1. How Our Eyes Lie to Us

Cognitive Psychologists in the past two decades have been experimenting on narrative fallacy. They say that our minds create stories or narratives which do not portray reality as it is, but as our minds perceive them.

2. Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, Daniel Gilbert etc. have published ground breaking works where they discuss the narrative fallacy. They tell us how our mind fools us in our behavior and we may think we are in control of our behaviors but our mind has different designs for us.

3. Daniel Gilbert in ‘Stumbling Upon Happiness’ tells us how our eyes betray us and we can’t even be sure of what we see, let alone what we think. Michael Gazzaniga tells us that how our instincts are not in our control and it seems we act according to a pre-written script.

4. These are very serious subjects and only future will tell us what is going to happen in these disciplines. But the bottomline of all this research is that: our mind and our senses lie to us and we cannot be sure of what we think or what we even see.

5. That our senses create a narrative fallacy is something that has been alluded to in many of our spiritual texts. Modern West is just rediscovering it through tests and experiments. But there is an experiment in our daily lives that gives us a clue of what narrative fallacy is.

1. Is Śiva really Bholenātha?

A commong sight during Sāvana ke Somvāra in north India is Hindu women offering Bilva Patra to Śiva liṇga at the nearby temple, offering jala & other offerings directly to Śiva liṇga by touching it directly or a long time.

2. There is scarcely any rule to this offering of pūjā. Women in sārī, suit and even western clothes offer everything they have brought with them directly to Śiva: milk, water, kumkum, haldī, bilva patra, sweets, fruits and much more with priest just managing the proceedings.

3. There is often a queue-less, order-less jumble of acts, sights and sounds in which women of all ages jostle with men and boys of all ages to reach the ‘pinḍī’, the Śiva liṇga and offer the pūjā.

4. Most people from the south, following tradition, where āgamas are still a working reality, at least in temples, and where many people follow caryā are offended, and not without reason.

Śiva also have rules of worship and approach, as other deities.

5. Śiva temple, like others requires certain rituals and customs which are inviolable. Śiva, like other deities, requires certain caryā from his devotees and thus cannot be just taken any way the devotees want. It is true that there is a way to approach him like any other deity.

1. Is ‘Dharma’ not ‘Religion’?

If not, then what is it? Is it free for all?

It is true that ‘dharma’ isn't ‘religion’. It is a non-translatable & can't be translated as ‘religion’ in English. That much is true. But it is not free for all at all. Here is how.

2. To discuss religion first, religion is what we know as Prophetic Monotheism with features like: One True God, Last Prophet, Divided Time, Divided Humanity, Historic Origin and Last Judgment.

3. All that matters in a religion is Belief. Actions are null and void against belief. If you have right belief, you go to heaven. If you have wrong belief, you go to hell. Actions mean nothing. This is where it differs starkly from a dharmic system.

4. Dharma dictates that one can never escape one’s karma. He can be shown the right path by a guru, he can put in course correction, but he has to undergo his prarabdha; the fruits of his own actions. So everyone is responsible for his own actions.

5. This thread is not to list out the differences between Dharma and Religion. That is job for another day; another thread. This thread is to clarify whether dharma is free for all or not? The clear answer is no. It is not free for all. Unlike some filmi celebrities today claim.