim of acquiring some material gain. But if such material gain is obtainable in another way, this so-called religion is neglected. This can be seen in modern human civilization. Since the economic desires of the people appear to be fulfilled in another way, no one is interested in religion now. The churches, mosques and temples are practically vacant, for people are more interested in factories, shops and cinemas than in the religious places erected by their forefathers. This definitely proves that religious rituals are generally performed for the sake of economic development, which is needed for sense gratification. And when one is baffled in his attempt to attain sense gratification, he takes to the cause of salvation in order to become one with the supreme whole. All these activities arise with the same aim in view – sense gratification. - Ch 23 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

Unless we address our material desires for this world in a sober and balanced manner, it would be very difficult to have any meaningful realization of the true nature of religion or dharma.

Hare Krishna

Presuppositions

The “four pillars” of evidence supporting the Big Bang theory are:

1. The observable expansion of the Universe.
2. Origin of the cosmic background radiation.
3. The abundance of light elements.
4. Formation of galaxies and large-scale structure.

The above evidences are valid only if we assume (presuppose) that the universe and its laws are uniform at all times and in all places (the universe by the way is so big even scientists do not have a complete idea). Because modern scientific methods can never test the presuppositions of science, in my opinion, science is founded on principles of faith.

"Nowhere in science do we start from scratch. There is only one place where we can start, that is from where we are...Science is no miraculous creation out of nothing, no spontaneous generation of knowledge from ignorance. When presuppositions are denied a logical status, we remain mired in skepticism" - Abraham Kaplan (philosopher).

"For science does not have any choice about whether or not to accept presupposition of the species-individual structure. It must accept it because, any classification, induction, and gathering of experience in certain laws would be entirely impossible. For there would be an infinite series of experiences without any possibility of connecting one experience with another" - Andrew van Melsen (philosopher)

The quotes from modern philosophers question the objectivity of science as science cannot be purely objective. The bottom line is we are limited beings with limited access to the natural world. If we can recognize this limitation within our knowledge system, we can be more open to other avenues of knowledge gathering.

Hare Krishna

The Organic Effect

Hare Krishna

Gratitude - an essential ingredient

Continuous feelings of gratitude and thanks within our heart is an essential ingredient for the heart to cultivate bhakti or devotional service. The more we are conscious of our gifts, and feel grateful, the more the seed of bhakti has a favorable environment to blossom into the mature fruit of love of God. This feeling of thanks when uninterrupted by mundane dualities of life grows deeper within us softening and preparing the heart for love of God. Therefore, in the beginning stages, as a matter of practice one must exercise discipline in spending time to express thanks to the Absolute Truth. Such disciplined prayer gradually will develop into a stream of unending mellow of tears of gratitude continuously flowing from our heart even amidst life threatening situations.

Below are thoughts on how gratitude can evolve and become uninterrupted within our hearts as we evolve as a devotee of God. This evolution of gratitude will attract the mercy of the Lord thus reviving our dormant love for Him.

• Feeling grateful even during toughest times by meditating on how there are more people worse than my current state of existence. This will help us to not get into a mood of self-pity and complaint. 

• Feeling grateful towards mother nature for her gifts towards living beings. Gifts such as sunshine, water, air, solid ground, grains etc can help us appreciate even the bare-bones of life. Without this - life cannot exist! Being cognizant of this can help us cultivate humility and a positive outlook towards life under all circumstances. We should do this as a daily exercise.

• Personally thanking the gods for daily sustenance by way of periodical ceremonies. This will not only enhance our humility but also a sense of personal connection with the gods.

• Grateful to guru, sadhu, and shastra for revealing the knowledge about the Supreme Absolute Truth. This is the beginning of our connection with the Supreme Being. This will begin our journey in the cessation of all miseries by way of cutting our bonds to this earthly existence. Feeling a deep gratitude for that knowledge on how to cut bonds, cease our miseries, and establish a personal connection with the Supreme Being will soften our hearts even more than the above mentioned points

• Grateful for being allowed to engage in loving and submissive service to that Supreme Absolute Truth. As our service becomes more and more unalloyed and uninterrupted, our gratitude also increases. Love of God will germinate from here on as we will see all incidences, things and beings as an opportunity to engage in that loving unalloyed service. Being grateful for those opportunities will give us a sense of supreme positivity and happiness in our lives!

Hare Krishna.

The holy names are the only solace

This world is a miserable place, the Holy Name and pure devotees are our only shelter.


 


vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees and can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

Hare Krishna