Subham

Hari OM: if God created many religions, then which one should i follow? which one should i reject? if i reject some thing, then am i not rejecting some thing which God had created? also how do i decide which of the many religions he had created should i follow? i am not sure of "tattvah darsinah" concept please state the chapter and Canto of Gita, will try to read and understand it. a more involved question, how do i know my master is a "tattva darshinah" ? think about this- any body can come and tell "I am a tattva darshinah" but unless i am myself a "tattva darshinah" i can't differeniate between the real and duplicate one ,( a Student can't grade his master), and if i am myself a "tattva darshinah" then i don't need another one to illuminate me. [ a non-related funny incident here, not meant as offense to anybody, all cardinals gather together and cast their vote and select a Pope, excellent democratic principle, you may say, but just think about it, as per definition a Pope is a more advanced spiritual person than a Cardinal, so how do Cardinals decide who is the best Pope, again like many students joining together and grading a teacher, only teacher can grade students not the other way around] So we (You+I) have to think deeply and analyse lot more before coming to any conclusion.

Hari OM: thank you for the praises, however it is second hand knowledge, read from books. But don't use all - "all do search God and thrive for answers" rather use "I" here. Usuage of correct words is a very important first step in progressing, Vedas tell that any words you use three times successively incurs you sin. So use the appropriate words appropriate number of times. As for you asking where is god, is very interesting and if i answer you it would be very funny, as stated in Upanishads- " A blind man can't lead another blind man" You have to study, research and think by Yourself, i found Gita is the most suitable book for this purpose, but to understand Gita you may have to read and re-read it again and again with full concentration and with reverence. You should also have faith that Gita is the word of the God and strongly believe that by reading it and praying to Him sincerely you will one day be able to see Him, if not in this birth then in subsequent births as He says, "whatever little effort you take in this regard will never be wasted". Also if your past karma is such and you really yearn it from your heart , you may see (realize) Him this birth itself or even today. A story - Padmapadhar a disciple of Adi Shankaracraya was meditating many years to see God, one day a Hunter comes and asks him, what he is doing in the forest, he thinks that Hunter would not understand mediation and God,etc., so he tells "I am searching for a Person with Lion Head in this forest", the Hunter promises to Fetch it within next day. The Hunter forgets all the food, water, everything and searches it and he finds it , ties it down and drags to Padmapadha, however he can't see it and can't believe that Narashimam which shook the entire universe can be tied by a Hunter, for which Narashimam says "This Hunter had achieved the concentration and yearning in one day, what you would have achieved if you had mediated for One Crore year" So moral of the story is, accept you don't know what is He (and what is "I") and strive honestly to figure it out, much better than assuming ( you know everything about God) like the other poster and making statements like (in the other thread): 1) God created man with animalistic behaviour 2) He set Himself a Goal to elevate him from that behaviour 3) He is struggling with that Goal for Billions of year and had not even achieved 0.1% of the Goal. What a Stupid God He must be.

Hari OM: i don't how do you know that what ALL knows and what ALL does not know. You may not even know what you Know, so rephrase your statement as "I know this", don't assume you are a representative of ALL (no body had given you that post) "talk some thing new"-- instead of requesting me, why don't you talk some thing new (which ALL does not know) and entertain ALL?

Hari OM: i think a more important question is: "Why does the Soul enter a body?" if we know that can prevent it and thus attain liberation, i.e., no more births.

Hari OM: What is the relation ship between Religion and God? 1) God created all religions 2) God created only one religion 3) God created no religion 1) Unless God's intention was to create chaos and confusion, he would not have created all religions 2) If he had created only one religion, it means Man (or Satan) is as capable as God in creating religions, as well their creations are competing with God's religion for Hundreds of years with no clear winner (So either God is not a perfect creator or the religion creating man is as perfect as God) 3) so i think religion is not created by God, all religions are created by Wise men (with varying degree of intelligence, goodness and compassion) If God has not created religion, this also implies that He is not interested (or desperate) in Men coming back to Him, He has given full freedom to Men for doing whatever he likes, including coming back to Him , no particular option is preferred option by Him. The most opposite argument for this is the statement "I love my devotees" in Gita. Generally this is mis-intereperted as "I hate my non-devotees" pulling God to our level. Rather we should see this in the whole context of Gita wherein is stated that God reciprocates whatever man does. That is if you love Him ( a devotee is one who loves Him), then He loves you If you Pray Him , Then He blesses you If you request Him, Then He provides you If you Seek Him, Then He reveals to you If you ignore Him, Then He ignores you So it is your choice and He is not imposing anything on you , not even religion, Of course whatever you do you should do it sincerely other wise it is of no use.

Hari OM: This is one of the most difficult things were Hindus become defensive (other one being the Polytheism concept) There is some truth in Manu smiriti and the castes and differences, however lot of myth is also added to make it appear so much dregotary. 1) Varna-Ashrama dharama is only Part of Manu Smiriti 2) Humans were divided into Four Varunas and Four Ashramas 3) The Four Ashramas are Child (< 8 years) Youth (8-16 years), Householder (16-48 years), Forester (> 48 years) and rules, conducts and guidelines were established for each ashramite so that they can perform their duties more peacefully and Naturally 4) The Four Varunas are Brahmin, Kshartiya, Vaisya and Sudras. 5) The first three are called Twice-Born, since the threading cermony is considered a second-birth, birth from material world into spiritual world 6) All the castes are considered equal but not same, each one was assigned seperate duties, rules and guidelines corresponding to their nature (also all the four have to follow the four Varunas ) 7) All the Twice-born are supposed to remove their threads on entering Forest (vanaprastha), since after that no difference matters. 8) The duties were-Brahmins- prayers and spiritual enlightment, Ksharityas- Ruling and dispensing Justice, Vaishyas- Trading and wealth Management, Sudras- Physical Work. 9) To depict this graphically it was told Brahmins came from Brahmas Head (intelligence), Ksharityas from Brahama's Heart (emotional control), Vaishya's from His Stomach (Storehouse) and Sudras from His legs (physical labour) 10)And this graphical representation got mixed with the A-veidic belief that Top portions are better and lower portions are worse (since they believe that God is vertically above the earth) 11) No where in Hinduism it is told that God's Feet is a worse part than his head, in fact most of the prayers are directed towards His feet 12) Also it acknowledges that every body is from God, unless like some other religions which tell some are from God and some from Satan. 13) So all the four castes were different and were determined on Birth (depending on the predominant quality at time of previous death-Sattva, Rajas or Tamas) 14) There is no possibility of changing castes, since it would go against their natural qualities at birth time, also it would assume that there some castes better than other, and God had made an error He sent a person to a wrong Caste 15) Also mixing of Castes is not allowed, since their children will be confused what duty should they do 16) Man can attain liberation just by doing his prescribed duty perfectly 17) If there were no Caste based on Birth, Man would not know what he is supposed to do, he has to make his own choice and would invaribaly create chaos 18) Due to Mainly Brahmins and Kashitrays, leaving their prescribed duties and just enjoying their rights as well as many people skipping the Vanaprastha (due to the love of their grandchildren) the system slowly detoriated 19) Westeners took analogys like above and added confusion to make appear the Manu Smiriti as some kind of completely bigoted document created by Brahmins to exploit others 20) If Brahmins created Manu Smiriti then who created Brahmins?

Hari OM: The following article, i read some where- " Varanasi is only of the Holiest places of Hindus. It is also called Kasi or Benares, is situated in the banks of river Ganga, between rivers "Varana" and "asi" (hence the name Varanasi). Hindus believe that Lord Shiva Himself is dwelling there and whoever dies in that city will be liberated" This seems to be a common belief (or myth) among many Hindus, but this seems to contradict the Karma theory, the basic theory of Hinduism. So a person can do any thing in his life but just at the end of the life, he buys a train ticket to Varanasi, goes there and dies, and Lo! he is liberated. What a easy way of liberation. There seems to be no reference to Varanasi in Vedas, Epics or Puranas , some reference to Sarswathi and Narmada are there, but just as piligrimage sites, nothing promises liberation. So was this just a myth? propogated by some body for Tourism development, and what is the basis for this myth, and why Varanasi. Then i stumbled upon some thing from Yoga Sastras. The Place in Your fore head is called "Aangya Chakara" , a white, two petalled Chakara. It is controlled by Lord Shiva who is always dwelling there. He will Chant "Mirithungya Mantram" at the time of death and whoever resides there and hears it at that time, is ever liberated (no more deaths). Is this not very similar to the above definition, Lord Shiva dwells there, whoever resides there will be liberated? Incidentally the place is also called Varanasi!!!! , i.e., a point where Vara (Eye-brows) meets Nasi (Nose) and where Hindus (both men and women in olden days) keep a Vermilion dot to remember that place. So basically seems like definition of Yoga is confused and the myth created. This is also referred in Gia, "Whoever keeps his body and trunk straight, keeps his full concentration between the Eye-brows and utters the one indestructible "OM" at the time of death is ever liberated" So dwelling there at the time of death means keeping your Consciouness, Life-energy or Breadth stead fast at "Varanasi" , which can be achieved only by Yogis who had practised and can control their life-energy to be placed at any Chakra of their body. So my sincere suggestion is go to Varanasi as a Pligrimage, but don't be under illusion your death there will automatically liberate you, irrespective of whatever you do before going there...

Hari OM: The approximate definitions, as per Hinduism, (it can only be approximate since there is difference in Sanskrit and enligsh terms). Consicuoness is Brahma (Prajagyna Brahma) and is present every where and all the time Life-energy called Atman, is present only in living things, (definition of living-things itself is an object which has Life-energy) The Life-energy is embodied Consciouness, i.e., Consciousness embedded in Ego, intellect, mind and senses (and gross body also, but some of the life-forms may not have gross body) Once the Life-energy escapes from all its sourrounding layers, it merges with the Consicuoness and this is called Liberation, or Jiva-Brahama Iyakam (Merger of Jiva and Brahama)

Hari OM: As per Hinduism Human race originated in India and it starts with Mandatta (son of Manu), so many million years ago for this Manvantra (The Human race starts and gets almost destroyed 14 times in one day of Brahma's life- many trillions of Human years) The Human race started in the middle of the earth, and at that all 5 continets were in a single plate, and the middle of the earth was India. Then when plates were seperated India initally was in Africa, then drifted and joined with Asia. Also before the start of Kali Yuga (about 6000 years ago), the human population was extermely scarce outside India ( a few nomadic groups got migrated and settled here and there), while there was a well populated community in India. All the Avatars had happened before the start of Kali Yuga. Now you may understand why the Avatars had happened in India. The above analysis was formed by taking data from both science and Puranas (and both of them are more or less "belief" based)

Hari OM: see the other part from the same Puranas. In kali yuga just by repeating with full heart the God's name you will attain liberation from the cycle of Life and Death. Chaityna MahaPrabhu states the first 10,000 years of Kali yuga is the golden age, where you also have the above knowledge (after 10,000 years this knowledge would be destoryed)- and he had given a very simple way for liberation "Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare" [Note he is not the founder of ISKCON] Note that a warrior: 1) should not kill old, women and children 2) Should not kill sick and invalid people 3) Should not kill people running away from the battle field 4) Should not kill people who can be killed by his sub-ordinates. And Kalki is the BEST warrior. So when he comes there will be no women, children, sick, old people (some kind of cloning or Hybrid?) and they would have Won DEATH itself (so his Sub-ordinate Yama can't kill them)

Hari OM: Buddhism is not very different from Hinduism (Hinduism consists of both Vaidic (which follows Vedic) and A-Vaidic (which does not follow vedas)) One of the old "School of Thoughts" in Hinduism is called "Sarvarkam" and Buddishm is almost identical to it. Also many people think that it was Siddaharta (Gautma) who is the "discoverer" of Buddhism, but legend has it that he is the 24th and Final Buddha, the First Buddha lived some where during the time of Ramayana.

Hari OM: It is good that you found Hope and joy in Jesus, also it is really nice that you advice others to "Try" it. But however , i think you are having two wrong assumptions- that all non-chrisitians are "suffering" and in "misery" And hope and joy is only possible through Christ. If you correct these two wrong assumptions, then may be you can find the real Joy and peace through your Christ.

Hari OM: Yes you are right Christanity is very close to Dwaita. Some people claim that Jesus spent long time in India learning, some even have "Proof" that he visited Kerala. i am not accusing Jesus for Plagrisation Or Copy right , but rather his thoughts may be highly influnced by Hinduism (either due to his Visit or due to his contacts with ancient Hindu traders)

Hari OM: God exists both as a pure living Single entity (Purushthoma) and as infintinely varying and the dazzling entity (the manifested universe). so either You see Him or His Manifestations (the Universe called the creative Potency of Lord). It is like an Actor playing a role of King, if the actor is so good, you see only the king in the screen, only very intelligent and unattached people can see that the king is nothing but such and such actor, normal people get fully engaged in the show (the universe) forgetting about the actors. One Sidhar, Tirumoolar, said in Tamil: "When I see a giant angry elephant I can't see the Wood it is made from and when I see the Wood I can't see that elephant. When I see the World made of Five elements I can't see the person behind it and when I see the person behind it I can't see the World" So basically it is your choice, to see either Him or to enjoy His creativity.

Hari OM: Many people think that Karma(Action) and its Result are linear , that is if we do something we get its result. However i think the relation is more like a vector, Our Present adction is like a Force acting with a Quantity and in some particular direction. But there may be other Forces acting with different Quantity acting in either the same direction of our Karma (supporting it) or opposite direction (neutralizing it). The known forces are:- Past Karma (three types here-Parptha, Prabhatha and Purtha), Planetary influence (Astrology), Vaastu, Our Parent's and elders blessings, Our Pitrs (forefathers) blessings, general attitude of the society we live and Daiva (God's- acts very rarely in ones life, but if it starts then it effectively neutralizes all other forces). The Gita Verse, "Karmanivah Adhikarsei Na Palesu" literally means , "Man has the right only to Choose Karma, never its result" (even though it is generally translated as "Do your duty and never expect the result"). Another significant point may be one Karma does not neutralize another Karma, that is we can't do some thing Bad to one Person and something Good to another Person (or ask for repetance) and assume that they are neutralized , rather both Karma will operate at seperate points of time. This is explained in Srimad Bhagavadam, when Parikshat asks , "If a man does sin, then does a Prashiyat (neutralizing karma) and then again does the same sin, is it enough to do the Same Prashiyat again or required to do more?" for which Sukha muni states "One Karma does not neutralize another Karma, only true knowledge neutralizes all Karma"- so man can't escape from the cycle of Karmas (the cycle ends when all the accumulated Karmas have exhausted) by doing neutralizing Karmas, he can end it only by acquiring true knowledge.

Hari OM: Today we are seeing in newspapers and TV (particularly the "modern" english versions) topics like "God-fearing Hindus", this looks quite amusing. Fear- we should fear some living things which can cause us harm -Snakes, Tigers, Thieves, Dacoits, etc., Love- We should love some living things which can help us or would remain netural-Parrots, Peacocks, Parents, Teachers, etc., In respect of others it is Protect against (Thunder, Storm,...) or Enjoy (sun rise, flower...) Now should we "Fear" or "Love" God (Respect is also a form of Love only) it is ok when Abrahmic religions tell "God-FearingGod-Willing" etc., since they think that God is a Person who can either cause considerable damage or give considerable gains. Hindus generally treat God as their teacher or friend, so "God-Loving" Hindu should be the correct term. even more funny i think is the term "God-Fearing" Buddhist, there is no God concept in Buddhism, i wonder whom that Buddhist is feared of?

Hari OM: Thank you for the concern, i understood the point. i was just interested in some intellectual debate and finding the truth, but such debate is not possible with Stubborn people, who are not interested in finding the Truth. As stated in "Nyaya" (science of Debates)- we shouldn't debate with six type of people- one of them is called a "Stubborn" who is always interested in defending his view rather than finding the truth, he will go even to the extent of Character Assasination (or may be even Physical Assasination, in extereme cases) when he finds his "View" is in trouble. Anyway thanks for your concern..

Hari OM: This is quite an intelligent Question. If you see in Gita, Bhagavan does NOT tell one must live their life without Material "things", He tells one must live their life without Material "Attachements". Because the "Things" are actual physical/chemical properties and they do not have Happiness or Grief in them, while the "Attachement" is in your mind which can give you Happiness or Sickness [E.g., the same sweet may give Happiness to one person and Grief to another] And since because in recent past people got confused with "Things" and "attachements" they sacrificed all "Things" without sacrifcing the "attachements" and suffered. It is OK you can decorate yourself with all Ornanments, as long as you are NOT attached to it, so if a Thief stoles away your Ornanments, or it falls away some where you are worried. Once you get that then it is the stepping-stone to Yoga (not distrubted in pleasure or pain). So try to give up attachements and not the material things.

Hari OM: There are many discussions on this topic and debates "who is Supreme" Before we can debate who is supreme, i think first we should understand who they are? The unifying concept of various confusion can be achieved, if people understand the concept of "Saguna Brahamam"- The Brahamam without name and from but with Charactersitics. In Hinduism, unlike other religions, The Creator (God) and the Created (Universe) are not seperate entities, seperated by Space and Time. Rather it states that the One Saguna Brahamam, manifests itself as the infintenly diverese universe. The earliest manifest are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There is a concept like "Person-Principle" Duality where there is a Principle (Say Space, time) and a Person (whom we can call the controller of the Principle), the Person is generally differenated from the principle by adding "Maha" before the name. Principle-Wealth-Name Laxmi Person-Wealth Controller-Name Maha Laxmi Principle-Space-Name-Vishnu Person-Space Controller-Name Maha Vishnu Principle-Ego (or mind)-Name Indra Person-Name-MaheIndra etc., The first three manifesations (all manifestations are dual, with a person-principle) are Consicouness-Brahma, Space-Vishnu and Time-Shiva "Prayajana Brahama" - Consicuness is Brahama (one of the Mahavakiyas of Veda) Vishnu-literally means one who is every where, and only Space is every where, any other object can be only some where Time-Shiva- Generally in North India, Shiva is referred as Kal-Ka-Ji, the master of Time. From the three various persons manifested (or born out of will), From Brahama-Indra, Prajapathis,... From Vishnu-Sanka and other sages (stated in Gita-Sanaka and their four olders are born out of My will), From Shiva- Yama, Subramanya, BudhaGanas,etc., As well each of the trinity also manifested as Avathars (in specific form for a specific period of time for a specific purpose)- there are 5 types of Avathars. People are allowed to worship different Gods or Avathars of Gods they like, in fact in many of the Yagna or Poojas all their names are listed like- Ishta Devata (Devata of your choice), Kula Devata (Devata of your Kula), Parampariya Devata (Devata of your traidition), etc., as well as Avathars of the Gods. And naturally many people wanted to directly worship the "Sarguna Brahamam" itself along with their Gods. Since atonment with Unmanifest is difficult for people in Body (as stated in Gita), and since "Sarguna Brahamam" is not going to object if anybody assigns a name or form to it, people assigned name and (mystic) form to IT and now they can easily Worship. Due to various Gods, people assigned their Ishta Devata Form and Name (or very similar) to the Sarguna Brahamam and started worshipping IT. So Shivites named Sarguna Brahamam as "Mahashevra" and assigned a form similar to Shiva and described Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu Manifested from Him and Hence He is the "Supreme God" Vaishivites named Sarguna Brahamam as "Narayana" and assigned a form similar to Vishnu and declared him "Supreme" Shakities name Sarguna Brahamam as "ParaShakthi" and assigned a from similar to Shakti (or Parvati) and declared her "Supreme" and so on... Since this became very huge, and people forget the concept of "Sarguna Brahamam" and became more interested in the name and form concept, Adi Shankracharya combined the major six Ishta Devatas (Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Subramanya and Surya) and Created "Shan matham" where he stated that the "Sarguna Brahamam" is in all the above six forms simulatenously and people can worship any one of the form. To emphasise this point there are slokas like "Shivasiya Hradiyam Vishnu, Vishanesha Hradiyam Shiva, Yeda Shiva mayam Vishnu Yevam Vishnu maya Shiva" HariHara Concept, Shiva Dancing in Vishnus Heart (in Thiruvathoroor Tamil Nadu- i think this states the Space-Time unity), etc., etc., so it would be better to follow the established norms and understand the Brahamam concept instead of debating who is Superior Please note all the above are my own speculation by reading different Hindu and science literatures, please don't ask "Proof" from me.

Hari OM: If you are hurt and don't like my attitude, sorry for that, and i will never argue with you again. in my defence: You gave some explanation about Kabalah and i gave some other explanation (in my first explanation i din't contradict or say anything about yours) However it is YOU who came back and told that mine is Wrong and there is NO Kabalah in Hinduism, and Kabalah is only in Judaism. My reply was that Kabalah was there in Hinduism and please read about it, Kabalah may also be there in Judaism, but please discuss about it in a Jewish Forum. i fail to understand where i became rude or arrogant. Anyhow thanks for the time you had spent in replying to my mails and i had a good time reading them... Bye with regards...

Hari OM: i don't know What Moses and Jewish has to do in Hindu Forum, please discuss about them in a Jewish Forum. Kabalah is one of the 72 A-vaidic (not veidic) religions present in India, please read AdiShanckaraya's History written by any author you will find the incident between him and a Kabalah leader and finally the Kabalah leader abonds his religion and joins the Vedic religion. It is possible, that Jews may also had some thing with the name of Kabalah, but it is your ignorance that makes you assume i am making two mistake , please read more about Hindu literature before start debating about Hindus. In fact there is some reference about A-brahmic in some Websites, but that would be very offensive to quote, basically they tell something A-braham is nothing but A-brahamam (i.e., one without Consicouness)- i.e., an idiot migrated from India and people called him A-brahmam , also there are some other web sites which say Abraham is nothing but the reverese of brahmA (i.e., one with high consicouness), Any how both are irrelevant for our discussion, since we are discussing only Hindu topics here.

Hari OM: Your diagnosis of the problem is correct, and your solution is also partially correct- we should spread Gita for reducing the Adharma in the world and increase happiness. However i don't think we can do it through schools or colleges because of the incompetent teachers, now most of the students hate their subjects and if we introduce Gita, i think it will also suffer the same fate. It would be better if there are dedicated, knowledgable and volunteer teachers educating interested children about Gita, even if the knowledge spreads slowly. This is already happening in many big cities and this should be stepped up

Hari OM: Kundalini means rising the life force within you. The life force is like a coiled Serpent sleeping at the base of your naval, you function due to that, since the life force is sleeping you are also functioning in a sleeping mode (or ignorant mode) You can rise it through a mystic way called "Sushamana" which runs inside the spine which is surrounded by two other mystic ways called "Idha" and "Pingala" - and in those mystic ways there are seven mystic circles, each circle with different colors, different petals and different presiding deities. When Kundalini reaches these Chakaras you get different types of characterstics, Power, intelligence, insight, knowledge, wisdom, 8 different Sidhis, etc., The rising Kundalini is called Durga and the falling (it will fall if practice is not perfect) is called Kali and generally destructive. Kundalini was first made public knowledge by Patanjli (considered an incarnation of Adisheshan, which people say is the Kundalini of Vishnu) and also finds some reference in Adi Shankrachrya's "Soundrya Lahiri" Kabbalah was one of the A-vaidic (not Vedic) religions practiced in ancient times, where its disciples , worship God with Skulls (Kabalah means skull in sanskrit), we come across one such instance in Adi Shankarachrya's history.

if every body is accepting their mistakes and correcting it then there would be no wars today. i don't know what is the criteria you use to decide which is original Gita and which is add-on i can't understand how "eating a fruit" corlates to "Existing of God within" , sorry i can't even connect the two with my wildest imaganation. so you mean to say only mindless persons can "become" God? A drop of Ocean is not different from Ocean, Qualitiatively, it has all the properties of the Ocean , which i quoted in an earlier reply, "Whatever is present in Macrosom (God) is also present in Microsom (Me)" So taking your example of Drop and Ocean, itself, i can claim that i am not Qualitatively different from Him. i think most of the issue, is because you are imagining God to be a shining, all intelligent, all powerful, angry Person sitting at some corner in the Universe, and giving grace or punishment selectively to some persons. if you understand the Hindu concept of God, then all your confusion will go away.

Hari OM: First of all congrats on accepting mistakes, it needs a brave heart to do so. All the eight paths are mentioned in Gita (including the correct and wrong ways of doing them), that is why the leaders of all Paths had quoted and written commentary on it (but of course each person exaggragtes his path, while ignoring or skipping other Paths) If GOD exists within me then I am GOD, where is the question of Becoming GOD?