Please Stop This Nonsense!
The mind is indeed very cunning, and habits are stubborn. When a person quits smoking, they often replace it with chewing gum. Likewise, people especially so-called religious leaders have now invented a new kind of competition: "religious" competition. Essay contests, debates, public speaking competitions, and many other activities are organized, supposedly to raise awareness, particularly among young people, about the wisdom of the scriptures and the value of religion. What a ridiculous way to introduce people to the scriptures and even more so, to make them religious.
I am not a religious leader, nor do I support this kind of practice. Society has deeply instilled in people the spirit of profit, advantage versus disadvantage and competition. Religion is meant to be studied in a logical, scientific, and devotional manner not as a competition. Reducing supreme wisdom to mere words and information simply to expand one's vocabulary or general knowledge is not spiritual at all. Instead, we should encourage both children and adults to study the scriptures of their choice or better yet, all scriptures with an approach based on logic and science, rather than fanaticism or a false sense of belonging.
Although they have been greatly distorted over time, the scriptures still contain rays of hope for all humanity. Therefore, let us not destroy them. Let us not cast the shadow of our competitions over them. Religion and spirituality are neither literature nor poetry. Literature and poetry are expressions of the superficial and at times of the distorted nature of people during certain periods of human history. Spirituality is not an opinion, a belief or a subjective experience. It is the overflowing presence of the Divine. When those who have experienced the Divine wish to convey the message of its sublime beauty, power, peace, and love, they use words and those words eventually become scriptures. So please, choose something else for your speech contests, essay competitions, examinations, debates and similar events.
I also see many television and radio programs devoted to the recitation of religious verses. What exactly are these people trying to accomplish? Do they wish to share something? But who are those who do not know the scriptures? Those who do not know them are simply those who have no interest in them. Do those who recite these sacred verses truly know anything about God, the soul, prayer, inspiration, inner peace, love, and compassion? Or is it merely repetition? The scriptures were not meant for repetition or recitation. Rather, they should lead us toward invocation, prayer, praise, and worship and all of this in intimacy with the Divine, not as a public display or for the sake of receiving some reward.
My observation is that all of this is a trap of the ego, the little "I." "Ah!" it says. Here is yet another way for me to show my importance. How strange indeed. Religion is the art and science of dissolving the ego, yet people use it to promote and strengthen it. This is how the cunning mind operates. Another form of foolishness that I do not support is the use of the scriptures by some people to earn a doctorate or other academic qualification. They emerge with a certificate and a greatly inflated ego.
The highest and ultimate religious and spiritual experience lies beyond the mind, it is the state of super consciousness. Yet these people do exactly the opposite. Filled with scriptural knowledge, they consider themselves religious and spiritual. They lack the humility necessary to learn because they believe they already possess great knowledge. They are so heavily burdened with book learning that they cannot bend down to receive the blessings being offered to them.
