Loving Ganesha: Chapter 21 (section 6) - Hinduism: The Greatest Religion in the World--Hindudharmah Mahattamo Visvadharmah

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font-family:Arial">Namaste all,

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font-family:Arial">The sixth section of chapter 21 of Loving Ganesha, from

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-21.html

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12.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Shanti

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font-family:Arial">Neil

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font-weight:bold">Hinduism's Fathomless Diversity

Hinduism

has a grand diversity among its many sects. That diversity is itself a strength,

showing how broad and encompassing Hinduism is.

It does not seek to have all devotees believe exactly alike. In fact, it has no

central authority, no single organized institution which could ever proclaim or

enforce such sameness. There is an immense inner unity, but the real strength

and wisdom of Hinduism is its diversity, its variety. There are so many sects

within Hinduism that you could spend a lifetime studying them and never begin

to assess them all. More is there than any single human being could assimilate

in a single lifetime. Hinduism, therefore, has the magnetism to draw us back

into its immensity life after life. Each sect may be said to be a full religion

in its own right, with all the increments of faith, with no necessary part

missing. Therefore, each sect works for the individuals within it completely,

and each tolerates all the other sects. It does not totally divorce itself from

the other sects, denying their beliefs, but simply separates to stress or

expound a limited area of the vast philosophy, apart from all others, to be

understood by the limited faculties of man.

These various sects and divisions within Hinduism all

spring from a one source. Most Hindus believe in the transcendental God as well

as the personal Lord or God, and yet there is within the boundaries of the

faith room for the non-believer, for the atheist or for the agnostic who is

assessing and developing his beliefs. This brings another unique asset to our

religion -- the absence of heresy. There is no such thing as a heretic in

Hinduism, for there is no single right perspective or belief. Doctrine and

sadhana are not considered absolutes, but

the means to an absolute end, and they can be tailored to individual needs and

natures. My satguru

would say that different prescriptions are required for different ailments.

In

Hinduism there is no person or spiritual authority who

stands between man and God. In fact, Hinduism teaches just the opposite. The

priests in the temples are the servants of the Deity, the helper, the keeper of

the Gods' house. He prepares and purifies the atmosphere of the temple, but he

does not intervene between the devotee and his God -- whichever of the many

Gods within our religion that he may be worshiping. Without a mediator,

responsibility is placed fully upon the individual. There is no one to

intercede on his behalf. He is responsible for his actions, for his thoughts,

for his emotions, for his relationship with his God. He must work out his

beliefs from the inside without undue dependence upon external influences. Of

course, there is much help, as much as may be needed, from those who have

previously gone through what he is now going through. It is not enough that he

adopts an authorized dogma. He must study and bring the teachings to life from

within himself.

Within

the philosophy, each philosopher proclaims that God can be found within man if

man practices the proper precepts of yoga and delves within himself through his

kundalini force. The guru himself teaches the awakening of that force and how

God can be realized in His transcendental as well as His personal aspect within

the sphere of one's own personal experience in this very lifetime if he but

pursues the path and is obedient.

Hinduism

is unique because God and man, mind and God, instinctive mind, intellectual

mind and superconscious mind, can merge as one,

according to the evolution of the individual. Each one, according to his own

self-created karma, has his own fulfillment. Those in

the first stages of evolution, whose interests and experiences are basically

instinctive, who possess little intellect or mental prowess, are guided by

their emotions and impulses, are generally fearful. They have a personal

experience of the Deity in the temple, but it is generally a fearful

experience. They are afraid of God. Alongside of them during a puja is a great

rishi who has had many hundreds of lives on this planet. He

has his own personal experience of God, but it is an experience of love, of

oneness and of union. There they are, side by side. Each experience of God is

as real to one as to the other. There is no one in-between, no arbitrator of

the experience to compel the one to see God exactly as the other one does.

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font-family:Arial">Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

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font-family:Arial">Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/

& http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy

Kauai's Hindu Monastery

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Kapaa, HI 96746-9304

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