When it comes to spiritual / religious matters, I respect a wide range of viewpoints.
I respect theists who are inclusive, who live and let live. On the other hand I find people who claim "their God" is the only true God and "their way" is the only true way pretty silly and childish. Either there is God or there isn't. And if God exists, He is everyone's equally! And quite surely, if there are so many roads leading to even your little home, there must be several paths to Him! How can we continue this Kindergarten level squabbling? Who is any of us to monopolize God and paths to Him? Shame on us for this arrogance and unenlightened way of thinking and being that has caused so much trouble in this world and continues to do so! If anyone tries to convince you of such a God, be sure they do not know what they are talking about. Wish them well and pray for their enlightenment.
I respect atheists. They don't believe that God exists and openly say so. They have as much a right to their viewpoint as anyone else!
I also respect people who are unsure either way. I was in this boat myself for
several years of my life! I wasn't sure if God existed or not and I accepted
this honestly to myself and others. I read, I interacted with saints, I
meditated, I enquired. I have shared the understanding I eventually arrived at
below. If you are in this space, I wish you a fiery search :)! If you arrive
at the same understanding, OK. If not, that's fine too :), we'll exchange
notes :)!
----
1) The same divine consciousness has been referred to as Om, Ishwar, God, Allah, etc. by different religions. There is no conflict. A polytheistic religion such as Hinduism also maintains that it is the same divine consciousness that is reflected in all the divine personalities such as Krishna, Shiva, Durga, Saraswati, etc. (just as the same light appears to take on different colors when it passes through different glass panels). One can either relate with this divine consciousness directly or through a divine personality or saint who we feel affection for. All squabbles are meaningless. There is no "other God".
2) Saints, having made themselves purer, reflect the light of this consciousness more strongly. Hence our attraction towards them. When we worship divine personalities and saints, the goal is to manifest their divine qualities in ourselves and make ourselves purer in thought and action.
3) We can realize that (a) we are souls expressing ourselves through our bodies and minds, (b) all souls are sparks of the divine consciousness and (c) it is possible to commune with the divine consciousness by purifying our minds through either 1) Meditation and other spiritual practices or 2) Scriptural studies and philosophical inquiry or 3) Selfless action (performing all your activities with 100% attention and effort and sharing the returns with everyone to the extent possible) or 4) Devotion or a combination of these. One is free to choose one or more of these modalities based on one's personal inclinations and beliefs.
Note: In the Hindu tradition I grew up in, these four modalities are called Raja Yoga, Gyaan Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. But as you can see, they are pretty universal!
4) The divine consciousness is loving, compassionate as well as just. As such worshipping the divine consciousness - either directly or through a divine personality or saint who we feel affection for - is for purifying our minds as explained in Point 3 above. But in situations of extreme distress one can also pray for help. The prayer can be directed either towards the divine consciousness directly or towards a divine personality or saint we adore. If we have performed enough good actions in the past, in this as well as previous lives, and if our prayers are sincere, heartfelt and humble, then the accumulated merit of these positive actions result in the prayer being answered. But the general principle of life is self effort. We put in the effort and accept success as well as failure, joy as well as sorrow, with an even mind. Our relationship with the divine is based on love and kinship and our spiritual efforts are to purify and enlighten ourselves - not to continuously get our prayers answered.
[If you come across any supposedly divine personality or saint who threatens to harm you if you stop worshipping them, simply reject them. This is simply a sign of ego and absence of enlightenment. Walk away even if they have answered any prayers for you in the past. True divinity is free from ego and never threatens to harm anyone. Likewise, respect the voice of your conscience and never do something you feel is unethical or immoral even if a scripture or spiritual teacher or Guru asks you to. Your fundamental relationship and trust is always with the divine consciousness and not any book or person. People imparting spiritual teachings are required to have this understanding. If they don't, they are not fit to be spiritual teachers or Gurus.]
5) There are scriptures of different religions. There are different
philosophies. There is science. There are also observations and experiences of
yogis and mystics. It's all available to us. It's for us to use our
intelligence, accept and imbibe whatever is of value in every source of
knowledge, and firmly reject whatever is evil and inhumane - including in our
own religion.
There is no fundamental conflict between science and spirituality. Both quests seek to obtain an understanding of the entire existence - internal as well as external. The important thing is
to be deeply curious. Be deeply curious about everything. A lot of
understanding of the external world has come through science. Be curious also
about the internal world. You know the world as you perceive it through your
five senses. Is there a reality behind these five senses also? Even when you
are not seeing, not hearing, not tasting, not smelling, not touching, *you* are
still present? What is that *you* made of? Since both the internal and external
worlds are part of the same universe, are there points where the laws governing
them meet?
As you seek knowledge in its various aspects, do so from the best possible
people in the fields. Whether it's Scriptural knowledge of different religions
and traditions or Physics or Maths or Music or Yoga or Meditation, learn from
people you trust and whose knowledge and wisdom you respect.
6) The goal is a complete understanding of existence - internal as well as external.
There cannot be such things as Hindu reality or Muslim reality or Christian reality or Buddhist reality or Shaivaite reality or Vaishnava reality or Sunni reality or Shia reality or Catholic reality or Protestant reality or External World Only reality or Internal
World Only reality or Indian reality or African reality or Japanese reality or European reality or Black reality or White reality.
Reality is just Reality. It is how things actually are. The universe, us and our relationship with the universe.
If we set a complete understanding of reality as our goal, we win. At the
personal level as well as the level of the society and the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment