Playing a game, you can never win.....

Okay, so we have a little bit of confusion. A lady member of the Indian parliament has made some undue remarks about the Messiah of Islam. It seems that there has been a world wide outcry because of these remarks and Indian states ( entire states ) have been threatened with suicide bombings by people known as militants.

It seems that the world faces tragedy after tragedy, because people do not harmonize, and organize themselves. There were debates between, the representatives of Islam and those of the Hindus... and the lady in question felt outraged at the way the devas or demigods of Hinduism like Lord Siva or Hanumanji or Sri Ganesh, have been rather inconsiderately described by the representatives of the other side.

The ideas that I am going to present here, have already been presented in various ways. Yet, proud of my own research and impelled with the desire, to have something to say, about this continuing, yet absurd conflagration (not congregation), between people of different religions and lands, I wish to express myself.

There is a confident feeling among the representatives of Islam that the devas or the demigods of the Vedas are either nonexistent, or even if they exist, they are very paltry and unworthy of worship.

They feel that Hindus violate the first Commandment of the Judaic faiths where God insists that God alone ought to be worshipped, and other energies should not be equated with God (even if they exist).

Impelled by their faith and some confusion they make lewd or rude statements about they whom the Hindus consider venerable.

So, some time consuming, yet world healing considerations.

Praising of angels (in Islam) is similar to worship of the devatas (in Hinduism):

I am going to quote from the following website. Please look it up for it is very informative.

https://zamzam.com/blog/seven-levels-of-heaven/

…scholars suggest that there are majorly seven levels of heaven in Islam. Muslims believe that an individual will enjoy the blessings and benefits of any level of heaven depending upon their deeds on earth. Each of the seven levels of heaven in Islam has a degree or grade according to which each soul is given a place. The righteousness of one’s deeds decides the level of heaven where one will reside after death.

The names of the heavens in islam are

1) Jannat al Adan,

2) Jannat al Firdaws,

3) Jannat-ul-Mawa,

4) Jannat-an-Naim,

5) Dar al-maqama,

6) Dar al-salam, and

7) Dar al-Akhirah.

Now as we go along we will be asking some conscious questions. If the reader is a Muslim, do you even know that these seven heavens exist as far as the Quran and other revealations are concerned ?

So…..

As you have noticed there are indeed seven heavens in Islam. Now what is heaven like? Are you just a spark doing nothing? No. In heaven there are men and women living a very beautiful and wonderful life. Please take a look:

  

'And whoever is in awe of standing before their Lord will have two Gardens
... ˹Both will be˺ with lush branches.
... In each ˹Garden˺ will be two flowing springs.
... In each will be two types of every fruit.
... Those ˹believers˺ will recline on furnishings lined with rich brocade. And the fruit of both Gardens will hang within reach.
... In both ˹Gardens˺ will be maidens of modest gaze, who no human or jinn has ever touched before.
... Those ˹maidens˺ will be ˹as elegant˺ as rubies and coral.
... Is there any reward for goodness except goodness?
... And below these two ˹Gardens˺ will be two others.
... Both will be dark green.
... In each will be two gushing springs.
... In both will be fruit, palm trees, and pomegranates.
... In all Gardens will be noble, pleasant mates
...˹They will be˺ maidens [houris] with gorgeous eyes, reserved in pavilions.
.... No human or jinn has ever touched these ˹maidens˺ before.
... All ˹believers˺ will be reclining on green cushions and splendid carpets.
Then which of your Lord's favours will you both deny? (Q.55:46-76, Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran)[22]

These verses are from the Quran chapter 55, verses 46 to 76.

There are quite a few other as well…

There will be neither too much heat nor bitter cold; there will be fountains (88:10),

abundant shade from spreading tree branches green with foliage (Q.53:14-16, also 36:56–57).[24]

They will be passed a cup (Q88:10–16) full of wine "which leads to no idle talk or sinfulness"(52:23), and every meat (52:22) and trees from which an unceasing supply of fruits grow (Q36:56–57),[20]: 58  "that looks similar ˹but tastes different˺"

(Q2:25) adornment with golden and pearl bracelets (Q35:33) and green garments of fine silk and brocade (Q18:31); attended upon by [ghulman] (Q52:24), servant-boys (eternal youths (56:17, 74:19)) like spotless pearls (Q52:24).

While the Quran never mentions God being in the Garden, the faithful are promised the opportunity to gaze upon His face, something the inhabitants of the Fire will be deprived of.[11]

The following is from the Encyclopaedia of Islam…..

One day in paradise is considered equal to a thousand years on earth. Palaces are made from bricks of gold, silver, pearls, among other things. Traditions also note the presence of horses and camels of "dazzling whiteness", along with other creatures. Large trees whose shades are ever deepening, mountains made of musk, between which rivers flow in valleys of pearl and ruby.

So, heaven in Islam is very much active.... There are men and women, and animals and jewels, and beddings and fruits etc. Now JUST as on earth we need some kind of organization to help us procure things..., similar organization is needed in heaven, albeit of a far more exquisite type. It is true that there is an unlimited supply of anything… yet that is a preliminary understanding if you feel that it is all enjoined without the help of Allah’s servants. Allah is assisted in his works by his assistants who try to take care of the citizens in different ways. Here is a website that the reader can enjoy…

https://islamonline.net/en/angels-in-islam-creatures-of-light-2

A whole lot of things are there about the angels of Islam and how they help Allah in the various works of creation. There is someone who takes care of embryos, someone responsible for rain, someone for writing down the activities that people have been doing, someone for watching over people…. In fact, every individual has some angel watching over him.

Now these angels have (as you have noticed) designations and also names like Jibril, Mika’il, Izra’il, Israfil, Munkar and Nakir (check the following website…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z43pfcw/revision/3#:~:text=Muslims%20believe%20that%20angels%2C%20or,messages%20from%20Allah%20to%20humanity)

SIMILARLY, those personalities who assist God and who reside in the heavens are known by the Hindus as ‘devata’. For example, Mahadeva is so called because he is ‘Maha’ or great and ‘deva’ or a devata. Thus, a great deva, is called Mahadev. Similarly Ganesh simply means “gana” or people, and “ishah” or leader…. ie: a leader of the people is called Ganesh. Agnidev means the demigod controlling Fire. Pavandeva is the god of Wind. Varundeva is the god of the Waters.

Just as the Muslims are supposed to pay respects to their angels the Hindus are also supposed to pay respects to those known as devas because each religion owes its debts to their keepers, just as in any social system we are supposed to honour responsible law enforcement and desire fulfilling officials…

Are graven images forbidden… ?

Now we come to the statement about not having graven (carved) images before Allah.

Hinduism is also a monotheistic faith and they refer to the omnipotent God as Vishnu or Narayana. So Hindus are supposed to be worshipping Vishnu as the central Deity and the devas are worshipped as attendants to the Almighty God.

What was probably happening when the Messiah received the message of God is that the people he was around, were worshipping

a) Not the one all powerful God.

b) Energies who were not really the wonders that angels are (for they don’t take you away from Allah), but who were rather sinister or tending to be quite evil.

So Allah may not like worshipping an untrue and inferior energy INSTEAD of Him, yet if we glorify the Messiah or maybe Gabriel within the process of glorifying Allah, most probably He just wouldn’t mind. Unless you are really pessimistic in the fear that Allah is a God of hate, the author feels that Allah is well pleased to have his assistants or attendants praised, even in front of Him. Only a very cruel king will want only himself to be praised, although a noble king would look forward to his courtiers and ministers and family members being honored as well.

 

Polytheism as an error

Now on the other hand there is a pressing problem about something known as polytheism in certain practitioners of the Hindu religion. These unregulated people assert that there can be more than one, independent and all powerful God. Although the Supreme Lord and His attendants are differentially glorified, people do not read these descriptions carefully, and assume that anyone glorified by the Vedic hymns have been assigned the position of the principal Deity. Or at least there are more than one principal Deity who are, all powerful or all mighty.

Can we have more than one All Powerful God? This is a logical inconsistency that does NOT make complete sense. Let us say that there are four different independent Deities who are all God. Now say a man A is to take a walk. Each different Deity desires the man to walk in a different direction. One says go East, One says go West, One says go North and the last One says to go South.

                                           

                 

                                                      

                                                   

Now the man will have to walk in one direction only, ultimately…. So if four INFINITE forces pull the man in four DIFFERENT directions where will the man end up? He will not be able to walk at all, despite the four ‘GODS’ having willed him to do otherwise. Thus we end up with another Causal Force (resulting in no motion), which accommodates or allows to happen that which none of the four different independent OMNIPOTENT Deities could.Can you imagine…. four different COMPLETELY infinite OMNIPOTENT forces which ultimately don’t give any result.

 

GOD is He who cannot be violated

I’ll rephrase what I am saying. All the four independent Gods were suggesting a particular direction for the man to move in. Now God Almighty implies someone whose will is INVIOLABLE. Violating God’s will is something that just does not happen… because God IS everything… the cause, the effect, the inside the outside, and there is no other outside agency who can do anything to intervene,…… because God by definition IS everything. You cannot have four different ‘everythings’. In the mathematical world you ‘can’ add infinity + infinity = infinity. But in the real world ‘infinity’ means everything…. Simply everything…. Every single force or energy or matter or any evolute of these is included. Thus there is no scope for another ‘infinity’.

Here, a mathematical argument can be given that in a multidimensional space or space-time you can have infinities in different dimensions. For example one infinity in the x-dimention, another in the y-dimension, another in the z-dimension, and the list goes on as the supposed number of dimensions go on increasing. So the argument may be given, that, for inifinite number of dimensions, we CAN have infinite number of Causal Forces. However… God implies everything and thus instead of having an independent God for every dimension it is far more logical to say that the one God is infinitely expansive in, every single dimension.

Lets try again…. Godx will decide activities in the x-dimension. Gody in the y-dimension. And so on. Yet God by definition is someone Who decides everything in every dimension. There is one Existence Which ALONE decides everything everywhere. For example Agnideva controls Fire and Pavandeva controls the Wind and Suryadeva controls the Sun…. yet these energies are all acting under the active control of the Supreme Lord Narayana. This ideal has been expressed in the Vedas and the Upanishads and also the Puranas….in fact any Vedic literature is thus indicative although you have to read the whole literature impartially.

There is no other ideological possibility… and thus MONOTHEISM is inevitable and consummately so….:)

Impersonal ideologies contradicting Monotheistic ideals.

Now, even if we accept a Cause that is the cause of everything, there is yet another dilemma posed by many a Vedic scholar, as to whether the ultimate cause is a Sentient Being or Just an Energy. Many presentations by famous or rather very famous devotee scholars of Vedic discretion have been made and I will not go into too much detail. Yet this might just be another way in which our Muslim brothers might feel left out.

God has personality

A God who has no personality is very different from a God who is just an energy. All monotheistic religions put faith in a personal God. Yet many Vedic scholars aver prominently that in the ultimate sense existence is just so impersonal. Even the scholars of impersonal pedigree accept that this creation is just a manifestation of the Supreme impersonal energy. So… the creation with all its varieties which is fine tuned, so precisely, to sustain life of extraordinary varieties, comes (supposedly) from something, that is not having any awareness… is just a universal machine. Is that it…. ? Thus volition sustained by ideals such as favoring benevolence over malevolence (for example)…, being intricate about the minutest of details…(etc….), to assert a world that makes more sense than nonsense (heh heh hey), being the cause of unlimited personalities each of a different kind and so on… seem to be the traits of this Supreme Being. A Being professing compassion and intelligence and plentifulness… the All that be… is not just an existence…which lacks cognizance or awareness…

Here many people feel alarmed at the possibility of an all powerful cognizant Being Who can do almost anything, whether right or wrong……. Someone like Thor or Zeus who thunderbolt the needy and so on. However the synthesis can be that the Supreme Being can have a personality… albeit a PERFECT one. The cognizance of the Supreme Being is not affected by desire or hate. It is one which delights in perfect love. This love is not conditioned by good or evil. It is unconditional and universal. Thus it is possible for God to be perfect and be in love or rather possess a personality.

There are other causes of disharmony among religions, and they will be discussed in a later sequel (if the author lives).

 

Waiting To Die

 

Uh-huh. Soooo...... The socio-religious, cultural, metaphysical, and erudite elite have brought us to, yet another frontier..., another chance in life..., another hope…. a third world war. Somehow, it seems that all our exultations  and delights obtained through red meat, sports, education, movies, music..., the progress of industrialization..., the internet, sex (hmm…), and yes.... even religion, leaves us with the exclusive superhumans of the world craning to get a shot at each other..., and send, each one of us.... either to heaven or hell, as the case may be..., after bringing about world wide annihilation. I mean to say... this is what progress in pure sciences like physics, chemistry, etc... and the applied sciences like technology... in the form of computers, communication, genetics..., the wonderful relationships we have with each other.... and hey even astrology and..., (kisses) the gold rush, has led us to embrace or at least come face to face with.

The question arises… WHY ? Are we all so eager to die? What is troubling us so much? Fear, pain, humiliation, overwork … what is making us so ballistic towards each other. Why does the word PEACE..., based on mutual tolerance, seem so difficult to come to terms with? Why are things the way they seem to be?  

The situation is as follows… Soviet Russia had disintegrated to an acknowledged extent, three decades ago. Those land masses which were part of the USSR, yet which refused to obey Soviet command..., got their own government. Although the cold war officially ended there and then, the impetus for rivalry between Russia and, the rest of Europe and the United States combined, continued. Many of the newly formed nations became sympathetic to the rest of, Europe and the U.S..... Quite a few joined the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), and rapidly the U.S and their affiliates, commenced deploying troops in these nations....., and threatened the Russian borders. Tired of such formations..., the Russians decided to station their own forces, at the Ukrainian-Russian border. I mean..., if you are banging on my door mighty impolitely, I just might greet you with some conceit of my own. That is human nature, that is ethics. I mean if you are stealthily positioning yourself, with your friends, just outside my door.... with guns and knives…, bracing yourself against the wall, crouching for cover, keeping food and water handy…, it just could be, that you have some malefic purposes at heart. Which intelligent owner of a property would be so fool hardy as to not feel threatened? So obviously, the Russian senate felt threatened. Now the U.S. is saying that Russia is planning to attack Ukraine right now..., and if it does, it hopes that thirty NATO nations including the U.S. should reply, very powerfully, to the Russian threat.

So where does that bring us? Again…, the end result of the cold war..., a third world war. All the good work that had been done, which gave peaceful living a chance, is again being threatened. Soviet Russia was oppressive somewhat, according to many a thoughtful mind. Its ex leaders Michael Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin acknowledged the need for a less oppressive government, and on their own, they set the ball rolling, to make Russia a nation ruled more modestly, or compassionately. However..., international paranoia has led to this lack of understanding as to where we stand…..

 

So where do we stand?

After the second world war the world reduced its pusillanimous impetus and decided to make love not war. However, another situation developed (The Cold War)... whereby, the hostility was not directly engaged in, but was something that was stealthily being nurtured, in unforeseen ways. The day that war broke lose, the world would be unable to head for cover, and every man woman and child would be threatened, irrespective of ideological differences. That gave rise to the hippie movement, because the people understood that their leaders were so crazy (despite their shangrilas, huge cars, home theatre etc) that they were only oh so keen to blow each other to pieces. Compromise, cooperation and care were far less important than COMPETITION.

While competition is healthy for progress, it should obviously not doom one’s future…. In as much as, if I don’t get to try again and again and again, because the time axis halts for me..., then why should I aspire to that form of 'competitive' behavior? Of course fortune favors the brave..., but not the mad and the stupid.

The author recommends the readers attention towards the following weblink…

https://www.cairn.info/revue-politique-etrangere-2009-5-page-107.htm

Here one will be able to see, how the nuclear arms build up, occupation of territories, deployment of warheads and troops along the borders..., again and again, threw the world into a crisis..., and how treaty after treaty helped to resolve the situation. Generally it is thought that Russia was the aggressor throughout the Cold War…., yet this web page seems to put additional information on the table, that seems to suggest that it was highly unlikely..., that it was, that one sided after all. You will get to see, that....  after the perestroika, or the collapse of the USSR, the West again and again marginalized the intentions of peaceful living with the hope of gaining an ever increasing geopolitical advantage.

Do we have anything to feel happy about since WW II?

Obviously…. We have voice command consoles instead of switches and dials. Every single branch of science has made progress…, in fact everything progressed, if it survived….. even the rights to male homosexuality. I talked about voice command consoles, actually we have voice command cars, washing machines, microwaves... then... semi automatic aeroplanes etc. . The whole human genome has been mapped. We have prevention and cures for AIDS, Cancer and so on. We have lab grown meat…, even vegan meat.

Things like the iPhone, Facebook, bitcoin, electric vehicles, solar energy, are quite commonplace. People have better food, and education, and health, and incomes also.

Dealing now more, with the humane energy.... We do have a world which is more tender-hearted than before. Vegan or vegetarian diets are becoming more popular. Animal rights activists are more confident. Environmentalists are credited with doing a lot of benefit. Human rights are more widely endorsed. As you would expect..., spirituality and/or religion, takes a lot of credit, for guiding the human heart along with the head. There is so much literature on the nature of the human mind and the body, and how they interact. There are alternative cures to problems in the mind-body complex (accompanying western medicine), such as Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Yoga, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy, Naturopathy etc. The cures of alternative medicines are no longer quaint claims but empirically validated facts. Ideas about God, the soul, heaven etc. are far more elaborately and sensibly presented.

We are able to have better sex. Better sports. Better houses. Better clothes, watches, cars, trains, rockets. Many more books have been written and the list of subjects have also expanded. Darwin did not lose…, the fittest have survived..., and gone on to help the weaker sections of society. Thus life is better in many many many ways.

Yet we are on the brink of another world war… hey …. the biggest war yet…. Despite the hope that underground bunkers give to the fortunate, why have people become so unhappy with life, that they cannot endure the other person. Is it the good fighting against evil, or is it just basic rivalry, or both?

It can be argued that the good people, are those who believe in an almighty God..., and Soviet Russia had been guilty of being guided by a philosophy which was intolerant towards religion. Yet they preserved (along with the people’s republic of China) many of the ethics of religion such as a control over prostitution, homosexuality and narcotics........, whereas the liberal economies allowed these SINs to flourish. The parish would not reprimand you for your sin, but the police could pick you up for a crime.

One reason, that the author distinctly feels, is the reason for escalation of tension of this kind, is the constant sense of injury or humiliation owing to the fact that Russia has the biggest expanse of land in the whole civilized world. Thus the sense of prestige, that goes with ruling such a land mass, or.... of the people who are so well united under one flag..., is somehow becoming unendurable. However we forget that in a class of students, someone has to come first, and someone second, and someone third and so on. Can all nations have equal amount of possession over land? Is all land of the same nature? Will I rule over glaciers or deserts while you rule over springs? If that is not likely to be the case in the near future, then why should we pull down a nation’s geographical privilege, only to lessen our internal discomfiture... over something quite trivial.

 

Please visit….

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a23306/nuclear-bombs-powerful-today

The above link mentions that by 1961 there was a bomb developed which was over three thousand times more powerful than the ‘little boy’ of Hiroshima.

Also try

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/public/2019-10/Development%20of%20the%20Hydrogen%20Bomb-%20Document%20Set.pdf?VersionId=TIums5XoxSxXDVHA.MGW8aqOO6IZItZ2

… to know more about the Hydrogen bomb which had been tested way back in 1954…

...DO WE KNOW WHAT’S BEEN COOKING SINCE THEN????

Is it not possible that the same courage, determination, resignation and hope, that we are helping each other with…, with the desire to expel the enemy..., or die in the process…, can we not use all this and more, to arrive at a practical answer, to any concern, which will avoid the occurrence of a third world war, a war which could wipe out the entire human race (except for they who would be hiding in bunkers) ? Some may think they are Slavs and cannot possibly make friends with Anglo Saxons, who again feel that Celts are unendurable and so on. But can we not ascertain our domains of existence, and work aggressively..., yet intelligently and progressively also? Is it that difficult a word... ‘COEXISTENCE’. What if the world becomes full of homosexuals… well God did nuke Sodom and Gomorrah… of course in His own style. There are still, plenty of normal people protected by their faith and a concerned government. By the will of providence we all have, or can have, enough to keep us happy all our lives…. But we have to be willing to live and let others live. We have a lot to gain if we just be less ‘FIGHTY’.

Treaty after treaty has been signed in the past, to let the world live for a few years more. Can we please try something similar? If we we have our feet on the ground and our heads on our shoulders, we might be able to work out a plan that benefits one and all, in astounding ways. Someone out there said that if we heal others, we heal ourselves.  If we feel weakened due to pain that needs some healing, one can take a massage, or one can go to the spa, or do some praying, or meditation, or breathing, or play some games, or sing, or even dance. Maybe one can take a holiday and do everything. If we work everything out, then needless violence may never be necessary. Redemption should never be heedless and the world could always be blessed with another chance.