Religions (and RSSB) should come with a guarantee

If the product lets buyers down, consumer advocates -- along with plain consumers -- jump in to depressed action. Sometimes excessively.

I'm vacant which Consumer Reports, the magazine we love as well as have subscribed to for as prolonged we can remember, still isn't recommending squeeze of the iPhone 4 because of the minor antenna accepting complaint which really wasn't which large of the deal. However, it was the defect which Consumer Reports felt should have been bound by Apple before the iPhone 4 was released.

This makes me wonder: Wouldn't it be great if religions came with the pledge which salvation, enlightenment, or whatever, will be produced as betrothed to those who buy-in to the faith?

And if the devout goods aren't delivered upon time as well as in operative order, it'd additionally be smashing if those who assimilated the sacrament after being lured by the fake attract as well as switch understanding could be compensated for the time, money, as well as devotion they contributed.

The problem, of course, is which Consumer Reports is able to put products through the rigorous testing process. If they don't work properly, such is sincerely easy to determine.

With religosity, mysticism, as well as spirituality though, the purveyors of orderly products (religions, cults, meditation systems, etc.) usually guarantee deceptive benefits and/or the deceptive delivery time -- such as after the user's death, during which point it's damn difficult to protest about the product.

Today we enjoyed reading an engaging as well as judicious criticism from Sunny Jay upon the post which we wrote last month. The criticism resonated with me as well as stimulated these thoughts, as Sunny Jay as well as we both have been members of the same India-based religious group, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB).

Here's the comment, with the few typos fixed:

Hello everybody. All this reading is really entertaining, to contend the least, as! well as we have laughed alot though upon the serious note...Walking away from RSSB was really psychologically deleterious for me. For the prolonged time there was much shame as well as remnants of it still swirl in my mind.

Part of me wants to hold though let's face it...I have never met one satsangi [RSSB initiate] who has ever crossed the starting point of the third eye...all this speak in Science of the Soul as well as alternative books about riddhis as well as siddhis as well as devout powers as well as astral travelling to alternative regions. Has anyone actually had these experiences? Was all which things made up?

I have my own stories about RSSB as well as well as how we got in as well as what made me leave....but we lend towards to find it is the guarantee of the devout knowledge which lures one in to asking for initiation. The chance to "die whilst living" as well as see the "macrocosm in the microcosm". Walt Disney should have the film about it. Can we suppose the special effects?!

Then we read about this thing called Kundalini. Most satsangis don't utter the "K" word during Haynes Park [RSSB center in England]. It's taboo...dark side stuff...like Lord Vader. What have been your thoughts upon that? Can anyone attest to the Kundalini awakening besides David Blaine? Probably not.

After being instituted for 4 years as well as practicing day in day out with all my gusto...saw nothing. we spoke to satsangis about it. The response we got was the joke. Anyway, it's reached the point where we scour the Earth for the Lament Configuration Box from the film Hellraiser in sequence to clear the realms of pleasure as well as pain...am we upon the right path?

I'd contend so, Sunny Jay.

(Never carrying watched the Hellraiser movie, we had to conduct to Wikipedia to sense what the Lament Configuration Box was. It sounds flattering neat, in reserve from the possibly unattractive actuality which unlocking it leads! to hell . Still, you'll end up somewhere interesting, which is more than can be pronounced for the RSSB meditation we practiced.)

Now, we can anticipate the reaction of loyal believers to this comment. Which would be along the lines of what fervent devotees of any conviction contend to those who have tried which particular religious product, found it wanting, as well as moved upon to sample alternative wares.

You weren't committed enough.
You didn't have sufficient love/devotion/energy/other quality.
You indispensable to stay with the conviction longer.
You got the formula we needed, not the formula we wanted.
You didn't surrender your ego.
You longed for results, so we didn't get them.
You can't expect to sense the ineffable.
You forgot which God works in mysterious ways.

Well, we suppose the purveyor of any consumer product could come up with similar sorts of excuses. But they wouldn't go over any better than they did with Sunny Jay as well as me.

Sure, maybe which TV we bought which never showed the picture or receptive to advice will start operative one day. Maybe.

And maybe God, in his/her/its infinite fashion, has the plan for you: to spend $1,000 upon the new radio as well as afterwards sit in front of it for the next five, ten, or twenty years, staring during the vacant screen. Maybe.

I just hold which when you're betrothed X if we get Y, as well as X doesn't manifest -- not only for you, though for everyone we speak to who got Y -- that's persuasive justification which Y is defective as well as isn't value gripping anymore.