Is our religion bundle of lies and silly stories?

Is our  religion  bundle  of lies  and silly  stories?

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I read  a  write up   about  this in Malayalam and I had  to struggle   to make a  meaning of it .Here is what  I learnt.”

 A group  of young   lads  decided  to  ask  their doubts  to a Guru ,

Their  leader  approached   a great Guru  and told him,

“I think  our religion   is mountain  of lies  and nonsense,

It seems  there  was a ocean of milk , It seems  it was churned,

It seems they   took a mountain to   churn   that ocean,

Tied it with  a snake, asuras  pulled  on one side  ,

And Devas  pulled on the other side , but suddenly  mountain slipped,

And Vishnu became a  tortoise   to lift up that  mountain,

Then when they   continued churning   , several things  came up,

Jyeshta, Lakshmi   Horse  , cow    and so on and on,

And finally  nectar   came up, can you believe  any of these,

Why does  our  so called  religion  cheat  us like this?”

Guru  broke  in to a smile  and told them  , “True  it is a story ,

Please   do  not  believe  in it fully   , the   way  itr has been told to you.”

One  of the lads   Told:-

“I think   to tell   such a sill  story  to an intelligent  persons like us  is wrong!”

The Guru told, “ I would tell you   what  I have    understood,

When  the poet   said an ocean  of milk, he was referring  to your mind,

Churning  it would  mean , churning your mind  by analysis meditation.”

If you do it  , I am sure you would get the nectar of divine  knowledge ,

The children  laughed and asked , “ Sounds silly,  but what  is the mountain used to churn?’

Guru said  “The mountain  is the greatest   possible  knowledge  that  you have acquired,”

One    student asked “Why need a snake   to churn knowledge?”

Guru said “ The snake   is the passion , avarice , pride  , anger  and bias in you,

And  with these  , you  churn the mind ,   tying  them to your wisdom,.”

One boy asked ,” Possibly  your wisdom  get reduced?”

Guru said “ Yes,  and naturally   your  wisdom would   go down in your mind,”

Another boy asked “If wisdom slipped  down , why God Tortoise  there?”

Guru said “ In this case  , God  who   is    your consciousness    lifts  up   your wisdom.”

Yet another  boy asked,”  your Consciousness is a tortoise?”

Guru said “Please  understand   consciousness  and wisdom are two entirely  different   things,

For  us  decide   to do any  thing , we use   our wisdom ,  and  if we slip and fail   ,

Our consciousness  warns us  and corrects  our action   and  puts wisdom  back on the rails?”

.The first  boy   asked  “ You have not  answered our question”

Guru said  “Consciousness  is   a tortoise   , because  only tortoise  can pull   all  its sense organs ,

Within  itself  and only when senses  are pulled , wisdom can rise   up again “

The leader   of the boys  asked,

“We seem to understand a little but  why  so many good and bad things   arise from the  mind?

Guru said , “ When  we continue   meditation Bad   aspects  of  you like  Jyeshta  devi comes out   and if you  again continue    Good  aspects like Goddess  Lakshmi   arises, Your mind  pushes out bad aspects    as well  as the tempting good  aspects  and  we  continue  our  churning  of mind further

One boy asked  “What  are  those  tree , elephant  and horse?

Guru said , “That   would  mean , if he continues  his meditation , we would get   several  great powers, but  we should ignore  all of  them and not stop   the meditation

Then  we would get The  nectar  of   pure divine knowledge  called nectar.”

Another  boy who had not asked any question asked”If you drink   that  knowledge, Will we not age, will we not die?”

Guru said , “When a person has perfect knowledge  , we realize  that aging and death  are meaningless  events and we should not bother  about them.”

The Guru asked “Are  you convinced  that  churning  of  ocean of milk , is a useless   story?”

When all  the lads nodded  yes, Guru told them.

“ All the stories of our religion are  like this, You can easily  find fault   with them but  it would be extremely  difficult    to find the true meaning and at that time  you have  to approach  a greatly learned  Guru like me.”