Demolish All Holy Structures Made Of Stones And Bricks, And Install God In Your Inner Shrine

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 6 July 2023 Dairo-Haram Mein Hai Bhagwan Qaid Khada Rakhvali Mein Insaan Mustaid Pandit Brajnarayan Sharma 'Chakbast' (God is imprisoned in a temple or mosque/ Guarded by alert humans) The Kamakura Buddha was lodged in a temple until one day a mighty storm brought the temple down. Then for many years, the massive statue stood exposed to sun and rain and wind and the changes of the weather. When a priest began to raise funds to rebuild the temple, the statue appeared to him in a dream and said, " That temple was a prison, not a home. Leave me exposed to the ravages of life. That's where I belong." A few years ago, a German philosophical journal carried an article on an independent spiritual group of Eastern Europe. That group didn't believe in any type of shrine and so-called holy or sacrosanct place. It didn't incarcerate its totems and rudimentary scriptures in a particularly holy place. Mind you, at times, cults or small groups are more advanced than the religions that have polluted mankind because the moment a (spiritual) group gets degenerated into an organized faith, all troubles and superstitions begin. That aforementioned group believed in exposing its totems to the ills and ravages of the world just the way, Urdu poet Jameel Mazhari once wrote, "Utar Ke Aa Zameen Pe, Rah Bandon Ke Beech / Bada Shauq Hai Khuda Ban-Ne Ka, Hum Se Bhi Seekh" (Come down from heaven and live with your followers / Don't be so toffee-nosed as Khuda, learn from us as well). Mystics of all religions are also of the same view that god and humans should be on an even keel and that's possible when the god is brought out of the shrines and made (if not relegated) to hobnob with humans. That provides a certain kind of a spiritual equality and mystical egalitarianism. Quoting Jameel Mazhari's yet another couplet, "Jhukaya Tu Ne Jhuke Hum, Barabari Na Rahi / Ye Bandagi Hui Ae Dost, Aashiqi Na Rahi" (You made me genuflect, I did, leaving no room for equality/ This is worship, my dear friend, not love). By imprisoning god in a structure or shrine, we've alienated it and drawn a wedge between humans and god. That way the original concept of Leela in Hindu mythology is pretty relatable as its (imaginary) avatars like Ram and Krishna mixed up with humans and lived like them. The problem cropped up when both were deified and imprisoned in temples. Quakers Christianity's fundamental belief, " Let the divine spirit be a part of human spirit " makes a modicum of sense in these religiously turbulent times when we're sparring over your god, my god, your mosque and my temple. Demolish all holy structures made of stones and bricks, and install god in your inner shrine. ---- 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/demolish-holy-structures-god-shrine/d/130144 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