THE CURSE OF MONOTHEISM

Pandit Sri Ram

"The great unmentionable evil at the center of our culture is monotheism. From a barbaric Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human religions have evolved —Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These are sky-god religions." — Gore Vidal

Monotheism is the belief that there is only ONE god. All three monotheistic religions   supposedly all worship the same sky-god - Yahweh/God/Allah but all hate and fight with each other!

Since the dawn of time all humans have been natural polytheists (believing in many gods). The great civilizations were all polytheist, the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Mayans, Aztecs etc.

The major polytheistic world religions today are Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. While Buddhism does not accept the idea of a Godhead, the Buddha acknowledged the existence of the Hindu gods.

Hinduism has a large range of beliefs — monism[1], deism[2], henotheism[3], pantheism[4] and pan-en-theism,[5] polytheism as well as monotheistic sects (which are more henotheistic than pure monotheistic. Hindu monotheism is informed by the doctrine that the Ultimate Reality can be approached in many ways and the God/ess takes whatever form his/her devotee desires.)

Monotheism as a premise leads to some seriously unfortunate results!

The first attempt at monotheism took place in Egypt and was actually a complete failure. The first originator of monotheism was the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten. His aim was to establish the worship only one god – Aten (the sun). It was a radical change and was rejected by the population. In the beginning, the pharaoh was tolerant of others, but gradually he turned into a religious fanatic, an ominous portent of things to come in future centuries, because monotheism has never been about harmony. Akhenaten’s experiment failed and shortly after his death in 1336 BC the religion of Aten ceased and the traditional Egyptian polytheism was restored. The pharaoh’s religious reform was rejected by the people and monotheism had to wait for a second attempt. That’s how the very first appearance of the idea of a single god, so distant and different from all the other deities, turned out to be a disaster and the threat was successfully stopped in Ancient Egypt, but not for good. That’s almost without doubt monotheism’s biggest loss in history.

Tragic conclusion of the Monotheistic premise.

1. The deity of monotheism is always a sky/male with a definite bias for males and a concurrent prejudice against earth/females.

2. The separating of humanity into the chosen/un-chosen people, the elect/damned, the believers and non-believers. The chosen, elect, believers are of course elevated above the un-chosen, damned, unbelievers. We thus have a hierarchy of human value and the greatest of all crimes is rejection of, or disbelief in the sky-god. The believers (Christians and Muslims) have a duty out of 'compassion' for unbelievers to convert them to the great benefits of the sky-god's mercy and grace. (Judaism excepted.)

3. God naturally 'loves' his chosen ones and will admit them to his heaven and therefore he must obviously hate the un-chosen ones because he will burn them in hell for all eternity! The Koran categorically declares Allah's disgust and hatred of the unbelievers, whereas Christianity has a rather schizoid proposition that their sky-god actually "loves" the unbelievers until they formally reject him and then he will smite them with all his might and torture them for all-eternity. The result —racism and the dehumanizing of the other, and the laying down of the ground work for conversion by force, coercion, exploitation, discrimination, enslavement and  colonization — in order to save the pagans from themselves.

4. The one god also happens to be the ultimate source of all law and his clergy are the arbitrators. This god also governs the world through his moral laws and is very jealous and zealous about their adoption by all humankind.

5. Furthermore every monotheistic religion because of its absolutist claims, has one self-elected group which represents the 'true' way to believe in, and worship the sky-god. Every one in the community that dissents from this 'orthodox' dogma is an 'heretic'. Heretics need to be 're-educated', expelled or killed. So monotheists will always split into heretical and deviant sects and argue among themselves and invariably this will lead to violence:— physical and mental. (Somehow the Jewish sects have remained composed among themselves but the history of the Christian and Islamic sects is blood-soaked and sectarian wars continue today among the Muslims.)

One of the most common insults that Hindus endure is the question:—  "Why do you guys believe in so many gods and we believe only in the ONE TRUE GOD?" This question itself assumes that monotheism is a self-evidently superior intellectual position to have. I always answer with a challenge:— "Name me one single tangible, universally beneficial contribution that monotheism has made to the world!"

Let's take a look at a few of the major ones--

1. Democracy — Greek

2. Modern legal system — Roman

3. Mathematics — Greek and Roman — Zero supplied by the Hindus.

4. Astronomy — Greeks, Mesopotamians and Hindus

5. Medicine — Western — Greek, Eastern — Hindu and Chinese.

6. Philosophy &  free enquiry — Greek, Roman, Hindu,  Buddhist etc.

7. Science &  technology — flourishes under pagans and atheists. Most scientific advances have been strenuously resisted by the custodians of monotheism. (Most climate change deniers today would be linked to a monotheistic belief system.)

8. Fine Arts — flourished under pagans and was deprecated by Jewish monotheists. Later adopted by the monotheists to propagate their ideology among the pagans.

9. Environmental custodianship — promoted by all pagans.

10. Charter of human rights — atheists and pagans

11. Multiculturalism — all polytheistic societies by their very nature are inclusive and accepting of others.

13. Libraries — Greeks, Hindus and Buddhists. (Christians and Muslims are notorious for their habit of burning books and indeed entire libraries. (The Great libraries of Alexandria and Nalanda are examples.)

It is true that Christians and Jews under the influence of atheists and humanists have nurtured and  improved on all of these above mentioned factors but only by resisting the ordained representatives of the sky-god. Many of the medieval thinkers and scientists were burned alive by the church!

The contribution of monotheism.

Monotheists would argue that their ideology contributes 3 'unique' values:--

1. Value of life

2. Justice and equality

3. Social responsibility

All of these are found in the preexistent pagan religions. In fact paganism generally has a higher regard for all life forms. The Bible prescribes killing as the most common form of punishment - even for picking up twigs on the Sabbath!! The code of Hamurabi which pre-dates the Law of Moses (given by Yahweh) was far more humane and just.  Social responsibility as well as responsibility to the other beings and the environment has always been the basis of Hindu and Buddhist Dharma. None of these values are unique to monotheism, in fact one could argue that they are the result of pagan influence!

The contribution of monotheism has primarily been suppression, oppression and ideological wars. Depending on where monotheism was forcibly imposed, hundreds to thousands of years of religious oppression backed up by enormous political violence have given the false impression that monotheism was a natural development in human society.  Its followers killed off their opponents, burned their libraries, smashed their temples, and then wrote new books explaining their view of what happened.  Dead men and burned books make it hard to learn anything but the victors’ stories.

“The conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam by the sword during this period.” (Will Durant — Story of Civilization)

 

War Among Monotheists

Why do monotheistic religions fight so many religious wars? The track record is spectacular, beginning with the Zoroastrians during the Persian invasion of Greece, continuing with the eradication of the pagans under Constantine's successors, the wars of the Arian Heresy, the invasion of Christendom by the Muslims, the Crusades which were wars on monotheist Christians to liberate their holy sites from the monotheistic Muslims, the Muslims invasion of India and the Hindu holocaust. While back in Europe we had the Albigensian Crusade, the Hussite Rebellion, the Thirty Year's War, and so on throughout the middle ages up to the Middle East conflicts today. Even the ancient Egyptians had a brief fling with religious violence during their short-lived experiment with monotheism under Akhenaten before they gave it up as a bad job.

No sooner did monotheism triumph politically wherever it was established than it began to disintegrate.  The force of arms imposed a unity that sacred books could never come close to achieving.  When that imposed unity ended, the result was war, as passions once directed against Pagans became fratricidal, pitting Protestants against Catholics,  both against smaller heretical sects, Christians against Jews, Sunnis against Shias and so forth — all because the opposing party had differing views on the sky-god and his plan for humankind! Freedom of thought and intellectual independence was and still is the principle enemy of monotheism!

Anyone knowledgeable about Western history knows hundreds of years of religious war and more than a thousand years of religious persecution characterized Europe after it became dominated by Biblical monotheism.  Most of the killing was Christian killing Christian after they had exterminated older faiths.   

In modern history we are still suffering under the tyranny of monotheism.  Most of the current wars on the planet, terrorism, bloody massacres and persecutions are a direct result of monotheism. The entire Middle-east is engulfed in bloody and horrendous conflict right now — all justified by monotheism only.

Monotheism has produced directly, or indirectly contributed to the following blights on humanity:--

1. Wars of ideology and persecution of  free-thinkers (intellectual deviants)

2. Colonization and proselytization with exploitation of resources

3. Destruction of native civilizations and cultures (mainly in the Americas.)

4. Racial discrimination laws (USA and African colonies mainly).

5. Environment degradation and exploitation of resources and animals

6. Gender bias and misogyny as well as the stigmatization, murder and oppression of non-heterosexuals.

7. Psychological trauma in individuals (through indoctrination and guilt).

8. Suppression of free thought and discourse (through blasphemy laws.)

9. Sexual repression and puritanical morality.

I stand up today proud to be a polytheist!!

David Hume has argued that monotheism is less pluralistic and thus less tolerant than polytheism because the former stipulates that people pigeonhole their beliefs into one.

Auguste Comte argues, "Monotheism is irreconcilable with the existence in our nature of the instincts of benevolence" because it compels followers to devote themselves to a single Creator.(The Catechism of Positive Religion pg 251)

James Lovelock criticized monotheism, due to its idea of a transcendent almighty father, he says about monotheism, "seems to anesthetize the sense of wonder as if one were committed to a single line of thought by a cosmic legal contract."

Sarvepalli Ramakrishna — "The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien cults. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had molded it on this question rather than Palestine. (Quoted in  "A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion", by Arvind Sharma, page 29)


[1] The belief that nothing actually exists but the Absolute Reality i.e. God, the world is an illusion.

[2] belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe

[3] adherence to one particular god out of several, especially by a family, tribe, or other group.

[4] a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.

[5] the belief or doctrine that God is greater than the universe and includes and interpenetrates it.

Since their inception the Abrahamic religions have been obsessed with genitals — so much so that Jehovah commanded that his sign should be on every man’s penis through circumcision. Original sin entered the world through the genitals of Adam and Eve. Now we have idiots like Baba Ramdev  and the BJP getting wound-up and  fussing over other people’s genitals!  Spending enormous amounts of money and energy fighting to curb the rights of LGBT people to live and love in peace and safety.

Strangely enough the BJP and Ramdev  have joined cause with Muslims and Christian — both groups have an inveterate hatred of Hindus and see all Hindus as the fuel for their respective eternal hell-fires! Hindus joining causes with Muslims and Christians is like Jews joining cause with the Nazis!

The highest form of Dharma is AHIMSA – non-violence in word, deed or thought. Dharma is about spiritual evolution and self-unfoldment. It’s about personal self-transformation in the cultivation of compassion and development of Self-knowledge.

adrohaḥ sarvabhūteṣu karmaṇā manasā girā |
anugrahaśca dānaṃ ca stāṃ dharma sanātanaḥ ||

The Eternal Duty (Sanātana Dharma) towards all creatures is the absence of malevolence towards them in thought, deed or word, and to practice compassion and charity towards them. (MB Vana Parva 297;35)

Dharma is not about investigating, discovering or controlling other people’s genitals!

There are so many social evils in India like the pervasive culture of abuse of women and rape, rampant child trafficking – child-prostitution, corruption is destroying the country, Islamic extremism is on the rise, Christian missionaries are converting people by the thousands, industrial pollution, environmental degradation, cruelty to animals and on and on the list goes! But what exercises the minds of the “religious” more than anything else?  What other people are doing with their genitals in their bedrooms !!

The squint-eyed charlatan Ramdev now has the dubious reputation of being the world’s greatest “Yoga guru!”  If this be the case then he is the greatest fraud out and a disgrace to the Yoga community! He is out there proclaiming to the world that homosexuality is a sin, he detests gays and can cure homosexuality through yoga and pranayama! A sanyasi filing petitions against the  decriminalization of homosexuality! And making himself a caricature and disgracing the Noble Dharma in the sight of the civilised world! 

The great sage Patanjali the father of Yoga says:--

1:33   The cultivation of friendliness (maitri), compassion (karuna), empathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity to all beings (upeksha) —  be they  happy, sorrowful, meritorious or de-meritorious  (bring about) the pacification of  the mind.

These are known as the Four Immeasurables because of the immeasurable benefit they bring to all beings. They are also know as the bheshaja catusthaya — the four great medicines which alleviate the suffering of samsara.

The third is “empathetic joy” – rejoicing in the happiness of others and never doing anything to obstruct that happiness. Equanimity is seeing all with an equal compassionate vision.

Krishna himself has said that the highest ethical goal of the spiritual aspirants is Lokasangraha — the welfare of the entire world.

Instead of trying to impede and destroy the  happiness of gay people perhaps the Right-wing Hindu fanatics and Ramdev should be working for the benefit of all sentient beings and  be spreading the message of loving kindness, compassion and unconditional acceptance. 

Instead of targeting socially productive gay people with such venom and hatred perhaps the baba and his BJP cronies should be focussing all their charisma and resources on attacking rapists, chauvinists, child-traffickers, pimps, drug-dealers, mafia, corrupt officials and politicians, crafty landlords, money-lenders and all the other riff-raff that are truly infecting Indian society. How are people  loving and copulating with members of their own gender having a deleterious  effect on society? As

Why are the Buddhists the only major religious community not to get caught up in genital hysteria and condemnation of others? 

Indian elites are still groveling  Christian slaves!!

Once again the modern western educated Indian elite (the Indian Supreme Court) have demonstrated craven  slavishness to their erstwhile British masters! Struggling to be even more “British” than the Victorians!! Even Rajnath Singh president of the BJP has proven himself to be the peon of the Christian-Muslim lobby and another cardboard Christoid puritan!

When will the Hindus finally be liberated from this contemptible slavish mentality imposed by Imperialist Christians and step into the light of history in their own glory and pride? When will Hindus finally claim their own Dharma recognizing it to be superior to anything else?

Why are these Uncle Toms claiming and clinging to an archaic law based on the Bible and forced upon them by their erstwhile masters who have long since abandoned this law and moved on in justice and compassion and acceptance?

Indian Penal Code (1860), Section 377, ‘Unnatural Sex’

377. Unnatural offences — Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with 1 [imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation —  Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.

According to Section 377 of the IPC, oral and anal sex is illegal, and you could receive a life sentence for indulging in an ‘unnatural sexual practice’.  This explains why Indians go abroad on holiday so often, and also why many Goans are resentful, since it was OK for them till 1962. Sex with animals also comes under the purview of this section, so getting fresh with pets is inadvisable.

At the time this law was formulated, in 1860, a different queen was in charge of India. Her name was Victoria. She frowned deeply on sex, as a result of which the maximum penalty for an ‘unnatural sexual practice’ was fixed at life imprisonment. She had pushed for the death penalty, but she was convinced otherwise by her husband, Albert, who was very soft-hearted. In contrast, the maximum imprisonment for causing the death of a human being was two years, proving once more that love is much more powerful than death.

In fact, this richly detailed law makes most forms of sexual activity illegal. Consequently, we would strongly advise that you stick to the missionary position, which is a natural sexual practice, endorsed by missionaries.

Most of the Dharma Shastras neglect to even pronounce on the subject of “unnatural” sex which means it was totally insignificant and irrelevant to them. Manu does mention the topic and prescribes a penance.

Manava Dharma Shastra on ‘Unnatural Sex’

amānuṣīṣū puruṣa udakyāyām ayoniṣu |
retaḥ siktvā jale ca-eva kṛcchraṁ sāntapanaṁ caret || 

11:173. A man who has sex with a non-human being (animal, blow-up doll, mechanical toy, vegetable etc.), or non-vaginal sex with a female, or has intercourse in water, or with a menstruating woman, shall perform a penance called Santapana Krcchra.

Commentary — Please note that in terms of social value, “unnatural intercourse is the equivalent of having sex with a menstruating woman!  The problem here is not one of morality but rather “purity!”

This penance is undertaken either voluntarily because of guilt or because one was found out and is being shunned by the community as being impure. It is a means of reinstatement of social standing and purification. It is defined by the  Yajñavalkya Smriti — “O Brahmins, the Pancagavya consists of cow's milk, ghee, curd, urine and dung. The expiator should swallow these and fast for the next day. This is called Santapana Krcchra.”

Now I ask you to compare this mild form of social reinstatement with life-imprisonment!!  The Georgian British laws of the 1770’s were some of the most evil in the history of humanity. Property was sacrosanct to the Georgians and had to be protected at all costs. A man could be hanged for stealing a chicken, but until 1803 attempted murder was classed only as a ‘misdemeanour’. ‘Stealing an heiress’ meant death because an heiress was property incarnate, but stealing a child was not even a criminal offense. In the “Bloody Code” there were 222 crimes for which the punishment was death. Hanging was prescribed for any theft above the value of 40 shillings.

By the 1800’s the death sentence was commuted to transportation to a penal colony (Australia)  for life. Compared to the Georgian and Victorian Laws the Code of Manu is a akin to a charter of human rights!

And surprisingly the BJP which is campaigning for ‘Hindutva’ deliriously imagines that some freaky Christian laws of the 1860 are somehow illustrative of Hindu values!   The challenge and subsequent reinstatement of this evil law was supported by a coalition of Christian/Muslim lobby groups and apparently taciturnly endorsed by the BJP (Whom the Christians and Muslims are convinced are all fuel for the eternal fires of hell!!!).

The attitude of our Acharyas to ‘Unnatural Sex’

On all the temples we find sculptures of “unnatural” sex. Even in Srirangam there is a statue of a woman being pleasured by a dog. Ramanuja Acharya and all the other acharyas of the Srivaishnavas saw these sculptures on a daily basis yet not one of them mentioned the sculptures nor demanded their destruction or effacement — let alone prescribe life-imprisonment for perpetrators. Why? Because they were there for amusement and nobody could care less!! They were totally indifferent to them! So why are the custodians of Hindutva the BJP so concerned? Why don’t they just shut their mouths and allow the Christian and Muslims of India  to become the brunt of the western world’s disgust and  anger at the infringement of human rights?

And this is all happening in a country where a woman is raped every 20 minutes, child prostitution is rife, bonded labour is still practiced and corruption is out of control. Surely there are more important social reformations  to focus on than what the private citizens are doing with their genitals  in their bedrooms? 

Wake up Hindus! Stop being Christian/Muslim puppets and Uncle Toms, regain your “purushatvam”  and return to the Sanatana Dharma and stand proud of being the inheritors of a brilliant culture and tradition spanning over 5000 !!

Sanatana Dharma ki jai!

Ub Ve Sri Rama Ramanujachari

                                                                        Authority of Acharyas

Many Srivaishnavas invoke the “opinions” and “rulings” of a nebulous group “acharyas” as if they were, a united, congruous, and harmonious band of divine beings and like the Catholic Pope “infallible”. Yet we know that the “acharyas” were many – Ramanuja appointed 700 simhasanadhipatis. (We hear nothing about the 300 women teachers that he also appointed!). All these men (and women) were very much human beings with the disposition  (svabhava) that is natural to the species. They often disagreed in their views and many learned acharyas wrote complex polemic works refuting each others arguments. Hence we have the classical Vadagalai/Tengalai divide and the 18 points of doctrinal dispute – which are still not resolved till this day!  There is no Srivaishnava “pope” and no unitary body issuing “fatwas” – each and every acharya and matham is independent and can make up their own minds on doctrinal points and matters of interpretation. If you approach  three acharyas today on any major issue you will probably have at least two opinions. (Please note that there is often also bitter rivalry between acharyas of the same faction!).

When such be the case, it is important to understand that the acharya is a guide and counselor on the spiritual path and the one that formally establishes our connection with Sriman Narayana (a connection which was never lost and is irrevocable, perpetual and natural – one is advised to choose a personal acharya and after testing him (or her) to ensure that what is taught is (a) in the spirit of Ramanuja’s teachings,  (b) is reasonable and practicable and (c) benefits all beings – one should then surrender to the guidance and teachings of such a person.

To invoke the tired phrase “our acharyas have said …….. ” — is vague, general and unhelpful and ultimately a cop-out from actually using our intelligence.

Krishna said to Arjuna in the 18th chapter – “reflect well over all that I have taught you and then follow the teachings as you will” – there was no “command” to “do as I say because I am God”  – but use your intelligence and reason and make up your own mind. 

Vedanta in general is a methodology of
(1) sravana – listen to the teachings
(2) manana – reason, apply logic and reflect upon the teachings and
(3) nididhyasana – meditate upon and REALISE those teachings in your own life — the ultimate goal of Vedanta is to bring about personal transformation in the here and NOW. To manifest all the atma-gunas of loving kindness, compassion, generosity etc.

Antaryamin

According to Vaishnava theology the Supreme Being exists in 5 forms – varying in degrees of comprehension, conception and transcendence.

1.     Paravasudeva — transcendent and incomprehensible by humans or gods.
2.     Vyuhas — functional forces of projection, maintenance and transformation.
3.     Avataras — divine incarnations — remote and unaccessible.
4.     archa — directly perceptible in the icons established in the temple – easy of access and adoration.
5.     antaryamin — dwelling within the heart of every living being.

Paravasudeva is the most distant and transcendent aspect — comprising the totality of Being; having the entire universe as His body — incomprehensible and inexpressible.

The polar opposite is the antaryamin — the indweller — within each and every one of us.

The only 2 aspects of the Divine that are really available to us to interact with, are the Archa and the Antaryamin. How is it that we have completely neglected the antaryamin and focussed our attention and devotion totally on the archas?

We spend huge amounts of time, money, effort, resources into the worship of the Archa but treat the Antaryamin with neglect and even contempt! How can a person who claims to be a Vaishnava discriminate against others?

Is not any form of discrimination based on caste, social status, gender, sexual orientation, colour, profession or physical appearance a contravention of this teaching?

Is it not a great sin to treat the antaryamin embodied in mind/body with contempt while adoring the archa embodied in stone/metal?

One of the greatest farces and hypocrisies is the perversion of  “tadiya-aradhanam” — which literally means “worshipping what is the Lord’s”  — which in the common practice of this travesty is the feeding of  Srivaishnava Brahmins!  

If we really believe our philosophy then the entire universe both sentient and insentient is His and His alone!!  Should we be discriminating between what belongs to him? Should we not also be worshipping the Lord through caring for the environment which is His body and serving the needs of all other sentient beings as well? 

Let the Brahmins  who can,  feed themselves, and let us care for all the poor and the marginalised who cannot! There is greater merit in that.  How is it that Advaitis can generally realize and put into practice the concept of sama-darshana as instructed  by Krishna so much easier than Vaishnavas?

 Gita 6:29.  With the mind harmonised by Yoga one sees equality everywhere; one sees one’s Self as abiding in all beings and all beings in one’s own Self. 30. He who sees Me everywhere and everything  in Me;  I am not separated from him and he is never separated from Me.

                                                            Loka-sangraha  Gita 3:20,25

                                            loka saṅgraham-evāpi saṁpaśyan kartum arhasi || 20 ||
                        “One should engage in work  with a view to benefit the world. (loka-saṅgraha)”

In the dictionary among the various meanings we find for the term sangraha are:--
elevation, kind-treatment, entertainment, protection, holding together, benefitting, favouring.
And the word loka refers to the whole world and  the human race.

What Krishna is enjoining us to do is to work for the benefit and upliftment of the whole world and the whole human race.

While Krishna teaches this and we talk about it,  the Catholics  actually DO IT! All over the world we find nuns and priests who have dedicated their lives to the service of the masses.

I began my spiritual journey with the Divine Life Society of Paramahamsa Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh. He and his disciples all embodied this ideal and one of the major focuses of the Ashram is running schools and the serving of the poor and the sick. There are free clinics and meals are distributed everyday to everyone who turns up. The Ashram also runs a leper colony and the monks themselves serve the lepers, changing their dressings and feeding them.

In South Africa the Divine Life Ashram runs free clinics and food and clothing distribution centres as well as schools for the poor Africans.

The Ramakrishna centre is also at the forefront of charitable work as are numerous other Advaiti organizations.

But what of the Vaishnavas? The Hare Krishnas were the first to really begin this sort of outreach program but they concentrated mainly of “food for life” and the distribution of Prabhupada’s books in order to gain converts.

Chinna Jeeyar Swami is today the only Srivaishnava monk of note who actively  pursues charity work and he is to be highly commended for it.

The rest of the Srivaishnavas are primarily concerned with attending festivals and enjoying the alankaram of the deities. They then fight and argue about who stands where in the temple queue and who gets the “prathama tirtha” first dispensing of holy water! God help you if you stand on the wrong side!  Most of the time they spend congratulating themselves on the good fortune of being Srivaishnavas and arrogantly disparaging others (especially the other “kalai”!)

We are told that the essence of being a Srivaishnava is to empathize with the suffering of others and to work to alleviate their suffering (Nanjiyar)! How many of us actually do this?  How many of us perform act of charity, help the poor and work for the benefit of others? Of the major schools of Vedanta the Srivaishnavas are the most status-conscious and bigoted!  More concerned with window-dressing than actually delivering the product.  The tilak that we wear, the size of our topknots, the orthodox practices of ’purity’ (madi-acaram)  are all frivolous, tinsel and trash! What really matters is the degree to which we have attained self-mastery and developed the qualities of compassion and kindness and the amount of service we do for others.

It seems that most Srivaishnava sites one visits are principally concerned with alankaram (decoration) of the deities and utsavas (festivals). While beautiful, elevating and enjoyable it distracts from another activity — alankaram of the atma or self.

Vedanta proposes 3 tools for self-development

1. sravana (listening to the teachings),

manana — (reflecting upon the teachings) and

nididhyasana (application of the teachings through contemplation and assimilation).

The deity enshrined in the temple is called a bimba — ’reflection’ of the antaryamin — the indweller in one’s own heart. The decoration of the icon in the temple should coincide with self-development — atma-alankaram.

Bathing and decorating the icon is a futile exercise in self-delusion if it is not concurrently accompanied by the bathing and decorating of the jivatman!

In the 12th Chapter of the Gita Krishna delivers the teaching on Amrita-dharma (The Dharma of immortality) and declares the 32 qualities of the "beloved devotee".  Let us just review the first of these qualities 12:13--

                                adveṣṭā sarva bhūtānāṃ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca |
                                nir-mamo nir-ahaṅkāraḥ sama duḥkha sukha kṣamī ||

Not prejudiced towards any living being,  friendly and compassionate to all,   free from the notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, and regarding all pain and pleasure with equanimity, and forbearing;

• The first preparatory practice is to divest oneself of  all feelings of antipathy and prejudice towards all living beings. Please notice that He says "all beings" both sentient and insentient. All hatred, animosity and negativity must be rejected. One has to dispense with all prejudices based on class, caste, creed, gender, sexual orientation, qualification etc.

• The second step is to open up a space for everyone to enter — friendliness — not rejecting anyone, open and inviting to all, treating all alike — as sparks of the divine. This is a passive state of simple allowing others into one’s own space and abandoning feelings of separation and difference. Sama-drsthi — seeing all alike.
• The 3rd stage is more difficult — it requires us to develop active compassion. There are 2 types of compassion — sympathy, which is feeling sorry for the suffering of others and empathy, which is feeling the pain of others and then begetting a sincere desire to alleviate the pain and suffering of other sentient beings. Every moment of our lives we should be looking for opportunities to decrease the suffering that is characteristic of samsara.
• The 4th stage of our practice requires an even greater effort — to rid ourselves of all feelings of possessiveness and delusive ideas of who we are! These two go together — we assume identities and then accumulate status symbols to support those delusive ideas, all of which are associated with and pertain to the conditioned physical body.
• The next stage consists of 3 qualities — remaining balanced in pleasure and pain — being unpeturbed  by either of these two experiences — recognizing all pain and joy to be the result of previous karma. Not due to either the pleasure or the wrath of any deity but resulting from our own actions. And integral to this balancing act is the quality of "forbearance" or forgiveness, not bearing a grudge against those who cause us pain but recognizing them as merely agents of our own karma.