To rebel is to be religious - OSHO
Being religious in India has been reduced to being a bigoted, superstitious and ritualistic individual. A person who believes in things such as reincarnation of the soul, rebirth and various such things which were mentioned in our scriptures with a completely different philosophy in mind but have been reduced to their literal meaning, that person is dubbed ‘religious’ by our society. A person can be blatantly against the Bhagvad Geeta, and would still be called religious by our society.
You see Sanatana or Hinduism, deals with one objective and one objective only. Mukti, Moksha, Nirvana, Liberation and Freedom. Different things with similar meanings. But the system of the day allows people to call themselves religious without ever even thinking about one’s self or Mukti for a fraction of a second.
What we have today is not Sanatana, for Sanatana is eternal. All we have is our hollow culture and our mindless beliefs. And culture and belief are not eternal. The culture of the day changes with each passing moment. The culture that was prevalent in the 80’s is not the culture that is prevalent today, this alone proves that culture changes every second. But our society says that “No, culture is supreme”. How can culture be supreme, logic dictates that for something to be supreme it has to be ever-lasting or permanent. So how can something that changes every second be Sanatana?
What we have today is an embarrassing and humiliating collection of rituals with no reason or significance behind it. So let’s take up an example for an easier understanding: “Once your child reaches a certain age, you must shave their head”. OK, but why? You see, to be human is to be rational. Many a great thinkers have often repeated the sentiment that man is nothing but a ‘rational animal’, for man is the only animal that possesses the ability to stop and ask ‘why?’ But cultural Hindus don’t want you to question or inquire about anything, just believe blindly.
So logic and rationality dictate that every action must have a cause behind it. To do something just because ‘that’s how it’s done in our society’ is sheer stupidity. Let’s take another example: “I bought a new car, now I will smash a coconut in front of it”. Now anyone with a functioning human brain will ask “What is the connection between a car and a coconut, and why would I smash a coconut in front of my car?” However our cultural nationalist would say “doing this is justified because this is our culture”. You see this is a circular argument, I will commit an act and when the cause of that act will be put into question, I will simply say that it is my culture and because my culture is supreme, my act is also justified.
Such people have never read a word of Hindu Philosophy in their entire lives. For them a person who refuses ritualism is a Nastika (atheist), but a person who refuses Krishna is an Aastika (Theist). For such people to be a Hindu is to believe. For me Hinduism is all about knowing. To know the world and to know the self, that is all Dharma is. But when Dharma falls in the hands of the wrong people, distortion is imminent.
I don’t eat chicken on Tuesday. Only an absolute nutjob could say something as insanely stupid as this and still call themself religious. You should not get a haircut on Thursday. BUT WHY? Because this is our culture. But your culture is stupid and irrational. YOU WILL GO TO HELL, YOU DECADENT ATHEIST. This is how an ordinary argument between an actual Hindu and a cultural Hindu flows, and you know which is which.
My daughter is 18 now, I want her to get married. WHY? Because this is our culture. HOLY RAMA, HOLY KRISHNA, WHY HAVE YOU LEFT ME HERE WITH THESE RETARDS? The problem with these self-proclaimed Bhaktas of God is that there is no entry barrier to calling yourself a Hindu. To call yourself an engineer you must have a degree or diploma in the domain of engineering from a UGC certified university, to call yourself a lawyer you have to pass an examination designed by the BAR association.
In other religions such as Christianity and Islam, you must be educated when it comes to the central text of the said religion and then only can you be called religious. Whereas in Hinduism, you are simply Hindu, without any effort. Have you read the Vedas? NO. Have you read the Shad Darshana? NO. Have you read the Upanishads? NO. Have you read Bhagvad Geeta? NO. What have you read then? Panchatantra, Daadi Ma Ke Kisse and Puranic Mythological Tales. So what is your conception of God? God is a man that lives in the sky and grants my wishes and decides whether I will go to heaven or hell. Vedas, Vedanta, Geeta, Upanishads are all for idiots like me, real legends read Puranic tales.
Hinduism is being destroyed at the helm of our cultural and belief system. We say things like “We believe in the truth”, “We have faith in the truth”, BUT WHEN WILL YOU EVER TRY TO KNOW THE TRUTH? Why is the Indian mind so quick to believe and agree but never quick to experiment and know. Knowledge is the only dharma, and not the knowledge that is provided to us by our schools and colleges so as to get a job. Knowledge of the self or Aatm-Gyana is the knowledge in question here.
Now I have been accused of being an atheist many a times. Those who levy this accusation against me are so uneducated that they don’t even know that “Advaita Vedanta”, the philosophy I subscribe to has been literally classified as an Aastika (Theist) Darshana in the Shad Darshana of Hindu Philosophy. Buddhism, Jainism and Carvaka Darshana are the Nastik Darshanas in our Shad Darshana. Jiddu Krishnamurti, Osho and Acharya Prashant, who are all scholars in their own right, only ask one thing of us, “Never stop asking questions”. Whereas the cultural Hindus ask only one thing of us “Never ask questions”.
So no, I won’t smash a coconut, neither will I check my calendar before getting a haircut. I won’t organize my dietary habits based on astrological projections, neither will I wake up at a certain time as that certain time is auspicious. Anything that cannot be rationally or logically debated is not worth engaging with. If Dharma reduces your inquisitiveness, then you are following the wrong Dharma. For Dharma is all about knowing the truth and that is what I shall do. My Dharma asks me to rebel and so I do. My Dharma asks me to be skeptical and so I am. My Dharma asks me to investigate and I do.
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