I remember long long time ago...when I was around 10 I was a fervent Hindu. I would do pujas, yajnas, visit temples, do fasting, wear lockets and bow down with horn while driving at every temple that I crossed.
Then came Reiki into my life and my Reiki Guru was the first one to shake my blind hindu beliefs. I was super impressed and shaken ! He talked about the unconscious , the conditioning of mind , the fear of religion !
I was all sold ! I thanked stars for waking me up and I became an ardent Reiki practitioner and earned several degrees of training.
It was only later that I shared my revelation with my cousin with lot of excitements. I was hoping he'd be super impressed and immediately join the Reiki Course. Instead, he listened to me and told me that whosoever is your Reiki Guru is actually repeating word-to-word commentaries of another Guru - Osho ! I thought this is ridiculous Guru fight. He is simply wanting to show superiority of his Guru.
Anyway - I decided to give it a listen. Unfortunately, the first discourse that I got of Osho had a strong critique of Mahatma Gandhi. I was super pissed off ! I said - who is this idiot -Osho ! How can he talk about father of Nation in such demeaning terms. I became anti-Osho and started spreading similar sentiments.
While my Hindu customs continued but they were certainly fading away in vigor. Few months later a friend of my understood my obsession with Hinduism and thus gifted me Osho's commentary on Geeta. Now suddenly, Osho became a friend. He was praising Hinduism , Geeta and it's grandeur. Hmm...this man talks some sense at least, I said to myself. I didn't know that it was a bait of Osho. His discourses of Geeta were more of Anti-Geeta in a very strategic way to suit to Hindu ear. Osho wanted people to get free of religious burden and has used various strategy to achieve this, using religion's bottle to sell his own wine was one of his key strategy.
Anyway, the point is I was now no more a Hindu. Most of my beliefs were anyway based on non-rational assumptions. Given the background of Science education, exposure to readings of people like Osho, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Bertrand Russel - I very soon became a non-hindu. All my rituals and worships stopped. Visiting temple was more of a touristic activity than religious. I was considering myself mordern - for now I no longer do the funny things that Hindus do.
The story didn't end there. As I grew in maturity, it all started coming back. As I read more of Osho, JK and similar anti-religion commentaries , more I could see deeper meanings of their words , which were very much in sync with Hinduism. I decided to get first hand Hindu experience and started reading original Geeta, Veda excerpts and similar texts.
It was grace of God that I again became a Hindu. I now practice puja, yajna, worship, festivals, fasts and temple visits. However now it's with a deeper understanding and feeling. The faith is more real, no longer blind. While being a Hindu, I am not anti-(other beliefs). I have learnt that all religion are simply talking about the same thing. Even all Gurus are talking the same thing. No-one is anti-anything. They all simply want Human beings to live religiously not simply be hypnotized by it and become fanatics.
If a Hindu lives like an authentic Hindu as per scriptures he won't be very different from a Muslim living as per Quran, or an Osho-lover living as per Osho's vision !
Hari Om Tat Sat !
Then came Reiki into my life and my Reiki Guru was the first one to shake my blind hindu beliefs. I was super impressed and shaken ! He talked about the unconscious , the conditioning of mind , the fear of religion !
I was all sold ! I thanked stars for waking me up and I became an ardent Reiki practitioner and earned several degrees of training.
It was only later that I shared my revelation with my cousin with lot of excitements. I was hoping he'd be super impressed and immediately join the Reiki Course. Instead, he listened to me and told me that whosoever is your Reiki Guru is actually repeating word-to-word commentaries of another Guru - Osho ! I thought this is ridiculous Guru fight. He is simply wanting to show superiority of his Guru.
Anyway - I decided to give it a listen. Unfortunately, the first discourse that I got of Osho had a strong critique of Mahatma Gandhi. I was super pissed off ! I said - who is this idiot -Osho ! How can he talk about father of Nation in such demeaning terms. I became anti-Osho and started spreading similar sentiments.
While my Hindu customs continued but they were certainly fading away in vigor. Few months later a friend of my understood my obsession with Hinduism and thus gifted me Osho's commentary on Geeta. Now suddenly, Osho became a friend. He was praising Hinduism , Geeta and it's grandeur. Hmm...this man talks some sense at least, I said to myself. I didn't know that it was a bait of Osho. His discourses of Geeta were more of Anti-Geeta in a very strategic way to suit to Hindu ear. Osho wanted people to get free of religious burden and has used various strategy to achieve this, using religion's bottle to sell his own wine was one of his key strategy.
Anyway, the point is I was now no more a Hindu. Most of my beliefs were anyway based on non-rational assumptions. Given the background of Science education, exposure to readings of people like Osho, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Bertrand Russel - I very soon became a non-hindu. All my rituals and worships stopped. Visiting temple was more of a touristic activity than religious. I was considering myself mordern - for now I no longer do the funny things that Hindus do.
The story didn't end there. As I grew in maturity, it all started coming back. As I read more of Osho, JK and similar anti-religion commentaries , more I could see deeper meanings of their words , which were very much in sync with Hinduism. I decided to get first hand Hindu experience and started reading original Geeta, Veda excerpts and similar texts.
It was grace of God that I again became a Hindu. I now practice puja, yajna, worship, festivals, fasts and temple visits. However now it's with a deeper understanding and feeling. The faith is more real, no longer blind. While being a Hindu, I am not anti-(other beliefs). I have learnt that all religion are simply talking about the same thing. Even all Gurus are talking the same thing. No-one is anti-anything. They all simply want Human beings to live religiously not simply be hypnotized by it and become fanatics.
If a Hindu lives like an authentic Hindu as per scriptures he won't be very different from a Muslim living as per Quran, or an Osho-lover living as per Osho's vision !
Hari Om Tat Sat !
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