The real Hinduism, is something of much debate. What is our culture, our real culture i mean. Culture is a good word, sounds great, everyone knows indian culture goes way back into several centuries, but sitting right here what do you or i know of it?
We were having a heated discussion on why women were being discriminated in temples, why women were not allowed into a few temples, whether the restrictions are male chauvinistic, or whether the rule is there with a scientific reason. Of course, the participants were two extremely opinionated women, including myself, and the discussion soared into the air, loud as ever drowning all the other conversations in the little room. Yes, no body would have seen two heated women like this in that room for a while.
We were mad, plain and simple, wondering why men got more privileges than us, just because they were born men, which honestly was not an accomplishment of their own! Why women are put down, seems to be a simple answer, they are just way way stronger in the head and sadly they themselves dont know it!
Anyway the conversation drifted into why we have good days and bad, does it have a logic at all. Why do we have this thing called rahu kalam, does it make sense, or is it plain superstition?
Well honestly, hinduism is a way of life, its not simple and its extremely potent which is why it has lasted all these centuries. It has depth, depth that we (a section of society) are unable to see and hence think its all bull shit. I dont understand when people say there is no logic, its all bogus. Its not, we are ignorant, period, and in our ignorance we end up making judgement when we are not even capable of it. Do you question language, No, you just simply learn it with all its idiosyncrasies, then why question faith??
Faith grows on you, through your life, gives you direction if you are strong and persistent enough to want it, just going to a temple is NOT good enough. You want answers... then go look for it, a Buddha did not get it easy, and neither did Christ. In fact they were sent through more grind than you think. Its simple, if you want to be God be ready to get stoned first. What a line!!
Coming back to us lesser mortals, since we are not planning to be Gods, but think its good enough to just get to understand Him/ Her/ It, let me assure you, its not an easy road and you are going to end up questioning it more than you think. Dismissing it off just becaue you do not get your answers in the next 20 minutes only goes to show how superficial you are and how much you are not willing to put in effort. If you want to know, you HAVE got to be passionate about it and dig dig dig till you think you get somewhere. End of the day, you are the loser if you dont get to know. NO body else suffers. SIMPLE.
I just know this much, real Hinduism is beyond your current way of life, you need to want to give yo materialism and greed, you need to want to be passionate with a single point focus, you need to want to control your emotions and not have them control you. You need to understand your emotions and appreciate them for what they are worth, they deliver the experience to you, they should NOT overwhelm you. if you get past all this, then you are somewhere near ready to take on the true nature of hinduism. The way of life, brings in routine and discipline to your otherwise haphazard life style. Its not simple, but well who said it was?
There is potency in this way of life and the only way to get it is to get your self neck deep in it. Next time you dont know something about Hinduism, probably you should accept your ignorance instead of ruling out the faith to be all bull shit. Remember this is one of the oldest religions, so what meets your eye is not the reality of it, its superficiality, the reality, is for you to find out.
17 comments:
hmm.. i am an ardent fan of hinduism, and i totally agree that it's not a religion - hinduism is a way of life. a way of life so simple, and so pure, that it makes us feel uncomfortable.
i've also wondered why women were not allowed do certain things.. the one reason i've heard most people say, is that women undergo menstruation which makes them "unclean". i dont buy that. God made u, and He gave you those 3 days for a purpose. so how can He tell u that u are unclean??
i guess it's just something that got made up by society over so many centuries.. back then, women were more or less dignified slaves.. confined to the kitchen.. no education (and by that, i mean they were condemned to ignorance, i am not referring to literacy) and no privileges at all.. that explains why no temples have female priests.. they were just pushed out.
over the years, as society changed and began accepting women as equal to men, this society stuck stubbornly to its ways.. the result of which u have no women priests till today, the "dark room" in every house where u stay for 3 days every month...
sadly, society did not see the difference between tradition and customs. tradition is the good part - the practices that u carry on, to show your love, devotion, and faith. customs is the manners of the people involved in that time - and most often this just doesnt fit in as society changes.
just my thoughts :-)
Hi!
The wise ‘Hindus’ realized God to be both, zero or unborn, and infinity or unending, at the same time. The problem today is on account of failure of majority humans, realized as ‘images of God’ by the ancients, to observe ‘Nature’ today like a child, and thereafter analyse the data like a mature being. This is due to apparent fear 'to attempt overcoming attachment to material' or ‘to break the paper walls of day-to-day existence’ - like helplessnes of each animal group due to stone walls built around each in a zoo – obliging us to live slavishly in ‘concrete jungles’ today. Some also call it the ‘slavery of time’.
Despite it, the ‘seeker’ must dare to break these ‘paper walls’. Only then could one see that communication in ‘Nature’ is symbolic… A simple observation of a natural phenomenon - a gardener planting a seed into the ground and its successful germination subsequently, apparently based on many factors - could show the similarity in relationship between the father and the mother of a mammal, a more evolved life, also. That is, the female or the typical Mother, functionally, is a symbolic representation of Earth, the common mother (origin and the store house) of all life forms, as also the ‘great leveler’ (goal). And Father, the gardener, obviously is the ‘manual labour’ working for an unseen and unrealized Boss!
On the other hand, ordinary bacteria - microorganisms that remain unseen through naked eyes and seen relatively recently by enlarging through microscopes by ‘scientists’ - are known to multiply by division. And, the ‘scientific’ knowledge that our Moon had evolved from our original Earth-Moon could thus indicate the similarity between the planets - although believed to be non-living by the ‘West’ today, but treated by ancients as an individual in the ‘East’ - and microorganism, the ‘life’ which exists on earth for a duration relatively much longer compared to man (around 3.5 billion years against less than 5 million years).
Also, the Moon is known to be the controller of earth, and thus the ‘supervisor’ of earth and ‘life’ on it. Thus a typical man could be functionally understood as the representative of the Moon who is detached, as it is devoid of any atmosphere and earthlike 'life', while it remains naturally attached because of earth's pull. It could thus be realized why the sanyasis or the ‘seekers of truth’ used to practice detachment, irrespective of time that was reckoned in terms of Yugas… However, the Boss or the Creator, who resides within all, men or women, whose physical form is represented by Adi Shiva (original Earth-Moon), alone was believed to be completely detached, or free from the bondage of time, and incapable of being realized through physical senses…
Unfortunately, words ever remain incapable of expressing the ‘truth’. Sweetness of a fruit can only be realised by the one who eats it. Truth (unfortunately for the generality of humans who today love to eat only sweet fruits or bear no hardship) naturally is bitter and therefore remains distant from the present day humans, like ‘the carrot dangling in front of a horse’!
Drawing a parallel between language and faith in my opinion is very inaccurate...since language is based on logic and intended to communicate to a larger mass..so u have to follow rules....and of course the logic is stronger than logic u find in faiith...hence the ability to play around is very less...dont u agree...btw u can check up ur vimana post...i might have something interesting for you to chew on.
Interesting post, but could you make yourself more approachable - anonymous doesnt really help.
I would like to comment on Mr Anon's statement, “…Language is based on logic and intended to communicate to a larger mass…” gives an impression that each individual, that constitutes the masses, has equal grasping power, similar interests, and so on. However the fact is different, as can invariably be seen from the variation of marks received by students, even on any one subject out of millions, of the same class - taught by the same teachers and having the same prescribed books - from near 0% to near 100%. Perhaps the logical conclusion from the observation is only that this phenomenon also conforms to the variety seen in the ‘Nature’ in all of its aspects, and could therefore reflect the combined intelligence of the masses that form a group or a class. And, thus could show the hand of the mysterious Creator behind human life too as one of the parts of the 'natural' environment. It was understood by the ancients that ‘man is a model of the universe’ or ‘an image of God’.
Practical experience could be said to be the logic behind Faith. Many examples could be cited wherein ‘miracles’ reportedly happened, which are incapable of being explained by cold logic. I would cite just one, narrated to me by a colleague for some time who had suffered from Arthritis.
The problem reportedly started years ago when his ankle joint got affected. He was put on allopathic medicines and took hot water bath throughout the year, as prescribed/ advised to him by his doctor. However, a few years later, his knees also got involved. And, the panic button was pressed when his hip joint also got affected subsequently. It was then that the family decided to go to Vaishnodevi.
After reaching the foothill, he dragged himself up the hilly track to finally reach the temple at midnight. He was asked to take bath in the cold water tank before he could proceed to have a glimpse of the idol. The thought itself was shocking as he had been bathing for years with hot water only. However, he surrendered with the thought that anyway he was destined to die soon as the next organ likely to be affected, after the hip joint, was his heart.
The family passed the remaining part of that night sleeping in a rest room near the top. The next morning when he walked down the hill, he couldn’t believe it that his pain was really gone as he found himself moving comfortably, like he used to do originally before the affliction! He pinched himself to confirm that he wasn’t dreaming. After he reached the foot hill, he again climbed all the way to the temple and came down in a state of bliss!
Well your shiva post suggested that unapproachability is something u like and makes u think! ;)
Ever heard of Ashariravani? would look at seeing a post on that...
I will have to reply to JC Joshi's post sometime...i have some additional thoughts...
this is a post in response to JC Joshi's post...
language is a means to communicate to a large mass of people...faith is a means to communicate with a supreme being...
i am sure you would agree that a large part of what you want to communicate is designed based on the capability of the audience to recieve....
i think this is the reason that led to grammar and other logical rules in language which wise men propounded so that communication to mortals who tend to interpret in their own ways...this is where logic came into being in a manner of rigid rules which need to be followed without question...yet we question it sometimes and that leads to newer forms of literature....
on the same note, the logic behind faith is not as rigid in terms of rules to follow since the supreme being can understand devotion and devviant behaviour in a better sense (the story of the devotee who used to slap an idol with slippers despite a flood,, which still meant focus)...
the point i wanted to make however was if you say u dont question languge so why question faith is not accurate, because if u question language the masses get confused and u pull out wrong reactions...thats why the rules and logic.(imagine you showing love to your spouse by incessant slapping with footwear although not painful even when u are tired saying that look how devoted i am)..however if you question faith it is still accepted by the divine since questioning is a way of being involved....hopefully i have explained myself...
regarding the vaishnodevi miracle...i have not much of a comment except that the moment in which he left attachment saying whats there i am anyways going to die...hte person freed himself from the struggle and his body was able to heal itself...this was aided by the fact that a ritual stated that he shoudl bathe in cold water...however if there were hot water baths available at the spot...would he still be cured? or instead of vaishnodevi, if the same mental state and physical activity was undertaken by him was replicated elsewhere(say in teh vatican) woudl he have been cured? and if he had been would that mean christianity is the true relegion...these are questions which cannot be answered....so i think the best way to appreciate it is to appreciate the circumstance and the happening and accept reality rather than try to emotionally and mentally attribute a reason like miracle because a human is unable to accept something happened and some reason just has to be assigned....that i think is what the simple truth is but difficult to practice...
It is an accepted fact in the ‘present’ that no human administrative system has proved to be foolproof yet. Be it Capitalism, Communism, Democracy in various forms, and so on…
It is also a fact that the society invariably, irrespective of time and place, divides itself into two groups – for and against – even on the smallest of small issues. Thus there apparently is no possibility of end of ‘war of words’. However, it is this (natural) division, which leads the neutral or detached ‘seeker of truth’ - pertaining to any ‘religion’ – to adopt the middle path, viz. Gautam the Buddha in the East and Jesus Christ in the West - as typical historical examples. The same could perhaps be realized by a simple observation of logs floating in a river. The ones in the middle keep on floating peacefully towards their apparent ‘goal’ in the sea, whereas, the ones closer to the banks get caught in eddies or vegetation…
‘Hindus’ apparently were a ‘wiser’ lot till the sixth century B.C. However, it is also a fact that what goes up must come down at a certain time. A simple observation of a ball that strikes the ground and rebounds to a smaller height, till it eventually comes to a state of rest after a few cycles, could help in understanding the ‘Hindu’ belief about temporary or illusory human existence and reducing efficiency with time. The variety in the material of the ball and the softness/ hardness of the ground would, however, result in variety in the rebound – a phenomenon similar to varying grasping power in humans, varying capacity to hold water - from a spoon to the ocean, and so on…
With the background communication in the satva or essence - conforming to “Brevity is the soul of life” - “Satyam Shivam Sunderam”, the one who realized the ‘Truth’ exclaimed. “I am Shiva,” the Creator, while also realizing that the apparent variety of forms are like multiple reflections of the same unseen Shiva as in a ‘magical mirror’, or as in photographs of the same in an exclusive album of that individual, from his birth to the ‘present’!
Although, the sentence, “I am not here”, is grammatically correct, yet one would say that it practically cannot be used. However, if I am a ghost like apparition projected from, say ‘zero’, or ‘infinity’, the statement could be considered as practically valid!
Nice post..but is it a general article or in some way a response to my post? i dint see the correlation...mebbe i am tired...could u elaborate?
The idea was to give you a very brief background of the apparently imperfect, or a shallower, understanding of ‘Nature’ in the ‘present’ even when the whole ‘Nature’ lies in front of all like an open book just needing to be read! And, the relatively better understanding, based on ‘Truth’, or that which didn’t change with time and place, considered by our ancients or the Siddhas in the ‘past’ read from this very apprently physically chnging 'Nature', due perhaps to a ‘natural design’, as understood by the ‘wiser’ ancients.
They apparently attempted to ‘enter the mind of the Creator’, (as expressed by a ‘renowned scientist’, Sthephen Hawking, recently also,) who alone is unending and unchanging, the formless one who apparently is an all rounder or ‘perfect’ in all aspects.
It is said today even that an artist leaves his impression in his creation. The knowledgeable/ interested persons thus can identify the artist concerned, with just one glance at the painting, or from the voice and the style of rendition by a singer, and so on, for instance.
However, the generality of the youth today are not even prepared to accept/ believe that someone could be responsible in respect of the design and maintenance of all physical forms, including their own, leave aside belief in the ‘Absolute truth’ realized by the ancients that a formless being alone is present at the common root - a judgment due to their own reduced efficiency with time - despite common ‘scientific’ knowledge that hadn’t it been for the unseen gravitational pull of earth - because of which we are like clothes hanging from the ‘clothes line’ - in reality suspended head down, and could fly off if gravity failed! St Matthew therefore said, “Judge not that ye be not judged,” for the benefit of the ‘seekers’ or the instruments that still are in ‘working conditions’!
To respond to some of the concerns on Women's role in Hinduism. If you notice (esp. in brahminical households) the lady of the house stands behind the head (yajamana) and pour water from the panchapatram before anything is given by the yajamana as dhaanam. Ever wonder why?
One school of thought is to purify. That leads to the concept that a Lady of the house who keeps 'madi' (your other blog refers to it) is the purest person especially after her morning pujas. *** Important or Not ?? ***
Another one. Any external expenditure needs her sanction. Like the king who touches all gifts he receives as a mark of acceptance, the lady pouring the water is a mark of her acceptance of the gift by the yajamana - A Financial controller, Expense Checker. *** Important or Not ?? ***
In very short, Panchtantra, the fables narrated by Pandit Vishnu Datt Sharma - for educating the dull sons of a king in the art of Public Administration - indicate how there was a trend in the past to educate the masses on serious subjects through simple stories.
An in-depth study of Hindu mythological stories would similarly indicate how these were perhaps used originally to educate the masses about Creation of the universe, a ‘science’ subject, today covered under the main head of Astronomy.
The ‘Hindu’ mythological story on Vishnu narrates how He remains reclining in a state of super consciousness, on the bed - in the middle of the Kshir sagar or the ocean of milk (the innumerable stars as sources for white milk like light) - formed by the five-hooded serpent, Anant, meaning.unending, or Sheshnag, i.e., the serpent who alone survives after Pralaya or each Doomsday. The five obviously stood for the Panchbhoot, literally the five ghosts, or panchtatva, generally understood to represent the five ‘elements’, i.e., Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Sky, that go into the making of all physical forms in the universe.
The mythological story of Shiva, the Bholanath or the simple God, is very popular among the ‘Hindus’. The story narrates how ‘He’ was alone in the beginning, as Ardhanarishwar or the two-in-one God having both male and female characteristics until the day when His consort, Sati, jumped into the sacred fire arranged by Her father Daksha Prjapati during a ritual worship to which he didn’t invite Shiva, because of His bad habit of indulging in drugs, etc. and the bad company of ghosts... He later married Parvati the daughter of Himalayas, who was yet another form of Sati ( which could be understood as the story of evolution of Moon from Earth-Moon)...
Shiva’s description cites ‘Him’ as having the Moon on ‘His’ forehead, having extremely dense locks of hairs on ‘His’ head (perhaps indicating the dense Himalayan forest) in which the sacred River Ganga remained held up for long, ‘His’ body covered with ashes from the crematoria, and ‘His’ drinking of Somrus or the Moonlight, and Halahal, the deadliest poison, perhaps understood today as ‘pollution’, ‘His’ original abode in Kashi, that is, the present day Varanasi, all point towards our very own planet earth to represent Shiva, perhaps as the model of the Earth. For, the ancients had realized man to be a model of the universe, and considered earth as the Mrityulok, i.e., a place where all life forms die and eventually turn into ashes . However there is a twist in the tale, as Shiva in fact could be the female human form, the Sunder or beautiful out of the two sexes, and even today majority of women ritually have long plaits of hair! And, like earth stores the riches in its bowels, women carry gold on their person and are addressed as Laxmi the goddess of money!
The above might help in understanding the role of women in the household of a Brahmin as reflected in the ritual cited by Mr Anon. The water used obviously represents the sacred water of the River Ganga.
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Hi! Mr Anon,
The following might help further to see the weakness of languages, despite the rigid rules laid down for the intended communication to the masses that have different styles of living; education standrds; prejudices on account of location, prevalent languages/ dialects and so on...
The saying, “Change is the law of nature”, indicates how the physical world is constantly undergoing change in appearances. Languages also undergo evolution, perhaps naturally. Sanskrit was believed to be one of the most advanced languages in India in the ‘Vedic Era’. It is understood that the Pundits then had advanced not only in the language, but also they had made an all round development. Valmiki wrote Ramayana, the story of Lord Rama - based on advanced Astrology - when he wasn’t even born… However, ultimately they appear to have reached the conclusion that the temporary ‘physical world’ was a lie! And, that the Truth ever remained unseen and undying. “Satyamev Jayate”, i.e., ‘Truth ever prevails’.…
With the downfall of the 'wise' Hindus, with the passage of time, Sanskrit was beyond the reach of the then ‘common’ man, and Sant Tulsidas popularized the story of Rama in the common man’s language once again in the recent past...
It is said by those who have read the different versions that one gets to see different pictures of the same man through different eyes today, a phenomenon that is universal at any given time!
About the need by an individual to interpret different thoughts of a physical occurrence or a practice in the past, let us take up a common occurrence as an example:
When a candle is lit, moths are attracted to the flame and burn themselves up on it!
Each ‘expert’ might come up with a different interpretation of his own:
A poet might term it as a symbol of eternal love between the moth and the flame!
A ‘life scientist’ might explain that the moth, being an ‘inferior life’, motivated by hunger it might believe the flame to be a flower! He could explain that even a human child, because of its still-to-be-developed-intelligence, might catch the flame thinking it to be a flower or a toy. And, get educated by the practical experience! He might also cite the example of hungry and young birds ‘falling from the sky’ on being attracted to lighted torch in the Jatinga valley in the North-East India under certain typical atmospheric conditions. He might add that based on their experience, the birds know that artificial light indicates presence of humans, and therefore of food!
An Astronomer could say that our planet earth, along with the various life forms on it, might eventually ‘die’ falling into the centre of the galaxy, or the sun. Thus the phenomenon could be indicative of the latter possibility, whereby man also might one day face a similar fate as the moth!
And, so on, thus resulting in a variety of interpretations for consideration of the interested humans at a certain given time, based on their combined intelligence, to reach at the true reality out of the various possibilities. However, perhaps one has to remain conscious of the ‘Absolute Truth’ reached by the ancients while enjoying the effort to reach the eternal bliss, the believable goal of humans!
The weakness is not of the language itself but the weakness of the individual in using the language....language does give options which you can choose to exercise...for example...in response to my posts, you have always said Mr Anon...now why did u assume that the prefix Mr would suit my gender...i might be a woman for all you know...does that mean the rigid rules of language is weak or that your state of mind led to a mental imagery...and led you to use Mr...although you could have well remained neutral and just said Anon!
Dear Mr / Ms Anon,
I have accepted long ago that I, a small ‘image’ of the Creator, am not here. And, in reality I am, along with others, entertaining Him by playing the role of a ‘joker’ he played when He too was imperfect in respect of material life. And that He might sometimes be looking towards this old image also to reach/ or help reach His Own origin. The ‘wise’ ancients had reportedly failed in reaching the beginning or the end of the Creator.
Fooling is the law of Nature. Earlier the city dwellers used to fool the villagers, now they in turn fool the city dwellers! Politicians/ businessmen etc. continue to fool the public, and the public is so naïve, or helpless, that even when it knows the truth, it surrenders to the ‘fate’ and continues to believe, or have ‘faith’, that things would change some day in their favour, while on the other hand, the people, including the 33% or so that lie below the poverty line, satisfy their ego and enjoy changing the Government!
I might not be wrong when I say that ‘fooling’ also gets reflected in your choice to remain anonymous…
The fooling could be intentional or unintentional... Once a poet fooled a Moghul king by singing all praises for a place, describing it as heaven on earth. The king was surprised that none had ever mentioned it to him. Only when he visited the place did he realize that it was, in fact, a desert!
The ‘Nature’ also has numerous examples of fooling, viz., the phenomenon of mirage in the desert that fools man. The nightingale reportedly lays its eggs, for incubation, in the nest of a crow. There are flowers so designed that they lure and trap insects in order to consume them. Spiders spin almost invisible cobwebs to catch insects for food. A piece of rope gets mistaken for a snake, or vice versa, and so on….
Srimad Bhagvad Gita is in an advanced language, Sanskrit, and yet it has given birth to numerous interpretations, in different languages. The erudite are proud to quote from the different versions and yet might not come to know or communiate the ‘essence’ of Gita even when they do it with good intentions!
It is well known that words are incapable of communicating a realization to another person, but one must compulsarily use some, right or wrong, to express one's thoughts. It was said during British period, "What Ghosh writes, Bose understnds." You need to have matching frequencies.
One cannot make one realize the difference between the sweetness of, say, banana and mango, or even from one banana species to another, for instance, and therefore one must eat it oneself to realize it, maybe for a little time only.
One can’t become the Buddha today even if one has learnt theoretically all about the life of Gautam the Buddha, and thereafter one might even attempt following in his footsteps, including sitting under the Bodhi tree for years.
The Munis, who realized this ‘Truth’ used to maintain silence even when they continued to live in populated areas. And, the sanyasis used to run away to some caves in the Himalayas lest they disturb the house holders, as each has his own ‘thought plane’ of beliefs and prejudices, and so many other pressures of day-to-day life…
The war of words can run eternally, perhaps to act as a hurdle for the seeker!The basic purpose, I thought, was knowing the 'Truth', and not finding the technical faults like our politicians. Let us therefore bless each other's soul!
Hi,
Wonderful blog !. Really enjoyed your writing.
Coming to the issue of women not being allowed in temples when they are 'unclean', there are reasons for it. What I would like to point out here is that even men are subject to such cleanlines rules though people dont realise it and think it is restricted to "those 3 days".
Ultimately, whether you are man or woman, you have to be clean when going to temples, performing puja or even going to work.
Even when working from home, never do I start the day without having a bath and brief puja.
Hi,
There is an old saying in English, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." It, of course, does not find place in the Bible though.
Hoping that it won't be taken otherwise, as it is a matter of personal choice/ circumstances, in India, the ancients seem to have gone deeper. To them, 'Cleanliness' meant cleanlines of the body, mind and the spirit. A famous poet in the North, Mirabai, said, to the effect, "If God could be reached by bathing daily, then as it ever remains within water, the fish is most eligible for it! If only vegetarians could reach Him, then the goat is most eligible for it!"
Someone also said, "The art of growing old is to remain a child."
Regarding Ms Kavitha's query regarding 'Rahukalam', I tell my daughter also that such like beliefs have sprung up because of the 'fear of the unknown', or the uncertainties observed in human life. However, a simple observation in 'Nature', that if one approaches a dog, or even a tiger, without fear, the animal doesn't harm one. Perhaps it barks at, or bites, one because one generates fear in it also like a soft iron also gets magnetised in the presence of a magnet! And, a 'plain' mirror only reflects one's true face! And, 'the face is an index of mind'. Animals are more sensitive than humans.
In short, one is anyway in the 'wheel of time', or the kalchakra, and therefore there is no escape from the 'good' and the 'bad' or the 'ups' and 'downs'. The 'wise' therefore advised one to remain unmoved under all circumstances.
How far one can achieve it is a matter of 'faith' again!
Best wishes!
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