BEYOND

BELIEFS

DR.
SHRINIWAS
KASHALIKAR
When and if the circumstances overwhelm and
compel us to believe that we are trivial and
ordinary; then we live as trivial and ordinary folks.
If the bureaucratic set up, hierarchy, subservience;
and advertisements, propagandas, publicity stunts
and promotional gimmicks; succeed in making us
believe that “we ought to like, love, respect, obey,
depend and emulate them” then indeed; we live as
“needy, sentimental, gullible, obedient, meek and
helpless believers, devotees, disciples, followers,
supporters, fans and dependents!

Sometimes this makes us violent maniacs and we

become criminals, goons, scamsters, charlatans,
cheats, swindlers, pseudo-spiritual god-men and so
on and live arrogantly; but disgustingly and pitiably
in outwardly rich; antisocial setups. At other
instances; we become financially and in many other
ways; exploited and deprived individuals and live in
hell!

In both cases we live exactly as what we believe

ourselves to be.
It must be appreciated that we (our body,
metabolism, hormones, neurotransmitters and our
central nervous system, which vary from individual
to individual) are influenced variably by the
circumstances and thereby model our belief systems.

The believers amongst us; do not question the

existence of God. They are comfortable (or at least
not disturbed by) the celebrations, festivals, fairs,
pilgrimages, rituals and other conventions passed on
through generations. Thus the conventions in a
given religion, cult, caste etc are followed without
questioning and without any complaint. The
nonbelievers; born in atheist families and traditions;
do not question and firmly believe in non existence
of God! They follow their perspective, ideas, feelings
and passions.

In general; the theism seems to offer assurance,

security and solace; and atheism appears to make us
independent, bold and free.
But; is this true? No.

Whether we are believers or nonbelievers (theists

and atheists); we do not seem to identify, realize and
express the enlightenment and empowerment within
ourselves. We do not have holistic solutions. When
we try to find solutions to the personal or social
problems in our respective fields; we are either
satisfied with piecemeal approach and get involved
in relevant activities with certain scope and
limitations.

If we get freed from the shackles of beliefs, then we

would be able to enjoy the privilege of practicing
NAMASMARAN and begin to engender HOLISTIC
RENAISSANCE i.e. blossoming at individual and
universal levels simultaneously!