HATING NAMASMARAN DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR
When I used to be charged with physical needs, passions, emotions, thoughts and ideas, I used to feel agitated with the thought of similar plight of the people! The social circumstances appeared extremely dark and annoying. The change, the revolution appeared to be the only purpose of life, even as the exact program of action and/or blue print of the revolution was far from ready! The frenzy of all these complex feelings used to be so much, that any proponent of God or NAMASMARAN used to appear as unconcerned about peoples’ true needs, unbothered about real issues such as poverty, injustice; and hence antisocial, hypocrite, parasitic etc or at best; stupid or gullible!
The restlessness within; used to be so much that it used to propel me towards addressing every problem that appeared in the news paper or on TV, apart from those in my own personal life. As a result, I used get engrossed in relevant physical work, emotional expression in poetry, intellectual analysis, discussions, public speeches, writing articles and books etc, which appeared to be the methods of self assertion and solution to the problems! Withdrawal from such activities was suffocating, unbearable and killing! Namasmaran appeared to me a despicable escapism from such “very useful and urgent� activities. As regards it social importance, it appeared to make the people facing problems; parasitic and paranoid! It appeared to make people dependent and helpless. It appeared to dissuade them from accepting the challenges of life in personal and social life and facing them victoriously!
The fervor of my mind would never get calmed by the thought of NAMASMARAN, though many a times I appreciated the honesty and selflessness of the individuals advocating it. Later in the course of reading about various arguments regarding NAMASMARAN in books such as the biography of Shri Brahmachaitanya Gondavlekar Maharaj, by Prof. K.V. Belsare; and through my experiences with a variety of activities of service and social struggle for justice; I began to get intellectually convinced that NAMASMARAN can evolve and transform an individual in terms of his/her perspective, vision, intellectual framework, emotions and instincts; and evolve him/her into objective or cosmic consciousness. I thought this; if happens in every walk of life; then it could usher in; individual and global blossoming, because; it could actualize globally benevolent perspective and policies!
I wrote many books on NAMASMARAN and VISHNUSAHASRANAM; in Hindi, Marathi and English and besides getting them published, tried to sell or even distribute them free of cost and spread the message of NAMASMARAN with my perspective mentioned above, as far and wide as I could! But at this juncture I would like to address some arguments against NAMASMARAN! 1. What is the basis to prove that NAMASMARAN can lead to global blossoming? NAMASMARAN does not seem to do anything, if compared to for instance; scientific research or socio-political manipulations! It does not seem to work and produce results; even comparable to those produced by relatively simple agricultural activities or other handicrafts!
2. If I say that NAMASMARAN evolves us into objective or cosmic consciousness or imparts global perspective, then the argument is, “Can you prove the cause and effect relationship?” The answer obviously is “No”! I can not prove that NAMASMARAN evolves us into objective or cosmic consciousness or imparts global perspective! Looking back; I realize that my opinions changed due to the influence of factors beyond my comprehension constituting the “field”, cosmic consciousness or God that encompasses and influences not merely “me” but everything; including the people in the universe! Whether the people in the world would also change and begin to get associated with NAMASMARAN; would also therefore be determined by the same “field” and hence I need not feel restless about “this mission”!
3. What is the proof for existence of such a field? Obviously; I have no proof! 4. Another argument is; NAMASMARAN has no influence on individual or social life; practicing NAMASMARAN is wastage of time! One may feel that NAMASMARAN has benevolent role, because of erroneously attributing the good changes in him or her to NAMASMARAN! Actually it could be the other way round; that is good changes in him or her have lead to interest in NAMASMARAN! This argument also, can not be refuted. What can be said is that cosmic consciusness or objective bliss is somehow associated with NAMASMARAN. 5. But even this can not be proved. Neither can I show that some one is linked (through
NAMASMARAN) to cosmic consciousness, nor can I can I prove that those; who are not practicing NAMASMARAN; are dissociated from cosmic consciusness or objective bliss! All in all, practice of NAMASMARAN and the experience associated with it are essentially personal and beyond linguistic communication. One may or may not believe in them; and may or may not provisionally accept, study, experiment out and decide their validity or otherwise! It appears however, that soon; the individuals and the societies of world; would get freedom from the conflicts generated from fulfillment or otherwise; of their physical needs, instincts, feelings, arguments, flights of imaginations, infatuations and restlessness, and get the privilege of being associated with NAMASMARAN, objective bliss, cosmic consciousness, globally beneficial perspective and policies and their implementation;
irrespective of the nature of cause and effect relationship (which also incidentally; is a product of human intellectual framework!)!