Skip to main content

Quest


Genuine religion is an endless quest to renew oneself every day, every moment.  It is a quest to understand reality more and more, the reality out there as well as the reality within ourselves.  Understanding leads to compassion.

The problem with fundamentalism of any sort is that it eliminates quest altogether.  Fundamentalism imposes truths on people.  Look at any country which has sought to build up religion-based governments and you will see how it has used propaganda effectively.  Truths are fabricated and imposed on people using various tricks and means.

Generally people don’t like to think.  They don’t want to think. They would rather have truths handed over to them on a platter.  Fundamentalism succeeds easily because of this.  Combine it with hatred of other people and the recipe is perfect.  Lies and hatred. Perfect combination for the masses hungry for readymade answers.

Spiritual truths can never be readymade.  They have to be discovered by ourselves.  Because spirituality is the harmony between the self and the universe.  Only the self can discover it.  Religions can assist in the process.  Gurus and other enlightened people can assist.  However, ultimately it is the result of a personal quest. 

Fundamentalism is the negation of all personal quests.  Fundamentalism is a straitjacket given to the believer in order to prevent him from making any quest whatever.  A people confined within straitjackets are the most pliable devotees (bhakts).  They are the ideal warriors armed with readymade truths and readymade hatred.

Release them from the straitjackets if they are to find their own truths.  Let the quest begin.  Let there be more questions than answers.  The stars waiting to be discovered.  The quest leads us to the stars.


Comments

  1. Pranju chakrapaniApril 27, 2017 at 9:01 AM

    Many of them, in fact, use this logic. Why trouble yourself with the pain of finding out the right path when we have a tailor-made road mapped out for you by our expert team.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 27, 2017 at 10:09 AM

      "..history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines.”
      ― Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith

      If only people were willing to doubt a little, the world would be a much better place.

      Delete
  2. Jyotirmoy SarkarApril 28, 2017 at 7:58 AM

    Totally agree with your points and logic.
    Some age old games will continue forever and some people who does not have minimum consciousness cant be made conscious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 28, 2017 at 12:24 PM

      My own experience matches with what you say: some people can't be changed.

      Delete
  3. UnknownApril 28, 2017 at 8:35 AM

    Fundamentalism is a straitjacket given to the believer in order to prevent him from making any quest whatever.

    So very true.

    Damyanti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 28, 2017 at 12:24 PM

      Truth seekers are the biggest enemies of religion when religion is interested in power of any kind.

      Delete
  4. Ravish ManiApril 28, 2017 at 3:50 PM

    I completely agree that religion is about quest not commandments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 28, 2017 at 8:00 PM

      That's what it is and what nobody seems to understand.

      Delete
  5. UnknownMay 2, 2017 at 6:00 PM

    I like this piece sir. I have come to believe in two things which echo in this write up. "Navinam Navinam Kshane Kshane" - my prayer - Newness newness every moment. And never to believe in 'sampradaaye' but 'sampradaha' ! Burn down everything that comes in your way of truth.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more

The Rebellion of Christmas

One of the biggest ironies of Buddhism is that Buddha never endorsed the belief in God as done by organised religions but he ended up becoming one such God. Buddha did not advocate for prayer in the sense of appealing to a divine entity for favours or intervention. But his followers of today seem to be giving undue importance to rituals and offerings. Something similar happened to Jesus and his teachings too. Jesus was trying to reform his religion, Judaism, by making it more humane. He wanted to redeem Judaism from its meaningless rituals and displays of devotion . Religion is meaningless and even dangerous unless it touches the believer’s heart and transforms it. Jesus was not interested in the rubrics and the regulations prescribed by the priests of his religion. His primary concern was love and relationships. What good is religion unless it helps you to love your fellow human beings? “If anyone says ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar,” Jesus’ beloved disciple Jo...
10 comments
Read more

Koorumala Viewpoint

  Koorumala is at once reticent and coquettish. It is an emerging tourist spot in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. At an altitude of 169 metres from MSL, the viewpoint is about 40 km from Kochi. The final stretch of the road, about 2 km, is very narrow. It passes through lush green forest-looking topography. The drive itself is exhilarating. And finally you arrive at a 'Pay & Park' signboard on a rocky terrain. The land belongs to the CSI St Peter's Church. You park your vehicle there and walk up a concrete path which leads to a tiled walkway which in turn will take you the viewpoint. Below are some pictures of the place.  From the parking lot to the viewpoint The tiled walkway A selfie from near the view tower  A view from the tower Another view The tower and the rest mandap at the back Koorumala viewpoint is a recent addition to Kerala's tourist map. It's a 'cool' place for people of nearby areas to spend some leisure in splendid isolation from the hu...
30 comments
Read more

Remedios the Beauty and Innocence

  Remedios the Beauty is a character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude . Like most members of her family, she too belongs to solitude. But unlike others, she is very innocent too. Physically she is the most beautiful woman ever seen in Macondo, the place where the story of her family unfolds. Is that beauty a reflection of her innocence? Well, Marquez doesn’t suggest that explicitly. But there is an implication to that effect. Innocence does make people look charming. What else is the charm of children? Remedios’s beauty is dangerous, however. She is warned by her great grandmother, who is losing her eyesight, not to appear before men. The girl’s beauty coupled with her innocence will have disastrous effects on men. But Remedios is unaware of “her irreparable fate as a disturbing woman.” She is too innocent to know such things though she is an adult physically. Every time she appears before outsiders she causes a panic of exasperation. To make...
4 comments
Read more

Christmas Hijacked

Has Christmas been hijacked by Santa Claus and his snow cap? And also by plastic? This is a concern raised by a friend who is also a Catholic priest. Watching the Christmas celebrations around me in the last few days in various places – religious as well as secular – I know my friend’s concern is genuine. Christmas has been “Caesarianized,” he says. The spiritual preparation during the Advent season has given way to Santa Claus and his jingle bells. To discount sales in shopping malls. What’s worse, various Christian organisations send out carol teams on floridly decorated open vehicles equipped with high decibel loudspeakers that shatter all the peace while blaring out carols on ‘Peace to people with goodwill.’ It is a Christmas without Jesus. Santa Clauses tower far above the diminutive figure of infant Jesus, if the latter is there at all in the carol teams and other celebrations. Look at any commercial brought out during the season and you will think that Christmas is all abo...
12 comments
Read more