Now, one interesting thing I noticed is that SD stated “Bhakti Hinduism also has to go”. Surya, can you explain me why you think this is so or rather what you understand by this term? Bhakti as I know it (It’s Bhakti Jim, but not as we know it ):
Bhakti (for Thomas : Love) is the shortcut yoga whereby via surrendering to God (isvara pranidhana), via Love for God, one can attain enlightenment. The advantage is, that you don’t have to go through all the steps of the heavy ashtanga (eightfold) yoga. The disadvantage is, that it is the most difficult form of Yoga. Can’t see what is wrong with it, except for the fact that people may think there is an easy way to attain enlightenment and thus obviate the heavy ashtanga Yoga. That is simply a misconception: Isvara pranidhana is the most difficult part and I personally think that if you (i.e. a normal person) don’t go through all the 8 steps, you won’t get there either. I think it is via ashtanga yoga, that Bhakti can be achieved. Those who have apparently been able to take this path as a shortcut, probably have gone through the other steps in previous lives. What do you think?
Or do you consider Bhakti to be a sign of weakness, just like good old Friedrich Nietzsche (not the “Nietzsche” of this forum) considered charity etc. to be a sign of weakness?
I think as you understand Bhakti it is fine. If you understand Bhakti as love for the divine self, the ultimate reality. This is good. One needs to have unwaivering devotion to the divine within themselves. Like I said, I call the divine “Baba” meaning the most beloved.
However as soon as we externalise that divine by worshipping some deity outside of us using idols and temples that is when the problems start. First we need to understand why we are doing this, we are doing this because we need an image to worship, because we find it hard to work with abstract notions like self, infinite and one. We personalize it giving it name, form and shape. But this is a weakness. A rational and scientific human being does not require these images. They can easily work with abstract notions of infinite, self and one. It has been admitted in the Agamas(the texts that prescribe bhakti rituals) that idols are only because people of Kaliyuga find it hard to work with abstract notions.
Ultimately, we know that Sadguna Brahman is a man-made invention. Nirguna Brahman is the real Brahman that we understand by the abstract satchitananda: truth, being and consciousness. If you work with Nirguna Brahman, then there is no way you can distort it. There is only way to work Nirguna Brahman and that is through the path of jnana. However, if you work with Sadguna Brahman you can easily distort it. You can start to develop an obsession for the image, and lapse into ritualism. Then rather than becoming a spiritual person, you become a religious person. You wake up everyday to do puja of your idol in the very particular way(n number of rotations of the puja plate, n number of mantra chants, sprinkling of holy water, lighting of incense) then you go to the temple to sing hymns to your idol.
I have met many hardcore Bhakti people and a lot of what they do borders on superstition to me. Like observing rituals like going up and down stairs of a temple a 1000 times. Observing 30 day fasts with only water. Chanting the name of the lord through the day(japa) Some of these people are very pure bhaktas and you are highly touched by their innocence and love. However, it is these people that fall prey to superstitions, like the ones you mentioned earlier.
The path of Bhakti is similar to creating a fantasy and then falling in love with your fantasy. The Vaishnava falls in love with Krishna/Vishu/Rama, the Shaiva falls in love with Shiva/Shambu/Rudra. The Shakta falls in love with Kali/Durga/Amba. Invariably, what ends up happening is rivalry starts to develop between the different sects. They start to slight each other
Unfortunately, Bhakti IS what is wrong with Hinduism today. Hinduism has become a religion of polytheism, ritualism and superstition. The average Hindu is just as naive as his Abrahamic counterpart. Most Hindus do not even read the Gitas and Upanishads, they listen to stories from Puranas and go to temples to worship and to sing hymns.
The Bhakti path therefore breeds polytheism, ritualism, superstition and secetarianism. Hence why I said that it needs to go, along with the Abrahamic religions. It has no place in a scientific and rational world. However, the Jnana path has every right to be in a scientific world.
There is only one way and that is meditation. This gets rid of the diverse sects. In a Vedic world everybody will be following exactly the same path of Jnana. Everybody will be doing exactly the same methods of Yoga and meditation. In a Vedic world there would be no temples anywhere, just sacred spaces like natural springs, forests, mountains, meadows and meditation halls. There would be spiritual homogenity.
Diversity breeds conflict. Unity brings harmony, peace and love. A vedic world is a no-nonsense world, it is a purely scientific and rational world. It is one which is based on living in union with the laws of nature. It is one where the main values of society are health and education. A world where people are noble. This was how it was during Vedic times.
Can you see you how my utopia is no utopia at all? It is just a scientific world without the beliefs, mysticism, superstition, agendas. You cannot go wrong in a scientific world because by living in accordance with the laws of nature you live in harmony. This is what is meant by a dharmic world.
We are already moving in that direction because of science. Now we know for example that living in certain ways produces suffering. We realise that how we once lived in the West in premodern times without proper sanitation systems, without awareness of hygeine, and bad diet and lifestyle produced plagues, disease and lowered our lifespan. Today, we realise the virtue of sanitation, hygeine, diet, lifestyle. We are learning yet another lesson today how our erosion of the ecosystems of this planet and unbrideled exploitation of its resources is affecting the climate and environment. Now we are becoming aware of how living green and ecofriendly is a virtue.
Similarly, as we continue to progress and understand the laws of the mind we will begin to realise how our thinking habits leads to so much destruction, hatred, war, crime, greed, lust, anger, fear and evil and realise the virtue of the restraint of mind and overcoming egoic living. Again, we are already moving towards that with the proliferation of Yoga.
Science naturally leads its way to a Vedic world. Ever since the age of reason began we have been slowly, but surely moving back into a Vedic world. However, there are obstacles in our way to realising a Vedic world and that is the old paradigm of an Abrahamic world which has kept us in the dark ages for so long. It continues to this very day in the form of evangalism and Islamic terrorism and capitalism. It is easy to see this world is in a dire state by taking one glance at it. Most of the worlds population lives in poverty, lacks clean drinking water, education. Most places in the world are ravaged by wars and conflict. Today, even the Western countries are tasting poverty, riots, lack of education.
We must identify the cause of this and if anybody is truly honest with themselves they will identify the Abrahamic ideology as the cause. Remove the cause and end the suffering. Replace it with a new world system that works. It really is that simple.
