Fear of the unknown or mere inquisitiveness has impelled the human to believe in superior powers than his own and made him evolve some form of worship. There never was a time when man was without some ideal of worship. It was, it has been and it is very much so even in modern times. Why this continuous struggle since ancient times for something beyond our reach?
Humans pray for various reasons. Some pray for worldly success, others for the fulfilment of certain desires. Yet others do it as an act of thanksgiving. Some pray for forgiveness, others still, contemplate on the idea of God and seek His mercy. While some recognise and offer worship to a higher force, it is only a minority which seeks to commune with God, the Absolute. This God communion is known as meditation.
Man wants to know the truth to better his lot and not live upon words alone. However, the usual trend is to accept religion to the extent that it motivates one to become moral and make good citizens. Otherwise the search after the Absolute is believed to be futile. Who to blame? Slave of tradition, man has been brought to believe, centuries after centuries, in mere assents.
Whatever one wants to do in life, whatever one wants to achieve, one has to follow certain rules or certain methods. If one wants to become a doctor, one has to seek admission to a medical college. If one wants to become an engineer, one has to join an engineering school. By mere sitting and wishing one does not become anything. Nor by reading indiscriminately does one achieve something. Each discipline or science has its own principles that have to be adhered to meticulously for the best results. Similarly no amount of sermons, no amount of books will make one any more religious than one ever was.
Religion as it is generally taught all over the world today consists of different theories based upon faith and belief. Yet going to their basis it is clear that all religions of the world have been built upon the one universal foundation of direct experience. The masters all saw God. They all ‘saw’ their own souls. They saw their destiny, their eternity. And, what they saw they preached!
Nonetheless, at present most religions strongly claim that these experiences are no longer possible. They were possible only with a few elect, destined to be the first fathers of these religions. This is supposed to be proof enough. Followers have now to take religion on belief only. This can only be an absurdity. Why known for a minority and unknowable for the majority? Where is the universality? What has been experienced today, it logically follows, has been possible countless times before, and will be repeated forever after. What happened once can and should happen always! Uniformity is the rigorous law of nature.
The Hindu seers declare that religion is based not only upon the experience of ancient times: no man can call himself religious so long as he does not have the same perceptions himself. Meditation is the science that teaches man how to get these perceptions. Meditation is practical religion. Theoretical religion is not of much import until one has practiced and experienced it.
Throughout the ages sages have all affirmed they have found truths higher than what the senses can convey to us. They do not ask us to believe blindly. They invite verification. They ask us to take up and follow in all sincerity their stage by stage method. Then and only then if we do not find the higher truth shall we have the right to deny the truth claimed, not before. There is no fair play, there is no rationality before having put to test, to deny the truth of all these assertions.
Man has to appease his own physical hunger, quench his own thirst, find his own rest in sleep. How can he live upon the spiritual experience of another? How can someone assert he has a soul if he does not feel it! Or that God exists if he has not seen Him? If we have a soul we must sense it. If there is a God we must see Him. He is not the God of a select few to be seen by them alone! He is the universal God for anyone to see.
It is better not to believe if there is no chance to perceive!