What is the Content of the Urantia Book in Brief ?

If you are hearing about the Urantia Book first time, you may visit my website Urantia-India for getting to know more about it.

Since it is a huge book which uses some archaic type English and some nomenclature and phraseology not found elsewhere, ordinary folks may not cherish reading it.

But it contains some fundamental knowledge which is of importance to human beings. So I am attempting to summarize the contents of this book as brief as possible.

The book is a collection of a foreword and 196 subject papers written by more than two dozen authors. Though the identity of the authors are given in the papers, none of them are human beings. The authors inform us that they are real living beings, existing in a realm outside matter. This realm, which is not very much understood by human beings who exist in material realm, is designated by the conventionally used term spiritual. Just as we identify material energy and matter, there exist spiritual energies and spiritual matter. So living beings exist both in material realm and in spiritual realm.

Just as we have known various orders of life in the material realm, there are various orders of life in the spiritual realms.

Life again can be classified into two broad groups, namely, intelligent life and non-intelligent life.

Now all of these matters, energies and life forms came into existence from one source that we conventionally prefer to identify as God.

But God created all these by various techniques taking perhaps trillions of years.

Those that he created, before matter and material energies were created , were in the spiritual realm only. This may be deemed as those came into existence before time and space. Time and space, as we understand, came into existence the moment God and his spiritual associates caused the creation of matter and material energies.

It is better to identify God as the First Source and Centre of everything. We may better call Him the Universal Father, because He is the source of everything.

The Universal Father resides at the Centre of the Grand Universe, which for convenience we may identify using the known word, Paradise. Paradise is an enormous body made of a unique kind of matter and is the only celestial body which is stationary and non-spherical in the grand universe.

A huge system of specially created globes of enormous sizes revolve around Paradise. This system is called the Havona System. Both Paradise and Havona System accommodate various orders of living spiritual beings whose numbers are in the order of trillions.

Surrounding the Havona are enormous black energy bodies possessing enormous gravitational pulls which prevent matter and material energy to pass through. Only spiritual energies ,  spiritual matter and spiritual living beings can cross this region to reach Havona and Paradise.

Revolving around these black body cover around the Paradise-Havona system are the material space comprising of innumerable stars, nebulae, planets, black holes and the like.

This revolving material region is divided into seven enormous regions, each containing approximately the same amount total energy. These spaces contain matter in various stages of evolution. These seven regions are called the Seven Superuniverses.

Intelligent spiritual beings of various orders keep working for ages upon ages to fine tune this material evolution in accordance with the mandates of the Universal Father God.

Each Superuniverse under the plan of administration by divine forces are divided into local universes, minor sectors and major sectors. 1000 local universes make up one minor sector. 10 minor sectors make one major sector. 10 major sectors make one superuniverse. So, there are 100,000 local universes in a superuniverse.

Each Local Universe is further administratively divided in to what is told as constellations and systems. This division is made on the basis of its its capacity to hold planets which can be designated as material worlds. A material world is a planet under divinely supervised evolution where intelligent life forms like that of the human beings of earth are established.

1000 material worlds make up a System. 100 systems make a Constellation and 100 Constellations constitute a Local Universe. Thus a Local Universe is the administrative conglomerate of ten million worlds like our earth. Physically it might contain several solar systems and galaxies.

Each administrative unit such as the System, Constellation, Local Universe, Minor Sector, Major Sector and Super Universe have their own head quarters or capitals which are a group of specially made spherical celestial bodies several times bigger than our earth.

All these worlds are in real existence. We are not able to learn more about them because they are all several light years away. Living beings of the material kind, such as we human beings, who live in the material worlds could be much more advanced civilizations than us. However, none of them are capable of visiting another world near or far in their material bodies, due to the limitations of travel by material bodies and also due to the limitations of their limited life span in material existence.

Our earth belongs to a Local Universe, which is given a name (for our understanding purpose) as Nebadon. Nebadon belongs to the seventh superuniverse called Orvonton.

Nebadon is not a fully developed local universe. It is relatively younger in age. So far only about 3.8 Million worlds have established intelligent life in this which has the ultimate capacity of 10 million worlds. So many planets in this local universe are in advanced stages of life establishment.

Our earth which belongs to our physical solar system is the 606th worlds out of 619 worlds under the System named Satania. Head Quarters of Satania is Jerusem, which comprises of several non evolutionary spheres or architectural worlds.

Satania system belongs to the Constellation called Norlatiadek. The HQ of this constellation is named Edentia.

Our local universe, Nebadon, has its HQ in a group of massive architectural worlds called Salvington.

Systems, Constellations, Local Universes, Minor Sectors, Major Sectors and Super Universes are all headed by various orders of Spiritual Beings who all came into existence from God for that purpose at various times, either during the eternal period or later.

Spiritual Beings who are directly created by Universal Father or His immediate associates are all perfect beings who act in accordance with the will of the Universal Father, even though they are all free to act according to their own free will. However, as the order of beings, as they come into existence, become more and more indirect, there are chances of such beings becoming prone to error or imperfection while they act according to their free wills.

Life and free will are gifts given to intelligent beings by the Universal Father.

The perfect beings, though perfect and powerful, are deficient with respect to life experiences of the evolving worlds.

The imperfect beings though of lower power and calibre are provided with the opportunity to progress systematically under real life experiences.

All living beings, both perfect and imperfect, are according to the universal plans of God and have functions to perform in accordance with the laws of the Universal Father.

Living beings who live and die a material existence in the material worlds are the farthest order of intelligent beings. Though the most imperfect, they are provided with the highest opportunity for experiential advancement.

While in their material bodies, they are not very much equipped with qualities of knowing God or the functions of the higher spiritual beings. They are also not capable of going to the other worlds in their original form.

But God has equipped them with certain inherent powers and potentials by which they can decide to chose the way of life that is in accordance with the will of God.

At the same time, they are also free to reject God and His will. Rejection of God's will can be called sin.

By choosing the latter, they live their life span in this world and perish for ever. Their personality existence ceases for ever.

But by choosing the former, that is by living according to the will of God, their personality essence is taken up by the invisible spiritual beings when they die. This de-materialized personality essence of the mortal individual is eventually transmitted to the next world of existence where they get an appropriate body fit for life in that sphere. The individual thus survives death, though with a form different from his material body. The second stage of his life would normally be in an architectural world of the system HQ. The individual personality thus gain experiences of life in the second stage of existence and progresses further to other stages in a similar way.

Thousands of years later, the experientially evolving personality of the human being reaches the local universe HQ by which time he or she has become a spirit being with basic universe life experiences.

This evolving spirit being originating from a human being proceeds further to the other administrative HQ worlds of the super universe and finally reaches Havona and Paradise. This might take millions of years. But eventually he or she becomes transformed in power and capacity to be in the presence of God. There after this experienced spirit being is assigned duties in those worlds that come into existence at that remote future.

The human beings of earth (the authors designate earth by the name, Urantia) are slightly handicapped with regard to the realization of God's plans.

This is because of an unfortunate incident that happened a few million years ago.

The spiritual ruler of the system of Satania rebelled against the Universal administration. This personality is identified as Lucifer. Supporting him was his immediate assistant, named Satan. Though they have been restrained and removed from their administrative duties by the higher authorities, they have got some lower ranking supporters here and there. For example, the spiritual head and his spiritual assistant in charge of earth, named as Caligastia and Daligastia, together with a large number of spiritual beings working in their organisation decided to work in support of Lucifer.

This caused the central administration to cut certain facilitating aids to such worlds under the control of such rebellious spiritual beings.

This deprived them of the ability to make them directly visible to their material subjects, the humans. Direct contact between these immediate spiritual supervisors and humans got broken.

This has caused the humans to directly know about spiritual beings and the advanced knowledge that they have to be directly acquired. Human beings of earth, due to such a situation now are required to use their God given intelligence to know about all these things indirectly.

But the spiritual higher ups consider such human beings who believe in God without seeing as faith sons who are to be appreciated more.

The purpose of presenting the Urantia papers in the 20th century was a part of the plans of the Universal administration to guide the human beings of the truths so that it would help them to realize God's plans and live according to it, if they so wish. The administration has found that the time has come for revealing more knowledge to human beings. The time was felt appropriate for removing some erroneous concepts that went in to the human minds due to various circumstances consequent to the rebellion of the concerned local spiritual authorities.

All those details are presented in the Urantia papers in a comprehensive manner for those interested in knowing.

Whether to know it or not is again purely left to the free will choice of the human beings.

God does not change a law that he has made once.

Because the laws of God are perfect !


[Click Here for the full blog list of the author]

  

Can You Come Out Of Your Suspicions and Anger ?

To doubt or view something suspiciously is quite natural for human beings. But animals are more suspicious than human beings. That is my observation. In other words, people with a higher IQ may not be as suspicious as those of a lower IQ.

People with higher intelligence seem to have certain higher perception levels that make it easier for them to discern falsehoods and realities much faster than others who are not so fortunate in this kind of brain function. So, in ordinary situations they are quicker to overcome fear arising out of unreasonable suspicions.

But to doubt and view strange things suspiciously is a natural behavioural trait found both in animals and humans. But this trait of having suspicion and distrust that is a remnant of human nature which he got from his animal origin should decrease as he evolves into a civilized personality.

The less developed people are more suspicious and fearful than advanced and civilized people. The former kind cannot accept something new or strange or trust others so easily. On the other hand, civilized people do not find much difficulty in this.

My favorite guide book states like this: suspicion is the inherent reaction of primitive men; the survival struggles of the early ages do not naturally breed trust.[Source: Click  here !] 

This book of knowledge from superior sources also informs us that unseen spiritual influences originating from God is responsible for training the underdeveloped human mind to discard unfounded suspicion and to replace it with love and trust which are characteristics of God.

If you had the curiosity to know, you should have clicked the links above to find out more about my favorite book. But if you are of a suspicious nature, you are likely to quit this page as early as possible.

If I further state that the knowledge book that I referred above is not authored by human beings, but by superior celestial beings, you are bound to become more suspicious and quit if not done already.

But if you have maintained reading this much, I should say that you are having a higher degree of curiosity and a lower level of suspicion, both desirable characteristics of progressive human mind.

After coming to know about this superior book of knowledge, which helped me to forgo my fears and anxieties arising out of my ignorance, I learnt to trust and love people, even when they do not reciprocate the same. I realize that their distrust and suspicion are due to their ignorance, just as what I had earlier.

Writing blogs like this is part of my effort to make those, however few their numbers might be, to achieve what I have received. And some of them would be able to achieve more and perpetuate the qualities of trust and love in more and more people. 

That means more and more people would realize the qualities of God, the Supreme Intelligent Creator of everything in the universe who is father of everything or our Universal Father. Trustworthiness and love are those qualities that He wants his children to develop willingly and wholeheartedly.

I feel extremely happy when I see my fellow human beings, men and women, who keep nurturing their desirable qualities of trustworthiness and love to higher levels and do whatever they could to perpetuate that to others.

There are many such lovely human beings in this world who work tirelessly for elevating their ignorant brethren to their levels or even higher. They, perhaps work with their unseen brethren from the celestial realms who support them in tandem.

When the majority of ignorant people waste their brains under the influence of factors of social mobilization such as hunger, pride, conditional love, hate, fear and suspicion that lead to insecurity, bloodshed, war and wealth hoarding, those few individuals try to propagate the values of unconditional love, trust and brotherhood and the futility of the hard efforts they have been ignorantly doing under those animal like behaviours.

Earlier today, I was going through the works done by a group of  intelligent and lovely individuals  who work hard to remove the doubts and suspicions in the minds of those who summarily reject the contents of my favorite book as a fraudulent fiction. Their efforts to educate those at ignorant levels are given in this document which is part of their website called UBtheNews. For those of the scientifically and spiritually curious nature reading their findings in their web site is highly rewarding.

The other day, a net friend from the other side of the globe gave me the link of a website that contains the enthusiastic feelings of a young lady from South India who began to realize the meanings of God's love through some contents of the Urantia Book, which is my guide book that I referred above. This young Indian lady prefers to be known as Angel and I am moved by her biography. Some of you might feel the same way. This one what she said is that I also experienced: " I learned how to control anger, how to forgive my brother and sister, how to be quiet when I heard something that compelled me to explode"

Thanks for reading this much.

If you did, I am sure, you are going to be a different person.

സ്വയം എന്തെങ്കിലും ഗുണമില്ലാത്ത കാര്യം ആരെങ്കിലും ചെയ്യുമോ ?

ജനസേവനത്തിനും രാജ്യസേവനത്തിനും മതസേവനത്തിനും ഒക്കെയായി പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുന്ന അനേകം മനുഷ്യ സ്നേഹികളും രാജ്യസ്നേഹികളും മതസ്നേഹികളും അഹോരാത്രം പ്രയഗ്നിക്കുന്നതു നാം ദിവസേന കാണുകയും കേള്‍ക്കുകയും വായിക്കുകയും ഒക്കെ ചെയ്യുന്നു.  

ഇതില്‍ വാരെന്‍ ബഫറ്റ്, ബില്‍ ഗേറ്റ്സ് , രത്തന്‍ ടാറ്റ  മുതലായ വ്യവസായ പ്രമുഖര്‍ ബിസിനസ്സിലൂടെ പണം നേടുകയും അതില്‍ നല്ല ഒരു പങ്കു സേവനകാര്യത്തിനായി മാറ്റി ചെലവിടുക മാത്രമല്ല അങ്ങനെയുള്ള സേവന പദ്ധതികള്‍ ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ നടത്താന്‍ സമയവും ബുദ്ധിയും വിനിയോഗിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു.

അത്രയൊന്നും ചെയ്യാന്‍ പറ്റിയില്ലെങ്കിലും തങ്ങളാല്‍ കഴിയുന്നത് യാതൊരു പ്രതിഫലവും കൂടാതെ അനേകായിരങ്ങള്‍ ചെയ്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു.

എത്രയെത്ര സ്കൂളുകള്‍, കോളേജുകള്‍, ആശുപത്രികള്‍, അനാഥാലയങ്ങള്‍, തൊഴില്‍ പരിശീലന കേന്ദ്രങ്ങള്‍, ആരാധനാലയങ്ങള്‍ അങ്ങനെ ചെറുതും വലുതുമായ സംഭാവനകളില്‍ കൂടിയും നിസ്വാര്‍ഥ സേവനങ്ങളില്‍ കൂടിയും മഹത്തായ പൊതു പ്രവര്‍ത്തനം തുടര്‍ന്നു പോകുന്നു.

നിരാലംബരായ വ്യക്തികളുടെ നന്‍മയ്ക്ക് മാദ്ധ്യമങ്ങളും തങ്ങളാല്‍ കഴിയുന്നത് ചെയ്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു.

പ്രശസ്തമായ പല വിദ്യാലയങ്ങളും ആശുപത്രികളും സ്തുത്യര്‍ഹമായ രീതിയില്‍ നടത്തുന്നത് പേരും പെരുമയും പണവും ആഗ്രഹിക്കാത്ത പലരുടെയും സേവന മനോഭാവം ഒന്ന് കൊണ്ട് മാത്രം എന്ന് വേണമെങ്കില്‍ പറയാം.

ചാരിറ്റബിള്‍ സൊസൈറ്റികള്‍, ട്രസ്റ്റുകള്‍ എന്നിങ്ങനെയുള്ള പ്രസ്ഥാനങ്ങള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ള സര്‍ക്കാരിതര സേവനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് നിയമപരമായ പിന്‍ബലം നല്‍കി മുമ്പോട്ട്‌ പോകാന്‍ സഹായം ചെയ്യുന്നു.

ഇതൊക്കെ കാര്യങ്ങളുടെ ഒരു വശം.

ഇന്ന് ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ള നിസ്വാര്‍ഥ സേവന മേഖല സ്വാര്‍ഥ താല്പര്യക്കാരുടെ കളിക്കളം ആയിപ്പോയോ എന്ന് സംശയിക്കേണ്ടിയിരിക്കുന്നു.

ജനാധിപത്യ വ്യവസ്ഥിതിയില്‍ നിസ്വാര്‍ഥ ജന സേവനത്തിന്‍റെ പരമോന്നത മാതൃകയാണ് രാഷ്ട്രീയം അഥവാ രാഷ്ട്ര സേവനം.

കുറച്ചു കാലം ജനസേവനം നടത്തി മറ്റുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് വേണ്ടി മാറിക്കൊടുക്കുക എന്നതാണ് ജനാധിപത്യത്തില്‍ മാതൃക ആവേണ്ടത്. ഉദാഹരണത്തിന് അമേരിക്കയിലെ വ്യവസ്ഥയില്‍ അവിടുത്തെ ഒരു പൌരന്‍ രാഷ്ട്രപതി പദവി രണ്ടു തവണയില്‍ കൂടുതല്‍ വഹിക്കാന്‍ പാടില്ല. രാഷ്ട്രപതി ആയി കഴിഞ്ഞ ആള്‍ എല്ലാവരാലും അറിയപ്പെടുന്ന വ്യക്തി ആയിക്കഴിയും. അങ്ങനെയുള്ള ഒരാള്‍ക്ക്‌ ജനപിന്തുണയോടെ ഒരു രാജാവിന്‍റെ രീതിയില്‍ ആയുഷ്ക്കാലം മുഴുവന്‍ ആ പദവിയില്‍ തുടരാന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞേക്കും. അങ്ങനെയായാല്‍ ജനാധിപത്യം രാജ ഭരണമായി രൂപാന്തരം പ്രാപിക്കും. അമേരിക്കന്‍ ഭരണഘടന ഈ സ്ഥിതിവിശേഷം തടയുന്നു.

നമ്മുടെ രാജ്യത്തിന്‍റെ ആദ്യകാല ശില്‍പ്പികള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു കാര്യം അറിഞ്ഞോ അറിയാതെയോ വിട്ടു കളഞ്ഞു എന്ന് വേണം കരുതാന്‍. 

രാഷ്ട്രീയ സേവനം ജനാധിപത്യത്തിന്‍റെ പേരില്‍ ഒരുതരം രാജ വാഴ്ച ആക്കാന്‍ ഈ വിട്ടുകളയല്‍ അവസരമൊരുക്കി എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞല്ലോ.

മക്കള്‍ രാഷ്ട്രീയവും, കുടുംബ രാഷ്ട്രീയവുമൊക്കെ ഇതില്‍ നിന്ന് ഉളവായി.

ജനസേവനത്തിന്‍റെ മാതൃക ഇന്ത്യാ മഹാരാജ്യത്തില്‍ തെറ്റിപ്പോയോ എന്നു സംശയിക്കണം.

പൊതുസേവനം സ്വാര്‍ഥ ഗുണമുള്ള കാര്യം എന്നു സാധാരണക്കാര്‍ വിചാരിച്ചു പോയാല്‍ അവരെ എന്തിനു കുറ്റം പറയണം?

ഒരു ജന സേവന പദവിയില്‍ ആയിക്കഴിഞ്ഞാല്‍ പിന്നെ എല്ലാ ചെലവും പൊതുഖജനാവില്‍ നിന്നായാല്‍ പിന്നെ ഒരു രൂപ പോലും കൂലി വാങ്ങിയില്ലെങ്കിലെന്താ? രാജാവിനു ശമ്പളം വേണോ?

കാര്യം സേവനമല്ല എന്നായപ്പോ പിന്നെ പിന്താങ്ങികളെ കൂടെ നിര്‍ത്താന്‍ ഗുണഭോഗ വ്യവസ്ഥിതികളെ വീതം വയ്ക്കണം എന്ന അവസ്ഥയും വന്നു ചേര്‍ന്നു.

ഇതൊക്കെ ആയപ്പോള്‍ ഇപ്പൊ എല്ലാവര്‍ക്കും സംശയം.

സ്വയം എന്തെങ്കിലും ഗുണമില്ലാത്ത കാര്യം ആരെങ്കിലും ചെയ്യുമോ ?

അങ്ങനെ ചെയ്യുന്നവര്‍ ഇപ്പോഴും അവിടവിടെ കാണുമായിരിക്കും.

എന്നാല്‍ പൊതുജനം ഇപ്പോള്‍ അവരെയും സംശയ ദൃഷ്ടില്‍ നോക്കുന്നു എന്നു അവര്‍ മറക്കരുത്.

ജനസേവനം എന്ന പേരില്‍ സ്ഥാന മാനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് വേണ്ടി മല്ലിടുകയും കൊല്ലുകയും ഒക്കെ ചെയ്യുന്നവര്‍ അതൊക്കെ എന്ത് ഗുണം കിട്ടാനാണ് ചെയ്യുന്നത് എന്ന് ആലോചിച്ചാ പറഞ്ഞറിയിക്കാന്‍ കുറെ മിനക്കെട്ടാലും പറ്റിയില്ല എന്നു വരും.

പണം സമ്പാദിക്കാന്‍ ആണോ ? ചിലരൊക്കെ അതിനായിരിക്കാം. എന്നാല്‍ എല്ലാവര്ക്കും പണമല്ല പ്രധാനം.

ഇന്നോ നാളെയോ ചത്തു പോകുമെന്ന തരത്തില്‍ കഴിയുന്ന ചില പടുവൃദ്ധന്മാര്‍ പോലും സ്ഥാന മാന മോഹ വലയത്തിനു പുറത്തു പോകാന്‍ ഇഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നില്ല എന്നാണു കണ്ടു വരുന്നത്.

പണമല്ല പ്രധാന ഗുണമെങ്കില്‍ പിന്നെന്തായിരിക്കും?

തേനീച്ച കൂട്ടിലെ റാണിയുടെ മനസ്ഥിതി ആയിരിക്കും ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക്.

തേനീച്ച കൂട്ടില്‍ ഒരു റാണി ഈച്ചയെ വാഴൂ.

ബാക്കിയുള്ള എല്ലാ ഈച്ചകളും റാണിയെ അകമ്പടി സേവിച്ചു കൊള്ളണം.

അടിമകളുടെ അകമ്പടി റാണിയെ ഹരം കൊള്ളിച്ചു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കും.

റാണി ഈച്ചയ്ക്ക് കീര്‍ത്തനം പാടി അകമ്പടി നടക്കുന്ന അടിമ ഈച്ചകള്‍ റാണിക്ക് വേണ്ടി കൊല്ലാനും ചാകാനും മടിക്കില്ല. റാണിക്ക് അതും ഹരം തന്നെ.

കൂട്ടില്‍ വേറൊരു ചെറുപ്പക്കാരി റാണി ജനിച്ചാല്‍ വയസ്സി റാണി പക്ഷെ സ്ഥാനം ഒഴിഞ്ഞു കൊടുക്കില്ല.

അടിമ ഈച്ചകള്‍ അങ്ങോട്ടും ഇങ്ങോട്ടും കൂറ് മാറ്റം നടത്തും.

പിന്നെ ആഭ്യന്തര യുദ്ധം ആരംഭിക്കുകയായി.

നശിച്ചു നാരാണക്കല്ല് കാണും വരെ യുദ്ധം ചെയ്യും.

കൂടിന്റെ കുളം തോണ്ടി എന്നതു മിച്ചം.

ഇത് പക്ഷെ തലയും തലച്ചോറും ഭൂതക്കണ്ണാടി വച്ചു നോക്കിയാലും കാണാത്ത ഈച്ചകളുടെ കാര്യം.

മനുഷ്യരുടെ കാര്യം അങ്ങനെ ആണോ?

എന്ത് ഗുണം കിട്ടാനാണ് മനുഷ്യര്‍ ഈ പെടാ പാടുകള്‍ ചെയ്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നത്?

കൊല്ലുകയും കൊല്ലിക്കുകയും ചാകുകയും ഒക്കെ ചെയ്യുന്നത് ?

തേനീച്ചകളുടെ ബുദ്ധി പോലും മനുഷ്യര്‍ക്കില്ലേ ?

ആലോചിച്ചിട്ടു ഒരു എത്തും പിടിയും കിട്ടുന്നില്ലല്ലോ ദൈവമേ !

എന്‍റെ ബുദ്ധിയും തേനീച്ച ബുദ്ധി ആയിപ്പോയോ ?

[എന്‍റെ എല്ലാ ബ്ലോഗുകളും ഇവിടെ !]


All my blogs here !]  

God ! Forgive Them As They Know Not What They Are Doing !

The title I have used in this blog is a famous quote from the gospels of the New Testament Bible attributed to Jesus Christ.

Jesus could have perhaps used his divine powers to set the erring people right by so many ways.

But that amounted to reversing some of the divine laws and he being part of that divinity would not do such a thing.

So he prayed to God for forgiving these people who are in error, sin and vanity because of their ignorance in using their God given faculties of wisdom that was available to them in their minds.

Such erroneous, sinful and egoistic people are in large numbers in all generations.

Those who do not come in that group are also many.

They keep witnessing the horrendous acts of the former in utter dismay.

Where divine Jesus apparently failed, what else they can do ?

Some of them might repeat the prayer of Jesus, silently.

'Forgive them, God, as they know not what they are doing'.

Have you ever prayed like this ?

In my life, I have been doing this many times !

When people act defying all logic and wisdom (common sense), what else can you do ?

Talking of common sense, let me end this blog by quoting two random passages from my favorite guide book (the Urantia Book):

"But the Master (Jesus) was so reasonable, so approachable. He was so practical in all his ministry, while all his plans were characterized by such sanctified common sense. He was so free from all freakish, erratic, and eccentric tendencies. He was never capricious, whimsical, or hysterical. In all his teaching and in everything he did there was always an exquisite discrimination associated with an extraordinary sense of propriety." ^100:7.3

“But the greatest error of the teaching about the Scripture is the doctrine of their being sealed books of mystery and wisdom which only the wise minds of the nation dare to interpret. The revelations of divine truth are not sealed except by human ignorance, bigotry, and narrow-minded intolerance. The light of the Scriptures is only dimmed by prejudice and darkened by superstition. A false fear of sacredness has prevented religion from being safeguarded by common sense. The fear of the authority of the sacred writings of the past effectively prevents the honest souls of today from accepting the new light of the gospel, the light which these very God-knowing men of another generation so intensely longed to see.^159:4.9

By the way did you get what I wanted to convey ?

[View the linked list of all the blogs of the author here !]

Rising Petrol Prices: What Should be Done ?

Petrol is a highly inflammable liquid fuel produced by petroleum refineries by fractional distillation of crude petroleum oil extracted from deep underground oil wells. Petrol is also known by the name gasoline. Petrol, diesel, cooking gas, kerosene, jet fuel, road tar, wax, lubricants all are produced from crude oil by processing it in petroleum refineries.

Crude oil is a mixture of various organic substances essentially comprising of hydrocarbons which are nothing but molecules of carbon and hydrogen. The number of carbon atoms in the molecules determine the physical properties. For example if carbon atoms in the molecules are 1-3 the molecules normally appear as gases. This fraction of the crude oil is marketed as petroleum gases, the common form is cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). The gas becomes liquified under higher pressure.

The next fraction contains hydrocarbon molecules having carbon atoms ranging from 4-12 atoms per molecule. This mixture of hydrocarbons distilled out from the crude oil is our gasoline. It is a liquid under normal conditions and is highly volatile. That means it evaporates too quickly if kept open. Hence it catches fire very easily. It is used in petrol engines as fuel. Since it burns too readily the petrol engines are lighter and smooth. But petrol has an energy value less than kerosene and diesel and hence high power engines do not use this as the fuel. Petrol is specially made with the addition of various catalysts and chemicals for improving performance of petrol engines. A variety of this fraction which is used by chemical industries for manufacture of various other chemicals and fertilizers is called Naptha. 

LPG and petrol are the fractions of the crude oil with lower energy content. If energy content is any yardstick to determine the prices, these two fractions should be priced the lowest. More over, these are the fuels which could be easily used by the common man for lighter vehicles and for other common uses like cooking. Technically petrol can be easily and safely used for cooking by employing simple evaporator-burner units. It is technically safer than LPG which is marketed in pressurized cylinders.

The next fraction which we get from the crude oil is the kerosene fraction. The major chunk of this is processed to make Aviation Tubo Fuel (ATF) which is the fuel for the air craft jet engines. Kerosene is also used as a major raw material and fuel in various industries. In the olden days, this was the fuel for the kerosene lamps of the house holds. It is hydrocarbons with carbon content ranging from 12-16. The fuel is liquid but less volatile than petrol. Hence, it is safer to be handled even by illiterate persons. But one should also remember that more brides are burnt in India by their in-laws by pouring kerosene over their heads and lighting them up in house hold quarrels. Had it been petrol it would have likely caused burns for the aggressor as well !

The fourth range of product from crude oil is the heating oils. There are various products in this group, the most common being the Light Diesel Oil (LDO) which is commonly called diesel used in high power motor cars and commercial vehicles. Sometimes this is also marketed as High Speed Diesel which is nothing but LDO with some chemical additives and improvements to enhance its burning performance inside the engines. Low Sulphur Heavy Stock (LSHS) is another variety from this group marketed for use in industries for various applications.

Then we get what is known as the paraffins from the crude oil which are processed into various kinds of lubricating oils. The candles that we get now in the market is made of paraffin wax which is one of the products of this group.

The black waste product that remains after distillation of the crude oil is petroleum asphalt or road tar. Even this has a high market value and various products for various applications are also made and marketed.

So we can see that a barrel of crude oil ultimately gets converted to several useful products having various applications and market values. An important thing to be noted is that no part of the crude oil goes as a value less waste. All products are value-added.

Most of the Oil refineries have production capacities to process one million barrels of crude oil per annum or more. In India, the Reliance Oil Refinery in Gujarat is the biggest (biggest in the world perhaps) with a capacity of 10 Million bbl per annum.

One barrel of crude oil contains nearly 160 litres or 42 US gallons. The specific gravity and chemical quality differ from place to place. By processing one barrel crude oil the oil refineries get nearly 167 litres of liquid petroleum products including LPG. The 7 litres extra is called the processing gain. It is also important to note that nearly half of the production is gasoline [Source]

One litre of crude oil costs about Rs. 29/- per litre (without import duties) assuming $86 per barrel and 1US$= Rs.55.

As against this the retail prices of petrol in India keep rising and now stands above Rs.71. [Watch the Indian petrol / diesel prices here ! ]

India import about 78 % of crude oil to meet its demand. The rest is produced internally by Indian crude oil companies like ONGC, Reliance and Cairn India. The dominance of the latter two private companies are growing.

In a nutshell the oil business is a highly profitable business and the major income source for the governments. The business is very complex due to fluctuating oil prices, taxes, fluctuating currency rates and also due to several kinds of products that a barrel of crude oil finally turns up into.

The complexity of the business makes it possible for the government and the oil companies to hide facts from the public at their convenience. It is also possible to make millions diverted from one side to the other by mere changes in policies now and then.

Technically it is possible to produce cheaper and environment friendly fuels for the common man. Petrohol is an example. This is the fuel Brazil has been producing and selling for the last over three decades to reduce the dependency on crude oil and also to enhance domestic economy. Petrohol is a mixture of petrol and ethyl alcohol which can be used very well in all petrol vehicles. Ethyl alcohol is a renewable agro based product made from sugar cane or sweet potatoes. It can be very easily made in alcohol breweries or distilleries. Even now it is produced. But that is for use as liquor for human consumption. The governments make huge money from excise duty in this front too. Brewing is also a highly profitable industry as such.

In both petroleum and alcohol the tug of war is between the profit sharing between the governments and the business men. The crux of the problem lies in this. There are too many interests groups within the governments and the industry. Had it not been the case, India would have adopted the Brazilian experiment two decades ago. There is no one authority who can positively give a direction to the various groups which keep pulling at each other.

The absence of a centralized vision in the government makes the Indian governmental system to appear as pulling the legs of each other. Mutually opposing ministries and departments and visions. That is what an unbiased observer might visualise about the Indian government in issues like this.

What is the purpose of a budget if the tax income collection as projected keep rising just on the petroleum product pricing alone in the budgeted year ? Why cann't the government think of using the tax regime to offset the requirements of the price rise that take place due to non-tax effects?

But for all these to happen like what the citizens think, the people in the government have to think like the citizens. They have to feel that they too are citizens. Unfortunately that thought comes to their minds only when they are removed or retired from the power positions.

In a situation as that exists now in India, it is not of any use in criticising any one. Neither it is of any use in giving useful suggestions. Both will have effect only when there is some one to listen and act !