We are now, on a global scale, beginning to witness the breakdown of old structures that no longer serve us, including religion, and the pace of this change will only continue to increase. It is becoming apparent that people are beginning to question and indeed challenge the existence of many institutions and structures, including that of religion.
At some point in our spiritual journey we must let religion go if freedom is what we truly seek. Some will perhaps view this statement as sacrilegious, yet we must consider carefully why religions were established and for what purpose. The answers to these questions will no doubt be varied, but perhaps a common unifying idea is that religions were established to explain the truth of life, the reason for existence, and to enable man to forge a more intimate relationship with God. Yet if religion was established to help us find God and explain life’s truths, why must we at some point leave it behind?
“If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Slay Him”
The above saying is a warning not to ever become so assured of our own beliefs, but to always question and seek to go further. The feeling of certainty that our way/belief is right leads to the stagnation of our spiritual evolution. No matter what realizations, visions or insights dawn within us, we must never feel we have reached the destination but resolve to go further. Clinging to any name or form will only hold us back from further progress. Saints and mystics of all religions describe the divine experience of God union in terms of loosing a sense of individual self and merging in That which is beyond all name and form. The Absolute, they insist, can only be ?described? in terms of what it is not (hence the Sanskrit term ?neti, neti? ? not this, not that).
Are We Ready to Let Go?
After the house is built, the tools are discarded. When the rockets have done their job of boosting the assembly out of earth’s atmosphere, they are jettisoned. When the child learns how to ride a bike, the training wheels are removed. Likewise, when a soul becomes Self realized, he does not feel the need to proclaim himself this or that. How can he? And what purpose then would religion serve after the ego is dissolved? Sri Ramakrishna used to say, ?A salt doll once went to measure the depths of the ocean…? When one is merged in God, where go the ?ists? and ?isms?? But are we truly ready to let go of the false ego; of rites and rituals?
One of Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples, Mahendranath Gupta, recounted how a disciple kept badgering the master for experience of God. He had seen Ramakrishna give samadhi (superconsciousness God vision) to Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) by touching him and wanted the same. On and on he pressed him in this way. Finally, Sri Ramakrishna said in so many words, ?Okay, you want samadhi? Come here.? The disciple froze. Suddenly apprehensive, he could not muster the courage to go over to him. Sri Ramakrishna then explained that giving the superconscious state to one whose nervous system (physical and astral) was not ready would be tantamount to exploding them. It would be like unleashing a tremendous electrical current onto wires that are nowhere near capable of supporting the voltage ? the wires would be fried. This is also why some who engage in techniques aimed at awakening Kundalini without proper preparation and without the guidance of a teacher or guru get into trouble. The gradual unfoldment of consciousness so that we become more and more accustomed to our identity as limitless Spirit is the way. An abrupt experience of this State is akin to pulling the rug out from underneath us, or pushing us off of the ledge.
In addition to reinforcing illusory self-identification/ego, religion is naught but another false label superimposed on the unqualified Absolute. What religion is God? A Buddhist, Christian, Jew, or Muslim? Assigning such limitations on the Limitless is ridiculous, as is the ethnocentric view held by some that their saviour/religion is the right and only way (there is a saying that each man feels his watch tells the correct time). Such ignorant and childish views are not even to be commented upon. We are gradually entering an age where once again people will seek Self-realization without feeling the need to assign a name or label to themselves or That which they seek.
When one truly becomes hungry for God, he knows that the candles, incense, verses and labels are of no use. It is true that some such items can help create a spiritual mood or atmosphere, but they will not bring us face to face with God. For that, we must close the senses like a tortoise withdrawing its limbs into its shell, and still the mind.
“Be still and know that I am God”
~ Psalms 46:10
(Source: vasthayogi.wordpress.com)