Morning Talk by Rev.Swami shitikantananda

 Morning Talk by REV.swami shitikantananda                                                        03/07/2024

TOPIC: Faith or Reason?

Swamiji starts by chanting:

ॐ सह नाववतु ।

सह नौ भुनक्तु ।

सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Om Saha Nau-Avatu |

Saha Nau Bhunaktu |

Saha Viiryam Karavaavahai |

Tejasvi Nau-Adhiitam-Astu Maa Vidvissaavahai |

Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |

Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |

Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |

Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

Good morning;shubodhayam,

what is today's morning news? Sad news is there. Around hundred people died near hathras right? in a stampede, the religious gathering, so Satsang, 21st century we are living in, why such things are happening?, somebody put the blame on district administration, enough police personnel were not put there, they did not take required measures that's why the stampede had happened, many women and children died, innocent people and the district administration puts the blame on the organizers themselves, the exit was very narrow but, how such a plain land all around it is a agricultural land, how could actually such a thing happen, the problem is maybe the organizers did not I mean put enough volunteers and try to control the crowd or manage the crowd, maybe they did not do their bit, administration did not do their bit and ultimately kind of Thamas, kind of in alertness lack of, what would be the consequences if we conduct this manner this is the problem, why is a person today actually able to command such a huge following In never heard about that Babaji but the problem is there are so many here in this country today, what I see is we are not practicing religion, people are actually slipping into superstition, Vivekananda spoke always against superstition when Vivekananda was there people are holding onto superstition, people are holding to superstition in the name of religion he detested that he said apply your reason and become a atheist rather than holding onto superstition you just see Swamiji's quotation page no.84 and 88 today(it is in the prayer book) what he said on this

"Brave bold man these are what we want. What we want is vigor in blood, strength in nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all mystery, there is no mystery in the religion, mystery mongering and superstition are always signs of weakness"

"I would rather see every one of you rank atheists than superstitious fools, for atheist is alive and you can make something out of him but, if superstition enters, the brain is gone, the brain is softening degradation has seized upon life"

Swamiji(Vivekananda) always said that apply your reason, use your reason, so in india we never ask anybody to believe, we're not a land of believers, apply your intellect, apply your buddhi, our dharma actually ask you to use your reason and at the same time our dharma says, the ultimate truth is beyond reason. You have to use reason and you have to transcend reason, because the ultimate truth is beyond reason. You know German physicist max Planck, he said "science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature, for in the final analysis, we ourselves are part of that mystery that we are trying to solve".

So in our culture people have understood this long ago, if you really want to know about Drushya, Drasta you must know, today modern physics they use the words, observed and the observer, observed is this universe, observer is human, so you should know who you really are, that's why he say whence I, whither I, are the two great unfathomable questions okay? are the two great unfathomable questions for all of us, science has no answer to these two questions, whence I, whither I.

So pure science here, here religion is not a faith. Somebody else is going to solve my problem, Swamiji(Vivekananda) says rely on your own strength and die on your strength but don't hold onto superstitions, problem definitely 21st century life is very complex, everybody have some problem and we look around for some support and automatically you know the superstition breeds into, you go to somebody and who says I will solve all your problems who come to me, he or she has his own selfishness right? So this is you have to understand that you have to stand on your strength, don't come to superstition, exercise your reason, person who is going to preach actually he does he have the capacity? is he practicing what he really preaching, you have this and then only you follow the person if the person is not following what he's preaching and don't follow the person, but people don't even exercise their reason blindly follow! No, religion is not for the weak, religion is not for the superstitious, religion is for the people who are intellectually sane, religion is for the people who have got the discretion, not that you'll be able to comprehend the truth with your reason, it transcends reason but, you have to reach that place only through reason, it's not a faith it's not a belief, it is purest of the science and greatest of the science, what we have here as spirituality is purest and highest form of science okay, Thankyou this much for today.