Concerns :The Crucial Question.

Concerns :The Crucial Question.
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Politics has always diverted our attention from the fact that ethics forms the very foundation of true religion.And any religion is only as much religion as it is ethical, -and not unethical. If we agree to at least in principle to this truth, we can at once get rid of all tradition and orthodox ways of living, that are simply just unethical.
But because of propaganda of politically motivated (false to the name) religions, we have been oblivious of this core-fact. This is a fact, because we can discuss with a free mind what is ethical and what is not; - what is unethical. There is also a code of conduct followed by all men of ethical conscience, and this code of conduct varies to significant extent from one to another society.
A religious group is invariably a loosely woven structure where people follow / observe / practice certain rituals and traditions with less or more rigidity. Every religious group is founded upon a set of 'beliefs', some of which possibly could be proved to be baseless, untrue, even false. Not only that, some of such 'beliefs' are in fact very harmful for the society and humanity as well in many ways.
The core belief which is also called faith is about of the existence of 'God': -one or many. 'Religion' does not allow to inquire into the truth of this belief. The simple fact that (the concept of) such a 'God' could not appeal to many skeptics, non-believers, agnostics. For most of the people, this word does not evoke a response. It is a word like so many innumerable words we use in our conversation, just because we have heard and uttered / repeated this word many times just for convenience. This does not prove / let us know our-self that we know what this word tells about. In other words, we are really totally ignorant about the meaning, exact or round-about, of this word. And though this word slowly gets crystallized in our mind in the form of a 'concept', that concept is formulated and structured according to the social conditioning of our own specific religious group which we belong to. This means, what is 'religious' for our group may not necessarily be 'ethical' according to many other 'religious' groups. We therefore see the differences between various 'religious' groups or religions could never be resolved. And to reach at some common agreement / consensus is almost impossible.This has been the very reason why all religions have always been against each other to the extent of exterminating them at any cost.
This is purely an unethical approach and here we have to consider / there is this urgent need, we should attend to this crucial question : if ethics should not be given an upper hand over religion?
It is not difficult to see that 'religion' could never be understood properly by any of us, where-as every-one of us could instantly be very clear about what is ethical and what is unethical for the good of humankind as a whole. And let us stress that 'humankind' does not limit the 'ethics' because man could also see that humankind could never prosper, survive and be happy in isolation, cut-off from the rest of the living things and beings, 'nature' as a whole.
These things could be and should be given attention by all those well-wishers and thinkers who are concerned about this question of Ethics, Religion, Politics of different 'states', 'progress'.
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Faith, Beliefs and Religion

Faith, Beliefs and Religion .
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Since times immemorial, mankind has been struggling to find out a harmony that could help it living in peace lasting, but the very notions about Faith, Beliefs and Religion, have been so diverse and divergent, even contradictory that caused more and more doubts and confusions.
Let us start from the very beginning. Not in the historical only, but also with reference to the contemporary and for all coming times as well.
Our collective attitude towards these 3 things, namely  Faith, Beliefs and Religion  has been very erroneous and irrational.
Religion in the broader sense means a way of performing and following some rituals one feels and believes to be helpful for the good of oneself and the society / people. This may be based on different beliefs which are not though well-defined, yet appeal to the mind of that particular group of people.
They just feel happy and a sense of satisfaction true or false for another such group of people.
Thus bowing before an idol or an object, worship in the prescribed way learned from the elders is part of the religious sentiments, which some do just for feeling safe, comfortable, relief, secure and as a way to connect to other people of their own kind.
Faith on the other hand may or may not be there in performing the above-said religious kind of rituals. These rituals could mean different things to different individuals. Their justifications may be different, but the minimum requirement is they appeal to them.
A ritual could be viewed as a very clearly defined 'practice'.
We often say : 'practicing the religion...' .
We don't 'practice' a faith. The simple reason is :
A faith is and perhaps could not be as much well-defined as any 'ritual'.
We just don't know what exactly we mean by 'God' / 'Creator', which some theists say they believe in. And then their 'Gods' are so different from the others' of their own kind that there is a disagreement among them. Just because they themselves don't know.
We seek the support of beliefs because of some kind of hope, fear or compulsion. A set of certain beliefs forms a so-called 'faith'. And one keeps 'auto-suggesting' oneself for this set of beliefs is 'Truth' / 'The only truth' for him. One keeps glorifying perpetuating his confidence, which needs to be strengthened every moment. Lest it may just die away.
It is in the very nature of a belief that when scrutinized, either it gets just dissolved / annihilated / turns into an absurdity, or is just seen as 'truth'. But even then, if it is a 'truth' for one, he is unable to convince others so long as they are not willing / interested / feeling like finding out themselves.
As humankind we can see very clearly that every-one has to follow his 'faith' inherent in him, and to accept and go through the way that appeals to his conscience, and no one should 'force' others to follow what is 'truth' for himself only.
We can transform 'religion' into a thing of 'tourism' that appeals to every-one according to his 'faith' only, and not just because it has been 'practiced' by his parents and grant-parents.
Thus we can assimilate people of all different kinds of ethnicities and live in optimal harmony.
A division of humankind in classes based upon 'religion' as we see presently, where people join together and unite in the name of a 'religion' has proved very harmful to all of us. Be that Catholic, Islam, Hindu, Christian, Jew or any other. And there is one more concrete reason for this. Every individual has his own 'set of beliefs' alias 'faith' which is very different from that of any other individual. And we see this every-day and every-where. Even in every so-called religion, or between atheists / agnostics / skeptics / non-believers. Just because a 'belief' is never and could not be even well-defined, if not at least well-perceived. All beliefs are subject to scrutiny, doubt and there is always some-one who would challenge to.
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A Hindi Poem of 'dinakar' / ’दिनकर’

A Hindi Poem of 'dinakar' / ’दिनकर’
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किसको नमन करूँ मैं भारत !
हे भारत!
(राष्ट्र-वंदना)
स्व. रामाधारीसिंह ’दिनकर’

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kisako namana karūm̐ maiṃ bhārata!

English Translation : ©

Vinay Kumar Vaidya / myself  

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किसको नमन करूँ मैं?
Who to, should I offer my obeisance?
-
Who to, should I offer my obeisance?
To You, or to the Lord of Your rivers?
To You, or to Your mountains and woods?
To who should I offer my humble obeisance,
O Bharata!
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Are you just that triangle,

Drawn on the map of the globe?
Are You not the will of the flights,
Of the human mind across the cosmos?
You are but the Master of all Veda,
You are but all-times treasure,
Of all the secrets!
O my Beloved Country!
You are not just the stone,
the water and the clay,
Let me bow to the Consciousness,
The Being that is immanent in You,
Shining through all that idle indolence!
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Bharata is not only one more,
A name of a place like others,
It is an attribute of man noble,
It is not a place but a character,
Immaculate, resplendent,
Of this entire, this whole earth.
At whatever place is this seen,
Bharata is That the shining Sun.
To this undivided Universe,
To this birth-place of the world whole,
Let me offer my humble obeisance,
--
Though this earth looks as if segmented,,
By mountains, streams and oceans,
When-ever two hands stretch across,
The lengths of two disjoint afar islands
The rift between the two is soon leveled,
In the hold of the handshake of  friends.
The one who creates this bridge between them,
Is no one else other than Bharata!
Let me bow, before this Great bridge, auspicious
Let me offer my humble obeisance,
--
Where-ever the strings of two hearts,

Are attuned by whosoever there,

Where-ever they are turning,

Moving the flow of the world,

Pouring, dissolving they,

In the life-stream,

The nectar of Love,

Opening the windows tightly shut,

Between the neighbor-lands of the earth,

Calling them as my own soul-kin,

Let me offer my humble obeisance,

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Where-ever is raised,

A call for peace,

Who-so-ever holds, a lamp of 'dharma',

That brave hand is Your's own truly,

Who-so-ever stays undaunted upon truth,

Happily ready willing to make,

Sacrifice of his life for justice,

I bow before that face of humanity,

I bow before that revered forehead! 

Let me offer my humble obeisance,

O Bharata!

Let me offer my humble obeisance,

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The abode of nāga-s / (Poetry)

A very long poem

~~ ॥ नाग-लोक ॥~~~~~~~~~~~
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© vinaysv.blogspot.com ,
 (translated from Hindi)
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Originally written and published first on 15-November, 2010.
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They were many,
Every alternate year or so,
they would shed their skin.
Often at the times,
When it started covering their eyes,
Making them unable to see.
Very often they would come-out,
Because of strong hot weather,
Feeling suffocated in their holes,
Or, when the rains flooded the holes,
And forced them to leave.
And just like this,
Every-day a few times,
In search of prey for food,
There was plenty of that there.
And this also happened,
That they would feed on,
Themselves as well.
Once in the open,
They would either get crushed,
Under the feet of humans or animals,
And would bite them in turn.
And though some were poisonous,
Others many were timid,
Inattentive or just unwary.
Nevertheless,
All were taken as dangerous.
Their land and world,
Was always lit, illuminated,
By the dark shades of,
Myriad different colors.
And they had their own systems,
Societies, Law and order,
And Countries.
Their own philosophies,
Ethics, Languages and Dialects.
And all those had their own,
Versions and editions.
And this whole phenomenon,
Was named, Civilization,
Philosophy, Religion, and Culture.
All in many divergent groups.
And quite so accordingly,
A follower of a certain Civilization,
Philosophy, Religion, and Culture,
Would also share,
The sentiments of some another group,
Which on yet some other criteria,
He appeared to be against.
And this happened quite frequently.
No doubt,
Dark shades too shared all these traits of them.
Like them, the dark shades too had,
Diverse colors, touches, tastes,
forms, sounds and patterns.
They were all there,
Living in co-existence.
In their emotion, thought,
Sensitivities and sensibilities,
Temperaments and moods,
All these dark shades had,
Their own moulds and patterns.
Thought, Political or of the another kind,
Commitments and fidelity
And this all created their world and their saga.
Which they always loved,
And also kept trying to improve,
Transform their this world,
Into another, They dreamed of.
In some 'tomorrow',
That was a 'yesterday',
Along-with a 'today'.
The three got mixed-up,
Mingled into one-another,
And thought would trespass,
Its own territory,
And they would enter another,
Which was otherwise forbidden for them.
Restricted.
Then they would shed-off their skin,
And till getting accustomed to,
The newer shade of darkness,
would slip into in a trans,
Would go from red, silky, hot, darkness to,
Another green, cool, velvet, cozy one.
And they knew,
That was a 'time',
When time existed not.
But it was never possible for them,
To enter the same willingly,
On their own.
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A Poem of the day / "If you are ..."

Right to die with dignity, in peace.
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Just as one should / could not be deprived of his / her right to live the life, one should / could also not be deprived of exercising one's right to die the way one would like to adopt. Just like the right to Live one's life, one should also have the right to die, and the choice of the way one would like.
I would even say that living the life with dignity and dying with the same dignity should be treated as fundamental human rights of every-one and should be given all due respect always.
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A Poem of the day
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©

If you are ...

If you are the thirst,
Get yourself quenched.
If you are the love,
Spread over,
All over the earth.
If it is very difficult,
To live on,
In this cruel world,
Become and be my breath,
Move in,
And stay on there,
In my chest.
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