The Origin of Religions: An Open-Eyed Journey Through a Mystic World

The Origin of Religions: An Open-Eyed Journey Through a Mystic World

by B. K. Karkra

Overview

THE BOOK: The book is an open-eyed journey through the mystic world of faith. It is an intellectually stimulating account of the birth of religions. As animal, for definite, have no religions and intelligence is the dividing line between man and animal, it should be amply clear that religions have risen out the thinking faculty of man. These are about God and His creation alright, but not from God, though human brain itself is a gift from God. The book traces the story of religions from the earliest times and tries to reach to the core of all major belief systems of the world. Towards the end, it draws a sort of balance-sheet of the religions to form an idea what good and bad these have done to the mankind. An effort has also been made to have a peep into their future.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781467880770
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication date: 01/20/2012
Pages: 148
Product dimensions: 8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.38(d)

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The Origin of Religions: An Open-Eyed Journey Through a Mystic World 4.5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 2 reviews.
Jyoti1 More than 1 year ago
‘What strikes about the book is that it is unobtrusively original and objective, without raising any sort of apostatic concerns. The idea of the author seems to be to show mirror to the common man and leave it to him what he wants to see in it. A commendable effort, indeed.’ 
Anonymous More than 1 year ago
The book is a sort of history of the mystic world that lives side by side with our physical world. Karkra has correctly come to the conclusion that none of the religions has descended from heaven. They have their origin in the thinking faculty of man. This thesis is based on his impeccable logic that animals after all have no religions. It is man`s curiosity about his creator and the fear of future that has brought religions in to being. Many religions have, of course, brought the revelation element into their faith to reinforce their message. His account of all the religions though brief is incisive. Judaism has been unable to expand because the Jews believe that Yahweh, their God, is in private relationship with them. Now, God, if He is God, cannot be in such a relationship. Jesus, himself a Jew, universalized Yahweh in to everybody`s God and paid for this with his life. His innocent blood gave a tremendous boost to his message. Prophet Mohammad was born amidst the tribal with a massive mental vacuum. This enabled him to charge them with his message of oneness of God and thus the Arabian sands were set alive. The spread of Buddhism at tremendous speed from out of India, without any army columns marching behind, is another unique feature of human history. Then, the Hinduism enveloping it back into its fold in its land of birth is no less amazing. The writer`s view that religions have done us lot of good as well as bad is again sound and convincing. The religions clearly have two aspects---communal and spiritual. The communal component is their negative feature. They must not mix in the mud of politics if they are to preserve their pristine glory. The book reminds me of Charles Darwin`s classic, ‘The Origin of Species’. Whereas Darwin has endeavoured to unfold some of the mysteries of the physical world, Karkra has tried to lay bare the soul of man.