Evaluation

By Dr Ranoo Gopal Sen

Dharma makes one live and grow, Sectarianism is not dharma though.

Quote, Chapter 1, Evaluation. Dr Ranoo Gopal Sen

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Evaluation is a watermark of world wisdom and remains a perennial source of inspiration and g

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Ranoo Gopal Sen
• Release date: Nov 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781802278224

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

ISM in Religion

An ISM is a distinctive practice, system, philosophy, political ideology or any form of dogma. In ordinary jargon, ISM refers to a set of ideas or system of beliefs or behaviour. There are five main ISMs, namely, (1) Nationalism (2) Capitalism (3) Imperialism (4) Liberalism and (5) Abolitionism. ISM is the suffix of all the religions that originated in India. Dharma, from a Sanskrit word, has been widely accepted in Western countries as religion. Religion is not Dharma, and hence, Dharma is not religion. Dharma is eternal. It started with the creation of the universe. Heaven and earth, day and night, land and vegetation, the heavenly bodies, fish and birds, land animals and human beings were created by the Creator. Followers of Sanatan Dharma call the creator Ishwar or Brahma; Christians call him God or Jehovah and Muslims call him Allah. After creating the universe, God gave instructions for co-existence and brotherhood.

ISMs are man-made. Sectarianism occurs when members of different denominations within a faith display bigotry and prejudice toward each other. The Orthodox and Reformed sects within Judaism, Protestants and Catholics within Christianity and the Sunni and Shia within Islam are a few examples of ISMs. ISMs are sometimes used to expand human kingdoms or territorial boundaries or in the name of a caste or creed. Religious pundits use the terms to achieve their goals. As a result of anti-nationalism, terrorism is spreading. Mankind is forgoing the purpose of life; abuse, hatred and violence have become a way of life. Defying co-existence and brotherhood, the serpent influenced the first man and woman and taught them the benefit of telling lies. Due to this satanic act, the world is ruled by Satan.

Dharma is based upon realisation – being real in nature. Dharma cannot be many. It has no variety. Views may be many – even as people are many – but Dharma cannot be many. The four-fold sources of Dharma are the Sruti and the Smriti. Sruti means what is heard and smriti denotes a second source as pronounced in the Vedas. According to tradition, Vyasa was the compiler of the Vedas and arranged it into Samhitas. From the Sruti and Smriti, he compiled the verses of mantras, hymns and prayers in a methodical manner. The Vedas are the complete body of Sruti. These are better designated as Sanatana Dharma. The earliest parts of the Vedas are called Samhitas, and the ritualistic commentary on the mantras and rituals is called the Brahmans, also known as karma-kanda, while the Aranyakas (relating to a forest) and Upanishads (sitting devotedly near the feet of a priest) are called jnana-kanda. The four Vedas were written between 1500 and 1000 BC. The Vedas rejected a multiplicity of gods in the clearest terms, speaking about one God.

The holy book Meditation, page 17, paragraph 3, says:

Mastya Kurma Koula Narasingha Baamna Shareeram, Rama Krishna Buddha Yeshu Muhammad rupayitam Chaitnya Ramakrishna Anukulang purvatanipuranam.

The above Sanskrit sluka describes (1) Matsya – Manu, the first incarnation, appears as a fish to cleanse sinners; (2) Kurma – the tortoise is the next step in incarnation; (3) Varaha – the boar, (4) Narasimha – the man-lion (5) Vamana – the dwarf, (6) Parshurama – Rama of the axe. These incarnations came to punish such of the Kshatriya as were oppressing the people and to teach bad rulers the danger of using their power to tyrannise instead of to help.

(7) Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, the son of Dasharatha and Kaushalya, was born on 10 January 5114 BC. He was a model king and ruled Ayudha in India. He spent fourteen years in exile with his consort Sita to fulfil the commitment of his father. Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama, was an example of selfless brotherhood. He accepted fourteen years of living in a forest to serve Sita as his mother. Rama fought with Ravana, the evil king of Lanka, to rescue his consort. The holy epic the Ramayana, written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 verses teaching about the defeat of evil by good.

(8) Lord Krishna was the eighth incarnation of Vishnu. He was the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Krishna was born on 21 July 3228 BC, at Mathura in India. He is the central figure of the Mahabharata. The epic says that every human being should have love, courage, truth, honesty and wisdom and overcome hatred, cowardice, lies, deceit, foolishness and dislikes. The Bhagavad Gita, written by Vyasadeva, consists of eighteen chapters and is based upon the philosophy of Lord Krishna and his friend, Arjuna. On an ordinary level, it is a conversation between two friends, but those who believe in Krishna as God read it as a conversation between God and man because Arjuna is Nara, whereas Krishna is Narayana. Arjuna could realise the inner meaning when Krishna showed his biswarup (divinity).

Body and soul are not the same. A body without a soul is a dead body. Life means body+soul+spirit. As per the philosophy of Lord Krishna, the body is mortal, the soul is eternal, and the spirit is invisible. Only Krishna consciousness can feel or see the body, not the spirit.

(9) Lord Buddha was the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. He was born in 623 BC in Lumbini province in Nepal, near Gaya in India. He was the son of King Suddhodhana and Mayadvi. Yasodhara was his spouse. His main philosophies are the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, karma, the cycle of birth and samsara. Buddha denounced his royal status. He left home, leaving his wife and children, to achieve nirvana, the purpose of life. The main holy book is the Tripitaka, whose authorship is attributed to Radhika Mohan Mitra. Buddha never claimed to be God, but Buddhists believe that Buddha himself was God.

(10) The Kalki avatar is the incarnation who shall close the Kali Yuga and whose coming is yet in the future. When he comes, the Satya Yuga will return to earth, and a new cycle will begin.

The development and perfection of the human type are indicated by these avatars.

More recent spiritual leaders are the following:

10(1) Ramakrishna, the founder of the school of religious thought of Vedanta, was born on 18 February 1836 at Hugli, Kolkata. He was the son of Khudiram and Chandra Devi, and his consort was Sarada Devi. Ramakrishna never learned to read and write yet demonstrated spiritual qualities. Tutapuri was his master who taught him the Upanishad. He rejected his status as a Brahmin, believing that caste superiority lowered spirituality. All of these acts symbolised his inward spiritual transformation. His followers considered him the tenth incarnation of Vishnu. Swami Vivekananda, the founder of Belur Math, was the chief disciple of Ramakrishna. He was credited with the revival of Hindu Dharma and introduced Hindu Dharma in the Western world, from Chicago to the United Kingdom.

10(2) Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem. Jesus stated, …the spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. Christianity has its roots in Judaism, which first appears in Greek records in 31-23 BCE; the earliest mention of Israel is 1213-1203 BCE. Christianity is a monotheistic religion (belief in one God). The Catholic sect believes the pope to be infallible in matters of doctrine. Orthodox believers reject the infallibility of the pope and consider their patriarchs as human too and thus subject to error. Catholics believe that their church is the original Christian church. Protestants reject any notion of Papal primacy and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the New Testament. They believe in one God who has revealed himself as the Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God’s kingdom is a literal government in heaven ruled by Jesus the Christ with 244,000 Spirit-anointed Christians drawn from the earth. Christianity currently has approximately 2.5 billion adherents around the