November 22

MIDDLE
MEN 2009
Practice of Religion or Faith which was once a sacred and
revered act has been gradually reduced to more a
necessity for secure and peaceful living in modern day
societies than offering our gratefulness with devotion to
the Almighty without any strings attached. The overall
degradation in the moral and ethical standards coupled NECESSARY TO
with growth of alliance between religious bodies and RELATE TO
political and social concerns in societies gave rise to many
faith based institutions administering to mold and control THE
populations. To this end misleading people by misinforming OMNICIENT?
them on Spiritual and religious aspects is practiced almost
as a rule than an exception. Is there a need for middle
men, of such institutions, for those sincerely desirous of
relating to their God or to follow their traditions for spiritual
development?
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MIDDLE MEN

This needs to be told

To all kept on needless hold
And groomed into pitiful mold
As it is worthier than gold

If you believe in theology and have faith

Value the tradition and follow the regimen
While you live your life on Earth
In heaven as reward you could secure a berth

If you tread away from the path

Well designed to avoid God’s wrath
By specialists acclaimed to know God’s math
One would be condemned to hell after death
Expect no pardon to prove your worth
Hope never to claim a heaven’s berth

These you are made to believe as Truth

And are compelled to practice as worth
However seem merely myth and untrue
Like smart lies to subdue, comfort and rule

Our concerns and indifference put to good use

Sad, we think God needs someone else
To tell us what is wanted of us
Having minds and hearts to use
Know that none else necessary to please
And exclusively preach how to appease

The Lord praised as but full of compassion

Could resort possibly never to condemnation
Of any soul with whatever dispensation
To suffer in hell forever without salvation

Neither can there be hell

Nor heaven of the kind we talk so well
All that given us is only power of “will”
To live like one is in hell or in heaven

How we are today, if we introspect

Negates all scope for enlightenment
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Sensual pleasures unbound and a life with no shortages

Access to superfluous gadgets even when no wages
Means no bar strategy for pursuing power and wealth
Ignoring and belittling the founding principles of all life
Myths of liberty and freedom believed since ages
We are so used to, bound us to behave as stooges
To ignorance, hypocrisy, snobbery we are hostages
Greed, pride, and fear are fuelling our activities

Religious institutions seem to outwit

Entrepreneurs in luring us to commit to faith
Make believe we can step into heaven’s gate
Or be thrown into hell if not
Though existence of both remains elusive
Never mind the ability of the institutions

There is this parable of a pious man

Rich in heart, poor and forlorn
He planned an event of worship grand
Wishing welfare of people at large
To seek help from lord of the land
Goes he to the palace huge

Finds the king praying in reverence

Seeking with devotion wealth and grace
So he could maintain his standing
Among people who believe he was ruling
“Is he like all others, also begging?
Why not I ask the One and the Only Giver
Why did I even come to another beggar?”

“Mere middlemen whom the Lord, there is

Needs never to dispense His Love and Grace
To any however farthest, smallest or meanest
As all forms are His and have Him at their behest
Within their hearts beneath the layer deepest”
Thought the man, walking away
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Rulers and guardians of religion wherever

As well are His forms, no different from others
Under spells of delusion and pleasures of power
Many of these of world mislead as though super
Unconscious, ignorant and self-deluded most surrender
For social acceptance and temporal rewards, a blunder

The entire canvass of Life and Its process is but a play

Enacted by the ONE as though different in countless forms
As an actor plays several roles albeit he is himself
Deluding the audience as though he forgot his sameness
At deepest level feeling the connectedness and oneness
The dance of all alive as though apart from the ONE
Is the only deceitful play on display by life

Whoever with a passive and neutral disposition

Remains consciously an observer oneself within
Reaches surely the center of pure awareness
Sees the Holy, making all grosser layers transparent
And mundane earthly pursuits more insignificant
Many a wise and the mystic had thus spoken.

P.S: Personalities such as God-men, God-like and prophets

Masters, saints, sages and swamis amongst us are bright lights
Surely centers of spirituality simply, ever, wherever remember
Their inspiration, guidance and instruction alone may confer
Spiritual progress to the few who make any at all, none else ever

Contributing to disciplining the disturbed and the distracted

Certainly are others with regimen of religious practices
Practice of religion for social status or acceptance alone
Is cause of disrepute for the institutions and those permitting it