Dogma is not rooted in the wisdom of consciousness, but in the insecurity of ego. Whether it is Catholic dogma (or other Christian dogmas), Krsna-consciousness dogma (or other Hinduistic dogmas), Islamic dogma, Zionist dogma, or pagan dogma: IT IS ALL DOGMA.
From the point of view of Eternity, all religious persuasions are insignificant and baseless. Nevertheless, from the point of view of the limited understanding of ego-based human beings, religion may be considered a “necessary evil’.
On the other hand, a human being whose life is not based on ego (on the idea of separate, individualized existence), that person has absolutely no use for any religion whatsoever. Of course, he or she will certainly have a need and use for self-discipline, but “religion” is absolutely no substitute for self-discipline.
Originally, there existed no formalized religion. But even when there was no religion, we still had DHARMA; we still had our intrinsic nature. For example, when a baby child is born, that child is NOT born with a particular religion, but it IS born with its DHARMA, or nature.
The “nature” referred to here is NOT the nature of the mind and body, but the nature of consciousness itself. To understand our real nature we must return to our pure consciousness, devoid of all mental and physical superimpositions. Once we stop superimposing these things on ourselves, then nobody can ever superimpose anything on us.
We should STOP superimposing so-called religion upon ourselves. Religion is simply a heap of images born out of the interplay of ego and mind. The one who “plays” with the Divine does not get caught up in the personality play.
People talk about so-called godhead-personality but the truth is these people are still immersed in the ordinary personality game. People talk about self-realization, but the truth is they are still strapped down to their small self and only actualize their own ego images. People talk about worshipping God, or worshipping the gods, but both sorts of people never really invoke that Supreme Power within themselves because they are caught up in externalizing the inner quest for Truth. In fact, the search for Truth is not a quest, but rather an expression of Truth itself. Truth is known in Truth. The Self is realized in the Self.
Religion has a vested interest in keeping us in the dark. First of all, religion is the by-product of ego, and ego must remain hidden in order to survive. Religion gives ego a hiding place. We can hide in our religion and delude ourselves into believing we are worshipping God, but we can never realize the Truth so long as we are hiding from it.
The Truth is NOT that we are God. The Truth is simply that GOD is all there IS. Everything else is make-believe. We are “making believe” that we are separated from Him, which is absurd. It’s like making believe that we are not alive. We ARE alive, otherwise, how could we make-believe?
We make-believe in our mind everything that is happening to us. It is really only happening in our mind, and WE are making the mind believe it. Why would we do that? Why do children play “hide-and-go-seek?” Because that’s what children do; they don’t need a reason for it.
We have created this drama in our mind, and only we can decide when to stop playing it. If we think Jesus, or Jehovah, or Krsna, or Shiva, or Mahavir, or Buddha, or some other religious mascot is going to save us, then we are certainly deluded. OM