Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Faith ? or its look alikes.........?

I have been pondering on an aspect of demonstrative faith in God or religion, since the first week of BIGG BOSS season 3.
Sitting with a HUGE photo of Jesus on elimination day, the contestant in Bigg Boss hopes probably not to be eliminated owing to the power of God beside? Or is it a hope that the photo would remind that everything is as per the will of God? Is the photo beside a reflection of faith or rather infact of a lack of faith..of a nervousness, of fear...
God and faith is a matter of the heart, not of an object or taking the NAME during trials. When taking an exam if a student keeps thinking about GOD, he will waste so much time and misdirect the focus from the questions in front of him on the paper. When we take our focus to an outside object (when infact the real energy called God is part of us), we move the inside energy to the outside and become weaker rather than stronger! It is fear that plays this trick with us of weakening us by dissipating our energy to the outside and keeping on asking(in all futility of course) that it help us!!! That is why probably the Bible gives the commandment.."Do not take the name of the LORD your GOD in VAIN" When we focus on our trials, the whole of our faculties and power inside is directed on the problem..and then what we do is empowered and perfected in a divine and yet real way.

Another thing to consider in this regard is extremism in (any) religion. Somewhere in my book (in the initial posts of the blog) I have declared that I believe in all scriptures because doubting one is doubting all the others. All scriptures have a basic agreement on core matters. Some do not speak on certain issues whereas others do. Therefore I chose to refer to scriptures only for basic understanding. It is said that everything should be done in moderation,(including moderation). So I feel there should be moderation in terms of looking into the scriptures for answers too. I have spent 12 posts and even more years pondering about scriptural truths. But despite having faith in scriptures, I do not feel compelled to read the Bible EVERY day. When beset with problems I am aware and I know that the God connected to me through my heart is giving me answers and I know I do not really need to randomly open the Bible and find answers there, though I may sometimes chose to. Religion is a guide that leads to our spirit. Once connected to the spirit,we have to leave the hand of religion..otherwise when we should have started looking in our hearts for further answers, if we still compulsively look into religion we may be led to Extremist viewpoints and due to fear we may wrongly disregard our heart. This is what happens to extremists in ALL religions. They think that there is no way they can trust their heart over the sometimes conflicting words in their scripture. But they should also think...Do they love GOD? yes. They follow the core of the religion? yes. Their spirit is aroused? yes. Then God is now unvieled in their hearts. And if this spiritually opened heart is pointing to a different direction in certain things compared to what is 'written'.., the trust I believe should be placed on what the heart says. Written things may get distorted or influenced with time but the heart connected to spirit is true. It is not faith to follow written words that conflict our conscience..it is rather again the trick that fear plays with us that keeps us compulsively hooked to words on paper rather than giving heed to the direct words heard by our heart. Take an example. Which is proper of a servant to do?..To follow a paper which has passed through hundreds of people and is claimed to be from his master or follow the direct words that his master comes later and tells him? Should he say that, no master I wont follow your instruction because the message you sent me through so and so says something different?

It is always important to be clear what drives our actions...Is it faith or is it really fear? The answer to this will guide us to the right decisions, to follow the faith directed paths......

3 comments:

  1. My exams & vivas got over & now I'm free to read your blog as per my promise.

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  2. I see you encountering with spiritual subjects with the aspects stuck to our practicality. Yes, I would describe scripture and its relation with people like an elephant and its driver, Elephant is like this world - always confusing and ready to crush you under its/his huge feet, but , at the same time , the owner, the master/ driver warns you up, get away, get aside....making you cautioned...! This is up to you, what you see, which you listen, how and what you see and react! Holy scriptures are there to guide you, not to make you learn and tell you- this way you go! Again, mens experiences, inner thought/ that is, listening to heart , to me, is a prime factor, only after holy scripture can help you. Most of TAGGED LOVERS talk without experiencing life and always offering bunch of illustrations frm scripture. To me, things should be turned down. Thank you Jerly, have seen , as always found in your curiosity, that you raise question from heart.

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  3. I am really impressed by the way u are able to relate things in your words so aptly and in your examples!

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