sangom
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Dear Shri Vaagmi sir,
Thank you for your well-written post. To me, however, there is nothing more to say except that I tried to remove some of the doubts raised by Shri Vignesh in accordance with and in the light of whatever I have understood about Hindu religion; I do not think I criticized anyone else for following or liking any method of worship. Therefore, your observation "The best course will be to leave the things as they are and go their way and be happy while letting others go their own way.", looks out of relevance.
The main point I would like to stress is that the religious people do have a deep insecurity and confusion in their minds, about whatever they believe is true religion, true worship, the correct path, etc. Although there is a story of ajAmiLa (story, because we have no evidence that it actually happened.) and the ISKCON people have a very impressive demonstration of it in their Bengaluru centre, neither have anyone of us proof of the fact that when a person who has been very religious, austere, etc., died, some heavenly messengers came to exhort his/her so-called soul. On the contrary, I have read that Saint Thyagaraja, who believed in Rama being the Supreme Godhead of the whole creation, got dejected during his last days of existence, because his expectation that Rama would appear in person to him and guide him (his soul) to the heavens did not seem to materialize.
One old man said, towards his last days, that he had started seeing all the gods he used to worship — like Krishna, Rama, Siva, Murugan, Devi, etc. — were all for real and always surrounding him; his family thought that perhaps due to his great religiosity, the gods are really coming near him. But the doctor who treated said that it could lead the old man to unpredictable and, sometimes, even violent behaviour which would be very difficult to handle in a small Delhi flat and advised them to consult a good psychologist/psychiatrist and give medicines to the person so that he would meet his end calmly.
I have had occasions to see many people dying; while some died in dignity, some others had a very pitiable end. All these first-hand experiences have made me conclude that the religious fervour of a person has nothing to do with how he/she meets the ultimate end. Religion, therefore, appears to me to be a very well-organized business, and not any guide to living, and, more importantly, in meeting one's death.
Viewed in this way, all that goes in the name of religion may be considered as just Quadrant-4 activity of people (I am indebted to Shri tks here.) and so I have no comments nor any quarrel with any of these. But whether religious belief gives people the mental peace and preparedness to meet the ultimate end, is doubtful.
As an old man nearing the end of my sojourn here, my efforts and studies — both through the western scholars of hindu scriptures as also through our very own native sources — have convinced me that religions of the kind we have, will not help one to meet his end. Hence I keep my views and tell what I believe, when a chance comes such as this OP.
If people are dead sure that their religious beliefs are inerrant, there is no need to "counter" my views but, instead, the answers to the problem raised could be given direct; the person raising the original doubt will choose whichever appears to him/her as more logical. That will, I think, add to the stature of religion.
So, here is my question: why should there be so many different classes of avataars of the Sagunabrahman and in what ways does one differ from the others? What logical evidence is there for the same sagunabrahman existing in five different states simultaneously, and which are the vedic statements supporting this (since the vedas are considered, by the religionists, as inerrant pramana)? In which of these five forms does the Sagunabrahman manifest as the Jiva or Jeevaathma and what evidence is there for that?
I am not asking these questions just to score a point, but to know about these.
