Evolved Or Devolved; Standing Or Still Crawling?

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 1 February 2024 "But what would happen to all those who make a living from religion, including by writing about it and/or trying to reform it? They’d have to develop new abilities and get new jobs or else be unemployed perhaps." By tim 01/02/2024 06:21:47 Very true, Tim. I don't know whether or not you understand Hindi. So, let me translate a derogatory phrase common in India: Dharm Ki Dukaanein (shops of religion). Across the world, all religions act as commercial enterprises and those who're associated with this commercial aspect of spirituality, know it very well. The famous English adage, ' Only a priest knows the reality of god ' underlines the truth. Let me narrate a true incident. A few years ago, one of the main priests of a very famous shrine in Maharashtra, approached a friend of mine for the admission of his mediocre son to a private medical college in Poona. This third-world country, India, is full of private medical colleges which's a rarity anywhere in the world. Well, my friend took one crore for the admission of that priest's son. That useless boy got admission to a medical college. This happens in India, esp. a state called Maharashtra. His priest dad was on cloud 9 because he was carrying 1 crore 50 lakhs, whereas my friend took 'only' 1 crore. Overjoyed, that priest threw a party for us at a 5-Star hotel in Poona and ordered the best of wines, pork, beef and all meats because before 2014, beef and pork were available at Poona's swanky hotels and restaurants. After gulping down enough alcohol, he proved Roman author Pliny the Elder's famous quote, In Vino Veritas (In wine, there's truth/ Wine brings forth the truth, also written as In Uino Ueritas). The priest began to make fun of all devotees who came to have a Darshan of that extremely famous saint and added that it was the money of those fools that he was carrying for the admission of his below-par son to a private medical college. He also added that there was no divinity. It was all money. His million-dollar words echo in my mind even after so many years: Apart from deceiving the gullible and fearful masses in the name of a fabricated god, deity or baba, all priests have no other qualifications to survive in the world. To cut the matter short, it's the way all religions and so-called spiritual cults work whether it's ISKCON or Vatican. Denis Diderot described religion as a thorn that diluted the beauty of the flower of spirituality. Innumerable religions and their lakhs of cults have blocked humans' way to a greater reality. Reams of theological interpretations right from the advent of human civilization have embittered humans and erected iron walls of hostility and perennial rancour. What have religions given us except for rivers of blood of our own brethren who didn't harm us? Yet, we perceived them as our foes and killed them because they worshipped some other god, followed some other religion and believed in a different sect. It's religion that has pushed India back by many decades as we're still not happy with a Ram temple and want Gyanvapi, Kashi and Mathura mosques as well. At times, I wonder whether we're evolved or devolved; whether we're standing or still crawling? You tell me...... ---- 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/evolved-devolved-crawling/d/131631 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