Worshiping False Gods....

Can there be so many Gods ?

A recent incident about one of the sects in India made me think that, Can there be so many Gods? Leader of each sect claims that he is the one who will ensure the soul meets the source. I thought of my experience of joining a religious sect and thought what happened to me.
A friend of mine took me to one of the local preacher of the Group and he introduced me to meditation. I was already in an emotional turmoil and was very prone to the suggestions of this preacher. He introduced me to the so called transmission from the main preacher of the sect and mentioned that he is the Master and we all humans are his Slaves. He introduced me to a prayer as well which was having a similar meaning. There were so many suggestions by this local preacher that I went in the flow of those suggestions and started experience similar auto suggestions as well. But today when I look back, I feel as if I was victim of hypnosis. I joined this sect, left it, rejoined it again and left it and then rejoined once again. And in all these years I faced a lot of downfall in my career. From a star performer I became the least performer who failed in each of his job. I started feeling that I am enlightened soul who has come to this earth with a purpose. I started on a mission to change the world rather than trying to change myself.

When I look back I feel that I was made emotionally weak and weak. I went into a deep depression and at times and mania at others. I started experiencing the hallucination and started feeling smell while meditation, at times visualizing flowers, light, darkness and so on. But when I look back I feel that the first few sessions were of hypnosis. Then the self sessions were of auto suggestion which began with a prayer which lead to further auto suggestions. Then there were group sessions which were infect done to create Group Effect so that we all believe what we are doing. In the name of obedience to the so called Master, I started destroying my life .I became weak and weak and was not able to make a decision about myself. At times I used to feel in the so called individual sittings that the master is guiding me to a path. But was it the suggestions made to my mind in those hypnotic sessions or the suggestions made my the local preacher in my head.

There was a time when I used to take my own decisions or my family helped me to take it but then there was a time the master started taking those decisions. I started going into state of mania (as the psychiatrist call it) and felt as if I am reaching a state of enlightenment. I resigned over five -six jobs in that mania phase thinking that I the best and the people who are with me have limited knowledge or have a limited vision. No doubt I started more and more research in a topic of my research and reached a level of success but the mania and depression lead me to be successful at times and lead to great downfall at times. Some psychiatrist told me that I went into state of Bipolar Mood disorder, others opined that since I felt the hallucination effect , it as schizophrenia, others looking at my environmental evolution said its Borderline Personality Disorder. But when I look back I have my doubts that it was impact of hypnosis. Anyways I don't want to blame anyone else, when my mind surrendered to someone else.

Now when I look back I question myself that Is God too weak that he needs a messenger to reach to its people ? Does God wants that we stay away from the family and practice meditation and leave behind the beautiful creations of life. When its choosing between family and master many people choose the master for they were conditioned for the same. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis).

Any ways many Indians do get influenced by speeches of political leaders during elections then what stops them to get influenced by a weekly sermons. These cults actually brainwash individuals and get them to do things for their limited means. Some do it to spread terrorism and others in name of peace fill their coffers with donations. It is very difficult for an individual to move away from many of these cults once they flow into those suggestions and they are brainwashed. I studied many cults / sects / religions and realized that almost all cults are propagating with a hidden motive of mind control. Some do it with their preaching, some do it with things like meditation (or I call it hypnosis). There are others who know that millions want to stay healthy and they start exploiting them on things like pranayam. I discussed with many thought leaders and they were unanimous in their view that not only these religious gurus but everyone in the world is exploiting the emotional insecurity of the other. And if an individual is emotionally secure then he will never visit these gurus. The past sayings are not without any meaning. Remember, “Dhukh mae simiran sab kare sukh mae karne na koi”. So when a person is emotionally secure he does not need to find solace in these Gods and Goddess but when he is emotionally weak he looks out to those auto suggestions. Even the astrologers do the same and they are most visited when anyone is in distress. Infect in many countries including India intelligence agencies are using this religious gurus and horoscopes as a trap for individuals.
And this is how the control is managed and abused.

It was the individuals emotional weaknesses which were exploited by these so called religious leaders. Let us look into the traditional concept of Hinduism. At one time it says that God is One and on other it puts in so many deities before us. Was it the financial exploitation by the pandits in name of God and religion. And then the each religion or cult face a battle for control of property or the heir of the so called spiritual leadership. Why these leaders who are messengers of Good run after control, power and money. If you are God or its messenger why then this fight for earthly desires. All sects and religions have built their own fortresses , properties, ashrams which collect millions in name of charity. There are many cases pending in the various courts against these religious sects over control of property and claim to be heir. We must just look into the judis link in the website supermecourt.nic.in and we can realize the truth.

I tried to look into definitions of the world cult. The psychological definition of the practices within a cult sis an institution which uses coercive persuasion which suppresses the ability of people to reason, think critically, and make choices in their own best interest. Another definition said that "A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community."

Truth, purity and selflessness are the foundation of any religion and do we see anything like that. There are great individuals who do a lot of good and are principled in their life. They attain a status of God and there are individuals who may not have done good attain a status of the demon. But is it correct to see every individual as Black or White. Every individual lives in shades of Grey. But when the history is written individuals who won the battles of past are renounced as all White and others as all Black. Is it not distortion of history. There had been many good individuals who have worked in this world for the good of the fellow human beings like Sh. M.K.Gandhi , Mother Terasa, Bhim Rao Ambedkar . But is it correct to name one as Mahatma, other as God and the third as Messiah of the deprived class. And when we will look down the history say thousand years down the line we will see many of the humans of today recognized as God / Goddess of future. We already see many temples being erected of many thought leaders and actors. Do we realize that future generations will believe them as Gods ?

Each religion talks about enlightenment but can we fight a darkness with other darkness. Many individuals on earth decide to follow themselves and other few needs the spiritual guides. But the fact remains these spiritual leaders are human like you and me. A partial list of various religious groups / cults as is available at from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_groups_referred_to_as_cults_in_government_documents

There are many sects which had been in news for mass suicide / terrorism / riots. Is it the message of peace which is foundation of all religions. Anyways I will conclude that when we look for a Master we need to look for a master of own self. And wish that all individuals may realize this bitter truth of life. I could never have realized this truth of life if I had been in state of mania or depression but thanks to my doctor, I could realize the truth in the stable state of mind.