Although the notion of spirituality is
shrouded in abysmal mystery, a good section of the society the word over
has a firm belief in the existence of a spiritual world which has
absolute control over the physical beings. All things, they believe,
that happen to living beings during their worldly existence are by the
will of someone with superhuman powers. Further, they consider that
every life is a “dual being” consisting of two components-physical and
spiritual(Kazlev:2005). The physical element, that is, the body
disintegrates at death, but the spiritual component continues to remain
exactly as it was, but in another form of existence. On the general
eschatology, Richard Cavendish in the Encyclopedia of the Unexplained
(1934:234) says, “The soul is a duplicate of the body…(and) the lodging
house of the spirit, or animating intelligent principle… upon passing
over, you find yourself still possessed of a substantial body…amid
scenery similar to, though generally more beautiful than, that which you
knew on Earth… there is no “judjement of the dead”, but persons who
have led evil lives will find themselves drawn into squalid and
degrading regions where others like them dwell and from which they need
to be rescued by “higher spirits” dedicated to missionary work. They
also believe that living beings can communicate with the spirits and get
their blessings if pleased with prayers, sacrifices and other acts as
commanded by the concerned dogma or belief. The spiritual or
supernatural belief in the human mind is as old as the human race
itself. This has been being continuously and variably interpreted over
the years by different religious groups producing various dogmas. Today,
these dogmas and doctrines are ruling the human mind although
differently in different groups of believes. If we critically look at
various acts carried out on the basis of spiritual faith, we find that
cruel urge. We often hear of animals, sometimes even humans, being
killed in the name of sacrifice to please Gods and Goddesses. We even
witness elderly persons being brutally exterminated in public on the
suspicion that they have been practicing witchcraft. We further find
that some beliefs are diagonally opposed to certain others which often
trigger communal disharmony between the groups. Such acts of cruelty and
small- mindedness are but the result of the growth of conflicting and
disagreeing spiritual, particularly religious beliefs. Perhaps, it will
requires ages, may be a reincarnation of some great soul, to glorify
these differences. Turning to the other side of spirituality-imagine you
are alone at a tranquil time sitting on your sofa or lying on your bed,
try to answer these- why does the room look as it is? The window is on
the left, why not on the right? The door is one the right corner of the
room-why not on the left? The tube light is one the left wall of your
room, why not on the south wall? On a second thought, you find that
because they were designed by some architect to be as they are. Now,
answer these- why do you look as you are? A slender girl with a long
nose, curly hair, dusky complexion, a pair of straight legs, a pair of
dark twinkling eyes, and an amiable nature. Did you or your parents want
them to be as they are? Presuming that your answer is, “I don’t know, I
never did nor did my parents do”, your curiously to know is “Then who
did these?” yes, there must be someone who wanted human beings to be
having two legs with knees and two hands with elbows and fingers of
various lengths and sizes, some hair on the top of the body, a heart
and, of course, a soul to drive all these organs. The moment you are
convinced that someone, some supernatural being must have designed and
engineered the whole human body and infused the soul to it, you begin to
believe that there is a creator who has created not only the human
beings, but also all other living beings that you see around you. With
this in mind, you start finding numerous reasons to believe and be
convinced that there is a celestial world where these superhuman beings
live and perform all these activities Once you reach the above stage,
you find yourself to be developing a sense of piousness and loyalty
towards your creator. Further, once you are convinced that the same
creator is all powerful and can do so many things for you and the entire
living world, you developing an innate willingness to approach with all
your inner self. When you are satisfied with your prayer, you obtain a
divine feeling and an enormous amount of confidence to live, to force
any eventuality of life and to do your works. This is the most valuable
thing that you obtain as a true spiritualist. The relation between life
and death, I believe, should be taken as Sir Oliver Lodge(Raupert:1919)
puts it,”…the short period of earth- life is sufficient to save or damn a
soul…death has power to convert an ordinary man into either angel or
demon…”
References *** Kazlev, M.Alan(2005):
Spiritualism:added 13 May 2000, last modified 19 September 2005.
Website: http://www.kheper.net/topics/bardo/spiritualism.html ***
Cavendish, Richard (1974): Encyclopedia of the Unexplained; London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.pp.234. *** Raupert, J. Godfrey(1919): The
new Black Magic. New York: Devin-Adair Company.pp.22-23.
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