In the Gita it says:
Any attempt to realise ब्रह्मन् (Brahman (God)) must be done alone in a solitary place and with a consistently calm and devoted mind.
I sincerely believe that any attempt made to communicate with Brahman, must be done alone , in silence and without any middlemen.
Think of your most loved one – maybe your parents, spouse, children, childhood friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, girl friend, boy friend or anybody else you love the most.
Think of that one person you love, respect, honour and treasure the most and would always want to be with.
Would you use some middleman to communicate your most deeply held feelings for your most loved one or would you do it yourself?
If you wanted to talk about your most deeply held feelings for your most loved one, would you do it in public and led by a middleman?
Would you use the words of a middleman to communicate your most deeply held feelings for your most loved one or would you use your own words?
Would you use the actions and rituals of a middleman to communicate your most deeply held feelings for your most loved one or would you use your own actions and rituals?
Then if you dont prefer to use a middleman when you wish to deal with the one person you love, respect, honour and treasure the most, how dare you use a middle man to communicate with Brahman?
Communicating with Brahman is an even more private, intense and deeply personal matter.
Brahman has not only created you, but also your loved one, and the middlemen, and more importantly Brahman loves, cares and works for you even more than yourself or your loved one or your middleman.
Read my article on Brahman to understand what is true worship of Brahman and who is the real embodiment of Brahman.
There is no middleman mentioned at all in my article.
I am surprised that people take self appointed middlemen of Brahman seriously.
All the scriptures were not invented by these middlemen, they are just being twisted their interpretation of these middlemen.
Have people become so lazy and indifferent that they cannot read and understand the scriptures themselves?
They are not really communicating with Brahman if they are using middlemen, they are actually communicating with middlemen.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and most of these middlemen have very little knowledge and such a narrow world view.
Most of them are fundamentalist frogs in the well.
They only know their version of their religion and hate anybody who does not fit their world view.
They are usually professional full time freaks with a background in “theology” or have done some research but only into their scriptures.
In the same vein, they say you must hate non believers and then also say that you must love your fellow believers.
Those who say they believe in only “their” God are idiots.
Nobody can claim sole ownership of God .
Those who have FAITH in all, have true FAITH in God.
Here are the definitions of Belief and Faith according to Alan Watts:
BELIEF – Acceptance of the truth only if it happens as you wish.
FAITH – Acceptance of the truth even if it does not happen according to your wishes.
Swami Vivekanand said:
“The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in themselves first.
As certain religions of the world say that a man who does not believe in a Personal God outside of himself is an atheist, so the Vedanta says, a man who does not believe in himself is an atheist.
Not believing in the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism. He is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.
But it is not selfish faith, because the Vedanta, again, is the doctrine of Oneness.
It means faith in all, because you are all.”
Is it not stupid to hate someone you dont know?
Is it not stupid to love someone you dont know?
To preach love and hate of people and things you are ignorant about is really the hallmark of a world class ISO certified, Six Sigma quality dumbass.
I do not have enough time or inclination to name each of these self appointed middlemen, but they exist in every religion all over the world.
The sad part is that there are some parts of the world where the law is based on interpretations of these middlemen.
Many of these middlemen are hypocrites.
They use their so called “closeness” and “higher reach” to Brahman as a means of moneymaking and profit.
There are Catholic priests who are child molesters and the best part is the Vatican still retains them.
There are Hindu priests who have turned out to be rapists and murderers and I am sure there are priests from other religions who also fall in the same categories.
These middlemen allow filthy scum immoral Anarya to make open displays of worship and swear their claim to “honesty” in the name of Brahman.
These middlemen allow filthy scum immoral Anarya to offer gold doors to their temples while not paying their employees for years, and to offer expensive “bribes” earned from their corrupt proceeds as “offerings” to a pure and good Brahman.
They build places of “worship” and “charitable” institutions in the name of Brahman based on donations earned from corruption, theft, black money and tax dodging.
Brahman treats all equally.
But these middlemen have special queues and darshans for rich pilgrims, and middlemen of all religions treat the poorer devotees as second class compared to the rich devotees.
Most middlemen I have met have a very narrow and parochial view.
A Christian priest will not worship in a Christian church, but only in a Catholic, Protestant or Baptist church.
A Muslim priest will not worship in a Muslim Mosque, but only in a Sunni or Shia Mosque.
A “Dalit” by birth cannot become a Hindu priest, only a “Brahmin” by birth can become a Hindu priest.
Never mind if the “Dalit” is an Arya, and the “Brahmin” is an Anarya, but birth is all that matters to become a Hindu priest.
A Hindu priest will not take anything from you if you give it to him in the left hand.
There are some temples where you must wear a dhoti and sari to enter.
Almost all mosques of the world will not a let a woman in to worship.
There are signs outside major temples saying that you can enter only if you are a Hindu.
In almost all religions, only men can be priests, women cannot be priests because they are considered “unclean”.
Women are considered “unclean” only in the eyes of these middlemen, not in the eyes of Brahman .
Brahman brought us into this world naked because that was what Brahman thought was cleanest.
If Brahman wanted us to be “clean” according to the wishes of the middlemen, Brahman would have brought us into this world in a sparkling white surgical burka autoclaved with Ariel washing powder. 🤔
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these temples and others places of worship.
The fault is only with the people who manage them and those blind ignorant believers who blindly follow these middlemen without thinking for themselves.
NOTE:
I have only criticised those middlemen who claim to represent Brahman and claim to open doors to lead you to Brahman.
There are many enlightened masters of all religions who are Gurus.
The word is Guru in the Sanathan Dharma, in Sufism is it is Peer, I am sure that are similar words in all religions.
Gurus are not middlemen.
They do not claim to open doors to lead you to God.
Gurus are those who open the doors in yourself so that you can find your own way to God.
A true Guru is one who will not tell you to follow his path, but tell you to find your own path.
Elbert Hubbard said:
The man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan.
The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also.
The path of a true Guru is like the flight of a bird.
There are no footprints to follow.
Every bird has to make its own flight path.
But there is always the warm memory of flight of the Guru.
There are also many non-sectarian spiritual organisations like Ramakrishna Math and many other non-sectarian organisations that work for the benefit of all religions of Bharat not just a particular religious group.
For understanding the difference between spiritual and “religious” read my article on Brahman.
In the Ramakrishna Math, even Muslims have joined as monks and they also celebrate Muslim and Christian festivals.
Most of the people I have met in the Ramakrishna Math are highly accomplished and had highly successful education and careers as engineers, MBA, CA and still gave it all up to become monks to serve society.
The monks including the senior monks live very simply.
They wash their own plates and clothes.
In fact the motto of the Ramakrishna Math should be the ideal of all people and organisations, not just in Bharat but in the whole world.