By : Barq Sehbai

There is a common impression in the minds of people that the conclusions arrived at by man of Science are of the nature of beliefs and have, therefore, no firmer basis than that of conviction. Nothing could be farther from the Truth.

From the earliest days of Science, the student of science is trained to ask for evidence before arriving at a judgement, and that he should hesitate to pass an opinion on a subject with which he is not familiar.

No subject is too travel for inquiry, and no relationship must be regarded as impossible from "a prior" consideration, nut the scientific will must have material to work upon before the value of the produce can be estimated. It is permissible to deny whether the grain is worth-grinding nut not to deny it a trial, for without a test any belief may be held to be a fallacy. Every belief is worthy of examination and if it has not been investigated, no man of science is justified in asserting that it is untrue. But when such an inquiry has been made, and the evidence has failed to support popular opinion, we cannot but pronounce that it has not been proved. Two such examples may here be given: one as to allege change of climate and the others is a connection between the Moon and the Weather.

Sky red in the morning

Is a shepherd's sure warning

Sky red at night

Is the shepherd's delight.

The connection between the Weather, which normally follows redness of Sunrise or Sunset can only be explained when the effects of atmospheric dust and moisture are considered as the fillers of the white sunlight. The association of a red sky with the weather thus admits of physical explanation, but it is not at all necessary that the reason should be a fact. It is, however, desirable to distinguish between accurate observation and traditional belief which asks for acceptance without inquiry into the evidence of its truth.

It is believed and evidently seen in every day experience, that thunderstorms are found to be slightly more frequent near the new moon and the first quarter than near the Full Moon and the last quarter.

Nothing easier than to be deceived by appearances, or to accept a belief without inquiry into its foundations .

Test all things and you will then be in a position to hold fast,, that which is true for both belief and evidence.

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

- St. Paul

And this is exactly what our Sant Nirankari Mission stands for. Through its logical exposition of the Existence of the all-pervading Truth - God, you enable yourself to come into direct communion with the Ultimate Reality. Keeping in view the latest developments of upsurge in the Society on the Indian Soil, one very naturally feels perplexed and temperamentally (this is my belief) grows enxious to find a lasting solution. Same is the condition in the other lands of the World, whether Communist or otherwise. Since the earliest dawn of human evolution, the history of the growth and development of Science is a long record of the various attempts made by men through ages to probe into the remote mysteries of Nature. From the very beginning it has been a long untiring endeavor at times fruitful at tines unsuccessful to lay bare before the eyes of this unbelieving world, the various occurrences in Nature.

Superstition is the religions of feeble minds. It is a fearful reverence to something called super-natural. It is the outcome of an ignorant and irrational belief in some such things as omens, deviation, sorcery, dreams and the like. As science progresses further and further with its observations, experiments and investigations, the myth of superstitions loses all its spell and what once appeared as a great enigma of magic, today redounds to a mere common phenomena. Where ignorance, darkness and fanaticism prevail, there superstition thrives into a plant of luxurious growth.

Human history amply bears evidence to the fact that superstition ruled the mind of man in the ancient ages. Even today it still has a hold in minimised form and it shall ever exist so long as humanity remains in darkness and ignorance. Sometimes a superstition, which is widespread among the nations, takes advantage of human weakness and casts its pernicious spell over the minds of millions. Indeed the greatest burden of humanity is superstition!

Knowledge is the antidote of superstition in the spiritual field. An individual is supposed to be superstitious when he blindly believes in, and venerates objects, which are not the objects of true and sound worship.

It is by the vivacity of earthly desires

That we become superstitious.

It is, on the contrary, by the sacrifice

Of desires that we become religious.

Bitter are the fruits of superstition. They have been largely responsible for a vast amount of cruelties and untold sufferings to intellectual nincompoop.

As learning grooves and our wisdom increases we shall only accept those things which are founded on the bedrock of reason. Then all superstitions will melt away like mist before the Sun.

It is a factual reality that ever since the beginning of the World, Civilisation in its various forms has been making a tour of the whole World. And since civilisation is the fruit of culture, and must necessarily decay in the course of time, time is a remorseless destroyer.

Overwhelmed by Evil, good has degenerated itself, fled to the wilderness, and lived on its own inherent strength. It has returned to the haunts of men again and again and has reinvigorated our social life. No other nation of the World has seen such a spate of rebirths. The land where people believe in reincarnation instinctively has, it seems, been reborn time and again. As we have seen in India, the civilised, mean and unscrupulous hypocrites have carried their views of hate even to the core of simple folk. If this process continues, everything may perish in a great conflagration. It is for this reason that great significance is owed to the super-human task of the Sant Nirankari Mission’s Supreme Head Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji. History will record this work of the Master that of restoring love in our people of all caste and creed.

Money is one of the chief instruments of our present-day civilisation. Its worship is a common trait of a modern man. The higher values of life are obscured, even ridicules, while the pursuit of this tangible commodity rides rough-shod over the most elementary trails of goodness. Falsehood is considered the ‘since qua non’ for success in business. Dissimulation, chicanery and hypocrisy are essentials of money-grabbling efficiency. Wisdom is at discount. What a pity!

If you happen to observe a section of people on the move you might be struck with the hideous expressions on their faces. As if dark shadows surround them . You may pass thousands without waving a hand or a smile on your face. You go on being neighbours, without bothering to be neighbourly. You move in certain circles and these circles always tend to be narrowed down. Mutual relations are skin-deep. Genuine respect, genuine friendship, genuine love or for that matter anything genuine is banished as impracticable.

The effect of this artificiality is that our relations even in a small household are robbed of humanity. The instability runs deep into everything. Have we ever tried seriously to enquire into it?

The so-called religious, in fact, are mere labels which have become habits like different articles or cloths the religious wear and congealed into certain likes and dislike, belieds and prejudices. The supreme test of a religious person is his Universal Love. Where hatred reigns, the Spirit is covered with impenetrable fog. Such people are immune to the beauty of Nature; of Moon and stars, birds and spring. The grandeur of Sun does not move them; the inner Sun has no chance of a dawn.

Below the disturbed waves of activity lies layer after layer of consciousness in an artificial trance, which is, disturbed the moment activity stop. It is on the foundation of this instinct that a new civilisation has to come into being, a civilisation inspired by enduring culture - spiritualism, take in its true sense.

‘There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

- Shakespeare

If you ponder over, there is no subject of greater concern today in this unfortunate land of ours than to think, white and work for better understanding between man and man - to strive for peace, sanity and imagination - to support and co-operate activity with our Mahapurshas - Self Realised Beings- in the Herculean task .

Talking about the national movement in our country, we all hailed freedom and the auspicious day with joy and merry-making. We rubbed shoulders with all and sundry and looked onward leaving the dead past to bury its dead and yet while the candles lighting the dawn of liberty were flickering, the wail of the massacred innocents, woe to the fire-eaters, rent the air and the joy-bells knelled their agonies. We dare not blame Stars for what we have done; it is the wind sown by us and we must reap the whirlwind. The world has no sympathy for us as we look towards seeing the horrors wrought by our own hands.

Even years after winning our freedom we often repeat the same havoc at times. For what really is our victory or freedom worth when we have lost our balance of mind and depraved ourselves to the position of beasts of the jungle. We are to-day exposed to the ridicule of the world and must bend our heads (with due respects to all so involved) in shame. We are bankrupt socially, morally and economically.

We see in thin our barbarity the deeds of more misery nut we also hold in our own hands the reigns of our Destiny. We can benefit by this bitter experience and use it to guide us in our Thoughts and Deeds so that such things are soon forgotten and thus cleansed. We bend our steps to the building up of a better Nation and Society in order to spread the same spirit throughout the whole world.

Thanks O Nirankar; help us to help ourselves and our brethren all over the World, from the path darkness lead us to Light and real Liberty.