Religions are closed systems

Religions are closed systems, which means they are (or should be) rationally constructed on the basis of their own premises. The fundamental premise is generally based on the recognition of a certain order in creation which potentially leads to a higher spiritual purpose. After this very general underlying faith, the premises can be wildly different from one religion to another.

 
Oftentimes, the premises are wilder and wilder in their challenging the rationality of a believer or nonbeliever. Generally speaking these difficult points are connected to the historical details related to the aetiology of the religion. Think of Christ dying to redeem the sinners, Muhammad’s receiving the direct words of God from the archangel, or Krishna’s descent in the form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because religions are closed systems, they may share broad basic premises, but part ways on such details.

It is in these historically based details that the most interreligious conflict arises. I may say that religion is about love, but if I set a precondition that you _must_ follow one or another particular system to attain it, then claims to universality seem to be obstructed. It might be said that each religion has a particular jurisdiction: to appeal to a particular mindset. At the same time, as soon as it appeals to one mindset, it also has the opposite effect on others.

I remember when Ekkehard Lorenz wrote his articles on the Prabhupada purports to the Gita and Bhagavatam, doing a comparative study with the commentaries of Baladeva and Vishwanath. His big discovery was that Prabhupada added copiously and wantonly wherever he could to condemn two things: Mayavada philosophy and sexual promiscuity.

Most of those who are not devotees but attracted to spirituality, to Buddhism, yoga or Vedanta, are very much pained to hear the incessant condemnation of Mayavada. I also feel a bit sensitive, since I think that achintya-bhedabheda means that we have to find a harmonious position that accommodates justly all the texts of the Upanishads, and even the Bhagavatam, that speak uncompromisingly of the essential oneness of all things and all religious doctrines.

In Harināma-cintāmaṇi Bhaktivinoda Thakur is pretty uncompromising about Mayavada and his language is not at all accommodating. Chapter 7, in which the offense of blaspheming the scriptures is discussed, Bhaktivinoda Thakur makes it clear that for him, accepting the doctrine of Mayavada – or Purva-mimamsa, or Gautama’s Nyaya and other doctrines, especially Shakti-vada, that ostensibly accept the Vedic authority but deny bhakti – are offenders to the scriptures.
In this world, Maya Devi is worshiped as the goddess Durga or Kali. She is the shadow of Krishna’s internal, spiritual potency. Her primary purpose is to purify the souls who resist their eternal identity as Krishna’s servants and gradually leads them into awareness of Krishna. She thus gives two kinds of blessing: one is niṣkapaṭa (honest and unrestricted, or “heartfelt”), the other sakapaṭa (deceptive). When she gives her sincerest blessings, Maya Devi leads the jiva to bhakti through her own facility of giving understanding. When she gives her deceptive blessings, then she maintains her hold over the jiva by giving him temporary material pleasures. The ultimate manifestation of this deceptive form of mercy is shown when she casts the jiva into the state of extinction in the formless Brahman. Such a jiva is doomed. (Note to HNC 7.61)


Similarly Bhaktivinoda does not hesitate to say someone is going to hell, or meeting with doom and destruction through the offenses to the Holy Name. It is only because he accepts as true the glories of the Holy Name.
The Smritis say whoever utters the Holy Name, either in faith or neglect,
attracts the mercy of Lord Krishna and receives His blessings.
There is no knowledge as pure as the Holy Name.
There is no vow as powerful as chanting the Holy Name.
In this world there is no meditation equal to chanting the Holy Name.
No achievement is in any way equal to the Holy Name.
No renunciation is equal to chanting the Holy Name.
No mastery of the senses equals the chanting of the Holy Name.
No pious act in this world equals the chanting of the Name.
After much consideration, I see no refuge equal to the Holy Name.
I see no goal in life as wonderful as the Holy Name.
The Holy Name is the supreme liberation; it is the highest state of being;
The Holy Name is the supreme devotion; it is the purest state of mind;
The Holy Name is the supreme affection; it is the highest remembrance;
The Holy Name is the cause of all causes; it is the lord of all creation;
The Name is supremely worshipable; it acts as the supreme guide and guru.
The lowly creature who considers the Holy Name’s glories to be imaginary
is a most sinful person whose life will continue to deteriorate until death.


A more accurate translation would be, “He rots and rots in hell until he dies.”

You see, even I find it difficult.



Comments

Prem Prakash said…
The difficulty with all systems is they are paradigms, which are inherently limiting. It's hard to realize He who is limitless while remaining in limitation. Perhaps the more sattvic a system, the less binding it becomes over time. It also seems intrinsically problematic to have a paradigm which treats bhu loka as an ontological prison. It's exhausting to be under such threat and duress all the time, and to deny the necessary fullness of creation.
Friday, 14 April, 2023
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