WHY ARE WE SUCH BRUTES? : Science, Non-Violence and Spirituality

Are we really different from other life-forms?

“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty… The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self…We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive”. — (Albert Einstein, 1954)

Physicist, engineer, one of the greatest inventors and a practicing vegetarian, Nikola Tesla (1846-1943) pointed out that “On general principles the raising of cattle as a means of providing food is objectionable.. Many races living almost exclusively on vegetables are of superior physique and strength.. every effort should be made to stop the wanton, cruel slaughter of animals, which must be destructive to our morals”.

Plainly and simply, at least as far as past and present gurus, yogis, free mystics and enlightened beings of India such as — Buddha, Mahavira, Rama, Krishna, Saint Kabir, Guru Nanak, Vivekananda — or a striving perfectionist like Gandhi are concerned, the quest for The Ultimate Truth or God, is futile without a vegetarian lifestyle. That’s how these great but humble people lived in the East.

“(Vegetarianism has a) powerful influence upon the mind and its action, as well as upon the health and vigor of the body. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages”. — (Thomas Edison)

In the Christian tradition, as well, Saint Matthew and Saint John (who are historical narrators of The Gospels) were, not without a reason, vegetarians. So, also, were Saint Martín de Porres, Saint Richard, Saint John de Brito, Saint Angela de Merici, Saint Francis of Paola, Saint Hilarion, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint Francis of Assisi. One might ask, would they have been the pure vegetarians they were, if they believed Christianity allowed the killing of innocent animals simply to cater to their taste buds? Some past and modern-day scholars contend that Jesus belonged to theEssenes, a Jewish sect of prehistoric times; which considered spiritually indefensible and illegal to sacrifice animals or partaking of non-vegetarian food.

The Laws of Manu, one of the sacred texts of Hinduism, states that“Without the killing of living beings, meat cannot be made available, and since killing is contrary to the principles of AHINSA (Non-Violence), one must give up eating meat”.

Why did Sufi Saints, such as Rabia Basri, Ibn Arabi, Al Ghazali, Nizamudin Aulia, Moinyundin Chisti, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, and other such gentle souls from meat-eating Islamic backgrounds, live a humble, vegetarian life in their quest for God? For what reason are Jewish spiritualists like Rabbi David Cohen, Rabbi She’ar Y Cohen, and Nobel Laureate Shmuel Yosef Afgnon vegetarians? How many of us know that Martin Luther, the German Church reformer and founder of Protestantism, was a vegetarian?

And what is it that made Confucius a vegetarian?

Perhaps the words of the Buddha offer a clue to the connection between spirituality and vegetarianism:

“’Why is it that the Thus Come One does not allow eating meat?’ The Buddha replied, ‘It is because meat-eating cuts off the seeds of great compassion”.

It is no secret that ancient yogis, as also modern day scientists, uphold the idea that all existence is One Indivisible Reality. Mystics arrive at this conclusion by a route similar to, but more circuitous, than the one followed by the scientific fraternity. Their search is within, while the scientists’ is in the external world. For the spiritualist, the search for The End Reality or God, is deeply personal; for the scientist, it is integrally impersonal. Yet, somehow, modern-day science and ancient mystic traditions have arrived at the same conclusion. It is that this world, as perceived from its deepest ground, is but One Inseparable Whole in The Ultimate Reality. Quantum Physics and Enlightened Mystics agree on this point.

The Sacredness of All Life

“ There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction”. — (Erwin Schrodinger, 1933 Nobel Prize Physicist)

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard MATTER AS DERIVATIVE FROM CONSCIOUSNESS”. — (Max Planck, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1918)

Much in a similar vein and wisdom, Nikola Tesla seconded this scientific opinion of Planck, In fact, he theorized that:

One day humanity would learn to sustain itself directly by making use of the universal energy field.

Yet, some scientists, even now, view the oneness in nature as an insentient phenomenon. Spiritualists, however, see it as One Life that is sentient and alive in all phenomena. Today, scientists tend to see all life as some molecular nothing, spiritualists view everything as awash with life. A further difference, moreover, is that, while scientists have only now started seeing the oneness and unity of everything that is, free mystics have seen it since the beginning of time. At least, this is true of Indian yogis.

“He who sees that the Lord of All is ever the same in all that is— immortal in the field of mortality—he sees the truth. And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others. Then he goes, indeed, to the highest path.”. — (Bhagwad Gita)

Somewhere in the depth of their mind and soul, great thinkers know the truthfulness and sagacity of this basic, fundamental and primordial spiritual and mystic concept. From Socrates to Plato, Hesiod to Horace, Pythagoras to Leonardo da Vinci, Voltaire to Vincent Van Gogh, Plutarch to Plotinus, Virgil to William Blake, Leo Tolstoy to George Bernard Shaw, Milton to Shelly, Abraham Lincoln to Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore: all these high and mighty creators, remaining humble in their humanity, both postulated and followed a vegetarian diet for a healthy, wealthy, and wise life.

“What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life, for killing leads to every other sin”. — (Thirukural, 2-3 BC)

In India, millions follow such a diktat. At the same time, of course, many millions in the world, including Indians, do not. Most adherents of the Abrahamic faiths, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, find it sanctioned by tradition, acceptable to conscience by their followers, and, in some cases, even an act of holy sacrifice, to mercilessly butcher and eat anything that dares to move—except, of course, for a pig here or a crow there. In Korea and China, dogs—beloved pets in much of the world—are considered a delicacy to be skinned alive, salivated over, and savored.

It is interesting to note that a number of renowned scientists have been vegetarians. They include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, and, as mentioned earlier, Nikola Tesla.

Albert Einstein said:

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet”.

Such “religious” respect for all life is inherent in every sensitized human being, whether agnostic or even an atheist. Einstein, perhaps the greatest scientist humankind has ever known, was no believer in God, but godliness permeated his beautiful soul. His view on the sacredness of all life was more than seconded by the theologian and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer.

Leonardo da Vinci declared: “One day the world will look upon research upon animals as it now looks upon research on human beings”.

And Leo Tolstoy was of the view that “A human can be healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite”.

Other well-known citizens of the world who were vegetarians include Franz Kafka, Sir Edwin Arnold, Charlotte Bronte, Henry David Thoreau, R.W. Emerson, Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, humorist Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, industrialist Henry Ford, and the late Steve Jobs. Today, along with numerous Hollywood celebrities, these luminaries are joined by many kindred souls who, for reasons of humanity and humaneness, are also pursuing a vegetarian lifestyle. Examples include Dr. Abdul Kalam (Ex-President and Nuclear Scientist of India), Paul McCartney, Reshma (Muslim Pakistani Folk Singer), Amitabh Bachchan, and world-class athletes Carl Lewis and Mike Tyson.

Yet, meat eating does not stop. We continue with our mayhem. Westerners have their scriptures to quote to continue doing what they have been doing over thousands of years. And millions of non-vegetarian Buddhists and other Easterners do not even have their scriptures to support them — yet, cannot stop themselves.

“The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; but to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies”. — (Albert Schweitzer)

It is true, of course. that some people are becoming vegetarians or vegans for health reasons. In fact, medical science is today providing more than enough data to encourage even “non-spiritual” people to give up their meat-based diets in favor of the benefits that accrue to a vegetarian lifestyle.

Spiritual people, however, need no scientific evidence to follow a vegetarian diet. For anyone who knows the “Oneness of All That Is” as his or her own life and soul “stuff”, adopting a vegetarian diet is not an option. It’s a sine qua non.

“Only the animal-killer cannot relish the message of The Absolute Truth”. It is thus emphasized in Srimad Bhagvtam.

“For as long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love”.— (Pythagoras)

Sadly, however,it’s a fact of life that there’s no one holy cow for both the elitist whole and the hoi polloi.

Born a a beast, we remain brutes.

Never civilized.

WAS JESUS A CHRISTIAN: The Metaphysics of Jesus

What does a Christian believe?

A present day, as also of the past, Christian has been made to believe the myth that Jesus was born to a virgin mother, sired not by his earthly father, Joseph, but by the Holy Spirit. Or simply put, he was the Son of God. And, that he was The One and The Only “Begotten” Son of God.

"That the SONS of GOD saw the daughters of men that were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose.” — [Genesis 6.2]

So, is the Bible wrong? If Jesus were the only one, why does their holy book, mention these numerous “sons” of God? Can the Christians choose to ignore any facts, not to their liking, of their own holy book?

Then again, while recounting the lineage from God, it’s said, in John 3.38 that:

“… which was the son of Adam, which WAS THE SON OF GOD.”

The Christians have made-up Jesus their fancied god; an abomination in the eyes of their ancestral one, who, explicitly forbids them thus:

“..thou shall have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.” [Exodus 20.3]

And, what does Jesus himself say, citing his and every other Christian’s ancestral scripture; in which it is clearly stated that:

“..YE ARE GODS..” [John 10.34]

Ironically, whereas his unsophisticated followers, today and of before, unlettered in The YOGA OF JESUS, consider him to be God Almighty Himself; their own scripture itself and the Master himself state otherwise. In fact, as is clear from above, Jesus considered you-me, everybody God.

Again, Christians believe in a material “heavenly” world, a physicality called “Kingdom of God” to be somewhere “up there” somewhere; wherein, Jesus would be sitting at the right hand of God. But pray, what does The Master himself say?

“The KINGDOM OF GOD cometh not with observation..” [Luke 17.20]

In fact, Jesus puts it plainly and simply, elucidating thus:

“Neither shall they say, lo here! or lo there! for, behold The KINGDOM OF GOD is WITHIN YOU.” [Luke 17.21]

The Master chided his simple followers of two thousand years ago, as much as he would do so today his present day ones; exclaiming:

“Ye worship ye not what: we know what we worship.” [John 4.22]

Clearly, the hopscotch of simplistic beliefs of Christians is not the metaphysics of their own Master. So, what is?

Quite simply, the Master was so advanced a yogi that his sincere but simple disciples were just bewildered by his Science of Spirituality:

“..the people were astonished at his doctrine..” [Matthew 7.28]

Now, if Jesus preached what previous teachers and prophets of his own people did, then, nobody would have been puzzled. Or, taken offence. Not enough to nail him to the cross, at least.

The reason the priests and the people, who were his very own, for whatever reason, maleficent or benevolent, could not understand Jesus; because the ‘HARD’ parables of the Master — containing the gist and genius of his strange-tongued and alien metaphysical philosophy — was not of his area, age, era or ism. However, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the esoteric truths of the free mystics of the far, far east; namely, India.

What does free mysticism of yogis say?

Simply, that whatsoever be ‘here’, ‘there’ or anywhere is One. This the mystics experience as “Aham Sarvum! Sarvum Aham!” — “I AM ALL. ALL is ME.”

How did The Master, Jesus, experience “That” Which Is?

GOD THEOREM OF JESUS:

1. “I am in the father, and the father in me.” [John 14.10]
2. “I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you.” [John 14.20]
3. “I and my Father are One.” [John 10.30]

Thus, guru-disciple-god are not only unto each other but are one. Sans distinction. Hence, Separation of the Creator (Macrocosm) and the Creation (Microcosm) is but ‘MAYA’ — Illusion. Therefore, it may be proclaimed that as per The Master: ALL IS ONE.

Today’s science postulates the same.

The fore bearer of today’s Quantum Physics, ERWIN SCHRODINGER, the Nobel Laureate Physicist, confirmed what Free Mystics, Sufi, Yogis and The Master, JESUS preach — by affirming scientifically:

“The plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not real.”

This One, Indivisible, Immanent Oneness of ‘this’ and ‘that’ world, is The Ultimate Reality of All That Is.

It is The Metaphysics of Jesus. Is it that of Christians?

God Tweets!

1.

 

We aren't
some inert
dead matter!
excreta! of
a big bang,
but soul
of some
merit
maybe! better
of beyond!
there! mind
doesn't matter.

 

2.

 

Heart breaks, often
O' mind! - soften.

 

3.

 

Within the mind, whilst
a million demons dwell
ah! seek we - outside!
a wonderful world, well.

"No Master! No God!" - ISMS, RELIGION and ATHEISM

Atheism is in.

 

“They have purely and simply finished with God!” said Friedrich Engels.

 

More than an ism, it’s modern age’s statement. Perhaps much more – now it’s almost a religion. And, as abominable as atheism holds religion to be, it too has started adorning itself with similar robes of a holier-than-thou insularism.

 

“After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands,” Friedrich Nietzsche, like so many other deep thinkers like him before him as after, was compelled to utter such words with a good reason, in all fairness.

 

In recent times, atheism has mushroomed in the West; largely in Judeo-Christian areas. At the same time, religious fundamentalism has sky-rocketed in regions under Islamic influence.  Both trends must alarm a tender heart.

 

“All thinking men are atheists.” said Ernest Hemingway.

n his ground-breaking book “A Brief History of Time”, Stephen Hawking wonders, “Why it is that we and the universe exist?” To his own query, he answers out aloud, “If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason, for then we would know the mind of God.”

 

Perhaps humorist Mark Twain pushed buttons a little further and farther, when he tongue-in-cheek remarked, “Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought.”  Ironically, he made bold a scientific assertion; which, since times immemorial, Eastern spiritualists, yogis and free mystics not only agree with but also hold as the eternal reality of existence.

 

“To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, “I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge,” says Ravi Zacharias.

 

Basically, atheism in the Judeo-Christian belt across the world has stemmed from excesses of the church and of its not-so-honourable men of robes. Shoving down unpalatable diktats of Bible in every unwilling throat too gets many a thinking man’s goat. And, the extremities of Islam too have had far-reaching consequences; altering the consciousness of not only the classes but also a sizable bulk of masses, against religion as such; rebelling against a perceived unjust God as much.

 

It is the view of Isaac Asimov that “properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” Mark Twain too could not resist taking a pot-shot at his inherited ism, commenting - “The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.” In more recent times, Christopher Hitchens says, “As a convinced atheist, I ought to agree with Voltaire that Judaism is not just one more religion, but in its way the root of religious evil. Without the stern, joyless rabbis and their 613 dour prohibitions, we might have avoided the whole nightmare of the Old Testament, and the brutal, crude wrenching of that into prophecy-derived Christianity, and the later plagiarism and mutation of Judaism and Christianity into the various rival forms of Islam.”

 

The idea of an anthropomorphic, human-like god, sitting up there in heaven, ruling this hellish earth with all its cruelties, without respite; churns the fires of intelligent minds, questioning every presumed ‘godly’ intention that seems more and more like malfeasance than divine ordinance.  Thus, a sceptical intellect would but agree with what Voltaire said; that “those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

 

Dr. Anne Besant, who worked with the free thought and radical movements in England in her time and later projected Jidu Krishnamurti as the World Teacher, led Theosophical Society and spear-headed the freedom struggle of India against the British until her death in 1933; postulated, “The position of the atheist is a clear and reasonable one. I know nothing about ‘God’ and therefore I do not believe in Him or in it; what you tell me about your God is self‐contradictory, and therefore incredible. I do not deny ‘God,’ which is an unknown tongue to me; I do deny your God, who is an impossibility. I am without God.” A compatriot observed that she was “unable to make logic out of Christian traditions, she left the Church in 1872 and became a freethinker, thus ruining her social position through her passion for Truth.” However, “it was not the challenge of unfaith but rather of a highly spiritual nature that desired intensely not only to believe but also to understand.”

 

Einstein too confessed that “I came, though the child of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents, to a deep religiousness, which, however, reached an abrupt end at the age of twelve. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of freethinking.” To him “the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously.” Most importantly, he led us to a secularist’s view of the world, with which many of today’s freethinkers could amicably identify; for the renown scientist elaborated that “If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

 

According to theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”  However, this is the ultimate aim and objective of every Yogi, Sufi and Free Mystic too. For, unlike Judeo-Christian-Islamic culture, wherein unquestioning acquiescence and obeisance is expected vis-à-vis nature of existence or its espoused creator; in free mystical tradition of the East, of India at least, a metaphysical seeker is first and foremost expected to ask, “Ko hum?” – Who am I?

A brief comparison between the knowledge of present day science and ancient to this day free mysticism is called for here – about The Nature of Alpha and Omega, of The End Reality.

 

“We each exist for but a short time, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe.” This much Professor Hawking, perhaps one of the greatest minds of modern day and a prominent exponent of atheism, admits. On the other hand, a serious free mystic of the Indian tradition not only wants to know everything about The Ultimate Reality in this very life itself, but now! - In the present moment itself. And, metaphysical philosophy of India insists one can, if so be one’s divine destiny, attain enlightenment in this short time available to us in our puny little life.

Science today estimates the universe to have emerged by itself, after a big bang approximately 14 billion years ago. Indian mysticism tells us that the nature of existence is a forever creative eternity. Uncountable big-bangs recur naturally and endlessly, in it. Creation and destruction continues, innumerable universes come and go, ad infinitum. “An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident,” remarked Francis G Thompson. Scientists see no intelligent cosmic design in this phenomena of self-creation; mystics do.

 

Seeing this imperfect world around us, it does seem as if no intelligent creator could be behind this heart-breaking, almost cruel creation. “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special,” says Stephen Hawking. But as per present understanding of physicists, everything is created at random, and just as meaninglessly we all die. Alternatively, ancient mystical texts of India inform us that a man evolves, and, interestingly, devolves too. Theory of Evolution of Charles Darwin tells us that we have come about from lower organisms. Spiritual knowledge of Indian free mystics is that not only evolution but devolution too occurs in life cycles. A man maybe a monkey tomorrow! Only on this technicality, today’s science and esoteric spirituality of India differ. But then, from the same core “stuff” that makes-up existence - like mud either making a tiny hut or a palatial building – similarly, in transcendental reality, there’s no impossibility.

 

Modern day science postulates no divine life to any of us. Thus, we are just an organic, chemical nothingness. Each is equal to the other; essentially, as lifeless and equally worthless as any inert matter. In this sense, a man, in make and manner, after creation or dissolution, is of as much worth as is a grain of sand. Thus, an atheist would gleefully proclaim a pope a poop.

 

Free mystics concur that each is not only equal to the other, but is very much the other. Whereas an atheist sees no worthiness in this equality, yogis witness in this a holiness; that all existence is but one immanent reality. Scientists have found DNA of a chimpanzee as 98% that of man. Mystics – in Self Realization – discover everything, sentient or insentient, 100% identical to each other; differing only in name or form.

 

So, what has most updated science discovered that an up to date, modern free-mystic or freethinker of the East, namely, of India, does not know from afore? However, modern science, hence, its blind follower, today’s atheist; has yet not found out that an unseen wholesomeness, a fathomless oneness abounds in all existence, as its quintessence. This Divineness is “That” Wholeness which less knowledgeable isms try to usurp as their personal god, making it unknowingly into a man-like image - an anthropomorphic entity. In reality, this god-particle or root-principle of existence – if it has to be named – then, it is not this-that god but godliness.

 

As in air, whirlwinds self form, then, unto own-self disseminate; so is all that is here in present or in eternity, of Own Self born – yet! In illusion is so born, this Unborn. These seen and unseen worlds, galaxies, dark matter et all are an unreal reality of an innate, immanent wholeness. In India, this endless, recurring creativity of The Whole is referred to very aptly as “Leela” (Divine Play) and “Maya” (Surrealistic Illusion) of “That” Which Is.

 

We must take it, this life, as that – a play. This is the wisdom of free mysticism.

 

One could play it hard and fast, but one must also let it go. This is life. All die. Hence, we must live honestly, honourably and holistically. We do not. For, we comprehend this world-play falsely, therefore, misunderstand intensely. Hence, act imbecilely.  To gain control over this chaos, isms come. Then, enter superstitions or absolutisms. Superimposed with religions, life becomes hell. Against this monstrous barbarity, the oppressed and the intelligent ones protest. But unable to overcome it or bear it, people rebel. And, thereafter, deservingly so, comes in atheism.

 

“Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest,” exclaimed Emile Zola. No less than Sigmund Freud too held that “religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.” Perhaps rightly, in a much similar but a less bitter zeal, Robert Ingersoll observed, “As more people become more intelligent they care less for preachers and more for teachers.”

 

However, John C Wright gives us something to ponder over when he says, “If atheism solved all human woe, then the Soviet Union would have been an empire of joy and dancing bunnies, instead of the land of corpses.” The poet, Coolidge, sagely emphasized that “No man realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is a part of an unending plan.”

 

Unfortunately, despite making tangible advances in knowledge, science has just become scientism. And, atheism it’s legitimate but prodigal son. Yet, were “I am in my father, and the father in me’ and “I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you” of Jesus understood with a “single eye” – One Wholeness – of Eastern mysticism; it would lead us to a scientific certainty that The Root Cause and its Causation are unto each other, as each other, and are one with each other. Simply put – All is One Indivisible Whole. Either we become whole and holy, or remain an unwholesome hole.

 

“All men are Prophets or else God does not exist,” said Jean-Paul Sartre.

God Tweets!

1.

 

By self if, we

own-self, raise

little - big! self

unto Self, erase

This! emptiness

fulfils: One makes.

 

2.

 

Within is, harbinger

down on knees, pray

bookish isms - nay!

good news, oh! hey

sand, mud one! clay

Self is - messenger!

 

3.

 

"I and my Father are One!"

"knowing", must be

of infidel - everyone.

Yet, is not! - nor be

until isms stay, none

Thence only, one gets One!

Getting Up & Real about Spirituality & Homosexuality!

In times ahead, homosexuality may well cease to bother many people.

And, except the ultra religious or the zealously spiritual, it may not rattle too many human cages. Homosexual relationships will probably become as common as French fries or McDonald burger. A neo-homo-spirituality too is being brought into play by vested interests to muddy the “godly” waters as if. The child-sex-abuse of Catholic priests, with the Vatican covering it shamefacedly but bull-headedly; is making it infinitely easier for non-spiritual practices taking roots among the disillusioned. One man’s dirty linen has found itself tethered into somebody else’s pristine white dress.

Historically, traditional religions either abhor or abjure homosexuality.

“If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death - their blood guilt is upon them.” - (Leviticus 20:13) 

“Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."  - (Qur'an 7:80-81)

To the present, whether in the East or the West, there has never been any acceptability of homosexuality in the religious realm. It may be fashionable now in certain Western countries to find some sort of acceptance of homosexual relationships socially, but on the whole, except when pushed by a personal and profitable political agenda, religious people openly think of it and denounce it as an un-natural act; unacceptable to them, their faith or their this-that god.

“The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman lies with mankind, is a man that is a demon; this man is a worshipper of the demons, a male paramour of the demons.” - (Vendidad, Zoroastrianism)

"Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." - (Romans 1:27)

The Abrahamic faiths are unambiguous in their condemnation of homosexuality in any form. However, modern thinking person finds much else obsolete and objectionable too in Bible, Torah and Quran; especially their retrograde views on women, slavery, killing of their own and people of differing faiths. And, even their concept of a personal, vengeful god who’s out to ruthlessly punish everyone for every little reason under the earth. Most of all, educated people find their 6000 year old creationistic belief not only unscientific but laughable, in today’s time. So, if the homosexual lobbyists find support among agnostics and atheists, it should not surprise anybody.

Yet, strangely but surely enough, even amongst religious traditions contrary and markedly different from Christianity, Judaism and Islam; at times, there are unambiguousness views on homosexuality. The ancient Hindu scripture, Narada Purana narrates:

“The great sinner who discharges semen in non-vaginas, in those who are destitute of vulva and uteruses of animals shall fall into the hell.. That man has semen for his diet. He becomes the despicable man in the world when reborn.”

Similarly, another well known, old Hindu text, Manu Smriti, pours scorn over female homosexuals, holding the view that:

“If a girl does it (has sex) with another girl.. receive ten whip-lashes. But if a (mature) woman does it to a girl, her head should be shaved immediately or two of her fingers should be cut off, and she should be made to ride on a donkey.”

And, about male homosexuals, Manu Smriti tersely says:

“Sexual Union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of (high) caste.”

However, despite disdain and disgust for such acts, unlike Judeo-Christian-Islamic-Zoroastrian faiths, there’s no “eternal damnation” for homosexuals or lesbians in Eastern, especially Indian spirituality. For, Bhagavatam (4.29.29) states:

“The Self which is enveloped by ignorance, is sometimes embodied as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a homosexual. According to its deeds and the nature one acquires thereby, one may be born as a god, a human or a beast.”

This rather easy going approach is owing to the fact that the sages, yogis and free mystics of ancient India have never been bound to one centralized religious order or ordinance as such. From the beginning of time, seekers in India have been encouraged to seek and find The “Sanatan” (Eternal) Truth, for and by their own-self; a la any Buddha.

"The pleasures that are born out of sensory contacts are sources of pain. They certainly are transient, having a beginning and an end. The intelligent man is wise enough not to indulge in them." - (Bhagavad Gita)

The emphasis herein has been to “overcome” this hold of sensory, therefore, illusory world, we find ourselves in. Over the ages, realized beings of India discovered The Natural Order of Things That Be. They found that essentially, appearance of phenomenal world becomes the seeming reality for us only as far our normal sensory perceptions are concerned. It is possible for any “son” born of The Heavenly “Father” and Our Divine “Mother”; that is, a manifest physical entity here; namely, a human being, to “meet” The Primordial Parent Source - God, of the less metaphysically versed. These seekers, by any name, spiritual or scientific, yet are free mystics – by any way and means, open-mindedly searching for The First Principle.

And, what’s “That” Eternal Principle which governs All Which Is?

It is The Natural Order of What Is. It permeates all, as each and every-thing-ness. There is no “thing” as such and nothing in much, that exists without or outside it. It’s the life “matter” of everything, latent or manifest.

Because Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths think of IT as a physical entity, the god of their ancestors; they are unable to rise above a limited vision of reality. Others view IT as a spirit and some otherworldly being; but even this is a conceptual entity than the eternal reality.

Cutting to the chase, this “Eternity” of Godliness in us, yogis find, is a “virginal” sentient immanence, unto and as whatsoever there be.  From “It” emanates phenomena “seen” and unseen. This “Father-Mother’, Alpha-Omega of Root Principle of All That Is, cannot be reached if naturally flowing mystical and karmic forces within our being are perversely disturbed. These ill-advised adverse actions include anal and oral sex; with the latter is meant intake of semen in one’s mouth. The mouth is given to eat and take the Name of “That” Divineness which mothers all. Yogis call this divine energy “living and breathing” in us, as “Serpent” Power within – “Kundalini”. If this serpentine energy is ill-treated, it may boomerang; rendering a person psychically damaged, sometimes beyond repair. In other words, thus being the case, one would not become self-realized or enlightened; and, hence, would remain bereft of Salvation or Nirvana – as one would be perpetually engaged in these “nether” activities that would bother or block all attempts to reach “There”.

It is from this Universal Self that homosexuality is found to be unacceptable and contrary to natural order, and, plain-simply, unnatural by even the most mystically evolved beings; though they may prefer to remain, maybe uneasily, silent about it. But most do come forth clearly about it, if pushed.

Homosexuality is abhorred by many faithful and religious people because they find unpalatable the idea of man mating with man or a woman with her own sex. They think of it as an unholy alliance. It would not only breakdown the traditional social structure but could well lead to dissolution of age-old system of marriage, lead to considering sanctioned sex with animals, even with children in future. Some perverts may even advocate incest as an “internal l family” matter. Where does it end?

However, without beating around the bush, it is clear that spiritual beings, whether of a “lower” faith and religion as such or of an evolved philosophy, are somehow, deeply and devastatingly but “naturally” appalled by homosexuality. They consider homosexuality a devious, political gain obtained by its proponents in today’s time.

As far as a-religious but secular mystics are concerned, homosexuality may be a preferred lifestyle of some, but even they find nothing spiritual in it. It’s a sexual orientation that has no sanction in mystical spheres. That’s the sad truth. Let there be no doubt about it.

As long as homosexuality is kept up as their personal lifestyle and not claimed as an acceptable spiritual living too, it’s a state of affairs of other people, which, a law abiding but God-fearing citizen may well have to bear with; grinding one’s teeth, maybe: or, smiling it away sagaciously.

After all, everybody has the right to go to hell in one’s own way.

The Quest for God and Vegetarianism

"If you can't explain something simply, you don't know enough about it." - [Albert Einstein]

Plainly and simply, at least as far as past and present gurus, yogis, free mystics and enlightened beings of India such as Buddha, Mahavira, Rama, Krishna, Saint Kabir, Guru Nanak, Vivekananda or Gandhi are concerned; the quest for The Ultimate Truth or God is futile without a vegetarian lifestyle. That’s how these great but humble people lived in the East.

So also, Saint Matthew and Saint John (who are historical narrators of The Gospels) were vegetarians; not without a reason. And, pray, why were Saint Martín de Porres, Saint Richard, Saint John de Brito, Saint Angela de Merici, Saint Francis of Paola Saint Hilarion, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Catherine of Sienaand Saint Francis of Assisi pure vegetarians; if Christianity, to them only conveyed it was righteous to kill innocent animals to cater to one’s taste buds?  Some modern day scholars advocate that Jesus belonged to Essences; a sect that shunned non-vegetarian food.

Why did Sufi Saints, as Rabia Basri, Ibn Arabi, Al Ghazali, Nizamudin Aulia, Moinyundin Chisti or Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and other such gentle souls from meat-eating Islamic background live a humble, vegetarian life in their quest of God? For what reason are Jewish spiritualists like Rabbi David Cohen, Rabbi She’ar Y Cohen or Nobel Laureate Nobel Laureate Shmuel Yosef Afgnon vegetarian? How many of us know Martin Luther King, the German Church reformer and founder of Protestantism, was a vegetarian?

And, how come; but why! was Confucius a vegetarian?

“Why is it that the Thus Come One does not allow eating meat?' The Buddha replied, "It is because meat-eating cuts off the seeds of great compassion." – [Cherishing Life, II 5]

It is no secret that ancient yogis, as also modern day scientists, uphold that All Existence is One Indivisible Reality. Mystics arrive at this conclusion in a much similar but circuitous route, though travelled differently, than the one undertaken by the scientific fraternity. The former’s search is within, the latter look outside. For the spiritualist, the search for The End Reality or God is deeply personal; for the scientist, it’s integrally impersonal. Yet, somehow, modern day science and pre-historic mysticism arrived at the same conclusion. It is that this world is but One Inseparable Whole in The Ultimate Reality; once existence is delved into its root composition. Quantum Physics and Enlightened Mystics agree on this end result.

Now, it’s known that past, present and future is but One in Existence.

Scientists may view this oneness in nature as an insentient phenomenon; spiritualists see this as One Life, sentient and alive, in all phenomena. To the former, all life is some molecular nothing; the latter view all as life – in, as, unto everything. However, scientists have only now started seeing Oneness and Unity of All That Is. Free mystics, since the beginning of time, have advocated thus. At least, Indian yogis did; yet do.

"He who sees that the Lord of All is ever the same in all that is - immortal in the field of mortality - he sees the truth. And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others. Then he goes, indeed, to the highest path.” [Bhagavad Gita 13.27-28]

Somewhere, in the depth of their mind and soul, great thinkers know the truthfulness and sagaciousness of this basic, fundamental and primordial spiritual and mystic concept. From Socrates to Plato, Hesiod to Horace, Pythagoras to Leonardo da Vinci, Voltaire to Vincent Van Gogh, Plutarch to Plotinus, Virgil to William Blake, Leo Tolstoy to George Bernard Shaw, Milton to Shelly, Abraham Lincoln to Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore; all these high and mighty but humble in humility and humanity, followed and postulated a vegetarian diet for a healthy, wealthy and a wise life.

“What is virtuous conduct? It is never destroying life, for killing leads to every other sin.” - [Thirukural, 2-3 B.C.]

In India, millions follow such a diktat. Alternatively, some minions, in many millions, among Indians too; as also elsewhere in the world, do not. Most adherents of Abrahamic faiths such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam find nothing wrong, and perfectly sanctioned, nay holy even, to not only sacrifice but mercilessly butcher and eat anything that dare move – well, except for a pig here and a crow there. In Korea and China, our beloved pets - dogs - are a delicacy to be skinned alive, savoured and salivated upon.

"Those sinful persons who are ignorant of actual religious principles, yet consider themselves to be completely pious, without compunction commit violence against innocent animals; that are fully trusting in them. In their next lives, such sinful persons will be eaten by the same creatures they have killed in this world." - [Bhagavat Purana]

It is interesting to note that a number of renowned scientists have been vegetarians. These include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla etc.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." – [Albert Einstein]

This religiousness, of respect for all life, is inherent in every sensitized and sentient being; be it an agnostic or even an atheist. Einstein was no believer in God; but godliness permeated this scientist’s beautiful soul. Theologian and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer, more than seconded this view point of the greatest scientist humankind has probably known.

"One day the world will look upon research upon animals as it now looks upon research on human beings." – [Leonardo da Vinci]

"A human can be healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite." - [Leo Tolstoy]

Yet, meat eating does not stop. We continue with our mayhem. The Westerners have their scriptures to quote to continue doing what they have been doing since thousands of years. Millions of non-vegetarian Buddhists and other Easterners do not even have their scriptures to support them.

“People who eat meat.. are all great demons.. They are not disciples of the Buddha. Such people as these kill and eat one another in a never-ending cycle.”  - [Shurangama Sutra, Buddhism]

"What need there be said of those innocent and healthy creatures endued with love of life, when they are sought to be slain by sinful wretches subsisting by slaughter?” - [Mahabharta]

Other well known eminent citizens of the world as Kafka, Sir Edwin Arnold, Charlotte Bronte, Henry David Thoreau, R.W. Emerson, Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, humourist Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, industrialist Henry Ford, as also late Steve Jobs;  were all vegetarians. Today, along with many Hollywood celebrities, many a kindred soul, such as Dr. Abdul Kalam (Ex-President and Nuclear Scientist of India), Paul McCartney, Reshma (Muslim Pakistani Folk Singer), Amitabh Bachchan and world-level athletes Carl Lewis, Mike Tyson et all; for one human and humane reason, follow a vegetarian lifestyle.

Some people are becoming vegetarians or vegans for health reasons too. In fact, medical science is providing more than enough data against a non-vegetarian diet and for benefits accruing by adopting a vegetarian lifestyle.

Yet, for a spiritual person; knowing Oneness of All That Is as one’s own life and soul “stuff”; not following a vegetarian diet, is not an option. It’s a sine qua non.

“Only the animal-killer cannot relish the message of The Absolute Truth.” – [Srimad Bhagwtam]

Sadly, there’s no, one holy cow, for the elitist whole or the hoi polloi.