Monday, 23 Oct 2017
I have trust in God.
(I would like to say Nature, instead
of God. But considering the
characteristics of the subject discussing here, I use the word God. Here God denotes the power behind
the laws of Nature.)
But I connect
with God not through anybody else. I don’t see the need of any intermediate person
to establish my communion with God. God
is a truthful and beautiful experience for me. I understand that purifying
my self is the means to relate with God.
I am not able to
see the need of appointing someone, whoever he is, to pray for me. I cannot see
the relevance of paying another person or agency to do Puja for me. Accepting
an authority to stand in between me and God is nothing but giving consent to
the social exploitation in the form of Priest-hood. This is the largest as well
as the oldest system of exploitation still existing in the society.
You believe that
you need to seek the support of a priest for praying for you. It happens in
temples, churches, mosques as well as in families. It is a common practice that
you bring home the priest for various ceremonies. You pay them for the ‘services’ they provide for you. And you
feel that God is pleased through their pleasant responses. Priests there act as
if the direct representatives of God. Priests come in between you and God generally
in all major occasions in your life.
There are two
believes among the ordinary people which are the reasons for the establishment
of the system of priest-hood:
1.
You think that priests are more close to God than you. They have developed some
knowledge system with which they mesmerize the common people. Ordinary people
cannot chant Manthra-s or prayers as
priests are doing. How can an ordinary
person show hand-gestures and movements as a trained priest performs? The priests will also blind the people with their elaborate ‘costumes and attire’.
2.
The second belief is that you are not able to connect with God directly without
an intermediate person/group. You are brainwashed by the tradition with a
concept that your knowledge is not enough to reach God! And that you need a
priest to act on your behalf!
Both these
believes are not true. No knowledge system can take you closer to God. Only
innocent and pure mind is required to reach God. Your good heart can help you
to find out God. A priest is not at all necessary for you to connect with God.
Priest is not
Guru. Guru is the one who liberates you from the difficulties of your
inclinations. Guru gives you the right knowledge to establish the connection
with God. The priests benefit by putting you psychologically in dependency to them.
Either taking
birth in a priest family or becoming a priest through some ‘training’, both cannot be considered as
a desirable goal of life.