Religious Life

The so-called religious life varies from clime to clime, from sect to sect, from belief to belief; and man suffers through the propaganda of the organised vested interests of religions. If we could set aside all that-not only the beliefs, the dogmas and rituals but also the respectability which is entailed in the culture of religion-then perhaps we could find out what a religious life is untouched by the thought of man.
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Silence

Meditation is a movement in stillness. Silence of the mind is the way of action. Action born of thought is inaction, which breeds disorder. This silence is not the product of thought, nor is it the ending of the chattering of the mind. A still mind is possible only when the brain itself is quiet. The brain cells-which have been conditioned for so long to react, to project, to defend, to assert--become quiet only through the seeing of what actually is. From the silence, action which does not bring about disorder is possible only when the doer has come to an end-for then the seeing is the acting. Such seeing is possible only out of a silence in which all evaluation and moral values have come to an end.
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Thought

Can a human being, you and I, or another, can we come upon life that has no death? Can we come upon a life that is really timeless? Which means a life in which thought, which creates the psychological time with its fear, comes to an end. Thought has its own importance, but psychologically it has no importance whatsoever. Thought is a mischief maker, thought is always seeking pleasure, inwardly, love is not pleasure, love is bliss, something entirely different. And when all that is seen very clearly and one lives that way not verbally, not in a world of misunderstanding, but when all that is very clear, very simple then perhaps there is a life that has no beginning and no end, a life of timelessness.
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Unity

Life is action, to live means to act; the religious life is a life of action, not according to any particular pattern, but action in which there is no contradiction, action which is not segmented, broken up as the business life, the social life, political life, religious life, family life and so on, as a Conservative or as a Liberal. To see that there is an action which is not fragmented, which is total, complete, and to live that way, is the religious life. You can only act in that way when there is love. And love is not pleasure, cultivated and sustained by thought; love is not a thing to be cultivated. It is only love that brings about this total action and that can possibly bring about this complete sense of unity. 
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Religious Life

Religion is to find out the ultimate reality. Man has always been asking if there is something other or beyond then this world. Because there is so much violence, conflict and unrest and inner confusion and mental agonies that man wants to escape and find something beyond it which can give him peace and happiness. Life is full of insecurity and fear in this world that man invents a God which can give him security and shelter. The priest and the religious authorities of traditional religions exploits the gullible people by further fostering this fear. But a fearful mind, scared mind can never be a religious mind. The first quality of religious life is fearless. Religious person is neither afraid of any one nor create fear in the mind of others. Religion is way of life in which there is inward harmony, feeling of complete unity and fearlessness.
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Religious Life

Most religions are based on concepts and ideology like immortality, incarnation, life after death, and so on. But the religion in the real sense is the realisation.
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Religious Life

To find out; what is a religious life is not to find out the pattern of religious life--what to do, what to wear, what to think and how to control, to be a bachelor, and all that stupid stuff-but to have this energy without a motive, without a direction; and that comes only when there is this deep, unresolved, unsatisfiable discontent. Religious mind has no belief of any kind. Because the beliefs, dogmas only clutter the mind, and impede the free enquiry. To follow a religious pattern is not to be religious. What to do, what to wear, what to think, and how to control to be a brahmchari, to perform rituals, all this does not make a man religious. Then how to find out what is religion. Going to a pandit or some sanyasi or a guru, or reading the scriptures. All these approaches can give you information or set opinion about religion, but does not make you religious. You have to be fearless in enquiry, and find for your ownself what it means rather than being tutored by others. Religion is deep investigation of oneself as one is.
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Religious Life

We must be totally discontented; then only can we begin to enquire into the mystery of life. As long as the child plays with different toys, he does not call his mother, but when he is hungry and discontented with all the toys, he cries for his mother. Similarly, unless and until nothing in the world can contain your mind, and your totally discontented with all objects, it is with this impassioned and intense mind free of all worldly desires that you can understand what the religious living is.
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Religious Life

Most of us are discontented, because we have not got a good job, we are not so intelligent as somebody else, we do not look so beautiful as that woman next door, we have not got a big car, a better house, a better job, or we have not fulfilled ourselves. And the moment we have a better house, a better car, a better refrigerator, we are satisfied, at least temporarily till a still better refrigerator is invented. So we are discontented with little things and we are so terribly satisfied with little things. One has to be extremely aware of the superficial gratification with petty things, petty answers, quoting innumerable so-called religious teachers. We think we have understood when we quote the Gita, the Koran, or the Bible, or some other book; we think we have captured some spirit of the religious life-which again is futile. So we must be extremely alert, not to be caught in superficial actions, and to remain in a total discontentment with everything: with politics, with religion, with socialists and communists, with any political party.
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