Child Monkhood Is a Crime - Humans Have Been Mentally Paralysed By Religions and Gods

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 19 January 2023 Rajnish, Born Into A Jain Household, And Whose Death Anniversary Is Today (Jan 19), Always Criticised Monkhood And Condemned Baal-Deeksha (Child Monkhood). He Equated It With Child Sacrifice. The Initiation Of Children Into A Religious Order Is A Criminal Offence. ------ Muslim parents are often JUSTIFIABLY condemned for marrying their minor daughters off. It's widely criticised as an invasion of a child's right/s. But when the same downright invasions happen in other communities and religions, we choose to keep mum. Photo: News Bits/ A nine-year-old girl shunned material world and severed her ties with the family, as she was inducted as a Jain 'sadhvi'. ------ A 9-yr-old daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant embraced Jain monkhood in Surat, Gujarat, renouncing all material comforts. Just imagine, a girl, all of nine, abnegates all material comforts of this mundane world and aspires to attain enlightenment! Absolute garbage! What does a child understand about the intricacies, restrictions, rules and requirements of monkhood? One true story, narrated by the Arabic and Islamic scholar Sir Hamilton Gibb will drive home the point. Once a Muslim man took his precocious 13-yr-old son to the great mystic Hakim Sanai and requested him to guide the child in the ways of Tasawwuf (spirituality). “Unnahafiz, Ree Zidman Shin Tifl Azeef” (Get lost, let the child play at this age), rebuked the mercurial mystic in Dari. The moral of this story is: Let the child play. And here, a child's parents are ushering her into the murky world of monkhood with a view to basking in the reflected glory and getting more respect in a morbidly religious community. Osho Rajneesh, born into a Jain household, and whose death anniversary is today (Jan 19), always criticised monkhood and condemned Baal-Deeksha (child monkhood). He equated it with child sacrifice. The initiation of children into a religious order is a criminal offence. Buddhism also indulges in this stupidity but it's slightly better than Jainism in the sense that a male child can be initiated into monkhood only after the age of 13 or after his first experience of nocturnal emission (Ehtilaam in Arabic or Nidrotsarg/Swapnadosh in Sanskrit; Baju in Pali). After that, all these poor kids are taught how to overcome the demons of carnality by resorting to various methods of killing one's sexuality. What's this? No child, regardless of his/her religion, is religiously inclined and has any desire to go into the Stygiaan dark world of dubious spirituality. His parents, society, gurus, monks and other religious people push him/her into the bottomless pit of religiosity and destroy the child's life. I've come across sexually frustrated monks in all religions. Most of them become perverts because denying sexuality is akin to denying your very existence. These kids, initiated into early monkhood, soon get disenchanted with the religious order and try to get out of it, but seldom succeed. I remember the words of a Jain muni who used to meet me for the explanations of a few tenets of Jainism written in Prakrit and Ardhamagadhi (a rustic tributary of Sanskrit). He'd say, ' Monkhood is a life of disillusionment.' He wistfully craved the life outside the dungeon of his monkhood but was helpless. He embraced Jain monkhood at the age of 12! The government must intervene and arrest this 9-yr-old girl's parents and the muni who initiated her into the religious order. They all must be put behind the bars at the earliest. Humans have been mentally paralysed by religions and gods and that's why, I urge all to become humans, leaving all your spurious gods, bogus scriptures and fake faiths. Alas, no one pays heed. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/child-monkhood-humans-mentally-paralysed-religions-gods/d/128907 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism