Rishikesh

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:09:10 -0800 http://rishiscribe.blogspot.com/2007/03/ambedkar-and-buddha.html Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Ambedkar and Buddha Dr Ambedkar And The Evolution Of Religion: From Animism To Agnosticism By Rishikesh Bahadur Desai A student once asked his teacher, "Master, what is enlightenment?" The master replied, "When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep." This shows how simple ideas are confused for complex issues. We will keep coming back and forth to the title of this paper, 'Evolution of religion from Animism to Agnosticism'. Simply put, Animism is believing that anything and everything is God. Agnosticism is to stop worrying about God and carrying on with our work. Stages of evolution: 'Change of the concept of God to an idol to an idea' ANIMISM Primitive man feared natural phenomena like lightning, rain, and floods. He called them God as they seemed to control his life. Any weird performance that was believed to control these was magic. T...

-The problem with religion is that most people end up discussing conversion. It is like a discussion on agriculture stopping at the monsoons. Conversion is a phenomenon that can be endlessly debated. But the truth is that conversion has been inevitable throughout history. Conversion of individuals or at the levels of the masses, have always brought change in this world. Most reformers have either converted to a new faith or created waves of proselytism. Buddha was a Hindu Kshatriya, who influenced half the world, from Afghanistan to Japan. He was born a Hindu, but famously changed his mind. Similar are the stories of Mahaveera and Guru Nanak. Can we time travel and annul all such attempts? Will the world be any better then? Anyone who has visited a church cant miss the letters INRI inscribed on The Cross. The Latin inscription expands as IESVS·NAZARENVS·REX·IVDÆORVM, and translates as ``Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’’. So why are Christians talking about Jesus? If the Fable of A...