Losing Fear And Conquering Greed

I have talked about spirituality and religion earlier. Spirituality is about liberation, whereas religion, as it is understood and practiced, is about control.

At the lowest level religions tend to control through ignorance and blind belief. They do not wish to be questioned, because they have no answers. The Vedic culture is very clear on this. What they laid out as scriptures are the eternal immutable truth, called sruti. They are not regulation. You can take these or leave them. They are meant to be guidelines for evolution, for the flowering of your consciousness.

When they laid down regulation for day to day living, they made it clear that these regulations, the smruti, are changeable. These regulations need to evolve with time and space. There is no rigidity, there is no compulsion, and there is no pronouncement that these are God given and therefore cannot be questioned.

Vedic culture and religions which sprang from the Vedic culture stood for individual freedom; only such freedom can lead to awareness and liberation. Religions that tend to control through ignorance graduate into control through fear and greed. These are the next two steps, which work as the basis of a number of such religions.

Spirituality is about losing your fear and conquering greed. Krishna advises us in the Gita to drop aversion and attachment, in order to reach Him. Unfortunately, some religions foster fear and greed through regulations that they impose on you. They will tell you that if you do this or that, you will be a sinner and will go to hell; and if you stay away from all such evil actions, you will be redeemed and will go to heaven.

There is no heaven and hell. They exist only in our minds. You commit sins because you are in hell; you do not go to hell because you commit sins. Redemption is liberation and heaven, when you reach that inner awareness that you are one with all. The bliss that overpowers you is that heaven that our sages talked about. It is not some place where wine, women and song keep you occupied 24 hours a day. Such a place would in fact be hell, as it will lead to infinite boredom.

Drop all notions of sin and merit, and of hell and heaven and live with awareness. You will reach Nithyananda, eternal bliss.