Neuroscientists have identified
the region of the human brain connected with religious feelings and this
discovery has established beyond any doubt the fact that religious instinct
is an inborn natural characteristic peculiar in human beings only.
Furthermore, the dramatic developments in the erstwhile U.S.S.R. also provide
conclusive proof that however much atheists and agnostics, scientists and
rationalists may strive to drive God away from human mind, the brain seems
to be specially designed by the Creator with the built-in mechanism of
“God Module” that cannot be done away with. Belief in a superior
power that guides the destiny of the world and its living beings is prevalent
in varying degrees in different individuals. Though religious instinct
may be an inalienable part of human brain, the God Module in atheists and
rationalists may perhaps be non-functional or dormant while in mystics
and religionists this region may be active and vigorous.
In the numerous folds and neural
networks of the brain, the neuroscientists search for the areas connected
with various perceptions, cognitions, thoughts, emotions etc. In
1997, a team from University of California discovered in the abnormal temporal
lobe of epileptics the God Spot where experiences of deeply religious nature
are found to be experienced. The human brain seems to be architecturally
designed to serve as the neurological basis for religious feelings that
are absent in animals. Only man can turn his mind inwards to reach
higher states of consciousness. The God Module in man gives him a
special and dignified status among all species. However, man is a
psychic being with instincts of the animal past of his evolution almost
intact in his memory.
Following the identification of
the God Module, a neuropsychologist from Laurentian university in Ontario
devised a headgear to artificially stimulate the temporal lobe with electric
current to generate mystic feelings in people. The God Spot in memory
contains the thoughts and concepts about God, spirit, soul etc formed from
childhood and tapping the temporal lobe can revive in conscious mind only
one’s own memories about God, spirit, etc. None has seen soul, spirit
or God and the God Module in temporal lobe contains one’s own memories
about the metaphysical and the ethereal phenomena and these concepts may
not be the very same in atheists, agnostics, theists and theologians.
With fresh learning experiences, beliefs and concepts change over time
and the same individual may have different religious beliefs at different
points of time of his life.
Bringing to the surface of the memory what is hidden in the sub-conscious
cannot be the whole of religious consciousness. The paranormal psychic
phenomena artificially generated in laboratory experiments by tapping that
part of the memory in which these are stored can be only mental projections
of each individual’s own ideas about soul or spirit. Creator, soul
or spirit cannot be reduced to neural circuits in brain modules.
All extra sensory perceptions cannot be uniformly branded as the fall-out
of abnormal cerebral activities. Perceptions of individuals depend
on the eye of the beholder. Those who lack religious faith may interpret
religious experiences as the fanciful product of neural activity while
others with faith may attribute the very same phenomena to communion of
human mind with some superior power. How to distinguish the sacred
vision from profane phantoms is the basic problem of neuroscientists.
Who is competent to judge whether the experiences of mystics are spontaneous
divine revelation or self-induced mental projection?
As long as the conscious mind
is active, the sub-conscious mind remains dormant and passive. Many
people resort to alcohol, drugs, artificial stimulants, autosuggestion,
self-hypnosis etc, to suppress the restlessness of the conscious mind to
escape from the hard realities of mundane life. These palliatives
provide only temporary relief and not permanent solutions to the numerous
problems and difficulties of worldly life. The basic objective of
religion is to suggest ways by which evil dispositions and sinful propensities
of the animal past of evolution can be wiped out from memory to evolve
psychically in purity and perfection. The Creator seems to have designed
the human brain in a specific way to feel His Divine inner presence in
order to seek His guidance and support for enlightenment of truth about
human existence. An assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania
has attempted to trace the activities of brain in deep meditation and intense
prayer to gauge the spatial orientation of these persons in the transcendental
state when the borderless spiritual communion is stated to blur the self-world
relationship. In the heightened state of consciousness, the sense
of individuality and body consciousness seem to end when unity consciousness
is felt. The brain wave activities during meditation or prayer are
reported to inhibit the other activities of the brain. In this state,
the sub-conscious mind that gets connected to higher and more powerful
states of consciousness as yet poorly understood by psychologists, becomes
active and conscious mind remains dormant.
Researchers hope to identify a common biological core in brain during
meditation that cause phenomenal changes in physical body and conscious
mind such as reduction in pulse rate, lowering of B.P., reduced intake
of oxygen, decreased anxiety, fear, depression etc.
The study of brain activities cannot
reveal whether the vision seen in mystic state is a providential dispensation
or an illusory projection of diseased brain. Furthermore, the interpretations
of subjective feelings can also be diverse and varied. The use of
sophisticated technology in the study of brain activities should not result
in incorrect inference or drawing of wrong conclusions. Unless the
sacrosanct and sacred are distinguished from the profane and sacrilegious,
the host of questions that arise from neural basis of religious experience
cannot be satisfactorily answered. There should be proper
criteria or standards to differentiate genuine visitations of Almighty
from the artificially induced phantom projections of deranged mind.
The time-tested religious practices are considered the most effective means
for improving human thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Worship of
Creator should not and cannot lead to diseased brain or abnormal mind.
The altered state of euphoric consciousness induced by alcohol, psychedelic
drugs, electric current, autosuggestion, self-hypnosis etc, besides being
harmful and unsafe, provide only fleeting or momentary joy and does not
leave any enduring or lasting impressions on the mind. On the other
hand, the yoking of impure mind with the perfect spirit should positively
result in impoverishment of lower animal instincts and enrichment of diviner
truths of life. The inner transformation should cause the suffocation
and even death of the bodily animal self to cause everlasting and permanent
change in human nature and behaviour.
Human being is a mentally imperfect
and psychically unfinished product of biological evolution. The basic
purpose of human life is to divest oneself of the biological animal self
to evolve psychically in moral purity and spiritual perfection. The
goal of human evolution can be achieved only by weeding out the animal
instincts from human sub-conscious by cultivation of highest virtues and
profoundest wisdom. Prayer and worship are time-tested and well-tried
means of purification of mind to foster faith and intuit higher truths
of life that are beyond the perception of senses and inference of intellect.
Religion is inalienably related to higher realities of life and none can
compel, force or induce God by artificial means to reveal Himself.
This will make a mockery of religion and various religious practices.
Even neuroscientists find it hard to decide whether it is the thought or
feeling that generates biochemical changes in the brain or whether it is
the brain activity that cause the thought or feeling. The study of
brain activities cannot real the cause of such activities and this has
to be traced to consciousness. The study of modem or PC will not
by itself reveal the working of Internet or cyberspace. Similarly,
the study of biochemical changes in the brain caused by consciousness,
cannot disclose the working of consciousness. The God Module and
neural circuits only revive the long forgotten past ideas about soul, spirit,
God etc, stored in the memory. The biological basis of spirituality
reveals only those regions that are active in the religious state of consciousness
and nothing more than what is already known.
There is a basic difference between
God voluntarily revealing Himself to chosen few and the self-deluded many
with diseased brain who THINK that they have witnessed a vision of God.
Brain activity that induces thinking, is a conscious intellectual effort,
whereas intuition is a sudden and spontaneous flash of enlightenment of
higher truths, without any conscious effort or deliberation. Control
of mind for inner transformation is a basic prerequisite for intuition
of higher truths of spiritual life.
Such inner transformation effects permanent changes in the neural networks
of brain that can pave the way for intuition. All religious experiences
should not be uniformly branded as hallucinations of deranged minds and
deeper probe should be made to segregate genuine visitations of Almighty
from fake phantoms. Neuroscientists with their subjective pronouncements
should not disturb the faith of the religiously conscious, as prayer and
worship in moments of calamities and catastrophes of life will lose all
their meaning, sanctity and value.
Misconceptions about the nature,
method and goal of meditation coupled with the haste and over enthusiasm
of practioners for achievement of quick results have brought the time-tested
technique of self-improvement into disrepute. Practice of meditation
based on study of books and reliance on self-efforts to attain altered
state of consciousness, besides being dangerous and unsafe, can cause serious
damage to brain and mind.
Meditation should not be conceived as a self-motivated endeavour to
attain the utterly selfish end of oneness of being. Consciousness
and life spirit are closely related to mind and brain. The unilateral
action of the individual centre of consciousness without the cooperation
of life spirit can lead to harmful consequences. Meditation is not
an end in itself but should serve as the means to attain the end of divine
life of love of God.
Mystic realisation of truth is not an intellectual activity based on
self-efforts but an intuitive experience, as a result of Divine Grace.
It is totally wrong to think that a whole life of strenuous spiritual endeavour
is meant to experience a few fleeting moments of ecstasy and bliss in the
highest state of unity consciousness. Life of prayer and worship
is to attain god-like purity and perfection. Religion as love of
God can exercise tremendous influence on human thought and behaviour and
can serve as the ideal means for moral upliftment and spiritual perfection
through fuller understanding of God’s essential nature.
The spirit and truth behind visions
and voices are far more important than the voices and visions themselves.
No true mystic will, with regard to his spiritual experience, be bold enough
to say that he knows God or has seen Him. No saintly soul will ever
claim that he has reached the highest ideal of perfection and purity to
know the whole of the infinite reality. His thoughts, words and deeds
will speak for themselves the degree of purity and perfection reached by
him and his ennobling influence is also felt by those who come in contact
with him. The mystery of religious consciousness cannot be unravelled
wholly by the use of modern scientific techniques. The neuroscientists
have so far been successful only in tracing the source of religious instinct
but have not solved the mystery of religious consciousness.
*****************
A monarch of long ago had twin sons. There was some confusion about which one was born first. As they grew to young manhood, the king sought a fair way to designate one of them as crown prince. All who knew the young men thought them equal in intelligence, wit, personal charm, health, and physical strength. Being a keenly observant king, he thought he detected a trait in one which was not shared by the other.
Calling them to his council chamber one day, he said, "My sons, the
day will come when one of you must succeed me as king. The burdens of sovereignty
are very heavy. To find out which of you is better able to bear them cheerfully,
I am sending you together to a far corner of the kingdom. One of my advisors
there will place equal burdens on your shoulders. My crown will one day
go to the one who first returns bearing his burden like a king should."
In a spirit of friendly competition, the brothers set out together.
Soon they overtook an aged woman struggling under a burden that seemed far too heavy for her frail body. One of the boys suggested that they stop to help her. The other protested: "We have a burden of our own to worry about. Let us be on our way."
The objector hurried on while the other stayed behind to give aid to the aged woman. Along the road, from day to day, he found others who also needed help. A blind man took him miles out of his way, and a lame man slowed him to a cripple's walk.
Eventually he did reach his father's advisor, where he secured his own burden and started home with it safely on his shoulders. When he arrived at the palace, his brother met him at the gate, and greeted him with dismay. He said, "I don't understand. I told our father the burden was too heavy to carry. However did you do it?"
The future king replied thoughtfully, "I suppose when I helped others carry their burdens, I found the strength to carry my own."
~unknown to me
More like this http://www.hknet.org.nz/parables.htm
For devotees who take bath with cold water, here are some tips.
You need to wet your body in this order:
abdomen, thighs, legs, stomach, hands & chest, face, back and then
head, which is the last.
Directly pouring cold water first on the head will cause nervous break
down at a later date.
For devotees taking bath with hot water, here is a tip.
Using hotwater on the body will open up the pores in the skin.
In order to close these pores back, one needs to quickly pour some
cold water on his body after completing his hot water bath.