From: E@c.com   
      
   GOD IS OMNISCIENT AND EVERYWHERE, SO HAVE NO FEAR   
      
   There are many defective ideas in the world that have stifled the   
   spiritual quest.   
      
   "If an idea is imposed on human beings as a dogma, crushing the   
   victim under its heavy weight, people realize that a tormenting   
   bondage has been imposed on them. They well understand that the   
   dogma has immobilized them, caused retardation instead of progress,   
   and brought them to a virtual standstill. They realize that what   
   they considered to be spirituality or dharma was actually nothing   
   but a colourful procession of various superstitions, and lest they   
   raise their heads against those superstitions and smash that house   
   of cards built on quicksand, certain ideas are constantly whispered   
   into their ears: "You shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that -- it   
   will bring about your ruin. If you do that, you will be doomed to   
   hell, or if you do this, your tongue will fall off." People realize   
   that their voices against dogma have thus been silenced by injecting   
   fear complexes into their minds, and that they have been reduced to   
   useless lumps of cow-dung. Nevertheless, since they lack proper   
   initiative and drive, they willingly surrender themselves to fate,   
   and accept their helpless shedding of tears as their appointed lot   
   in life.   
      
   Ancient people believed that the fragrant smoke from these homa   
   rituals would rise from the earth to the higher regions and, making   
   the ether and air heavy with fragrance, would please the gods. The   
   people thought that this scented smoke and perfumed air would be   
   beneficial to health, improve mental functioning and transport   
   people to the abode of the gods.   
      
   During the course of time, dogma has crept into this concept of   
   fasting also. Some people started arguing that the system of fasting   
   is a means to attain virtue: those observing fast are likely to   
   secure a permanent place in heaven and can even see the   
   grandchildren of their grandchildren before they die! Moreover,   
   undue importance was attached to a few specific days of fasting --   
   if people could fast on those specific days, it was said, they would   
   attain heavenly bliss, not only in one life but for lives together."   
   (NAMAH SHIVA'YA SHANTA'YA, DISCOURSE 13, SHIVA'S TEACHINGS -- 2   
   (CONTINUED), SHIVOPADESHA 3, 2 July 1982, Patna)   
      
   "The very idea of heaven and hell is sheer bunkum, and is in fact   
   hatched in the brains of the authors of mythologies. Such people   
   don't have the capacity to implant a peg in the solid ground of   
   logic. Yet in order to humour the ignorant, if I accept the   
   existence of such things as heaven and hell, I would ask, if the   
   spirit of a wicked husband goes to hell and grazes about the field   
   as a bull, would his virtuous wife also go to hell and, becoming a   
   cow, start grazing beside him.  Those who take advantage of people's   
   simplicity or ignorance are veritable demons in the form of humans,   
   and those who deceive people by taking advantage of their emotions,   
   inspired by the ideal of sacrifice, are even worse than demons.   
      
   Society will not reap any real good from the endeavours to   
   camouflage this impurity behind elegant phrases or religious   
   exhibitionism.   
      
   Those who want to keep women subservient to men in this life by   
   holding out a bait of affected sympathy and the false prospect of   
   heavenly bliss in the following life, fail to understand that   
   although such fake sympathy and the lure of heavenly prospects may   
   be conducive to making women inert and servile to men, actually no   
   real good will come to human society. If half the society is steeped   
   in inertia due to superstition, the other half will undoubtedly find   
   the journey tough going with this heavy load of inertia. In   
   individual life purity is equally necessary for both men and women,   
   and to justify that necessity real spiritual vision is   
   indispensable."   
   (The Awakening of Women Part 1 Section 2-1, SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR   
   WOMEN, "Social Justice", Human Society Part 1)   
      
   What is real spiritual vision?  It is to know God as omniscient and   
   the controller.  This means truly understand God as being everywhere.   
      
   "God, the Supreme Consciousness, is not merely the Cognitive   
   Faculty, He is also the Controller.  It is not enough just to create   
   something - one will have to control it also.  The Supreme   
   Consciousness is that Controller.  Just as He gets this manifested   
   universe of seven layers - physical world, crude mental world,   
   subtle mental world, supra-mental world, subliminal world, latent   
   existence and the absolute without any qualities - created by the   
   Operative Principle, He gets it controlled by His Operative   
   Principle also.  The movement  of human beings towards the world of   
   immortality is controlled by the Supreme Consciousness.  Human   
   beings will have to move along the path which leads to this immortal   
   realm, not along the sinful path which leads toward worldly   
   objects.  In various scriptures it is said that the seven lower   
   realms of crudity - the seven "hells" are exist.   
      
   But the negative movement towards crudity is also within the control   
   of the Supreme Consciousness.  Whenever a person sinks to the nadir   
   point of degradation, we often say, "Such-and-such a person has gone   
   to hell."  'Whenever people become crude and are immersed in wrong   
   actions which are contrary to the spiritual code, they become   
   totally inert.  In utter defiance of the moral code, they involve   
   themselves in many vicious activities, goaded by the lure of power,   
   position, prestige, name and fame, and monetary gain, and thus they   
   invariably move toward the lowest 'hell', the most degraded state.   
   Such people, instead of moving towards the abode of nectar, move   
   towards degradation.  But the controller of this path, too, is the   
   same Supreme Consciousness: the same Entity who controls the higher   
   seven realms, controls the seven lower realms as well.   
      
   If a person is degraded due to sinful deeds, performed consciously   
   or unconsciously, and is born as an insect in hell, in that case,   
   will the Supreme Consciousness forget him or her?  No, not at all.   
   The living entity who suffers in hell is also a creation of the   
   Supreme Consciousness, and He will do whatever is necessary for such   
   a person.  Thus it is said that God certainly loves those who are   
   truly honest and virtuous, but He does not hate those who are wicked   
   or degenerated due to their misdeeds.  Even for such persons God is   
   the only hope, the supreme shelter.  Thus he is not a mere   
   Witnessing Entity, He is much greater than that.   
      
   There is no one who can dictate to Him.  Some people may argue:   
   sinful persons are like the most abominable insects of hell - then   
   how can God remain with them?  The answer is that even the most   
   infernal creatures are also His favourites.  When people degrade   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)