We were all humans till we got divided

The Story of Ug and Thug. A long time ago, long before the discovery of silver and gold, there lived a man named Ug. Ug lived in a community of people who prospered well for that time, herding sheep, raising cows, and growing grain. One day while Ug was fishing in a stream near his home, he noticed a shiny rock exhibiting its countenance through the crystal clear water. “That’s a nice looking stone,” Ug thought as he retrieved it from its resting place. As Ug pondered on the discovery he had made, he wondered what use this pretty rock could have. He decided that although the rock was beautiful, it served him no real purpose; so he threw it back. Now that he had discovered the existence of the rock, he began to notice that the streambed where he was fishing was full of the peculiar looking stone.

Ug’s neighbor, Thug, was a lazy sort, and spent many a day down by the stream idly dreaming up ways he could get out of the responsibilities of work that were required of him by the community of people where he lived. One day, Thug noticed the shiny rock that his friend, Ug, had discarded. “Hey!” thought Thug, “I bet I could convince Ug’s wife that this pretty stone is worth a mammoth meat pie.” (Something Thug loved to eat, but was too lazy to make himself.) Thug took the stone and fashioned it into a trinket and gave it to Ug’s wife, who upon seeing it, immediately fell in love with its shiny attributes. She made Thug his pie, and couldn’t wait to show off her new trinket to her friends.

“Wow!” thought Thug. “If Ug’s wife liked the stone, maybe all the other women will like one too. I’ll never have to make another mammoth pie again!” Thug went down to the streambed and gathered up all the shiny rocks he could find. When the other men’s wives wanted a shiny trinket like Ug’s wife, their husbands searched in vain for the rocks Thug had already taken. The other women were distraught that they could not have a trinket like Mrs. Ug. These women began to pester their husbands until the pestering became unbearable. The men went to Thug and asked him for some of his shiny rocks for their wives. “What will you give me for one of these rocks?” Thug asked. “I will build you a fence,” said one man.

“And I will give you three cows to put inside the fence,” said another. Soon Thug, the laziest man in town, had the best house, barn, fence, and animals in all the community. Thug spent most of his time looking and digging for the now “precious” stones. The more he found, the less there were for others to find. It wasn’t long before Thug made a list of the things for which he could trade his stones. He divided his stones up into groups according to size. The littlest stones he traded for a cow, a sheep, or an ox. A bigger stone he gave in exchange for a new shed to be built on his land. And the biggest stones––well, these he kept for himself because he knew he could break them into littler stones that he could trade for practically anything he wanted.

Ug’s cow died and he didn’t have any way to procure milk for his growing children. He asked his wife if she would let him have her trinket so he could trade it to his brother (whose wife had one but wanted two) for one of his cows. Reluctantly, Ug’s wife gave up her trinket so that her children could have milk. Ug traded the stone for one of his brother’s cows. Ug’s brother, Shrug, took the stone, which was way too big for just one cow, and traded it to another neighbor for six sheep and five bushels of wheat. Ug’s brother never told him that his wife’s stone was worth more than just one cow. He knew his brother needed a cow more than he needed a stone that he couldn’t eat, wear, or sleep in; so he decided he had done his brother a favor. And for the favor; he would get more for the stone than what he gave for it.

This situation went on for some time. Before long, the stones were worth much more to the people of the community than any of their other possessions. One wise man set up a little business by the bank of the stream where the stones had first been found. His wise premise was to help people save their stones and get more stones by lending them out to others in return for a bigger stone than what they had borrowed in the first place. When this man lent out a stone that was the size of a walnut, he told the borrowers that they would have to pay him back a stone the size of an apple. When the bigger stone was paid back as agreed, the man would then chip off a little bit of the apple-sized stone for himself and give the person who had deposited his stone in the business a stone which was bigger than what he had originally deposited.

“What an easy way to get more stones without finding any, or trading anything for them,” boasted the man. Since his business seemed to be successful by the bank of the stream, he called his business, The Bank. Soon the people of the community were spending far more time figuring out ways to get and trade stones than they were raising things to eat, making things to wear, or building houses. It wasn’t long before there were lots of stones lying around that no one could eat, wear, or live in. The people began to die from hunger and the cold outside, or they were killed by someone wanting their stones. Ug analyzed what had happened to his community, and called the people together and told them what Thug had done. He explained that Thug had taken advantage of all of them because he didn’t want to work like the rest of the community. He made Thug’s name known throughout the land as a lazy con artist who took advantage of the peoples’ industry for his own good. His name has been infamous ever since. It wasn’t long before Thug killed his brother for speaking against him; and because of Thug’s riches and power, no one cared.

Our true natures consistently motivate us to maintain our individuality due to our unique awareness that we are different and independent from everything else in the Universe. As explained, we are aware of our self, and we use our ability to reason to experience things that validate our existence, or this individuality. Therefore, we naturally seek out those things that confirm this uniqueness. From our honest perspective, everything in the Universe exists for us to use in our experiences to arrive at happiness, which is the balance that we seek.

In the above story, Ug’s wife was aware that wearing a trinket set her apart from others. When the other women noticed this difference that set Ug’s wife apart from them, they recognized her uniqueness, and believed that they too could become different in the same way. Once all of them possessed the same bracelet, their individualism was diminished. To separate themselves further from each other, and reach a state of independent awareness that would bring them balance (happiness), each sought out other things––maybe two bracelets or three bracelets instead of one––to recover their distinctiveness.

This natural tendency is why humans establish borders, nations, communities, and families, and seek for personal riches and emotional securities such as patriotism or religious or group affiliations that separate them from others. Though these things are abstract, and are as varied as each particular mind interprets their meaning and value, they have become an important constant, and the utmost desire of a wise one in search of his or her natural balance. Even those who do not want borders, nations, communities or families, and who do not seek material wealth or depend on the emotional securities that distinguish one human from another, still protect their individuality by not belonging to the group of those who do seek after these things. Inevitably, it is impossible for humans not to crave their selfish desires––no matter what they might be.

The leaders we choose to lead us are determined by their ability to protect and allow our individuality. The democracies of the world are premised on the ability of the people to choose for themselves the laws and governments that promote their selfish desires. Governments that allow a person the liberty to exist and determine what brings balance to the self, and which guarantee this pursuit of happiness, are unquestionably supported by human nature. These types of governments encourage the perpetual quest for individuality. They promise their supporters the ability to achieve the realization of their selfish dreams.

Humans exist on a planet whose natural laws will never satisfy their free-willed intrinsic character. They are not like other creatures of the animal kingdom that have no concept of self-awareness, and maintain balance by working with natural law to perpetuate the whole. Working against the laws of nature, human self-awareness supports the individual, and sets a unique standard of balance (happiness) for which it continually seeks. Human intelligence and reason has created a powerful entity of motivation that helps maintain this balance. This Powerful Human Motivator is a great beast that has no part of the normal order of the animal world.

In other words, the corruption of man has created the dragon, which has given birth to a beast upon whose back the whole of humanity rides. Nothing stands in the way of this dragon and its desires. The beast receives its power from the dragon, and reigns throughout the whole earth. Who would want (or dare) to make war with or attempt to overthrow The Beast that fulfills the very essence of human desire? When humanity combines with genuine religion, both become good for the world. When humanity is without religion, or when religion has been reduced to some fanatic, sectarian faith, as in the world today, humanity becomes reduced to polished animals who wreak havoc on the planet.

Real religion will allow humanity to properly understand nature, itself and God, and act accordingly. At the present moment in time, a lot of people consider themselves religious, due to having some faith in God, or the religion they were brought up with, but because they don’t act according to God’s laws, for the simple reason they have no knowledge of or interest in these laws, they can hardly be considered religious, in the proper sense of the term.

There are four pillars of religion listed in the Vedic tradition - cleanliness, austerity, compassion, and truthfulness. There is a systematic and well-rounded process to religion, whose foundation is structured on these four pillars. Religion is not simply a matter of faith, nor just a system of morals and ethics, although it is mostly portrayed as such. It is more than a faith, it is a science - in Bhagavad-gita, Krishna calls it the science of the self.

As these four pillars are the foundation of religion, the Vedic scriptures also teach that there are four main sinful activities - illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat eating. Why are they "sinful?" Because they each attack and destroy a specific pillar of religion. Cleanliness is destroyed by illicit sex; austerity by intoxication; compassion by meat-eating; and truthfulness by gambling.

It is clearly seen that in the modern, contemporary culture a consistent campaign is conducted to destroy the four pillars of religion. For example, the vast majority of all TV and movies out of Hollywood are based on the repeated and glorified practice of the four sinful activities mentioned above. There is a massive campaign going on to normalize and make acceptable illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling. Thus, the modern, human civilazation, which is being hailed as the pinnacle of all human progress and knowledge, is actively seeking to destroy the eternal religious principles mentioned in the Vedas.

The global culture, in which the majority of people still consider themselves good Christians or whatever, is little more than an attempt to make the whole world into a market place of McDonalds, Levis and Coca-cola. It is being hailed as the info-age, but when examined closely, the info available is more or less a barrage of propaganda to make the general population into good and loyal consumers and usurpers of nature. The goal of life, instead of being knowledge of the self and God, is now centered around getting ahead in life - education, then a job that will enable one to spend money for sense-gratification.

The whole world is running on trade. It is a business-culture governed by vaishyas (merchants) not by brahmanas (learned people), as a proper human culture is meant to be. The only way out of this godless grind is by the spreading of sanatana-dharma - the eternal religion, and that is exactly what the Hare Krishnas are doing all over the world. Lord Vishnu says: When one resents the demigods, who represent God, the Vedas, which give all knowledge, the cows, brahmanas, Vaisnavas and religious principles, and ultimately resent Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he and his civilization will be vanquished without delay. -- Shrimad Bhagawat 7.4.27

When I was studying in school we were taught that its the one and only Hindu religion. Even when questioning this logic was a big No-No. I remember getting into trouble for asking critical questions about religion, like why most of the teaching doesn't make sense, and as usual the answer from the teacher was "Shut Up, or you will go to Hell". But then I started thinking to myself and studying religion in an another dimension and came to realize why we can live without it.

But my biggest problem with religion is that it tells us not to use out brains. Just believe what ever is in the scriptures and not to use critical thinking.Since its from God, whatever is in the holy book must be true because the book states it true and its the only religion and other religions are shit. Everything mankind has invented for the good of humans ,most notably science,human rights etc., came from the human intellect. One day someone somewhere started to think for himself and started questioning and thinking about the world and how it works and soon came to the conclusion that we don't need religion, our brains is more than enough to exist.

Just think of the thousands or millions of innocent people massacred in the name of religion because of ideological differences. Of course,the people will kill and we will have wars even without religion. But justification to start a war is it to kill innocent people which derived from the scriptures is what bothers me as "God commands it ".And to think there are thousands of religions and every one claim theirs is the true one, simple because the holy books say so. All can't be always right.

We still have the time if we don't kill ourselves in the name of religion, to live in harmony.Never underestimate the power of human intellect. But sadly its the only thing religion is afraid of and they will use what ever is in the bag of tricks to suppress people who question it. I am glad and happy that as time progresses more and more people are getting educated in the right way, we have hope to live as human being peacefully and never ever having to bring religion to our equations.

But the progress is slow and will take time, as religion also has countermeasures to combat to sustain its power.They will always use the power of ignorance and fear as we humans are not evolved to think critically. Its always easy for most people just believe and not to think for themselves and religion knows this very well. Nevertheless religion has good ideas as well,but all the good things are derived from basic human common senses. Neither we have to underestimate the power of our brains and I hope one day we can all live without religion. And the best part is we can live with our own logic and ethics towards humanity in general.

Hate, bigotry, envy, and fear are the underlying core causes of division between ethnicities, income classes, religious beliefs, and political affirmations. We learn all our behaviors and values starting with the family unit. Good parenting is growing key values and fostering the principles of love, empathy for others, and holding to morality as a virtue. People are born into unequal circumstances. But people then make choices, strive to achieve goals, and change courses to maximize their life potential. Sometimes their choices are detrimental. Sometimes their choices are brilliant. The one central factor that is destructive in any society is “hatred”. Hateful people never succeed. Cheers!