Bipolarity of Religion

[ashwin_ash]

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Robert Svoboda, I think, has written mostly about the Aghoris and they surely are a Tantric sect. Since I don't have much interest in that kind of Tantra or religion, I have not read Svoboda's books. BTW, how is this relevant here?

The (hindu) religion in Kerala was primarily brought by the immigrating Namboodiri clans at the dawn of history (the first few centuries of the Christian era, probably). The land was then an agglomeration of so many small islets or sand banks spattered throughout the triangular area which today is the areas compromising the erstwhile Travancore & Cochin kingdoms. Most of these were not populated, the earliest people native to Kerala living along the western slopes of the mountain range and immediate adjacent areas only. Their primitive belief systems had much in common with the ancient Tamil traditions of the Canga period; devi or a female deity and the virali or its counterpart, etc., formed part of their pantheon. The Namboodiris usurped almost the entire belief systems from those primitive people and cleverly adapted certain Tantric practices to the worship. Bhagavati (the sanskrit word bhaga also means the pudendum; so, bhagavati signifies a female goddess' external genitalia) worship possibly started from the early Namboodiris.

The Tamil brahmin history in Kerala starts from the 13th. century A.D. or so. Those who went west (go westwards, young man!) through the Palghat mountain pass or gap, had to accept the superiority of the local Namboodiris who held sway over everything including the local rulers. Hence, the Tabras also fell in line, started worshipping Bhagavati and even accepted one or another Bhagavati as their "Kula Deivam" since they had no intention to go back to their old homeland in Tamil Nadu nor to keep their old Kuladeivam in currency. To that extent those Palghat Brahmins might be said to have become followers of Saktism. All temples barring a handful or so, in Kerala are based on Tantrism; so all keralites may be considered as believers of Tantrism, though most do not know this "Tantra" which is the private property of 4 or 5 Namboodiri Tharwads only.

To repeat an old story, it is the atheists and agnostics who are doing very well in these times. Religions and temples serve as emotional anchors and act as mere buffers for the stresses of modern day living. It is always convenient to place the blame on some vague entity for our own failings.
Forget gods, those who even believe in ghosts are totally insane. When a human is cremated, he is reduced to a pile of ashes and nothing more. Those who believe in ghosts and the paranormal might be schizophrenics in serious need of psychiatric treatment. To that extent, all religions are culpable of brainwashing the masses into accepting blind beliefs.

 

[biswa]

Hmm, ok, so no ghosts. No atma (soul) as well?

 

[ashwin_ash]

Hmm, ok, so no ghosts. No atma (soul) as well?

What soul? The human body is a putrefying (aging process is naturally putrefying) mass of flesh, bones, fluid and what not. If humans have souls, all living beings have souls since all living beings, like humans, are basically masses of matter in whatever form, which are naturally destined to ultimately wither.

 

[renuka]

those who even believe in ghosts are totally insane.

Those who believe in ghosts and the paranormal might be schizophrenics in serious need of psychiatric treatment

Hey Ash! Why you calling me insane/schizophrenic etc? You ingat saya gila kah?
Wait till you see one!LOL

 

[ashwin_ash]

Hey Ash! Why you calling me insane/schizophrenic etc? You ingat saya gila kah?
Wait till you see one!LOL

Yes yes, you are indeed crazy. If a patient comes to you saying he/ she's seen a ghost or some bomoh has done something, will you treat them for paranoia, or thrash them with neem leaves? Remember the Hippocratic oath? You are obliged to treat a patient within all reasonable means at your disposal (unless they refuse treatment, in which case you are helpless).

The American Medical Association even refuses to have anything to do with the death penalty, they are not even supposed to utter the word, it violates the oath to *preserve* life. In such a scenario, belief in ghosts and spirits is tantamount to "not" preserving life, instead it amounts to promoting irrationality.

 

[biswa]

What soul? The human body is a putrefying (aging process is naturally putrefying) mass of flesh, bones, fluid and what not. If humans have souls, all living beings have souls since all living beings, like humans, are basically masses of matter in whatever form, which are naturally destined to ultimately wither.

What soul? Surely you know. Na hanyate, hanyamane sharire?

Sure, animals could have souls as well, nothing special about humans.

 

[biswa]

Hey Ash! Why you calling me insane/schizophrenic etc? You ingat saya gila kah?
Wait till you see one!LOL

You need to send one of these to Ashwin ji. Awful picture!

 

[prasad1]

From the absolute standpoint, the soul is non-dual, immortal, ever pure, ever free, ever illumined, and one with Brahman. It is untouched by hunger or thirst, good and evil, pain and pleasure, birth and death, and the other pairs of opposites. That is the soul's true nature. The realisation of which is the goal of a man's spiritual aspiration and striving. From this absolute standpoint, the soul is called PARAMATMA or Supreme Soul.


But from the relative standpoint, the Vedanta philosophy admits the existence of a multitude of individual souls called JIVATMAS, and distinguishes them from the Supreme Soul. Attached to the body, the individual soul is a victim of the pairs of the opposites. Entangled in the world, it seeks deliverance from the eternal round of birth and death, and with that end in view, studies the scriptures and practises spiritual disciplines.


The embodied soul is associated with the sense organs, the mind and vital breath (Prana). There are ten sense organs, all subordinate to the mind as the central organ; five organs of perception and five organs of action. The five organs of perception comprise the organ of taste (tongue),smell (nose), vision (eyes), hearing (ear), and touch (skin). The five organs of action are the hands, the feet, the organ of speech, the organs of evacuation and the organ of generation.

Professor Arvind Sharma of McGill University in Montreal notes that some confusion arises because in English we often use the word soul to describe what in Hindu thought is expressed with multiple words. On one hand, soul can refer to the atman. From this perspective humans and animals, as well as inanimate objects, are not different. But soul is also often used to refer to the subtle body.