In The Quest of Truth

Are Human Beings a part of Nature? (continued)

2012-02-06T01:25:00.004+05:30

Just walk through a jungle, and you begin to marvel at the beauty and complexity of nature. If you come across a huge spider web, or a beautiful bird's nest, any person of thought and understanding will pause for a moment and ponder about it. You may glorify God, or appreciate nature, and for a few of us it is a very sentimental emotion.

But once you get out of the jungle, to the luster of human hands, it is usually on the other extreme. Some people curse the artificial development, others may feel a kind of regret from deep inside their hearts - 'Where are we leading to?, 'just think about the harm it causes to the environment', 'development at what cost?', at least I feel that way some times. All the great business men, and the lords of the capitalistic society have something in common, they were pioneers in development. Some made money selling oil, others constructing bridges, or building computers, and in all the cases they were utilizing nature and exploiting the natural resources.

But there is a very genuine question in between all these pragmatic thoughts. Aren't human beings also a part of nature? You glorify the beauty of a bird's nest, but why there is a hint of guilt when glorifying the marvelous structures human beings have built? If nest is natural, the laptop that we use is also natural. Whatever man makes is also natural. There is nothing artificial in this whole world. It is a part of evolution. From a tiny inorganic molecule, the evolution has progressed through billions of years, and we stand here with a complex link of neural networks. And with the help of the same neural network we build robots and spacecrafts. It may be a part of evolution, the way evolution progresses in an exponential scale, leading to more and more complex systems.

In future, it is quite possible that we make a robot that is self configured to sustain itself and intelligent enough to build its progeny. For example, if a robot is programmed to, fetch energy when its energy is low, and programmed to procure and construct a similar robot, then the generations of that robot will be continued. And in the unavoidable circumstance of mutation, there are chances of eventually evolving into better robots. And, at that time robots will be seen as a very integral part of nature.

"And His are the Ships sailing smoothly through the seas lofty as mountains" - 55:24, Quran

Role of Probability in Our Life

2011-08-13T16:12:00.001+05:30

A few days back I met three people. Like you and me, each had to tell their own story. The first one I met was a rickshaw driver. Long back he was working in Saudi, he had a good job and off-course he made a lot of money. His father had passed away when he was a young guy, so he had to bear the cost of his entire family. His mom got seriously sick, and he lost a lot of money treating her. Eventually his sister and brother fell sick, and this time too he was the person who spent for their treatment. All the money he had earned were spent for what? They all died! Now he has nothing, not even a house. He is unmarried, and he lives and sleeps in his rickshaw.

The second person I met was a young guy working in a Honda showroom. He lost his father when he was a child, and his mother is old and ill. His sister goes for work, and they both earn their bread.

And the third person I met the same day, was a man in 60s having two children. His daughter is married, but it seems she is not comfortable with her husband. His son is around 20. Before the son was born, he saw a dream. The dream was a moon rising till the horizon, and then it sets back where it had risen. He worked all his life in Dubai, thus being an expatriate he hardly met his son. And after he reached back to his home country, he realized that his 18 year old son was sick, mentally sick. He had developed some psychological disorder, and he says that it was because of his name! His friends made fun of his name when he was young, and that may be the reason for his illness.

These are three real stories which I have heard in a single day, and what I have written here is nothing, just a nutshell of their life. And why I am bringing these three stories to this blog?

Just to say that probability plays an important role in our life. I would like to quote Warren Buffet, "You don’t know if you are going to be born black or white, rich or poor, male or female, infirm or able-bodied, bright or retarded. All you know is you are going to take one ball out of a barrel with 6.5 billion (balls).You are going to participate in the ovarian lottery. And that is going to be the most important thing in your life, because that is going to control whether you are born here (U.S) or in Afghanistan or whether you are born with an IQ of 130 or an IQ of 70. It is going to determine a whole lot."

And again, "I've had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were fifty-to-one against me being born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some other country where my chances would have been way different."

Much of our life isn't under our control. In primitive society, we were mostly depending upon nature, for food, shelter and everything. We had very little control over the nature. As the knowledge and collaboration developed, we gained control over the nature. Now we have social security in many parts of the world, employment guarantee as seen in India, or pension scheme as seen in many developed countries. This makes our life increasingly independent. As we go more and more independent (though artificially), we forget the role of probability in our lives. In fact nobody can say, I have earned so much, I have done that, its just the circumstances with the help of our inborn capabilities that shaped us, our achievements and failure. And if you believe in God, then you realize this reality without any philosophical argument.

On the Validity of 'Unknown' - Illustrated with an Example regarding the Evolution of Numbers

2010-12-10T17:05:00.002+05:30

In our earlier posts we discussed about Science and Art, and later about evolution as a result of the prevailing uncertainty in the universe (Realizing Perfection through Uncertainty). But in this post let us polish this philosophy by taking a finer example.

Pythagoras found that the area of the two smaller sides of a triangle is equal to the area of the largest side (hypotenuse). Such a theory was perfect in their sense, because it did not pave any way for approximation. But someone asked what is the length of the side of a square which is double the area of a square of unit length. This lead to an arithmetic crisis during Pythagorean period. But ancient Egyptians had approximated the result to 7/5. But for Pythagoreans that was not enough, since they were probably addicted to the perfect result of Pythagoras theorem. Now somebody else came up to say that the side of the square is divisible by 2 if the area of the square is quadrupled. That means the side is divisible when the area is multiplied by 4, 16 and so on. But what about other squares. Of course geometrically they can be determined, since they can cut a sting of this mysterious length and preserve for future reference. But that's not what Pythagoreans were trying to do, they wanted arithmetic answers. This lead to the finding of irrational numbers. We know the result is square root of the side (2 here) which is irrational.

This example illustrates the fact that inexpressible things are not unknown. Unknown things are just those things which can not be expressed by any means. But as the means are found out, the previously inexpressible thing become quantifiable, or in general expressible. Thus in this sense there is no unknown thing.

On Scientific Hierarchy

2010-09-30T21:10:00.002+05:30

In this post let us try to classify and understand scientific disciplines based on the degree of complexity. We get many exciting inferences and correlations by such a classification, and hence I thought of publishing this idea in this blog.

Let us define 'complexity' as the degree of involvement of fundamental units of nature, considering maximum functional efficiency. What I mean by fundamental units is that they are the basic units of nature which cannot be further simplified by any known measurable quantity. So what are these fundamental units? Can it be those units which are dependent on others for its own existence? For example time which is considered as a fundamental unit cannot exist by itself independent of space. This makes time and space dependent on each other to maintain the constancy of the speed of light. There is much to be thought in this line, but let us restrict this post to scientific hierarchy.

I do not know if we can start from the universal constants like speed of light (c), Avogadro's number and Boltzmann's constant which can be set to a fixed dimensionless number, say to unity. But prior to any attempt of theoretical justification of this philosophy, let me take it granted based on some intuitive grounds. So the hierarchy goes roughly like this,

Universal constants (eg. speed of light in vacuum) → Fundamental units (eg. time, space, mass) → Atoms → Inorganic Molecules → Organic Molecules → Genes → Cells (including unicellular organisms) → Multicellular Organisms (In the order of evolutionary hierarchy) → Animal Memes → Human Memes

This particular order is obviously rough and crude, but gives a broad idea of what I intend. It can be further simplified to this order,

Physical Hierarchy → Genetic Hierarchy → Memetic Hierarchy

There is much thought in such an attempt to unify all the natural science in the order of complexity, because, for example, human beings who are most complex in terms of memes (mental cognition and neurological complexity) may not be genetically most complex (as per our present understanding of genomic functions). But if such a linear order of complexity is justified in future, human beings must also be genetically most complex in terms of genetic efficiency (See C-Value Paradox).

Assuming such a linear nature of complexity, considering functional efficiency, let us try to highlight a few interesting inferences.

Classifying scientific disciplines based upon such a hierarchical classification roughly leads us to,

Mathematics → Theoretical Physics → Nuclear Physics → Inorganic Chemistry →Organic Chemistry → Genetics → Microbiology → Tissue Culture → Agriculture → Psychology

Again my confession for such a crude order, because just in the subject of psychology comes a vast area of study from personal to global behavior.

Observing such a classification closely, leads us to some important inferences which have high philosophical and scientific values.

1) Scope of Influence:

What I mean by the scope of influence, is the maximum limit a technology can influence a natural system. The lower we go in the scientific hierarchy the higher is the scope of influence. The influence may be either negative or positive. For example, the scope of Psychology in the negative side may be an organizational or political collapse which does not cause much harm to any units which are present in the lower scientific hierarchy. At the same time the destruction that can be caused by nuclear physics (eg. nuclear bomb) is capable of destroying everything in the higher level of the scientific hierarchy but not the fundamental constants of universe. This kind of influence is very well seen in our daily life too. For example the genetic contamination through improper use of rDNA technology may result in a more catastrophic impact than the negative impact caused by traditional agricultural practices. As the old saying goes, if the foundation is cracked the whole house falls. Thus if mathematics is destroyed, say when odd + odd is not equal to even, then the whole natural system will be destroyed according to our percent understanding. At the same time we can also understand the same philosophy on the positive side, on how we can modify the fundamentals for our own benefit.

2) Independent of size, lifespan and mass:

Our hierarchical classification is based on complexity (according to our definition) and thus independent of size, shape and lifespan. For example a tortoise may live longer, blue whale may have much larger brain, or a planet by itself may be billions of times heavier than human, yet humans stand higher in our classification. Similarly a planetary system is lower in order compared to any form of life. Another example that justifies this inference is C-Value paradox , which highlights the incoherency between genomic size and evolutionary hierarchy. This inference is purely a result of our definition of complexity.

3) Randomness:

The more complex we go, more irregular it is. What I mean by irregularity is that it is non-cyclic through space and time. One may argue that Brownian motion which must lie in the lower hierarchy is random and irregular. But the reason of its randomness is due to the motion of many atoms (and molecules) which is governed by a few laws of motions. At the same time imagine a box with hundred ants, its motion will be much more random and complex compared to the Brownian motion.

4) Predictability:

Predictability is basically guessing the nature of a system at a particular time in future. The precision of prediction decreases as the complexity of a system increases. For example we could precisely predict the behavior which involves just physics, but most difficult to predict the nature of psychological behavior. We could exactly predict the position of Titan around Jupiter a thousand year from now, at the same time we cannot predict the stock price of a company or the economic situation of a country or even the psychological behavior of a person an year from now. More evidence comes from the tendency to use pharmacological drugs, chemical fertilizers, genetic engineering while compared to Ayurveda, organic fertilizers and Agriculture respectively.

I believe there may be much more inferences that can be driven from our model. At the same time I do not claim that our models as well as our inferences are completely right.

And then He created Eve

2010-09-19T23:25:00.004+05:30

This post is in continuation to the post Wed-Lock, Wed-Lock was a story of a lady named Crap. She displayed her beauty with pride, taking her veil away and a thousand men got attracted to her. In Wed-Lock men are compared to muscles to emphasize their physiological superiority. Men are not susceptible to monthly menstrual cycles and the burden of pregnancy. The act of displaying the beauty by crap lead to her pregnancy, and after those painful months, she delivered the burden. In Wed-Lock blood is allegorical to the baby, and ribs to her breasts. The new-born baby couldn't speak, Crap was confused, anxious. She didn't know how to dispose it, she was confused. This totally helpless piece of flesh seems to be a bigger burden now. This emphasizes the helpless nature of human baby which is very strange while compared to the newborns of other species. The paragraph ends with a divine ordainment of chastity and modesty, which is logically feministic in nature.

The next section of Wed-Lock starts by mentioning a special situation where one of the muscles approaches Crap, and the tactics he uses to seduce her. It emphasizes the modern industrialized world where abortion and contraceptives are prevalent. Muscle for his own advantage asks Crap to be free, throw away her veils, and gives a false statement of equality in strength. Wed-Lock mentions this condition to be a masculine trick to cover up the real feminism which aims for female security. Men always want women to fulfill their sexual desires. This desire may even lead to the extent of abandoning her when she is in most need, while she is in the state of pregnancy. Wed-Lock calls these tricks to be particularly evolved for muscles. Abortion, immodesty, encouragement of explicit female dresses and behavior, is nothing but what men need, and in no way an advantage to feminism. While modesty, chastity and marriage, are ritualistically feministic. This was the message of Wed-Lock, and the reason why it is named so.

Now coming to my personal emotions, I feel extremely sad when I see women in whichever condition they are. I do not justify my emotions but it may be a result of the prevalent slavery of women I see around. Emancipation leads to suppression, liberation leads to destruction. A perfect balance between emancipation and liberation may be a solution for healthier human society which justifies the biological weakness of women.

Suspended Animation and The People of Cave

2010-09-11T19:30:00.004+05:30

This post may be considered as an extension to the post 'Are Miracles 'Religious' ?' Here we try to correlate the recent scientific discovery of 'Suspended Animation' and the story of 'The People of Cave' in Quran.

Well let me begin with a small piece from my diary which I had written a few years back,

'When it can live throughout their life,

And it splits up to form a new life,

And it sleeps millions of their age,

A life without life span,

Is it a life?'

Here are two original materials one below another, which is self explanatory. The first one is a talk given by Mark Roth in TED regarding Suspended Animation. Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. This is a kind of cryopreservation that we do with micro organisms.

Please press play to listen to the talk by Mark Roth regarding Suspended Animation and then continue reading the story of The People of Cave.

There is a striking similarity between the story of the people of cave and the recent discovery of suspended animation. As spoken by Mark Roth, Hydrogen Sulfide which is present in many caves are a reason for suspended animation. In Quran it is said that a bunch of youths retreated to the cave, where they were put to sleep. And when they woke up, they found that time has changed but they have not aged. The story is best described in Quran itself. So, have patience to read it from the translation given below.

"(8) Or have you thought that the companions of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder?

(9) [Mention] when the youths retreated to the cave and said, "Our Lord, grant us from Yourself mercy and prepare for us from our affair right guidance."

(10) So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years.

(11) Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [extent] they had remained in time.

(12) It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

(13) And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an excessive transgression.

(14) These, our people, have taken besides Him deities. Why do they not bring for [worship of] them a clear authority? And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie?"

(15) [The youths said to one another], "And when you have withdrawn from them and that which they worship other than Allah, retreat to the cave. Your Lord will spread out for you of His mercy and will prepare for you from your affair facility.”

(16) And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray – never will you find for him a protecting guide.

(17) And you would think them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left, while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror.

(18) And similarly, We awakened them that they might question one another. Said a speaker from among them, "How long have you remained [here]?" They said, "We have remained a day or part of a day." They said, “Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city and let him look to which is the best of food and bring you provision from it and let him be cautious. And let no one be aware of you.

(19) Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then – ever."

(20) And similarly, We caused them to be found that they [who found them] would know that the promise of Allah is truth and that of the Hour there is no doubt. [That was] when they disputed among themselves about their affair and [then] said, "Construct over them a structure. Their Lord is most knowing about them." Said those who prevailed in the matter, "We will surely take [for ourselves] over them a masjid."

(21) They will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog – guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog. Say, [O Muhammad], "My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone."

(22) And never say of anything, "Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,"

(23) Except [when adding], "If Allah wills." And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, "Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct."

(24) And they remained in their cave for three hundred years and exceeded by nine.

(25) Say, "Allah is most knowing of how long they remained. He has [knowledge of] the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth. How Seeing is He and how Hearing! They have not besides Him any protector, and He shares not His legislation with anyone." " Quran - 18: 8-24.

On Entropy and Evolution

2010-09-02T16:09:00.003+05:30

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of any isolated thermodynamic system always increases over time, approaching a maximum value or we can say " in an isolated system, the entropy never decreases". This law is taken as a sufficient condition for argument against the hypothesis of evolution, thus supporting the hypothesis of spontaneous generation which is contradictory to the former hypothesis in many ways.

The implication of this argument is subject to many philosophical discussions. For example, what is the reason for this celestial configuration while the hypothesis of big-bang is an epitome of entropy? What is the reason for the hypothesis of evolution, sustainable ecosystems, the phenomenon of globalization, the self configuring nature of organs, proteins, molecules and atoms?

To understand this, we need to realize nature in a much more broader sense. When we look at the celestial configuration we often forget about the vast space surrounding it. When we look at evolution, globalization, and self-configuring nature of organs, molecules and atoms, we forget about natural constrains, geographical limitations, genetic constraints, entropy of water molecules surrounding protein molecules and similar forces around other molecules, and electromagnetic restrictions in atoms respectively.

Thus we can say that the entropy of a wider spectrum, is the driving force of evolution and other similar phenomenons of nature.

The consequence of understanding this philosophy is realization, but its application is not alien in human history. Use of external constraints for education, work, building an organization, rebuilding a nation, etc involves use of carrot and stick, paying salary, spending, and economic stimulus respectively which are all nothing but entropy. Celebrating a festival with fire crackers is a perfect example, it is destruction, it is entropy and the pleasure attained by doing so is nothing but a remembrance of this philosophy.

The complexity of understanding this phenomenon matures as we progress in the hierarchy of the hypothetical evolution. As we know, it is easy to predict the behavior of a complex physical system like a nuclear reaction, but the complexity of predicting a business outcome or a psychological behavior is beyond any current scientific means of understanding. This is illustrated in a previous post On Science and Art - Illustrated with an Example regarding Security Analysis, but now we could further understand the meaning of 'art' as discussed in the mentioned post. Increase in the art factor is proportional to the degree of evolutionary hierarchy, which is again proportional to the contribution of entropy. The hypothesis of 'dark energy' which accounts for 74% of total mass-energy of universe may also be understood in this context. This external force, sometimes regarded as opportunity or luck is an integral part in all of our lives, the consequence of which is our own existence.

"So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief:
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief." - Quran 94: 5,6

Concerning Contentment [Rida]

2010-09-01T23:56:00.002+05:30

A chapter from the book Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq (Sufficient Provision for Seekers of the Path of Truth) by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Geelani

As for contentment [rida], the fundamental guidance on the subject is contained in the words of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He):

Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. (58:22)

--and in His words (Blessed and Exalted is He):

Their Lord gives them good news of mercy from Him, and good pleasure, and Gardens [of Paradise] in which they shall have lasting bliss. (9:21)

Furthermore, according to a traditional report, transmitted on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be well pleased with him and with his father), Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:

The full flavor of true faith [iman] is tasted by one who is content with Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) as a Lord [Rabb].

[The Caliph] 'Umar ibn al-Khattab once wrote to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be well pleased with them both):

"The point I wish to emphasize is this: All goodness resides in contentment [rida], so if you are capable of being content, [well and good]. If not, you must be patient [fa-'sbir]."

It was Qatada (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) who said, in commenting on the words of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He):

And if one of them receives tidings of the birth of a female, his face remains darkened, and he is inwardly furious. (16:58)

--"This describes the attitude of those Arabs who attribute partners to Allah [mushriki 'l-'Arab]. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has thus informed us of the badness of their attitude. As for the believer [mu'min], he is worthily disposed to be content with whatever Allah (Exalted is He) has allotted to him."

The judgment of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) is better than a man's judgment on his own behalf. That which Allah has decreed for you concerning something you dislike, O son of Adam, may be even better for you than that which Allah has decreed for you concerning something you like. You must therefore observe your duty to Allah (Exalted is He), and be content to accept His decision.

Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has told us:

But it may happen that you hate a thing that is good for you, and it may happen that you love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows, and you know not. (2:216)

That is to say, [He knows, and you do not know] what is in the best interest of your religion [din] and your worldly life, for Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has kept concealed from His creatures the things that are to their advantage. He has charged them with servitude ['ubudiyya] to Him, by requiring fulfillment of the commandments and observance of the prohibitions [of the Sacred Law], submissive resignation to that which is foreordained [maqdur], and contentment [rida] with the divine decree [qada'] in every respect, whether it be in their favor or to their disadvantage. He has appropriated the consequences and the benefits unto Himself exclusively (Almighty and Glorious is He). It is therefore necessary for the servant to be constantly engaged in worshipful obedience to his Master [Mawla], to be content with whatever Allah has allotted to him, and to harbor no doubts about Him.

As you should also be well aware, the amount of trouble experienced by any individual creature is in proportion to his quarrel with destiny [qadar] over that which is foreordained [maqdur], his compliance with his own desire [hawa'], and his lack of contentment [rida] with the divine decree [qada']. Whenever someone is content to accept the divine decree, that person can enjoy rest and relaxation. Whenever someone is not content with it, on the other hand, his experience of misery and trouble can only be prolonged, and he will still obtain nothing from this world except that which has been allotted to him. As long as his personal desire persists in making its demands upon him, he cannot be content to accept the divine decree, because that desire is in contention with the Lord of Truth (Almighty and Glorious is He), and so his troubles can only intensify and multiply.

The procurement of ease and comfort is the result of opposition to personal desire [hawa'], because it is bound to involve contentment [rida] with the divine decree [qada']. The procurement of trouble and discomfort, on the other hand, is the result of compliance with personal desire, because it is bound to involve contention with the Lord of Truth (Almighty and Glorious is He). So may desire not be there, and if it is, let us not be!

Should contentment [rida] be classed as one of the spiritual states [ahwal], or as one of the spiritual stations [maqamat]? On this point there are differences of opinion among the qualified scholars and experts in the spiritual path [tariqa].

According to the people of 'Iraq, it is one of the spiritual states [ahwal]. It is not subject, they maintain, to active acquisition [kasb] by the servant [of the Lord]. It is rather an occurrence or visitation [nazila], a condition that settles for a while within the inner feeling, like all the other spiritual states [ahwal], then changes and passes away, as another state arrives to take its place.

According to the Khurasanis, on the other hand, contentment [rida] is one of the spiritual stations [maqamat]. They consider it to be the final stage of absolute trust in the Lord [tawakkul], so that it represents the ultimate degree to which the servant [of the Lord] can attain through his own acquisitive capacity [iktisab].

It is possible to reconcile these two views, by stating the case as follows:

The initial stage of contentment [bidayat ar-rida] is subject to active acquisition [muktasaba] by the servant [of the Lord], which means that it is one of the spiritual stations [maqamat]. But its final stage [nihaya] is one of the spiritual states [ahwal], which means that it is not subject to active acquisition.

In simple terms, someone who is content [radi] is someone who does not object to the foreordainment [taqdir] of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He).

It was Abu 'Ali ad-Daqqaq (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) who said:

"Contentment [rida] does not mean that you are not affected by the experience of trial and tribulation. Contentment [rida] simply means that you do not object to the divine decision [hukm] and decree [qada']."

The wise elders [mashayikh] (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon them) have often said:

"Contentment with the divine decree [ar-rida bi'l-qada'] is Allah's most splendid gateway, and it is this world's Garden of Paradise. That is to say, when someone is blessed with the honor of contentment [rida], he has already received the most abundant welcome, and has been honored with the most exalted nearness."

It is said that a pupil [tilmidh] once asked his teacher [ustadh]: "Is the servant aware that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is well pleased with him?" "No," replied the teacher, "how can he know that, when His good pleasure [rida] is imperceptible?" But the pupil said: "Oh yes, he does recognize it," so the teacher asked: "How?" The pupil then explained: "When I find that my inner feeling is well pleased with Allah (Exalted is He), I know that He is well pleased with me." So the teacher said: "You have done very well, young man!"

It is indeed true that the servant will not be well pleased with Allah, unless the Lord of Truth (Glorious is His Majesty) is well pleased with him. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has told us:

Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. (58:22)

--That is to say, because of His good pleasure [rida] with them, they are well pleased with Him.

It is said that Moses [Musa] (peace be upon him) once had a request to make of his Lord (Almighty and Glorious is He), so he said: "My God [Ilahi], point out to me a deed, such that, if I perform it, You will be well pleased with me." The Lord said: "You are not capable of that," so Moses (peace be upon him) sank to the ground, prostrating himself [sajid] in humble submission. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) then conveyed to him by way of inspiration [awha ilai-hi]: "O son of 'Imran, My good pleasure resides in your contentment with My decree [inna rida'i fi rida-ka bi-qada'i]."

Let us also consider the following wise sayings:

"If a person wishes to arrive at the stage of contentment [rida], let him stick to the course upon which Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has conferred His good pleasure [rida]."

"Contentment [rida] is of two kinds, namely: (1) ready approval of Him [rida bi-hi], and (2) resigned acceptance of Him [rida 'an-hu]. There is ready approval of Him as a Manager [Mudabbir], and there is resigned acceptance of Him with respect to what He decrees as a Ruler [Hakim] and as a Judge [Fasil]."

"When someone is content [radi], it means that even if Hell [Jahannam] were to be placed on his right side, he would not ask for it to be moved over to his left side."

"Contentment [rida] means the expulsion of disagreeable feelings from the heart, so that nothing remains except happiness and joy."

Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon her) was once asked the question: "When is the servant [of the Lord] content [radi] with the divine decree [bi-'l-qada']?" To this she replied (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon her): "When he is happy with affliction, just as he is happy with gracious favor."

It is said that ash-Shibli (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) once uttered the expression:

There is neither any power nor any strength except with Allah. [la hawla wa la quwwata illa bi'llah.]

--in the presence of al-Junaid (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him), so al-Junaid (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) told him: "In saying that, you are prompted by a feeling of annoyance, and the feeling of annoyance is due to the lack of contentment [rida] with the divine decree [qada']."

It was Abu Sulaiman [ad-Darani] (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) who said:

"Contentment [rida] means that you do not ask Allah to grant you the Garden of Paradise, and that you do not appeal to Him for refuge from the Fire of Hell."

Dhu 'n-Nun al-Misri (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) once said:

"These are three of the symptoms of contentment [rida]: (1) the lack of personal preference in advance of the divine decree [qada'], (2) the absence of bitterness in the wake of the divine decree, and (3) the arousal of love in the midst of trial and tribulation."

He also said (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him):

"It is the happiness of the heart with the bitterness of the divine decree [qada']."

When Abu 'Uthman [al-Hiri] (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon him) was asked to explain the saying of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):

What I ask of you is contentment [rida] in the wake of the divine decree [qada'].

--he said: "That is because contentment [rida] in advance of the divine decree [qada'] is only the prior determination to be content, while contentment [rida] in the wake of the divine decree [qada'] is the actual experience of contentment [huwa 'r-rida]."

As we learn from a traditional report, someone once told al-Husain ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be well pleased with him and with his father) that Abu Dharr (may Allah be well pleased with him) used to say:

"Poverty is dearer to me than affluence, sickness is dearer to me than health, and death is dearer to me than life."

So he said: "May Allah bestow His mercy upon Abu Dharr. As for myself, I say: 'When someone relies upon the excellence of Allah's choice, he does not wish for anything other than that which Allah has chosen for him."

[Abu 'Ali] al-Fudail ibn 'Iyad once said to Bishr al-Hafi ["the Barefoot"] (may Allah the Exalted bestow His mercy upon them both):

"Contentment [rida] is more meritorious than abstinence [zuhd] from this world, because when someone is content [radi], he does not wish for anything above his actual situation."

The view expressed by al-Fudail is the correct one, because it refers to contentment with one's actual condition [ar-rida bi'l-hal], and all that is good resides in contentment with one's actual condition. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) said to Moses [Musa] (peace be upon him):

"O Moses! I have preferred you above mankind by My messages and by My speaking [to you]. So hold that which I have given you, and be among the thankful." (7:144)

That is to say: "Be content with that which I have bestowed upon you. Do not go looking for another situation, and be among the thankful." In other words: "Be content with making the most of your actual condition [hifz al-hal]."

Likewise to our own Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), He said (Exalted is He):

And strain not your eyes toward that which We have given for some pairs among them to enjoy-- the flower of this world's life, that We may thereby put them to the test. (20:131)

As well as giving this instruction to His Prophet (blessing and peace be upon him), He also commanded him to make the most of his actual condition [hifz al-hal], and to be content with the divine decree and bestowal of provision [ar-rida bi'l-qada' wa 'l-'ata'], in His words (Exalted is He):

And the provision of your Lord is better and more lasting. (20:131)

That is to say: "That which We have bestowed upon you--in the way of Prophethood [Nubuwwa], knowledge ['ilm], satisfaction [qana'a], patience [sabr], authority in religion [wilayat ad-din] and the rôle of exemplar [qudwa] therein--is far superior to that which We have bestowed upon anyone other than you."

All goodness therefore resides in making the most of one's actual condition [hifz al-hal], in being content with it, and in refraining from taking an interest in any condition apart from it, because the only possibilities, as far as that [other condition] is concerned, are the following: (1) it is your own allotted portion [qism], (2) it is the allotted portion [qism] of someone other than yourself, or (3) it is not a portion [qism] allotted to anyone, but something that Allah (Exalted is He) has caused to exist as a temptation [fitna].

If it is indeed your own allotted portion [qism], it is bound to come your way, whether you wish for it or not. It is therefore inappropriate for you to exhibit bad manners and greediness in its pursuit, for that would be judged unworthy by the standard of reason ['aql] and knowledge ['ilm].

If it is the allotted portion [qism] of someone other than yourself, you must not waste your time and energy on that which you cannot obtain, and which will never come your way. If it is not a portion [qism] allotted to anyone, but merely a temptation [fitna], how could any intelligent person be content, and how could any sensible person consider it worthwhile, to seek and attempt to procure a temptation for himself?

Certain experts on the subject have said:

"Contentment [rida] with the divine decree [qada'] means that there is no significant distinction, as far as you are concerned, between what you like and what you dislike about His decree (Almighty and Glorious is He)."

One of them has said:

"It means patience [sabr] in enduring the bitterness of the divine decree [qada']."

Another has said:

"It means laying the palms of one's hands on the ground [i.e., prostrating oneself] in the presence of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), and submitting [taslim] to His rulings [ahkam]."

Another has said:

"It means leaving it to the Manager [Mudabbir] to select the best option."

Yet another has said:

"It means giving up personal preference [ikhtiyar]."

One of them has said:

"The people who really experience contentment [ahl ar-rida] are those who eradicate personal preference from their hearts. This means that they accord no special preference to any of the various things they may want for themselves, nor to any of the things by which they intend to please Allah. They make no requests of Him, and they do not try to find out about a ruling [hukm] before it comes down [from Him]. So, when a ruling [hukm] does come down from Allah, inasmuch as they are not eagerly awaiting it, and have not tried to learn about it in advance, they are content with it and take pleasure and delight in it."

The same person has also said:

"Allah has some servants who see it as a gracious favor, bestowed upon them by Allah, when the sentence [hukm] of trial and tribulation is imposed upon them, so they thank Him for it and accept it gladly. But then they come to realize, in the wake of their delight in gracious favors, that their preoccupation with the benefaction [ni'ma], instead of with the Benefactor [Mun'im], amounts to a shortcoming. Their hearts are now preoccupied with the Benefactor [Mun'im], instead of with the benefaction [ni'ma], and so the affliction runs its course over them, while their hearts are unaffected by it.

"Once they have settled into this spiritual station [maqam], and have made it their permanent residence, their Master [Mawla] will transport them to a level that is even loftier for them and more elevated than that, because there is no limit and no end to His gifts (Almighty and Glorious is He)."

At the very least, contentment [rida] must mean that one ceases to yearn for anything apart from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), since Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has declared it blameworthy to yearn for anything other than Him (Almighty and Glorious is He).

Yahya ibn Kathir is reported as having said: "I read the Torah [Tawrah], and in it I saw that Allah (Glory be to Him and Exalted is He) says:

'Accursed is he whose reliance is placed upon a creature like himself.'"

In one of the traditions [akhbar], it is reported that Allah (Glory be to Him) says:

By My Might, My Majesty, My Generosity and My Glory, I shall cut off with despair the hope of anyone who pins his hope on anything other than Me. I shall cause him to wear the garment of shame among the people. I shall banish him from My proximity, and I shall cut him off from access to Me. Will he go on pinning his hope, in the midst of adversities, on anything other than Me, when adversities are under My control, and I am the Ever-Living [al-Hayy]? Will he go on appealing to others apart from Me? Will he go on knocking with his mind at the doors of others apart from Me, when they are locked and their keys are in My hand?

In another tradition [khabar], it is reported that Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) says:

Whenever a servant holds fast to Me, rather than to My creation, that fact becomes known from his heart and his intention [niyya], so the heavens and the earth and all within them conspire to bring about his downfall, but I provide him with a means of escape therefrom. And whenever a servant clings to a created entity, rather than to Me, I cut away the cords of heaven from above him, and I turn the earth into a swamp beneath his feet. Then I bring him to ruination in this world, and I make him suffer misery therein.

One of the Companions [Sahaba] (may the good pleasure [ridwan] of Allah the Exalted be upon them all) is reported as having said: "I once heard Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) say:

"'If someone takes pride in human beings, he deserves to be treated with contempt.'"

In the words of another wise saying:

"If a person relies upon a creature like himself, he deserves to be treated with contempt. Because of his ambitious desire [tama'] to get whatever he wants, he is prevented from consulting his inner feeling, distracted from his true aspiration, and exposed to degradation and abasement. Two things are therefore stacked against him, namely, humiliation in this world and remoteness from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), without the addition of one single atom to increase his sustenance."

One of the experts had this to say:

"I know of nothing more harmful to spiritual aspirants [muridin] and seekers [talibin] than ambitious desire [tama']. I know of nothing more detrimental to their hearts, nothing more likely to make them suffer degradation, nothing more injurious to their inner feelings, nothing more likely to keep them far removed from their goal, and nothing more serious as a distraction from their true aspiration.

"As for why this is so, the reason is simply that it amounts to a form of polytheism [shirk], wherever they may be, because one of them has attributed a partner to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), inasmuch as he has focused his ambitious desire [tama'] on a creature like himself, who is powerless to cause any harm or provide any benefit, and incapable of giving or withholding any gift. He has thereby assigned the power of the King [Malik] to His slave [mamluk]. So what of his claim to piety [wara']? His claim to piety will not be recognized as genuine, until he attributes all things to their Owner [Malik] (Almighty and Glorious is He), then seeks to obtain them from Him, and does not seek to obtain them from anyone other than Him."

As someone else has explained:

"Ambitious desire [tama'] has a root and a branch. The root of it is heedless neglect, while its branch consists of hypocritical ostentation [riya'], promoting an undeserved reputation [sum'a], pretense and affectation, and a fondness for acquiring prestige in the eyes of the public."

Jesus ['Isa] (peace be upon him) once said to the Disciples [Hawariyyin]:

"Ambitious desire [tama'] is the deadly enemy of inspiration [wahy]."

One of the experts on this subject is reported as having said:

"It happened one day that I felt a strong desire for something belonging to this world, but then an invisible voice [hatif] called out to me, saying: 'O you there! Since the free man with spiritual aspirations [al-hurr al-murid] can find whatever he seeks in the presence of Allah, it ill befits him to depend in his heart upon servile creatures ['abid]."

You should also know that Allah has certain servants ['ibad] who are unconscious of the fact that ambition must be focused on the One who has the power to grant what they desire, until they receive the blessing of grace [baraka] from an unexpected source. Only then do they realize that the state of ambitious desire [tama'] is a defective condition among the spiritual states [ahwal]. It is a lower degree than all the degrees attained by those, among the people of absolute trust in the Lord, whose knowledge is based on direct experience [al-'arifin min ahl at-tawakkul].

No trace of ambitious desire [tama'] can enter and settle in the heart of the spiritual aspirant [murid], unless it be on account of total remoteness from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), due to his having focused his ambition on a creature like himself, and because fear has not deterred him from doing so, even though he is well aware that his Master [Mawla] knows absolutely everything about him.

On the Two Conditions of the Self [nafs]

2010-09-01T23:04:00.000+05:30

A Discourse by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Geelani (42nd Discourse from Futuh al-Ghaib (Revelations of the Unseen))

"The self [nafs] has two conditions and no third: The state of wellbeing and the state of tribulation. When it is undergoing tribulation, the signs are anxiety, complaining, resentment, protest and suspicion toward the Lord of Truth (Glorious and Exalted is He), and lack of patience, contentment and compliance. Indeed, there is likely to be ill-mannered behavior, the association of creatures and material objects with the Creator, and unbelief. When, on the other hand, it is in the state of well-being, the signs are greed, impetuosity, and the pursuit of carnal lusts and pleasures. As soon as it gratifies one desire, it goes after another, belittling the blessings it already possesses, such as food, drink, clothing, spouse, dwelling and means of transport. It finds faults and defects in each one of these blessings, wanting something superior and finer that is not part of its destined lot, while shunning what has been allotted to it. Thus the person gets into all kinds of trouble, and wades into many perils in a long and weary process that has no end or termination in either this world or the hereafter. As the saying goes: "Truly the harshest of punishments is the desire to have what is not one's allotted share."

When the self is undergoing tribulation, it wishes only to see it removed, forgetting all about enjoyment, lust and pleasure, and wanting none of them. Once relieved of suffering, however, it reverts to its frivolity, greed and impetuosity, to its recalcitrant disobedience of its Lord and its dedication to sinful rebellion against Him. It forgets all the trouble and pain, all the misfortune it went through previously. Now it is afflicted with even harsher trials and tribulations, because of the major sins it has perpetrated and committed, to wean it away from these and to restrain it from sinful acts in future, since well-being and comfort had failed to reform it, and its safekeeping lay rather in tribulation and pain.

If the self had behaved itself well when the affliction was removed, and had practiced obedience, gratitude and contentment with its lot, things would have been better for it in this world and the hereafter. It would have experienced increasing comfort, well-being, approval from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), pleasure, and help toward success.

Anyone who wishes for safety in this world and the hereafter must therefore cultivate patience and contentment. He must give up complaining to people, submit his needs to his Lord (Almighty and Glorious is He), practice obedience to Him, wait for happiness to come from Him, and be devoted exclusively to Him (Almighty and Glorious is He), since He is better than any other and than His entire creation. His deprivation is actually a gift, His punishment a blessing, His trial a remedy, His promise ready cash, His word a deed, His will a state of being. Surely His word "and His command when He intends a thing, is to say to it 'Be,' and it is" (36:82). All His deeds are good and wise and beneficial, although He keeps knowledge of the benefits concealed from His servants and reserves it to Himself alone. For His servants, therefore, it is most fitting and proper to be in a state of contentment and submission, to be dedicated to servanthood by fulfilling commandments, observing prohibitions, and submitting to the decree of destiny, to abandon preoccupation and combat with Lordship, which is the source of destiny's decrees, to be silent on questions of why and how and when, and to give up suspicion of the Lord of Truth (Almighty and Glorious is He) in all His phases of movement and repose.

All of this rests on the authority of the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be well pleased with him and his father), from whom it is transmitted by 'Ata'. Ibn 'Abbas said: "I was riding behind the Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) when he said to me: 'My boy, take care of Allah and He will take care of you. Take care of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. So when you have something to ask, ask Allah, and when you seek help, seek help from Allah. The pen has already run dry from writing all that is to be, so if His servants were to strive to bring you some benefit not decreed for you by Allah, they would not be capable of it, and if His servants were to strive to cause you some injury not decreed for you by Allah, they would not be able to do it. So if you can relate to Allah with honesty and certitude [yaqin], do so; and if you cannot, there is much good in being patient with what you dislike. Know that help resides in patience, joy with sorrow, and "with hardship comes ease" (94:5).' "

It behooves every believer to make this hadith a mirror for his heart, to wear it as his undergarment and his outer garb, to treat it as his own hadith, on which he should act in all conditions, be he in motion or at rest, so that he may be safe in this world and the hereafter, and receive honor in both domains through the mercy of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He)."

Prophet

2010-08-27T18:25:00.000+05:30

Lost, stunned, Yin approached the edge.
Climbing, exhausted, Yin felt at the bottom.
Approaching the end in the quest of meaning,
Yin had seen his own image!

Yang, my gene, why are you here?
Looking for the ship if it approaches the shore.
The ship if it reaches will fill me with glory.
Yin, my brother why are you here?

I have reached this point in quest of truth.
Seeking the meaning to this so called life.
I'm here to jump to the shore,
washed by the ocean I will be no more.

Yin, my brother, we are but one.
You left my soul when I was so young.
I asked 'how to live' and you asked 'why to live'.
'How' for life and 'why' for death?

O' Yin my brother, a long way I have come.
If you dive from the cliff, it is me they will think!
My goods and gold, all they will devour.
I can see the ship nearing the shore,
its filled with hope and my life is that.
Stop O' Yin, let me live ahead.

Yang, my self, do not fear.
Why glory, why hope?
Alas you die with flesh and bones.
Dissolved, dried, you will be no more.

I have come a way, in seek of truth.
I sweared to self, my death before sunset.
Before the Arabian sea, lies my words.
The sun shall set before your ship.

O' Yang let me, let me, else my quest is lost.
Yang my brother, life is void.
You bear children and they too suffer.
As they grow, the numbers gain.
Tickled, agitated, nature kills them all.
Your ship is nothing but a hope that is false,
when it sees me dead, where will be your wealth?

Confused, Yang, lost his hope.
And joined with Yin near the cliff.
At the edge, they saw the glorious sun.
A spot of ship in the sinking sun. Hope and glory, approaching and dying.

Furthest from west of the Arabian sea,
a voice was heard with truth and wisdom.
"Yin Yang two sides of the coin".
Divine, deep, the brothers were frightened!

They moved towards the voice with fear.
Filled with mercy the voice kissed with love,
and they saw the earth how it evolves!
Humble, greedless yet it 'lived'.
And thus they joined the course of nature.

Cried aloud Yin-Yang,
O' the prophet peace be upon you!

WED-LOCK

2010-08-27T18:24:00.001+05:30

When a hungry creep took off its veil, a thousand muscles creeped forth. Woman you look so great, and so on and 'ON'. They hunted her for the melody of love, went aghast with a flowery trick, happy with the pleasure of heaven, until she knew the fire is near!

Creepy crap was filled with blood. Months of burden and solitude, alas drained it with the liberating pain. Alive, breathing, the blood had voice. But slender, flimsy, it spoke with awe. Creepy crap did not understand a word, she could only listen to the beat of breath. Worried, anxious, she gave her ribs, and she drunk with the pleasure of desire. I can't kill her, nor can I litter, where has gone those thousand muscles? She cried for help and a call answered, who has asked you to remove the veil? You sought freedom and here it is. You sought pleasure and here is your heaven. Modesty and chastity are indeed my gifts, and for those who guard it is indeed loved.

A muscle approached with might and mane, pierced with the spirit of modern art. He said, at the age of scissors and genes, you can cut the blood whenever you need. Let us drink the wine of love, and let our solace be on plastics and scissors. O' woman you are strong as us, throw away your veils, be free and fly. His flowery trick evolved for muscles, and poor creeps unknown of self, unknown, she falls to the brink of pit. The voice was still in the depth of wisdom. O' man, we have given you wisdom and mercy. And you kill an innocent blood for living! In the love of this world mercy is lost, O' man indeed you are heedless to the words. The muscle took a dip in the voice, baptised, he went in the voice of repentance. He proclaimed the truth for the muscles and creeps, modesty was spread with just and speed. Creeps hid behind the veils, muscles shed their eyes down. Clad with faith and clothed to throat, they all lived a life of piety.

Realizing perfection through uncertainty

2010-04-16T21:27:00.004+05:30

In this post we attempt to understand the coherency between perfection and the principle of uncertainty. From our previous post 'On Science and Art' we have concluded that the very phenomenon of competition and evolution is a result of prevailing 'art' in the design of universe. This can also be interpreted as 'the uncertainty in world is certain and an element of uncertainty exists in each and every natural system or law.' Which can also be interpreted as there is no perfect natural law, and always an exception is found both when the limits are crossed and within the limitation. Hence I am sitting here with an imperfect mind, thinking about uncertainty and why people run towards perfection and end up in everlasting confusion or sometimes extreme fundamentalism.

When I talk about extreme fundamentalism, let me take the example of religious terrorism. Religious terrorism is a perfect example here, because innocent men fall into the trap of perfectionism either through a religious dogma or a blind principle. When he tries to be fundamental which is often contradictory to diplomacy, he falls to a notion of a perfect follower of a principle and in an illusion to expand it or at least protect it, often ends up in suppressing or conquering others. This is for his own solace in the periphery of perfection and to guard his principle or to spread the principle which he often mentions as 'truth'.

In this blog, the name of which itself is 'In The Quest of Truth', the final objective is Truth, which is perfect, real and fundamental. But the author has to admit the fact that it is never attainable in this uncertain universe by an imperfect man. But the path towards it, itself is an amazing voyage, a voyage which enlightens various dark thoughts which were either undiscovered or blurred by the fear of thinking deep.

Hope this small post has all the required meaning to understand the intention, and to further make it short, let us put it like this-

"Man shall not fall in the pit of illusion by boasting himself or a dogma to be perfect, if he understands the uncertainty in universe while in the quest of perfection or truth."

On Science and Art - Illustrated with an Example regarding Security Analysis

2010-03-09T01:47:00.004+05:30

The debate over science and art is louder than ever before (at least in the human history that we are aware of). We can vividly see from our own life and society the pace at which science overtakes art. In one of the post in this blog 'Are Miracles Religious', we attempted to define miracle as "an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature" and finally added - "as the spectrum of naturalness increases through scientific means, the word miracle itself will vanish." But in this post let me try to elaborate it a bit more by synonymizing the word 'miracle' with 'art'. If we substitute 'art' with the latter quoted sentence, it sounds - "as the spectrum of naturalness increases through scientific means, the word art itself will vanish." That sounds weird, because it can also mean that as the scientific knowledge increases, we forget to appreciate art. Do we really? Are the cuboid shaped utility buildings substituting the magnificent architects of the past? Are white and gray suits substituting colourful lungies, and salwars? Are blue and white paintings substituting the colourful paintings as we still see in many parts of India? Of course, all the answers are affirmative. But, has this affirmative answer has to do anything contradictory to our assumption above? No.

I shall explain its amicability with the following example, which is from my own experience. I have been analyzing stocks for an year now. Well, that's relatively a very short period. I have been highly reluctant to enter the market and extremely cautious at most of the time, because I simply could not find the 'science' behind it. All what I could see is art or perhaps speculation. That is the reason why most of the people equate stock trading to gambling (which is also an art). And the reason is that most people don't know the science behind it, in fact nobody completely knows it. It may sound that rocket science is more complicated than stock analysis, but in fact rocket scientist can, most of the time predict precisely, the time at which the rocket shall land in the orbit. But, no financial expert or economist can precisely predict, when there shall be a bull market or a bear market. When there is immense scope for rocket scientists to conquer the entire universe, so has an economist to understand the nature of market trends. Courtesy to Benjamin Graham, who with his logical thought and broadness of mind, could bring light into the science of stock market. In fact he reduced the scope of art by spreading light into the 'art' part and converting it into science. Graham would have made security analysis as perfect as mechanics, through his sound value oriented argument. To take profit from the inefficiency of market trend, i.e. the discrepancy between theory and practice, sounds equivalent to generating electricity from the heat produced from friction. At the same time, when Newtonian mechanics can predict the motion of a normal rocket with considerable precision, it cannot precisely measure the mechanics of the rocket if it had moved near to the speed of light. That is the inherent inefficiency of Newtonian mechanics. If Einstein would not have thrown light into the special theory of relativity (assuming nobody else would have), it would be more of an art, to measure the mechanics of the rocket which was traveling near to the speed of light to galaxy nearby. Similarly, even now the picking a stock is a combination of speculation (art) and investment (science). When science dominates art, it becomes relatively a sound investment. And when art dominates science, it becomes more of speculation.

From the above example it can be said that the human quest for science, spreads light on art to show the science behind it. But, I can confidently say that, it is impossible to avoid art. This confidence is the result of understanding the nature of 'nature' itself. Nothing in nature is 100% efficient. If it was so, there would not be any disease, natural disaster and everything will be 'as it is'. We recognize, appreciate the beauty of art since we are not perfect. And that is the reason, for there is competition, and probably evolution.

Understanding Pain!

2009-11-18T19:42:00.005+05:30

There is not a single person on earth who did not experience a feeling called 'pain'. From the pain of getting out of the mother's womb to the pain of the final depart of the human soul; life is always cautious about pain. And the feeling of sympathy comes from the empathy of pain. Let us try to go a little more deeper into pain.

What modern physiology says is that, "pain is initiated by stimulation of nociceptors in the peripheral nervous system, or by damage to or malfunction of the peripheral or central nervous systems." That seems to be very logical, and scientifically agreeable. But let us try to understand pain more than what physiology says, by experiencing pain, by understanding its true meaning and finally by generalizing it .

Pain is always within us, yes, always! You can experiment it yourself. Just sit quite for a while, in a most comfortable position, in a most comfortable environment. And then observe, concentrate on each part of your body, your internal organs, your blood vessels, your brain, or anywhere, indeed you will sense pain from everywhere. In fact we are getting so much used to pain that we cease the feeling of the "pain of existence". You get accustomed to the condition you are in, which is often called homeostasis. A person having less pain than you may feel sympathetic towards you, on the other hand you may not necessarily feel the pain that the other person perceives in you. And instead you may feel sympathetic to someone who has more pain than you.

Now, since, pain is attached to all of us, very intimately and almost always, you may feel a bit perturbed while generalizing it. You may change the name 'Pain' to the name you wish, say an 'X factor'. But the nirvana of it shall be felt only when the word pain is maintained throughout. Hence I am sticking on to the word pain.

Our body can be called as an open system. Like every physical system, our body too tries to sustain itself. And when there is instability, our body experiences pain. While we generalize this concept, pain can be said as “an immediate consequence of entropy". So, when an animal's body is amputated it experiences pain, when a plant's shoot is cut it experiences pain, and when a mass of rock is broken into pieces it experiences pain!

In a world of Big-Bang, pain is inevitable. The birth of world itself was painful. Hope there will be a Big Crunch ahead where the opposite of pain is experienced, and if we are alive, we shall also be a part to experience that phenomenon.

Are Human Beings a part of Nature?

2009-06-08T21:59:00.011+05:30

It is often a question for intelligent creatures, that if they themselves are a part of nature or the controller of nature. This question has taken men into surprising conclusions throughout the history. The evolution of religion, philosophies and even modern ethics is a part in the quest of that question.

In search of an answer for this, we may end up in contradictory conclusions. First, if we are a part of nature then, we need to justify every act of ourselves including pollution, unscientific use of natural resources and everything which is considered destructive today because of our artificial indulgences. At the same time, if we consider ourselves not a part of nature, then we have to admit that we have a certain amount of control which others doesn't, which simply means we are unnatural, or perhaps supernatural, whatever you may call it.

But as a student In the Quest of Truth I must not break its basic rule of being 'Natural'. On the same context I had earlier written the post 'Are Miracles Religious?'. But now, this post is in a dilemma of justifying the basic rule of 'Being Natural'. But this dilemma can be easily solved using the fundamental law of nature, which is the Law of Creation and Destruction.

Life to death is what is seen in every creation in this world. As Siddhartha (Buddha) says, "Every compounded thing is bound to decay", and as the Quran recites, "How can you disbelieve in GOD when you were dead and He gave you life, then He puts you to death, then He brings you back to life, then to Him you ultimately return?"

All created things are bound to get destroyed, from life to death, from atom to energy, from Big Bang to Big crunch, and so are we, in fact there is no exception in science and if there is any exception then that is an unknown 'science'. So is the answer here, yes human beings are a part of nature. If human beings are a part of nature, then what about the ethical problems associated with it? For example, can we justify the destruction taking place on earth? Can we justify the war, and all the suffering taking place? Nature has to justify it, because it is not due to any deliberate attempt by supernatural human ability, but just a course of nature.

Pollution is inevitable; destruction is a process, finally as in the case of every created things our earth also needs to be destroyed. Now what about the efforts done by certain human souls to slow down the process by a lot of environmental activism, ecological sustainable programs, conservatory measures etc.

Now it is not the question of who is right or wrong. But according to the previous post, ' A Treasure Within!', "Good is something which helps the propagation of your species (humanity) to live ahead. While, bad is something which destroys your species." Thus those who attempt destruction are bad in human eye. And they are normally punished by the civilized society. Well the punishment causes the suppression or death of the destroying elements. At the same time the constructive attempts by environmentalists etc are suppressed by the 'bad' elements. If we genuinely consider who these bad elements are, then we must agree that almost all of us are. The exorbitant way of life that we all are succumbed to, is itself the cause of destruction. The 'bad' elements that we perceive are really a minor share of the destruction.

Thus Human Beings are a part of Nature and so is the creation and destruction. No one can stop the destruction. It is really unfortunate that we cannot bring into account any sturdy way of life to reduce the pace of destruction. But, if there is any way to do this then the only possible way is to live in accordance with the nature. To adapt a simple way of life, a life which uses the values which suppress the negative elements that can be understood by common sense like greed, anger and so on. This will only help in the delay in our own destruction, but can never stop it. Even that delay is predetermined!

A Treasure Within!

2008-12-15T16:42:00.009+05:30

Dear Readers, this post is rather one of the most awaiting post of my conscious. This post is a huge leap In The Quest of Truth. This post is devoid of theology but instead enters into one of the most sublime topic any human being would think. This post is about 'you'!

When I sit in front of my computer in this lovely evening, my thoughts pour on the tips of my finger. These thoughts are not a result of human convolutions but a mighty leap towards human understanding. It would be difficult to put 'silence' into words and so is my task here.

Imagine! Imagine, a bright noon with darkness around. Imagine, the colour of infra red and ultraviolet. Imagine the smell of fire. Imagine the taste of a rock-piece from mars. Please do not feel defeated, but understand that we are limited, the world that we see by all probability is not the world in real. We are controlled by our senses. The world that we know is through our senses, we do not know anything else, anything beyond our limitation. Nobody in this world could think beyond those because our thoughts are based on our previous experiences (observations) and its derivatives. Thus even imagination is limited. And if at all it is possible to imagine such thoughts, it would not be possible to express it! Going a step ahead, can you imagine nothing? Well to imagine nothing you shouldn't imagine. Thus, it would be the most absurd but true task in which a man thinks of nothing without thinking.

Now being in this limitation of human mind, and human body, I am here to reveal a truth about self. If you think that we can be pure, then ask how can we be pure? Do you think we can be pure by being completely selfless? Think carefully, No! What is being completely selfless. Siddhartha Gotama tried to be so. He didn't have food and went to the extreme of having his own faeces. Well, imagine a person who is extremely selfless. He does not hurt anyone, helps all with his ability, does not eat non-veg. But imagine, can he live without breaking a chemical bond in nature? Can he help anyone without helping himself? Can he live without food? No. 'Thus, the pure selflessness means silence or death'.

Thus readers, if you think it is holy to be in these extreme thoughts then you are wrong. If you think it is holy to be completely selfless, then that too is not true. And if you think it is good to keep such a concept to be a role model, then that too wouldn't help you.

Now what is truth? The Truth is to be Natural. To live naturally. Everybody knows what is good and bad. But rarely people think how good and bad are categorized. Good is something which helps the propagation of your species (humanity) to live ahead. While, bad is something which destroys your species. Thus, killing a good person is bad, but killing a bad person is good. Development is good if it is not 'bad' to human beings. Know that being bad to a single other species indirectly is bad to human species. Our nature is so framed that everything is webed together, so being good to yourself will not harm others! This knowledge of distinguishing good from bad is known as wisdom. Now, you will appreciate the importance of wisdom. Because only wisdom and following the good path according to the wisdom will bring peace.

You can be a master of it, anyone can. It is not a divine knowledge, or a miracle. It is logic. You need not strain yourself to gain this knowledge, but achieve it by just being practical. You can be a master of yourself, and you need not seek taking advices from others. This is the beauty of truth! It is simple yet has a lot of meaning.

This is the simple truth dear, neither theology nor extreme philosophies. Based on this truth we can move deeper into The Quest of Truth.

"love has bounds, even universe has bounds"

General Awareness over the World Religions (Part 1)

2008-11-22T08:09:00.015+05:30

As a reader of this Blog, it is better to have an idea about the various religions in the world, its philosophies, principles etc. One of the main intentions of this Blog is to help people think beyond the philosophies which they are mended by the society. When people are bound over a particular philosophy or theology, many times they ignore to think beyond the ideas which they are absorbed into. Having a general idea over the World Religions, its philosophies and theology may help the readers in broadening their mind and thus help them walk a step ahead In The Quest Of Truth.

Adherents.com, one of the world’s biggest religious portals lists around 43,351 groups. And remember, each and every group has different beliefs, rituals and philosophies. So, it is an enormous task to categorize and explain each and every sect and religion in this post. But, it is clear that our purpose here is not a detailed theological study but instead to understand and realize the fact that:
• Each and every person in a particular belief thinks that his/her faith is right
• Each and every faith contradict the other faith in at least one way
• This leads to a logical conclusion that a person in a particular faith has to believe that only his/her faith is completely ‘true’!

Some of you may feel this conclusion to be weird and if you feel so then either you are not aware of the world religions in detail or you are not a strict believer in your faith. To not be a strict believer in your faith just means that you are a hypocrite, bending your faith as you will so that it is compatible according to your need and the society. But, if you are a true believer in your religion ‘AND’ also have a comprehensive knowledge about the world religions, I must say that it would bring a few tough times in your life. And this tough time is the result of the confusion that will arise in you. It depends upon your nature on how you react with this confusion. Either you may take a bold step In The Quest of Truth, or be intolerant toward other religions. Both these journeys may take you to any extent. I shall cite a few examples in the coming posts on how religious intolerance, terrorism etc are related to the above mentioned conditions (i.e. being a true believer in your religion ‘AND’ also have a detailed knowledge about the world religions).

“Actions are determined by Ignorance…” - Siddhartha Gautama (on the law of causation)

Dear Readers, now I attempt to give a general awareness of the world religions. One thing every religion (except a few) has in common is the concept of deity. In the beginning, I shall categories different thoughts based on this concept.

• Agnosticism:
It is simply a belief that we cannot prove either the existence or the non-existence of deity. So, it is a waste of time to argue or ponder about it.
o Agnostic theists: those who believe that a deity probably exists;
o Agnostic atheists: those who believe that it is very improbable that a deity exists.

• Apetheism:
The term is a portmanteau -- a combination of two words -- either "apathy" and "Theism" or "apathy and "Atheism." An Apatheist is a person who regards the existence of a God or Supreme Being as a relatively meaningless and irrelevant question. Unlike Theists, Agnostics, Atheists, etc, the unique feature of an Apatheist is that if it were possible to prove that God exists, their beliefs and behavior would not change. Similarly, there would be no change if someone proved that God does not exist.

• Atheism:
The lack of a belief that deity, in the form of one or more supernatural gods or goddesses, exists.

• Cosmicism:
It is philosophy developed by H.P. Lovecraft based on the insignificance and helplessness of humans, the absence of a deity, and the existence of "powerful beings and other cosmic forces" that are completely indifferent towards humanity.

• Deism:
Deism involves the belief in the existence of God, on purely rational grounds, without any reliance on revealed religion or religious authority.
o Do not accept the belief of most religions that God revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts.
o Disagree with Atheists who assert that there is no evidence of the existence of God.

"God is the power of first cause, nature is the law, and matter is the subject acted upon." - Thomas Paine

• Humanism:
It is a philosophy which in most cases embraces Agnosticism or Atheistic belief about the non-existence of a deity. But it goes further to create ethical systems based upon reason and logic. It regards humanity as the measure of all things. Humanists emphasize a belief in the importance of doing good in society.

Most Humanists share these following opinions:
• Either they do not believe in the existence of a deity, or they don't really care about the topic.
• They believe that excellent codes of behavior and morality can be created through reason.
• Humans created the Gods and Goddesses in their own image.
• They are very concerned about human rights and equal opportunities for all.
• They tend to be at the liberal end of the spectrum on such controversial topics as abortion access; equal rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals; same-sex marriage, physician assisted suicide, etc.

• Monotheism:
Monotheists believe in one, indivisible God, and not to associate anything to worship with that indivisible God. Example: Islam and Judaism.

• Pantheism:
God and the Universe are the same.

• Polytheism:
They believe and worship more that one deity.

Below is a Chart which includes the major beliefs, statistics, practices etc of most of the Major Religions of the World. Going through this chart may help the reader in understanding the diversity in human culture and beliefs, thus letting them a step nearer to the Truth at least in their sub-conscious mind.

Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Aladura	Various prophet-healing churches founded since c.1918, West Nigeria.	1 million	Generally monotheistic; a mix of Anglican, Pentecostal and traditional African beliefs.	Strong emphasis on healing and salvation in this life through prayer, fasting and other rituals.	Not emphasized; views vary.	Spiritual healing is central. Mix of Anglican and African rituals; a prophet plays a prominent role.	None	ReligionFacts article
Asatru	Revival of Norse and Germanic paganism, 1970s Scandinavia and USA.	unknown	Polytheistic, Norse gods and goddesses, Norse creation myths.	Salvation or redemption not emphasized. Fatalistic view of universe.	Valhalla (heaven) for death in battle; Hel (peaceful place) for most; Hifhel (hell) for the very evil.	Sacrifice of food or drink, toast to the gods, shamanism (less frequently), celebration of solstice holidays. Nine Noble Virtues is moral code.	Eddas (Norse epics); the Havamal (proverbs attributed to Odin)	ReligionFacts article Asatru Alliance Wikipedia
Atheism	Appears in history, but especially after the Enlightenment (19th cent).	1.1 billion (this figure includes agnostic and non-religious, which tend to be grouped on surveys)	There is no God or divine being. Beliefs about the universe generally based on latest scientific findings.	Only humans can help themselves and each other solve the world's problems.	none	none	Influential works include those by Marx, Freud, Feuerbach, and Voltaire.	The Secular Web BBC Religion Wikipedia
Baha'i Faith	Founded by Bahá'u'lláh, 1863, Tehran, Iran.	5-7 million	One God, who has revealed himself progressively through major world religions.	The soul is eternal and essentially good. Purpose of life is to develop spiritually and draw closer to God.	Soul separates from the body and begins a journey towards or away from God. Heaven and hell are states of being.	Daily prayer, avoidance of intoxicants, scripture reading, hard work, education, work for social justice and equality.	Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and other Bahá'í leaders	ReligionFacts section The Baha'i World
Bön	Indigenous religion of Tibet.	100,000	Nontheistic Buddhism, but meditation on peaceful and wrathful deities.	Purpose is to gain enlightenment.	Reincarnation until gain enlightenment	Meditation on mandalas and Tibetan deities, astrology, monastic life.	Bonpo canon	ReligionFacts article Tibet.com
Buddhism	Founded by Siddharta Gautama (the Buddha) in c. 520 BC, NE India.	360 million	Varies: Theravada atheistic; Mahayana more polytheistic. Buddha taught nothing is permanent.	Purpose is to avoid suffering and gain enlightenment and release from cycle of rebirth, or at least attain a better rebirth by gaining merit.	Reincarnation (understood differently than in Hinduism, with no surviving soul) until gain enlightenment	Meditation, mantras, devotion to deities (in some sects), mandalas (Tibetan)	Tripitaka (Pali Canon); Mahayana sutras like the Lotus Sutra; others.	ReligionFacts section BuddhaNet
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Cao Dai	Founded in 1926, Vietnam by Ngo Van Chieu and others based on a séance.	4-6 million	God represented by Divine Eye. Founders of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity venerated, and saints including Victor Hugo.	Goal is peace and harmony in each person and in the world. Salvation by "cultivating self and finding God in self."	Reincarnation. Bad karma can lead to rebirth on a darker planet; good karma to better life on earth. Eventual attainment of nirvana or heaven.	Hierarchy similar to Roman Catholicism. Daily prayer. Meditation. Communication with spirit world (now outlawed in Vietnam).	Caodai canon	ReligionFacts article CaoDai.org
Chinese Religion	Indigenous folk religion of China.	394 million	Dualistic yin and yang; mythological beings and folk deities.	Purpose is a favorable life and peaceful afterlife, attained through rituals and honoring of ancestors.	Judgment, then reincarnation or temporary hell until gain a Buddhist-type paradise.	Ancestor worship, prayer, longevity practices , divination, prophecy and astrology, feng shui.	None	ReligionFacts section Chinese Cultural Studies
Chopra Center	Founded by Deepak Chopra in 1991, California	unknown	monism - God or Supreme Reality pervades all things; all is unity	Humans have limitless potential, but do not recognize this. Health and success can be had by focusing on whole self (mind, body, spirit).	Reincarnation	Yoga, meditation, massage, nutrition, mindfulness, detox sessions, positive thinking.	Deepak Chopra's many books, such as the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success	ReligionFacts article Official Website
Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox)	Founded by Paul, and later people based on the principles of Jesus Christ in c. 30 AD, Israel.	2 billion	One God who is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit	All have sinned and are thereby separated from God. Salvation is through faith in Christ and, for some, sacraments and good works.	Eternal heaven or hell (or temporary purgatory).	Prayer, Bible study, baptism, Eucharist, church on Sundays, numerous holidays.	The Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments)	ReligionFacts section Wikipedia BBC Religion
Christian Science	Founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879, Massachusetts.	150,000 - 400,000	One God. No Trinity (in traditional sense). Matter and evil do not exist.	Salvation is "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness and death destroyed."	Heaven is "not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal."	Spiritual healing through prayer and knowledge, Sunday services, daily Bible and Science & Health reading.	Christian Bible, Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures	ReligionFacts article Official Website
Confucianism	Founded by Confucius (551–479 BC), China	5-6 million	Not addressed	Purpose of life is to fulfill one's role in society with propriety, honor, and loyalty.	Not addressed	Honesty, politeness, propriety, humaneness, perform correct role in society, loyalty to family, nation	Analects	ReligionFacts article Wikipedia
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Deism	Especially popularized in the 18th-cent. Enlightenment under Kant, Voltaire, Paine, Jefferson, and others	unknown	One Creator God who is uninterested in the world. Reason is basis for all knowledge.	Not addressed	Not addressed	None prescribed, although some deists practice prayer.	Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason and similar texts	World Union of Deists Wikipedia
Druze	Al-Darazi in 11th century, Cairo, Egypt. Roots in the Isma'iliyya sect of Shia Islam.	500,000	Universal Intelligence (al-Aql al-Kulli) or Divine Essence (akin to Neoplatonism), of which al-Hakim is believed to be an incarnation.	Live a good life for a favorable reincarnation. Await the re-appearance of al-Hakim (a Fatimid caliph who disappeared in 1021), who will usher in a Golden Age for true believers.	Reincarnation. Heaven is a spiritual existence when one has escaped reincarnation. Hell is distance from God in lifetime after lifetime.	Modest lifestyles, fasting before Eid al-Adha. Beliefs and practices are hidden for protection from persecution. Special group of initiates called uqqal.	Al-Naqd al-Khafi (Copy of the Secret); Al-Juz'al-Awwal (Essence of the First)	Wikipedia Lexicorient
Eckankar	John Paul Twitchell in 1965, Las Vegas.	50-500,000	The Divine Spirit, called "ECK"	"Each of us is Soul, a spark of God sent to this world to gain spiritual experience." Salvation is liberation and God-realization.	Reincarnation. The Soul is eternal by nature and on a spiritual journey. Liberation possible in a single lifetime.	Spiritual Exercises of ECK: mantras, meditation, and dreams. These enable Soul travel and spiritual growth.	Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad and books by Harold Klemp	ReligionFacts article Official Website
Epicureanism	Epicurus in c.300 BC, Athens.	unknown	A deistic sort of polytheism: the gods exist, but take no notice of humans.	Materialism: everything is made of atoms, including gods and the soul.	No afterlife. The soul dissolves when the body dies.	Pursue the highest pleasures (friendship and tranquility) and avoid pain.	Letters and Principal Doctrines of Epicurus	ReligionFacts article Epicurus.net
Falun Gong	Li Hongzhi in 1992 in China	10 million	Countless gods and spiritual beings.	The Falun (wheel) is an energy source located in the navel. Goal is spritual transcendence, achieved by practicing Falun Gong.	Not addressed	Five exercises to strengthen the Falun. Cultivation of truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance.	Zhuan Falun and other writings by Master Li	ReligionFacts article Falundafa.org
Gnosticism	Various teachers including Valentinus, 1st-2nd cents. AD	ancient form extinct; small modern revival groups	The supreme God is unknowable; the creator god is evil and matter is evil.	Humans can return to the spiritual world through secret knowledge of the universe.	Return to the spiritual world.	Asceticism, celibacy	Gnostic scriptures including various Gospels and Acts attributed to apostles.	Wikipedia Gnosis.org
Greek Religion	Variety of religions of ancient Greeks	ancient form extinct	Olympic pantheon (Zeus, etc.) mixed with eastern deities like Isis and Cybele	Human life is subject to the whim of the gods and to Fate; these can be controlled through sacrifice and divination.	Beliefs varied from no afterlife to shadowy existence in the underworld to a paradise-like afterlife (mainly in mystery religions).	Animal sacrifice, harvest offerings, festivals, games, processions, dance, plays, in honor of the gods. Secret initiations and rituals in mystery religions.	Epic poems of Homer and Hesiod.	ReligionFacts section Wikipedia Ancient Greek Religion
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Hare Krishna	Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1966, USA (with roots in 15th-century Hindu movement)	250,000-1 million	Krishna is the Supreme God.	Salvation from this Age of Kali is by a return to Godhead, accomplished through Krishna-Consciousness.	Reincarnation until unite with the Godhead.	Chanting, dancing, evangelism, vegetarianism, temple worship, monastic-style living.	The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is	ReligionFacts article ISKCON.com Krishna.com
Hinduism	Indigenous religion of India as developed to present day.	900 million	One Supreme Reality (Brahman) manifested in many gods and goddesses	Humans are in bondage to ignorance and illusion, but are able to escape. Purpose is to gain release from rebirth, or at least a better rebirth.	Reincarnation until gain enlightenment.	Yoga, meditation, worship (puja), devotion to a god or goddess, pilgrimage to holy cities, live according to one's dharma (purpose/ role).	The Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, etc.	ReligionFacts section BBC Religion
Islam	Believes that it existed from the beginning of humanity. Thus, respects all the prophets including Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc. Muhammad is believed to be the seal of prophets, 622 AD, Saudi Arabia	1.3 billion. *Fastest Growing Religion in the world.	God, One and Only, Absolute and eternal, who beget not nor is begotten, Creator of the Universe, often accompanied by words Most Gracious and Most Merciful (Allah in Arabic).	Humans must submit (Islam) to the will of God to gain Paradise after death.The sole purpose of humanity is to worship God in every walk of hi/her life.	Paradise or Hell.	Five Pillars: Faith, Prayer, Alms, Pilgrimage, Fasting. Mosque services on Fridays. Ablutions before prayer. No alcohol or pork. Holidays related to the pilgrimage and fast of Ramadan. jihad - struggle for Self Purification.	Books given to Abraham, Moses (Torah), David (Psalms), Jesus (Injil) and Muhammad (Qur'an).(Scripture); Hadith (tradition)	ReligionFacts section BBC Religion IslamiCity
Jainism	Mahavira, c. 550 BC, eastern India	4 million	The universe is eternal; many gods exist. Gods, humans and all living things are classified in a complex hierarchy.	The soul is uncreated and eternal and can attain perfect divinity. Purpose is to gain liberation from cycle of rebirth, by avoiding all bad karma, especially by causing no harm to any sentient being.	Reincarnation until liberation.	Monasticism under the Five Great Vows (Non-Violence, Truth, Celibacy, Non-Stealing, Non-Possessiveness); worship at temples and at home. Meditation and mantras.	The teachings of Mahavira in various collections.	ReligionFacts section BBC Religion Jainworld.com
Jehovah's Witnesses	Charles Taze Russell, 1879, Pittsburgh	6.5 million	One God, Jehovah. No Trinity - Christ is the first creation of God; the Holy Spirit is a force.	Salvation is through faith in Christ and obeying Jehovah's laws. The End of the World is soon.	Heaven for 144,000 chosen Witnesses, eternity on new earth for other Witnesses. All others annihilated. No hell.	No blood transfusions, no celebration of holidays, no use of crosses or religious images. Baptism, Sunday service at Kingdom Hall, strong emphasis on evangelism.	New World Translation of the Scriptures	ReligionFacts section Official Website BBC Religion
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Judaism	The religion of the Hebrews (c. 1300 BC), especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.	14 million	One God, Yahweh.	Obey God's commandments, live ethically. Focus is more on this life than the next.	Not historically emphasized. Beliefs vary from no afterlife to shadowy existence to the World to Come (similar to heaven).	Circumcision at birth, bar/bat mitzvah at adulthood. Synagogue services on Saturdays. No pork or other non-kosher foods. Holidays related to historical events.	Bible (Tanakh), Talmud	ReligionFacts section Judaism 101 BBC Religion
Mayan Religion	c.250 AD (rise of the Mayan civilization)	Historically, up to 2 million. Some survival today.	Many gods, including Itzamná, Kukulcán, Bolon Tzacab, and Chac	Appease and nourish the gods; determine luckiest dates for various activities.	The soul journeys through dark and threatening underworld; but sacrificial victims and women who die in childbirth go to heaven.	Astronomy, divination, human sacrifice, elaborate burial for royalty, worship in stone pyramid-temples	Dresden, Madrid, and Paris codices; Books of Chilam Balam; Popol Vuh; The Ritual of the Bacabs	ReligionFacts article
Mormonism (LDS)	Joseph Smith, 1830, New York	12.2 million	God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate individual beings	Humans existed as spirits before this life, salvation is returning to God. Salvation by faith in Christ, good works, ordinances, and evangelism.	All return to spirit world for period of instruction before resurrection. Mormons to heaven with God and families; others rewarded but not with God; hell for those who reject God after death.	Abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea; baptism for the dead; eternal marriage; temple garments under daily clothes; active evangelism.	Christian Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price	ReligionFacts section Official Website BBC Religion
New Age	Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Annie Besant in the 19th C, Alice A. Bailey (1880-1949), flourished in 1970s and 80s	5 million (very approximate)	The Divine is an impersonal life force that pervades all things	Dawning of a New Age of heightened consciousness and international peace. Individuals can obtain a foretaste of the New Age through spiritual transformation ("Ascension"). More emphasis on the latter now. Evil comes from ignorance.	Reincarnation based on karma	Astrology; mysticism; use of crystals; yoga; tarot readings; holistic medicine; psychic abilities; angelic communications; channeling; amulets; fortune-telling	Works of a variety of New Age writers	Beliefnet Religious Movements Homepage
New Thought	Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-66) and others, late 19th century, USA.	160,000	Generally monism (all is One), but members might be theists, pantheists or panentheists. God is immanent; the universe is essentially spiritual.	Man is divine, essentially spirit, and has infinite possibility. Mind can control the body. Sin and sickness caused by incorrect thinking. Man can live in oneness with God in love, truth, peace, health, and prosperity.	"Life is eternal in the invisible kingdom of God."	Emphasis on spiritual and mental healing, but without rejection of modern medicine. Worship services; prayer for the sick; discussion of New Thought authors and ideas.	Writings of Quimby (such as the The Quimby Manuscripts) and other New Thought authors	ReligionFacts article International New Thought Alliance Religious Movements Homepage
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Rastafari	Teachings of Marcus Garvey (1920s, Jamaica) and coronation of Haile Selassie (1930, Ethiopia)	1 million	God is Jah, who became incarnate in Jesus (who was black) and Haile Selassie.	Humans are temples of Jah. Salvation is primarily in this world and consists of liberation from oppression and return to Africa.	Some Rastas will experience "everliving" (physical immortality). Heaven is a return to Eden, which is in Africa.	Many practices based on Jewish biblical Law. Abstinence from most or all meat, artificial foods, and alcohol. Use of marijuana in religious rituals and for medicine. Wearing of dreadlocks.	Holy Piby (the "Blackman's Bible). The Ethiopian epic Kebra Negast also revered.	ReligionFacts article The Afrocentric Experience Jamaicans.com
Scientology	L. Ron Hubbard, 1954, California	70,000 or several million, depending on the source	God(s) not specified; reality explained in the Eight Dynamics	Human consists of body, mind and thetan; capable of great things. Gain spiritual freedom by ridding mind of engrams.	Reincarnation	Auditing, progressing up various levels until "clear". Focus on education and drug recovery programs.	Writings of Hubbard, such as Dianetics and Scientology	ReligionFacts section Official Website Beliefnet
Seventh-day Adventists	Rooted in Millerite movement; Ellen White was main leader; founded 1863 in New England	10 million [source]	One God who is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit	Second Coming of Christ is imminent; salvation is by faith in Christ; emphasis on quality of life both now and in afterlife	A "peaceful pause" after death until the coming of Christ, then resurrection to judgment and eternity in heaven or hell	Sabbath observance on Saturdays; healthful lifestyle; baptism by immersion	Bible only; but later prophets like Ellen White are authoritative when tested against Scriptures	ReligionFacts article Official Website Beliefnet
Shinto	Indigenous religion of Japan.	3-4 million	Polytheism based on the kami, ancient gods or spirits.	Humans are pure by nature and can keep away evil through purification rituals and attain good things by calling on the kami.	Death is bad and impure. Some humans become kami after death.	Worship and offerings to kami at shrines and at home. Purification rituals.	Important texts are Kojiki or 'Records of Ancient Matters' and Nihon-gi or 'Chronicles of Japan'	ReligionFacts article Wikipedia Japan Guide BBC Religion
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info
Sikhism	Guru Nanak, c. 1500 AD, Punjab, India.	23 million	One God (Ik Onkar, Nam)	Overcome the self, align life with will of God, and become a "saint soldier," fighting for good.	Reincarnation until resolve karma and merge with God.	Prayer and meditation on God's name, services at temple (gurdwara), turban and five Ks. Balance work, worship, and charity. No monasticism or asceticism.	Adi Granth (Sri Guru Granth Sahib)	ReligionFacts section Sikhs.org SikhNet.com
Spiritualism, a.k.a. Spiritism	Modern movement: c.1850, USA, UK, France	11 million	Beliefs vary, but generally based in a Christian worldview.	Body and spirit are separate entities. Morality and contact with spirits affect afterlife.	A spiritual existence with access to the living. Condition depends on morality of life and advancement is possible.	Sunday services. Seances and other communication with departed spirits. Spirit healing.	No authoritative texts. Doctrine learned from spirit guides (advanced departed spirits).	Encyclopedia Britannica National Spiritualist Association of Churches Adherents.com
Stoicism	Zeno in c.313 BC, Athens.	unknown	Pantheism: the logos pervades the universe.	Purpose is happiness, achieved by virtue, i.e., living reasonably.	Possible continued existence of the Soul, but not a personal existence.	Ethical and philosophical training, self-reflection, careful judgment and inner calm.	Fragments of founders plus later writers like Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius.	ReligionFacts article Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Taoism	Lao-Tzu, c. 550 BC, China.	20 million (394 million adherents of Chinese religion)	Pantheism - the Tao pervades all. Yin-yang - opposites make up a unity.	Purpose is inner harmony, peace, and longevity. Acheived by living in accordance with the Tao.	Revert back to state of non-being, which is simply the other side of being.	General attitude of detachment and non-struggle, "go with the flow" of the Tao. Tai-chi, acupuncture, and alchemy to help longevity.	Tao Te Ching, Chuang-Tzu	ReligionFacts section Taopage.org Beliefnet
Unification Church	Sun Myung Moon, 1954, South Korea.	Over 1 million (3 million acc. to official sources)	Monotheism, with the duality of God (esp. masculine and feminine) emphasized. No Trinity doctrine.	Purpose is true love and world peace instead of selfish love. True love and the kingdom of God on earth will be restored by the creation of "true families."	Eternal life in a spirit world.	Blessing Ceremony	The Divine Principle (1954) by Rev. Moon.	ReligionFacts article Official website
Unitarian Universalism	Formal merger of Unitarians and Universalists in 1961, USA.	800,000	Not specified. Members might believe in one God, many gods, or no God.	Salvation is "spiritual health or wholeness." Members seek "inner and outer peace," insight, health, compassion and strength.	Not specified. Some believe in an afterlife, some do not. Very few believe in hell - "Universalism" indicates the belief that all will be saved.	Ceremonies for marriages, funerals, etc. Church services have elements from various religions. Emphasis on civil rights, social justice, equality and environment. Most UUs are anti-death penalty and pro-gay rights.	Many sacred texts are revered by various members; some none at all. The Bible is the most commonly used text.	ReligionFacts article UUA.org
Wicca	Based on ancient pagan beliefs, but modern form founded early 1900s. Founder generally said to be Gerald Gardner.	1-3 million	Polytheism, centered on the Goddess and God, each in various forms; also a belief in a Supreme Being over all	"If it harms none, do what you will."	Reincarnation until reach the Summerland	Prayer, casting a circle, Drawing Down the Moon, reciting spells, dancing, singing, sharing cakes and wine or beer	No sacred text; foundational texts include The Witch Cult in Western Europe and The God of the Witches	ReligionFacts article Wicca.org Wikipedia
Zoroastrianism	Zoroaster in c.6th cent. BC, Persia. Official religion of ancient Persia. May have influenced Judaism and Vedic religion.	c. 200,000	One God, Ahura Mazda, but a dualistic worldview in which an evil spirit, Angra Mainyu, is almost as powerful.	Humans are free to do good or evil, must choose the side of good.	Judgement followed by heaven or hell. Hell is temporary until final purgation and return to Ahura Mazda.	Good deeds, charity, equality, hard work.	Zend Avesta	ReligionFacts article BBC Religion WZO
Religion/Sect/ Belief System	Origins & History	Adherents Worldwide (approx.)	God(s) and Universe	Human Situation and Life's Purpose	Afterlife	Practices	Texts	More Info

As some of the readers have complained of lengthy posts, I hereby reduce the length by dividing the posts into many parts. It would be rather a big mistake from my side if I hadn’t given at least this much information regarding the World religions, which were evolved possibly from the advent of Human Beings. This part was largely focused on categorizing the World religions in its faith over a deity and also to give a very vague idea about its principles and practices. In the upcoming posts I shall bring some important points to be thought regarding some of the large World religions (which embrace the majority of human population) and some common paradoxes, issues related to its faith, system, beliefs, founders and philosophies.
(To be continued…)

An Introduction

2008-08-30T11:21:00.007+05:30

World, as we know now, is an engine of natural laws. Our sun is one among billions of stars in our galaxy and there are billions of such galaxies. On this small planet, what we call as earth, we belong to yet another small species that we call as human beings.

Just like the great organizations like galactic clusters, and innumerable solar systems, we are also organized in this planet.

But, there seems to be a difference (or similarity?), when sun does not overtakes moon, or when moon does not overtakes sun, human beings are frequent victims of bloodshed!

Now when I talk about organizations here, what I mean is not the huge corporate organizations. But, what I am talking about is a much bigger organization called religion. Even the smallest religion will have more individuals than any of these corporates.

What prompted me to write this blog is that, though a large percentile of us live harmoniously between these organizations, I must say that people are quite serious about their religion. Yes, even an atheist, and that is the reason why he/she is an atheist. Neither my reason, nor my curiosity lets me stop thinking about it. So, here is the quest. A quest for the truth. A quest to find out what is the science behind these organizations.

Logical thoughts, in a progressive manner is appreciated. I want all of you, who read this blog to break the barrier of his/her own limitations and social stigma. Think independently and broaden your mind as much as possible. If you have any thoughts that you feel is having a higher level of broadness, I would like you to share, and I shall share with others in this blog. And by now you would have realized why I started from the word WORLD.

Are Miracles 'Religious' ?

2008-08-30T01:55:00.005+05:30

We all know that almost all of the religions have something to do with miracles. The objective of this simple research is to find out what is the science behind these miracles. We all know that religious views are contradictory and thus the god of one religion is not the same as that of another. But still, miracles seem to occur in almost all the religions. What I am doing is a search through Google with 'religion name' <_> miracle. I am adopting this technique to avoid any personal bias on any religion. But please don’t think I am a member of the church of Google (thechurchofgoogle). With this technique I would be able to justify that miracles do happen in all the religions. If you are not interested in theology, you can simply skip this part and directly start reading the pre-conclusive para. This may ignite a few thoughts in your mind, which later can help you in contributing for The Quest of Truth!

Miracles in Buddhism:

Probably Buddhists are not as politically attached to their religion as Abrahamic religions. And probably so, they don’t show much interest in developing big missionaries (in modern sense WEBSITES). Also this is what Buddhists says:

"He taught that a monk who displays the first two supernormal powers for their own sake in order to impress people, is no different from the performance of a shaman or a magician. The Buddha said that a monk who practices such worldly miracles is a source of shame, humiliation and disgust. This is because such actions may impress and win converts and followers, but they do not help them put an end to their suffering."

Another Story:

"Another story illustrates the Buddha's attitude towards miraculous powers. One day the Buddha met an ascetic who sat by the bank of a river. This ascetic had practiced austerities for 25 years. The Buddha asked him what he had received for all his labour. The ascetic proudly replied that, finally, he could cross the river by walking on the water. The Buddha pointed out that this gain was insignificant for all the years of labour, since he could cross the river using a ferry for one penny!"

And this was the attitude of Buddha on miracles:

“In one sutra in the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha was asked to perform miracles so that "those who do not believe will believe, and those who already believe will have more faith". The Buddha's answer was something like this: "The Enlightened One can perform such miracles: He can read minds, He can float in the air, He can pass through solid objects etc etc etc. However, the Greatest miracle is the Miracle of the Dharma, the Teaching that destroys all sufferings. Thus, this is the only miracle I will perform here.”

Read this article (if you have time): http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/what_about_miracles.htm
And visit this site to know more about Buddhism: http://www.parami.org/buddhistanswers/

But here are a few miracles in Buddhism:

"The miraculous powers (abhinna iddhi /siddhi) often mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures, and sometimes manifested by the Buddha himself, include being able to multiply oneself, fly through the air, hear things over a long distance, read other people's minds, remember one's former lives and know how to destroy the defilements of the mind." (http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd63.htm)

"Burmese religious pilgrims flocked by the thousands at the weekend to Nyaunglaybin township, 160 kilometres north of Rangoon, to witness a "miracle" of multi-coloured light beams appearing from a Buddhist monastery." (Source: DPA, Germany, March 1997 )
Other Miracles on Buddhism seen are mainly like people flocking when light starts emmiting from Buddha’s statue. (http://www.einterface.net/gamini/buddhist.html).

Since Buddhists are monks, they meditate, perform martial arts and keep themselves healthy. They are said to have psychic powers beyond our imagination but Buddha has asked not to publicly display them since he said education is the biggest miracle.

Still there are Buddhist meditating center which are meant to heal diseases on body and soul (many videos are in YouTube).

Miracles in Christianity:

The first site that comes in Google is http://www.christian-faith.com/. You can read a lot of testimonies here, and links to YouTube.

"I was in Australia recently and there was a man who had cancer in his mouth. We asked the people with cancers to stand, and I commanded the cancers in the name of Jesus to disappear. Two minutes after the prayer, there was no cancer in his mouth; it was a perfectly new mouth. His doctor came over and verified the healing. That's slightly challenging if you don't believe in these things, isn't it?"

This is just one of the testimonies of many. Most miracles seen in Christianity is either healing from diseases through mass prayer, saintly faiths or some spiritual practices. Though Christianity can not be called as a single faith, within its numerous sects miracles are observed. Irrespective of the sect, miracles are quite highly dignified in this religion and well appreciated (except a few churches).

Probably because of the massive Christian population, well organized missionary and the miraculous nature of its patron Jesus, the search result is massive. The claims on stigmata, Jesus sightings etc are one in many. But I guess the list would be very long if I go through these paranormal phenomenon in the websites.

For the faithful believer in Christianity, these would be an additional proof but for others it may either appear to be superstitious or sometimes confuse them.

Miracles in Islam:

The first site that came when I Googled is http://www.miraclesofislam.com/. Many things appear here to be graphic designing for those who don't believe (as well as those who know about Adobe Photoshop) while for others this may appear as the sign of God.

But among this one photo appears to be genuine since I saw it in Reader's Digest and news was in newspapers too.

In the page http://www.miraclesofislam.com/indonesia.sh tml there are 5 such mosques escaped from Tsunami, but I pasted one of those here since this was the same picture I saw in Reader's Digest. It is told that those who ran to that mosque during Tsunami, none was hurt. May be a coincidence or the Mosque was strongly build (coz the contractors wouldn’t have made much profit in the name of God).

Most of the websites in the first page of Google search gives Miracles of Quran probably because Muslims believe Quran is the biggest miracle of Muhammad.

Various scientific facts like embryonic development, movement of mountains, origin of universe (if Big-Bang Theory is Right), atmosphere protects earth, Einstein's theory of Relativity, moon reflects light, formation of petroleum from livestock, on deep sea and internal waves, how rain is formed etc. are written in Quran 1400 years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an_and_science). Most of these interpretations are understood while the scientific knowledge is increased. And often it is quoted in Quran, "Verily, these are signs for those who possess intelligence".
Quran also prophesied many things some of which has already passed like how Roman Empire will be defeated and the preservation of Pharaoh in sea (which was excavated recently).
Apart from the above the latest claim for the Quran's authenticity is in the 19 based mathematical miracle discovered a few decades ago. Many chapters are initialed with letters, these letters repeat as a multiple of 19 in that chapter. This appears to be either a very careful coding of the Quran 1400 years ago by ceaseless effort of men or simply so because it is the word of God.

When I went deep into the subject I find some people are obsessed with 19 just like the Number 23 movie. They start relating everything in Quran to 19 (http://submission.org/miracle/).

Other claimed Mathematical miracle includes the total number of repetition of certain words in the whole Quran like:

ONE DAY-------------------30
MONTH----------------------12
MOON-------------------------27
etc.

These repetitions can probably be a coincidence but very strong evidence for a believer.

I believe prophecies of Muhammad in other scripture can not be put under this section since it must be put in the respective scripture’s section, since Mohammed is a historical character.
Other Miracles like Spiritual Healing etc are seen in mass prayers, Quran recitation, Islamic medicines etc. Though witchcraft is prohibited in Quran, there are instances when some Muslims consults Jinns (Jinns are spirits, which are further classified into good and bad) for aid (I do not know if it is permitted to seek help from good Jinns). Sufi miracles are those which are performed by Sufi saints during their lifetime. But after their death people visit their tombs for intercession and it is believed that many get help. Also Sufi therapy is widely available where miraculous healing takes place, for example visit http://www.all-natural.com/sufi.html.

Miracles in Judaism:

When I talk about the Jewish Miracles, I must say it is filled with miracles! From Noah, to Moses to Jesus (because Jesus himself was a Jew) all where supported with miraculous powers.
A Rabbi called Ba'al Haness, means “miracle worker” and comes from a Talmudic story describing how he saved his sister-in-law from the clutches of the Romans by a combination of subterfuge and uttering a single prayer: “God of Meir – answer me.

There are Jewish healing centers where many people are reported to get cured. Eg: The National Center for Jewish Healing (http://www.jewishhealing.org/).

But I could not get much information on the websites probably because the total Jewish population in the world is just 0.23% and many of them are engaged in war.
But at a quick glance at the first Google search page it is seen the miracles of escapes from the Holocaust, apart from the mass murders of Jews by Christians in the past and the present fight going on between Palestine and the newly formed country Israel.

Miracles in Hinduism:

Now considering my ancestral religion, there are innumerable miracles not just what I observe from the net but also from the daily hearings.

One thing what even I tried a few years ago with my dad was trying to give water to a statue of elephant we had in our home. This was a consequence of The Hindu Milk Miracle.

"The Hindu milk miracle was a phenomenon considered by many Hindus as a miracle which occurred on September 21, 1995" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_milk_miracle).

Now about Sai Babha, of all the miracles I have gone through this is most interesting:
"Sai Baba Raising the Dead:

Sri Satya Sai Baba raised Mr V Radhakrisna from the dead in 1953 after he had had been dead for about two days. He went Puttaparthi with his wife, daughter Vijaya and his son in law Mr. K S Hemchand. He was suffering from gastric ulcers, was very ill at the time of the visit and this was one of the reasons for visiting the ashram. He was given a room in the same building the swami lived and spent most of his time in bed and was visited by Baba before he went to a coma and died. On the third day after his death when the corpse was stinking Baba came to his room and asked his wife, daughter and son in law to wait outside and closed the door. After few minutes he opened the door and on the bed Mr Radhakrisna was looking up at them and smiling. Baba asked the wife to give him a hot drink and waited for another half and hour in the room. Family stayed at Prashanthi Nilayam for few more days and returned to their home in Kuppam. His gastric ulcers had vanished for ever and he continued to live for many more years afterwards."

Well at a quick look there are so many miracles and healing power reported to be possessed by so many Swamis. Let me tell you, this is a very hectic job and let me finish it here.

Miracles in other Religions at a glance:

One reason I had to mix many religions is not because of any inferiority towards these religions but the lack of internet participants (since their population is very low compared to the major religions).

But, the miraculous phenomenon is very high in religions like Spiritism, Wicca, Neopaganism etc. Confucianism, Jainism, Taoism etc have miraculous yogic healing.
To my surprise I saw coincidentally a program in NGC which lively showed the various African healing practices through spirits. They call these spirits good spirits which drives away evil spirits. Though I should not bring my personal opinion here, let me say that the goodness and badness are humanly chosen for their own convenience and hence relativistic.

Propagating religion in the name of miracles is considered to be fraud by a few Deist (Deism is a religion developed by Thomas Paine, a great American Revolutionist). Deism is based on natural reasoning, and they find it not reasonable to believe in scriptures. Thomas Paine was himself opposed for showing mistakes in bible in his famous book ‘The age of Reason’.

The final search on Miracles – A scientific approach:

Science being the proof of the existence of God for believers, a scientific understanding can be indeed a light to those who are confused over the subject.

Since science is evolving through generation, I must say that the lack of understanding of spirits does not mean that spirits do not exist. Probably the better understanding of physical phenomenon will let us know more about the things which can not be experienced by human beings through their five senses.

A basic characteristic of science is experimental reproducibility at a given condition. This is a necessary but not sufficient characteristic. Psychology and psychotherapy comes under this and hence these fields can be called as science. The sufficient characteristic of science could be achieved only if the reason for these phenomenon could be found.

With this introduction, I am entering into a scientific search.

Hypnotism is a field in Psychology which uses mind power for healing. Many miracles (though this word may not fit under this 'scientific' section) do happen through Hypnotics. Post-surgical hypnosis is a well accepted medical method. Wounds get instantly healed, scars gets vanished etc.

I shall support this with a testimony given by Ed Thiessen, please take time to go through the testimony, it is worth reading:

Healing of a Muscular Dystrophy, Blindness, Growing a Foot ...

"Six years ago, if you would have told me I would ever be happy and healthy, I wouldn't have even smiled at the thought. My health was so bad I couldn't even imagine being well.
That was before someone introduced me to the Silva Method [of self-hypnosis] and the power of the mind.

When I was born in 1962, I wasn't expected to live, but if I did it was predicted that I would have severe brain damage and cerebral palsy. It was later found out, through further examination, that I had muscular dystrophy as well. I was also partly deaf, had severely crossed eyes, and was legally blind.

The "experts" didn't give my parents much hope I would ever be able to read or write or function in the "outside" world - outside of a state institution. Because of this and my declining health, they didn't expect me to live for long.

At the age of two I had my first surgery on my eyes to correct my vision and my crossed eyes.
From 1967 to 1979 I was placed in institution and special schools and went through several operations on my legs and eyes to try to correct my many problems. But none seemed to really help. My eyesight, hearing, and speech were getting worse.

Then, in the early part of 1978, a volunteer gave me a book she had been reading. I often looked at books to see how many words I knew. As I read and reread the book The Silva Mind Control Method many times, over a period of time I mastered the techniques in the book. At times I even slept with the book. I wore the book out.

The doctors couldn't understand it, but my health seemed to be getting better. I did not tell them what I was doing - it's called "programming".

First I began walking. In a short time I no longer needed braces for my legs and arms. My hearing was restored, as well as my speech.

They said I would lose my eyesight, but, after I went to level [relaxed state of body and mind] three to four times each day, my eyesight improved. In the early part of 1980 I was able to leave the institution for good.

A few months later my aunt heart about Silva Mind Control, and she thought it would help me. She did not know how much it had helped me already. In December of 1980 we took the class.
The class helped me even more. My health improved greatly. In 1981 I stopped wearing glasses, and now I have 20/20 vision and am in perfect health.

In 1982 I took my GED test for my high school diploma and only missed one question, in trigonometry. That was because I did not program for the problem.

I used to have to buy two pairs of shoes for every one I needed, as my feet were not the same size. I programmed at the beginning of last year (1983); now both my feet are the same size. One foot grew three sizes in less then a year.

All that is left from the past is a slight limp. That will pass soon. That is one of my projects for 1984.

My success is not a "miracle", and I didn't do what I did because I am a super-special person. What I did, I believe anyone can co. It just takes belief, a method, and a lot of work."

And look here on one more interesting Testimony:

“Those who stood about watching tensely could see nothing until her hands suddenly moved slightly on the man's leg, and she took them away, saying quietly in Hawaiian, "The healing is finished. Stand up. You can walk."
The injured man, now entirely sobered, rose wonderingly to his feet, took a step, and then another. The healing was complete and perfect. The leg showed no indication of the break in any way.”

You can read more testimonies from this link: http://www.hypnosis-kids.com/hypnosis-healing-stories.htm.
You can even try to become a Hypnosis wizard through that site.
I shall give my personal opinion upon this in my pre-conclusion.

Pre-Conclusion – A Philosophical approach:

Let me try to go to the basics where I have to take the meaning of an oft repeated word:
Miracle: - An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature, the term is derived from Latin word miraculum meaning "something wonderful".

(The first definition shall be used hereafter in the explanation, unless * where the second definition holds).

From a historical perspective anything miraculous (i.e. “An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature”) was considered to be the work of a supernatural power or sometimes considered itself to be supernatural. For example, the various Greek gods and goddesses, godliness of some historic characters in various religions etc.

The evolution and growth of scientific knowledge broadened the spectrum of nature, thus bringing the super-natural phenomenons into the category of natural phenomenons.
Looking at the various miracles* described above (which was obtained by simple Google search, and hence can not be called comprehensive but appears to be sufficient for our purpose), some of them cannot be called miracles according to the first definition. For example, the scientific and Mathematical miracle* of Quran has come under the spectrum of Naturalness, and hence not a miracle now.

Further screening the above miracles they can be categorized into healing miracles and paranormal experiences. All these are happening irrespective of religions (though religious views are very much contradictory).

So something must be common over these phenomenons. Is it god (here ‘god’ means the gods of different religions, for our convenience saints, prophets etc are included under the term ‘god’)? Obviously not, since when wicca, neopaganism, spiritism experiences miracles, even strictly monotheistic religions like Islam and Judaism experiences the same miracles.
The study on scientific approach shows that even an atheist can be healed instantaneously through Hypnosys. This argument is sufficient to say that Faith is important. i.e. for the complete cure to take place, the atheist must have faith in what he is doing, probably the Hypnotist, or Himself. But, for a Sai Babha worshiper it has to be Sri. Sathya Sai Babha.
Now let me give a few statements as a believer in one God (This may contradict a few religions. But the oneness of God has been proved to me over prior thoughts and hence has to be supported to bring my thoughts to a higher level).

God does allow these things to happen as apart of the freedom given to his natural creations. The world is created and given its laws and everything here happens as per the natural law. Things appearing as supernatural are not actually supernatural but natural, but an understanding of nature through scientific means is required to prove the naturality.

The suffering of the world is enormous, billions of people are sick, millions are starving etc. Through scientific effort medicines are produced (which would have been called miracle by one who has no knowledge), which helps a huge percentile of people. Among the people who seek help through the psychological means only a few people gets cured. This fact proves the fact that, the way of approach by Yogis, Evangelist, Sufi saints etc and even hypnotists are very crude in nature.

I hope a further understanding of this science, will help in curing a wide range of diseases instantaneously and also help in establishing Truth, unity and equality.
As the final pre-conclusive sentence, let me say that as the spectrum of naturalness increases through scientific means, the word miracle itself will vanish.

Conclusion:

The conclusion part is left to the reader, since I can’t claim the universality of my thoughts.

Recommended Books: Some Sayings of the Buddha, Sufism - The Heart of Islam, The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece