Critical Podium Dewanand Religion
Human Brain and Relgions - Part 2 by Md. Mahmoodul Haque
Sacrificer Md. Mahmoodul Haque
Sacrifice code wfor0243
Sacrifice date 25 march 2009
Continued from:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/16098
[The prayers and rituals of all religions are but a means to reach
such disciplines. One must remember that man needs to pray to God to
bring peace to his soul but God at the same time does not need man's
prayers or praise. Yet our religious teachers irrespective of faith
insist upon it. Instead of seeking sanity, compassion, discipline and
all the godliness our Lord wants us to abide by, the teachers of
religion of all times were adamant upon enforcing these rituals
emphasizing less on what they were designed to imply and the essence
of the matter. The idea behind reading the holy Koran regularly is not
to be blessed for simply reading it like a parrot but to apply the
teachings it imparts on the life of the reader. Similarly saying five
times prayer and going to the Friday prayers is to bring discipline
and godliness through such meditation into ones life. All the five
pillars of Islam contain momentous doctrine that regulates the
lifestyle of the person who carries them out and inculcates the
essence into ones daily life. Similar is the case of all other
faiths.]
Human Brain and Relgions - Part 2
Md. Mahmoodul Haque
Black Holes :
Of late the discovery of active black holes in the galaxy cluster has
lay waste to theories that such clusters are deposits of dormant black
holes. This changes our view of galaxy clusters completely. For many
years, conventional wisdom assumed an un-charging universe with no
beginning, no end. It was assumed that the universe was static and
unchanging. The finding of the ever-expending universe now challenges
such conventional wisdom. In fact the galaxy cluster Abell 2014
discovered last year some 700 million light years from earth has six
times the number of galaxies with active cores that continue to absorb
surrounding space material, greatly surprised researchers.
No human being has ever seen a live dinosaur, yet we know so much
about these long extinct animals. Although ancient Greek
Mathematicians and astronomers had calculated the circumference of the
Earth, charted the stars and figured the distance of the moon, the use
of mathematics to measure the results of experiments materialized in
the 16th century bringing scientific revolution to Europe. Thus the
mysteries of the universe began to unfold and the brain began to
conceive new knowledge from more and more research and findings.
The Big Bang Theory
In 1916 Albert Einstein came up with the essentials of the big bang
theory, which is now the corner stones of cosmology that studies the
origins of the universe and its time-space relationships. The Big Bang
Theory holds that every thing in the known universe all time, space,
energy and matter was once contained in a point of infinite density
known as a Singularity. Scientists have till today left the "why"
of
that state of affairs to priests and religions scholars. The
Singularity was ordained by a command known to Muslims as "Kunn"
and
to the Hindus as "Om". The Creator of the universe said "Happen!!"
and
the Big Bang happened and the universe was thus created. Scientists
theorise the stage after the Big Bang to expand madly in size to a
radius expressed in incomprehensibly large numbers.
In 1871, Darwin advocated his Theory that man and anthropoid apes must
at one point have evolved from the same progenitor and that along with
monkeys man belong to the so-called primates or mammals and that
mammals belong to the vertebrates, which in turn belong to the
multi-cellular animals. This placed all religious doctrines about Adam
and Eve into jeopardy.
While some palaeontologists believe that pre-humans arose when
tectonic forces formed the Rift Valley 5 million years ago they are
yet to prove that chimps and Homo sapiens share a common ancestor. The
revelations in June last year from the discovery of 7 million years
old "Toumai" fossil in Chad has shaken up theories of human
origin.
Therefore the text books illustration of a neat progression of chimp
to stoop-shouldered caveman to present day singer Rickey Martin is not
as straight forward as claimed earlier. The theory that Homo habilis
and their likes that walked upright but had a chimp like snout cannot
be placed in a serial progression to present day man. Scientists now
admit that the way to chart human evolution is not by a tree but a
complex bush putting the current theory of human origin in jeopardy.
Even Einstein's theory of Relativity has been questioned recently
simply because the constant, speed of light, has been in recent times
calculated to have slowed down considerably since the Big Bang. This
has now upset most scientists of the modern times and has put the
world in the same position when men thought that the sun rotated round
the earth.
The Rituals:
The rituals were a means to an end and not the end itself. Yet most
religious teacher of all faiths put more emphasis on these rituals
than the reason behind their practice. What they fail to realize is
that Lord the Almighty does not need to be praised five times a day or
worshiped day and night in temples or church as our religious teachers
wants us to believe. Religion which ever His one lac and twenty four
thousand or so Messengers had brought to mankind since the creation of
the Universe was to bring sanity, compassion, discipline and godliness
to mankind and guide them to the path of truth and rightness.
The prayers and rituals of all religions are but a means to reach such
disciplines. One must remember that man needs to pray to God to bring
peace to his soul but God at the same time does not need man's prayers
or praise. Yet our religious teachers irrespective of faith insist
upon it. Instead of seeking sanity, compassion, discipline and all the
godliness our Lord wants us to abide by, the teachers of religion of
all times were adamant upon enforcing these rituals emphasizing less
on what they were designed to imply and the essence of the matter. The
idea behind reading the holy Koran regularly is not to be blessed for
simply reading it like a parrot but to apply the teachings it imparts
on the life of the reader. Similarly saying five times prayer and
going to the Friday prayers is to bring discipline and godliness
through such meditation into ones life. All the five pillars of Islam
contain momentous doctrine that regulates the lifestyle of the person
who carries them out and inculcates the essence into ones daily life.
Similar is the case of all other faiths.
The Concept Of Life After Death
When one talks about religion and faith the subject of death
automatically comes into discussion. Death is supernatural. The
termination of a massive energy that exists a moment ago and ceases to
exist an instant later is beyond practical clarification other than
the physical dead. The concept of life after death has been a source
of mystery since the beginning of time. Human mind has examined every
facet and come up with numerous possibilities. Historians recognize
the Egyptians to be the first to believe a formal doctrine of future
existence and based their conduct on such a doctrine.
The concept was also found in the archaeological remains of the
different ancient civilizations including Sumerians that inhabited
Central America. Judaism believes in metempsychosis or transmigration
of soul of human being or animal at death into a new body of same or
different species. The doctrine of a future life after visible death
was vividly recognized by the Aryan nations of the East in the shape
either of an eternal and ceaseless whirl of births and deaths or of
either absorption after prolonged probation in absolute infinity.
Islam simplified everything and the scope for intercession in
determining one's consequences after death were removed. Islam
preaches that in the hereafter every human being would have to render
an account of his actions on earth, and that the happiness or misery
of individuals would depend upon the manner in which they had
performed at the behest of the Creator.
Supernatural:
If one believes in death and the existence of the Supreme than one is
apt to deem the existence of supernatural. According to all known
religion ?World? does not mean only the human being. There are
sentient being who control these aspects and powers of nature. They
are called "Devatas" or deities, "Farastaas" or Angels.
Some believe
in them some do not for the mind needs to conceive before it starts to
believe in its logical perspective. Some believe that death is simply
the extinction of matter. Some believe that the massive energy of life
cannot simply cease at death but must pass into another dimension. The
human mind is still expanding with ever growing intelligence. We do
not know more than one forth of the brain and its potentials. We are
unable to understand a lot of things such as supernatural and their
existence amongst us. Telepathy, mesmerising and many such bizarre
things are still considered weird are under acute investigations that
may yield result sooner than the next millennium. Just a few hundred
years ago, in the 17th centuries, most Europeans thought that the four
elements ? air, fire, water and earth created and defined all life.
Once it was thought that the sun rotated around the earth. The brain
accepted it as it saw the sun rise and soar across the sky and set on
the opposite end but intelligence in time gathered through the acumen
of knowledge proved the opposite.
Paradise:
The scenario of Paradise described in the Koran has to be understood
allegorically or figuratively. Expressed on verse 7 of Sura
Al-I-Imran, which states that it is He who has sent down the holy Book
and in it are verses basic or fundamental, they are the foundation of
the Book; others are allegorical or figurative. For objects like
trees, rivers, and beautiful abode lies a deeper meaning and that the
joy in Paradise is to consist of the beatific vision of the soul in
the presence of the Almighty. During that period, the veil that
divides man from his Creator will be rent and heavenly glory will be
revealed to a mind free from corporeal obstacles. The companionship of
Beauty and Grace, which is one of the highest pleasures of bodily
life, will take a higher form consistent with the spiritual abode.
This was not easily comprehensible at the time it was preached by our
Holy Prophets. In order for ordinary people of the time to understand
this, Paradise was described to be a garden filled with beautiful
"houris" (companions), rivers of unsullied, incorruptible water
or
milk, unlimited fruits and luxuriant vegetation as described in verses
15 to 38 of Sura Waqia. Each Messenger enlightened his followers the
splendor of the Paradise, the description of which differed in
substance but not in essence. Each description matched the development
of the human brain of the time and that much which the knowledge of
man could understand with the portrayal of the Heaven.
The Four Holy Books Muslims Believe:
Muslims believe in the four books, The Holy Koran, The Bible, the
Tohid and the Giboor. This is simple because all the other religions
were passed through generations by word of mouth, which could become
distorted. Each narration was obviously tainted by the intelligence of
each storyteller who was believed to be a holy man with authority on
the religion he preached after God's messenger of the period had
passed away. This is true because if five of us were asked to write
down an incident which took place before us each of us will narrate
the incident in our own ways based on our intelligence, our up
bringing, our education back ground and our general concept and
opinion of life around us. Similarly, as each generation passed down
the doctrines and the story of a particular faith by word of mouth it
was contaminated by individual narration's which coaxed each to give
flavour of ones own liking to convince the listener and the believers.
Let us take the case of the Hindu god of strength Ashoor. Ashoor was
a
good man, like the Greek god Hercules, Goliath and such gods of the
Egyptian and other mythology. He was an amazing soldier with
extra-ordinary strength, highly skilled in swords-man-ship and who
could drive his chariot extremely fast. In those days battles were
fought in the deserts or battlefields. Ashoor could drive his famous
chariot so fast that it would raise large columns of dust behind him.
So magnificent was his skill at chariot-man-ship that he soon became a
legend of the time. Envied by on looking soldiers the exaggerated
story went around that Ashoor drove his chariot so fast that instead
of dust smoke would roll out of his wheels. A hundred years later the
story went around that he drove his chariot so fast that smoke rose
like clouds in the sky. Today Ashoor is depicted in all Hindu drawings
as the god flying in the sky in his golden chariot. This was neither
the fault of religion nor the fault of Ashoor; it was the fault of the
narrators and their way of narrating the story, which was passed down
through generations.
Another example is the Hindu goddess Durga with 10 hands. Durga in all
likelihood must have been a very good person with extraordinary
qualities and who could do many things at the same time. For example,
I have a sister who could cook, tidy up the house, send the children
to school, and at the same time entertain guests. My mother would say
that she has four hands instead of two. The narrator who passed down
the story through generations about the goddess Durga explained to
believers of that time saying that she had ten hands and would do all
that is said about her. This was not the fault of the religion or
Durga but that of the capability and the intelligence of the person
who narrated the story generations after generations.
The Best Religion Of The Creator
Once I asked a renowned Muslim scholar if he thought Islam to be the
best religion. He looked me in my eye and said that, indeed it is. But
what he said immediately after will remain in my heart forever. He
said that all known religions are the Creators religion including
those who worshiped large trees, boulders, sun, fire, waterfalls and
so on, are the Creators ways of guiding mankind to worship Him.
However the religion He gave to the cavemen is different from the
religion He gave mankind later in the human history. Although the
essence and the message was the same but the manner it was conveyed to
mankind differed from period to period. Messengers were sent to the
world each time civilizations strayed from the path of the good and
stumbled into the wrong causing much harm to the civilization of that
period.
He said each religion was a path to the Creator and each Messenger was
sent to Shepherd mankind to the path that led to Him. Each religion
without any exception conveyed the same message, the same doctrine and
the same philosophy as they came at different stages of the human
history. What differed were the period and the rituals that the people
of the period and time adopted for themselves and the generations to
follow.
He went on to elaborate that if hypothetically the Creator was at
Dhaka and one desired to go there from Chittagong, he would need to
ask some one to show him the right direction. If the period was of
that of pre history and the whole area was full of thick jungle and
wild animals, the path he would be shown by the Messengers of the
Creator would be the one which is safe and without danger. If he
strayed from that acknowledged path shown by the messenger then he
could encounter wild animals, which could kill him, or be bitten by
poisonous snakes, or get drowned in quicksand and numerous such harm
could plague him. To reach his destination safely he has to abide all
the rules and the laws of the jungle sat forth to him by his guide.
If the period was of mid history when forests were cut and villages
had grown, he would be shown the village road, the trail over the
meadows, path where streams are narrowest to cross, or earth track
through the paddy fields that is safe and without danger. If he strays
he could come across an impassable stream, a treacherous country
trail, an angry farmer, a heated bull and so many danger on a village
road. If the period were of modern times he would be shown the best
Motorway. If he strays he could end up on the wrong place or get stuck
by traffic jam, could roll down the edge of the road, fall off a
broken bridge and so many kinds of mishap. He has to abide by the
rules of the Highway or end up getting himself killed for driving on
the wrong side of the road.
Each messenger at different period of evolution would guide his
followers through the safe path of that era revealed to him by the
Creator. The ultimate destination was to reach the Lord. Yet from the
cavemen in the jungle to the modern man on the highway, each cannot
but follow the set rules and laws in order to reach ones destination.
The point here is that God had sent messengers at different periods to
guide mankind through the path of truth and rightness. It is the
period, the teaching method and examples given to explain the message
that was appropriate for that period that is what is different.
Because of the different eras each religion had its rituals unique to
that period and appropriate for the society at large.
Best From Each Religion:
Now the next question arises whether it would be correct to take a
portion from each religion and follow the path to the Creator. Just as
it is not possible for the Cave man to change his path and follow the
rules of the motorway of the present age it would be grossly incorrect
to jump lanes and try to reach the Creator. Many claim that they
believe in the Creator and pick bits and pieces from a number of
faiths at ones sweet will and convenience and say that he/she is very
religious. This is not possible and one must abide by all the rules,
laws, practices and teachings of that particular faith that one
believes in and which unscrupulous holy men have not tainted. However,
it is very clear that whichever path one decides to takes to reach the
Creator in life, one has to stick to all the rules, laws and practices
of that path only.
If one is a Hindu, one should follow the path of the Hindu preaching.
If one is a Christian, that of the teachings of the Bible, the
Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and all the religions in their original form
that was sent to the earth for mankind would lead to the Creator. But
how many religions exist on earth that is not distorted or have become
besmirched.
To be Continued........
Md.Mahmoodul Haque is a retired tea-planter from Sri
Mangal, and is
now a businessman based in Dhaka
He can be reached at news@bangladesherdak.net
***
Critical Podium Dewanand Religion
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