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   illusions. Become desireless, detached and self-abnegating by   
   offering all your wealth at the feet of the intellectual   
   priesthoods. Of course such philosophies did not preach that the   
   world was also illusory for the intellectual priesthoods who   
   received the offerings - clearly because it was through such ploys   
   that they were able to achieve their objectives.   
      
   In this regard, excessive concern about the future is also a bad   
   trait of some intellectual priesthoods. The priests have exploited   
   the common people by infusing imaginary ideas about heaven and hell   
   into their minds. And at the same time they themselves, persuaded by   
   that outlook to ignore the past and the present, have also been   
   harmed. A doctrine that emphasizes an imaginary heaven and hell and   
   considers the traditions of the past and the solid earth of the   
   present as false and illusory, is extremely dangerous for society.   
   One expression of this type of intellectual thinking was the   
   doctrine of illusion, based on non-dualism, which tried to reject   
   the existence of livings beings and the world, and accept the   
   unmanifest Non-Qualified Supreme Entity as the only truth.  But all   
   is relative and the world is a relative truth whose causal root is   
   the Supreme Cognition.   
      
   In places where, for whatever reason, intellectual clashes among the   
   intellectual priesthoods were not very intense, their philosophy was   
   very simple. They would say to the people directly, "I am or   
   represent the angel or incarnation of God. The things I have said   
   are not the words of a human being but the words of God" or "I have   
   received the divine revelation that you will eat this and not that,   
   worship in this way and not that, and offer this to God. If you obey   
   my commandments God will bless you and you will go to heaven;   
   otherwise you will be burnt to death in the fire of hell." The   
   people were fooled this easily.   
      
   The intellectual priesthoods used to tempt people with an imaginary   
   heaven and inject in them the fear of an imaginary hell. In this way   
   they would accomplish their objectives; their exploitation would   
   proceed smoothly; and moreover the fear they aroused in people's   
   minds would turn those people into fanatics.   
      
   It is noticeable that in the fanatical religious communities that we   
   see in the world today, there is very little intellectual clash   
   among the intellectual priesthoods. However, whenever fanatical   
   religious communities made systems of social rules and regulations -   
   in other words, whenever they made some effort to build a social   
   structure - their social systems would be stronger than those of   
   societies which followed a subtle philosophical theory or those of   
   warrior societies. Where there were intellectual clashes among the   
   intellectual priesthoods, each priest would have his own supporters,   
   and their different supporters would never think of themselves as   
   belonging to the same group. As a result those intellectual   
   priesthoods were unable to build a strong social structure. Though   
   their philosophies may or may not have had some good in them, the   
   Buddhists and Hindus were unable to build strong societies because   
   of their subtle mentality.   
      
   Socially, although the priests understand what is going on, they   
   cannot do anything about it. They look up towards heaven, hoping to   
   see the arrival of better days. They think, "When will the   
   downfallen intellectuals, warriors and labourers unitedly save human   
   civilization from the all-devouring greed of the capitalists. When   
   will people realize that it is not the desire of providence for some   
   to exploit others." Due to the utter despair they feel, the   
   subservient intellectual of the capitalists gradually become   
   consumed with remorse recalling how they themselves once exploited   
   others.   
      
   If God is considered to be the perfect ideal, it will have to be   
   accepted that God is always just. Even though God loves everyone, He   
   punishes sinners. But it can be said that when He punishes sinners,   
   His aim is not to give them pain but to rectify their behaviour.   
   This concept of God is the highest concept. If God is considered to   
   be the Universal Father, He should not have any racial, national or   
   communal feeling, or any other type of limited feeling. If this is   
   true, how can the intellectual priesthoods contract that the soul of   
   a certain dead person will reach heaven?   
   (HUMAN SOCIETY PART 2, THE INTELLECTUAL AGE)   
      
   They say, if there were a heaven a person's body would not contain   
   solid and liquid factors, but luminous, aerial and ethereal factors   
   will remain. The enjoyment of heaven is like this.   
   (THE PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION OF HUMANS, A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part   
   5, 26 November 1978, Bombay)   
      
   The intellectual / religious era illustrated self-aggrandisement   
   without wanting to inquire into the tragic plight of the common   
   people: the scholarly priests were hardly accessible to the common   
   people. The innocent masses were busy appeasing the priest with   
   oblations, honorariums and floral offerings. Where was the time for   
   them to take of the needy families of the poor neighbourhoods who   
   were perhaps dying of starvation? And what would be the material   
   benefit of such an action? Service to the poor would pay nothing, so   
   let them go to hell, let them die en masse. So nobody had anything   
   to do with the poor. And anyway, the priests were busy with worship,   
   prayer and observance of sacraments. All their energies were spent   
   in the appeasement of the gods and goddesses enthroned in the   
   temples, churches or mosques. There was simply no opportunity to   
   inculcate more humane qualities.   
      
   According to their intellectual scriptures, a temple made of bricks   
   and wood was of more value than humanity itself. Suppose an old   
   beggar, numbed with the cold chill of the night, is standing wearily   
   in front of a temple, his begging bowl empty. The temple is   
   reverberating with ringing bells, and the deity is being worshipped   
   in accordance with the scriptural dictates. While the devotees stand   
   before the deity with hands folded in reverence, the beggar shivers   
   bitterly outside. On completing the ritual, the people leave the   
   temple one by one, followed by the priest. The beggar entreats him   
   to let him sleep in one corner of the temple, but the priest replies   
   emphatically, "I can't afford to pollute the temple for your sake."   
   And the old man has to trudge into the world of uncertainty, and   
   perhaps bury himself in the coffin of the cold. The sanctity of   
   inert wood and bricks is valued more than a man's life.   
   (SOCIAL VALUES AND HUMAN CARDINAL PRINCIPLES, A Few Problems Solved   
   Part 2, Prout in a Nutshell Part 7, Supreme Expression Part 2, March   
   1970)   
      
   What is the proper approach?   
      
   God – the Supreme Consciousness - is the Master of both hell and   
   heaven. Suppose a wicked man has gone to hell because of his wicked   
   acts. God will also remain with him there. In no situation is the   
   wicked man helpless. God will be with him in hell to console him, to   
   inspire him, saying, `My son, there is nothing to worry about, there   
   is nothing to be unnerved about. I am with you, go ahead.'   
      
   Once a devotee said, `God can send me to hell if He wishes but on   
   one condition - that He will stay with me there also.'   
      
   So, you should be careful. Remember that in no situation are you   
   helpless, in no situation are you alone. Whether you are intelligent   
   or foolish, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, you are never   
   helpless. In no situation do you have to live alone. God - the   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)