Atheism
Aparna Krishnan There was a beautiful statement of Narayana Guru. When someone questioned him about installing idols, and thereby encourageing people to worship 'stones', he smiled back, "People are clear that they are worshipping God, till others come and confuse them !'
Rahul Banerjee i still think it is better to be an atheist instead of trying to reform religions.
Aparna Krishnan By becoming a atheist you can 'change yourself'. By entering religion, and engageing with it and its seaching for corrections, a society comes along with you.
Aparna Krishnan In India religion, and a sane, vast, incusive religion as I see in villages, is the foundation of the civilization. There could be other communities that have a atheist, or nihilistic basis - I do not know. Here one cannot deny religion.
Rahul Banerjee Atheism as an option can also be placed before the people. its up to them to follow whatever they want to. But at least there will be some critical debate.
Aparna Krishnan I cannot imagine Eashwaramma seriously engageing with a critical debate about the absence of god - when every third sentence ends with 'devidu unnadu' and 'devudu chooskuntaadu'. The village people will permit atheism, as Hinduism permits everything. And then why would I want to fundamentaly question their religiousness. In that paradigm of dharmam that is their by right and inheritence, they find the strength to share of their last meal (in a way that all my theoretical stances, sans deep religiosity, does not give me !).
Swarna Latha sometimes i feel that many people, capable of rational thought otherwise, unfortunately don't want to see reason on the topic of sanAthana dharma, likely because they are unable to grasp enough of the goodness therein! "Atheism, the idea that there is no God or Creator, is a conception of the human mind which occurs at various stages of mental and spiritual development. It appears in undeveloped minds who are unable to perceive any deeper reality than what is evident through the physical senses. Atheism also appears in more developed minds who see through the limitations of organized religion and its dogmas and can no longer accept them as true.
Some Dharmic teachings, like Sankhya philosophy or Buddhism, are atheistic in the sense that they do not regard God or a cosmic Lord as the ultimate reality. They may recognize the Creator as a secondary reality, however, and see Pure Consciousness as the ultimate truth of being. Such systems are atheistic only in the sense of not regarding theism as the ultimate truth. Such non-theists are not materialists but have a trans-theistic spiritual view of Reality.
It is wrong to say that atheists are bad, whereas those who believe in One God are good. The important thing is our inquiry into Truth. If this inquiry is more alive in an atheist than in the dogmatic follower of a particular religion, such an atheist is a better seeker of Truth and therefore closer to God who is Truth than the so-called religious person. Actually most of us are atheists, including those who regard themselves as religious. What we believe in is not spiritual reality but in money, sex, power, converts and ideologies, all of which are material. Seeing reality as other than Divine is the root of all of our problems."
David Frawley - Hinduism: The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma - Reiligion, Spirituality And...
Aparna Krishnan There is a very deep seated colonization of the mind. The educated are most mentally enslaved - because the schooling we underwent is McCauly's. To enter things Indian, clothing, language, metaphors ... itself is a process of unschooing. To renter religion is the final step. In a time-space where science and rationality are celebrated, religion is seen as something superstitious and irrational.
Rahul Banerjee When properly questioned even Eshwaramma will have to think to defend her beliefs.
Aparna Krishnan Yes she would. Their clarity of thought and expression is way superior to many literates.
Aravinda Pillalamarri As I understand, existence / non-existence, presence / absence, god / no god are not hardline distinctions and may even be forms of one another. What you are referring to is a willingness to believe that there is a force that knows better that will bring about peace and justice. but where is that force - outside / inside? Do you assume that E believes this force to be outside?
Aparna Krishnan Actually no, Aravinda. The positions are clear - there is no vagueness. The tenets are very clear. Of the requirements of dharmam, of the concept of rebirth, of the existence of a god who oversees all including justice across the aeons. The god is external to oneself for Eashwaramma. Theism and atheism are not mixed up in their minds.I would think that it would return to their logic of all that we do and act is because of the thoughts that the God gives us. Thereby the atheist is thus because the God intended it that way.
Aparna Krishnan Would actually be interesting, and possibly very important, to have a debate on religion with the village people. I suspect that would give us a real understanding to base our own engagements in - in case, as I feel, religiousness is the anchor point of their philosophy of life.
Radhika Rammohan There is no way I would want to debate religion with the village people. Intellectualizing. If I want to understand how they view religion I shd just spend time trying to do that.
Aparna Krishnan I was just this moment thinking of correcting myself. I was going to say that their understanding of the Hindu dharma (as lived and practiced) if far far deeper than ours. And we would be foolish to 'debate' with them. If in humility we go to understand their perspective, we might learn. If we wish to. And I personally feel it is very important for any social engagements as we are all wishing for.
Aparna Krishnan There was a beautiful statement of Narayana Guru. When someone questioned him about installing idols, and thereby encourageing people to worship 'stones', he smiled back, "People are clear that they are worshipping God, till others come and confuse them !'
Rahul Banerjee i still think it is better to be an atheist instead of trying to reform religions.
Aparna Krishnan By becoming a atheist you can 'change yourself'. By entering religion, and engageing with it and its seaching for corrections, a society comes along with you.
Aparna Krishnan In India religion, and a sane, vast, incusive religion as I see in villages, is the foundation of the civilization. There could be other communities that have a atheist, or nihilistic basis - I do not know. Here one cannot deny religion.
Rahul Banerjee Atheism as an option can also be placed before the people. its up to them to follow whatever they want to. But at least there will be some critical debate.
Aparna Krishnan I cannot imagine Eashwaramma seriously engageing with a critical debate about the absence of god - when every third sentence ends with 'devidu unnadu' and 'devudu chooskuntaadu'. The village people will permit atheism, as Hinduism permits everything. And then why would I want to fundamentaly question their religiousness. In that paradigm of dharmam that is their by right and inheritence, they find the strength to share of their last meal (in a way that all my theoretical stances, sans deep religiosity, does not give me !).
Swarna Latha sometimes i feel that many people, capable of rational thought otherwise, unfortunately don't want to see reason on the topic of sanAthana dharma, likely because they are unable to grasp enough of the goodness therein! "Atheism, the idea that there is no God or Creator, is a conception of the human mind which occurs at various stages of mental and spiritual development. It appears in undeveloped minds who are unable to perceive any deeper reality than what is evident through the physical senses. Atheism also appears in more developed minds who see through the limitations of organized religion and its dogmas and can no longer accept them as true.
Some Dharmic teachings, like Sankhya philosophy or Buddhism, are atheistic in the sense that they do not regard God or a cosmic Lord as the ultimate reality. They may recognize the Creator as a secondary reality, however, and see Pure Consciousness as the ultimate truth of being. Such systems are atheistic only in the sense of not regarding theism as the ultimate truth. Such non-theists are not materialists but have a trans-theistic spiritual view of Reality.
It is wrong to say that atheists are bad, whereas those who believe in One God are good. The important thing is our inquiry into Truth. If this inquiry is more alive in an atheist than in the dogmatic follower of a particular religion, such an atheist is a better seeker of Truth and therefore closer to God who is Truth than the so-called religious person. Actually most of us are atheists, including those who regard themselves as religious. What we believe in is not spiritual reality but in money, sex, power, converts and ideologies, all of which are material. Seeing reality as other than Divine is the root of all of our problems."
David Frawley - Hinduism: The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma - Reiligion, Spirituality And...
Aparna Krishnan There is a very deep seated colonization of the mind. The educated are most mentally enslaved - because the schooling we underwent is McCauly's. To enter things Indian, clothing, language, metaphors ... itself is a process of unschooing. To renter religion is the final step. In a time-space where science and rationality are celebrated, religion is seen as something superstitious and irrational.
Rahul Banerjee When properly questioned even Eshwaramma will have to think to defend her beliefs.
Aparna Krishnan Yes she would. Their clarity of thought and expression is way superior to many literates.
Aravinda Pillalamarri As I understand, existence / non-existence, presence / absence, god / no god are not hardline distinctions and may even be forms of one another. What you are referring to is a willingness to believe that there is a force that knows better that will bring about peace and justice. but where is that force - outside / inside? Do you assume that E believes this force to be outside?
Aparna Krishnan Actually no, Aravinda. The positions are clear - there is no vagueness. The tenets are very clear. Of the requirements of dharmam, of the concept of rebirth, of the existence of a god who oversees all including justice across the aeons. The god is external to oneself for Eashwaramma. Theism and atheism are not mixed up in their minds.I would think that it would return to their logic of all that we do and act is because of the thoughts that the God gives us. Thereby the atheist is thus because the God intended it that way.
Aparna Krishnan Would actually be interesting, and possibly very important, to have a debate on religion with the village people. I suspect that would give us a real understanding to base our own engagements in - in case, as I feel, religiousness is the anchor point of their philosophy of life.
Radhika Rammohan There is no way I would want to debate religion with the village people. Intellectualizing. If I want to understand how they view religion I shd just spend time trying to do that.
Aparna Krishnan I was just this moment thinking of correcting myself. I was going to say that their understanding of the Hindu dharma (as lived and practiced) if far far deeper than ours. And we would be foolish to 'debate' with them. If in humility we go to understand their perspective, we might learn. If we wish to. And I personally feel it is very important for any social engagements as we are all wishing for.
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