Guest guest Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Hello Friends, I have been on a vacation ... and when I came back I saw a host of messages posted on hinduism vedas brahman etc !! It's got me very excited .. I really have so much to share about this because it's unbounded joy when you see what lies beneath !! .. let me also mention I was really impressed by some of the posts I read (sadly I couldnt read all so apologize if I am repeating something already said) Before I continue ... Dear Jagmeet .. at the start of my association wtih the group I asked the premission to post such issues and I was told by the moderator that it;s ok to do so ... Dear Neeraj, please tell me if the situation now is changed so that we can open a new forum to talk on these issues ... There are a few things I see in Hinduism (I am not dogmatic however the more I see things the more I tend to realise the need to believe in some absolutes) Let me put a few of them that to me are quite fundamental to hinduism .. because I believe that all else just revolves around these few on different levels and planes: a) The creation itself was a stir in Dormancy ... there was a purpose .... b) The ultimate aim of Human life in Hinduism to go back to the source or the nirguna para brahman ... Now there branch several branches into this to me two fundamental approaches seem important to know: a) The bhakti (like swamy prabhupada, vallabhacharya etc) who believe that God and ataman are different and that there is a difference between both as to who is superior and who is subordinate ... and here it is believed that submitting totally to the superior is the path to salvation ... b) The Yoga (loosely) path that believes that god and atman are one ... or the advitam as propunded by sankaracharya .... here it is believed that any form of god that is prayed to will lead you to a point from (as in a)) where you are invaribaly propelled forward into the nirguna parabrhman ... we have a living example of this in Rama krishna paramahamsa who was taken beyond the form of godess kali to which he was sooooooo deeply attached by tota puri ! To my mind both of these are correct ... as long as we do not realise b), a) holds true !!! .. Once we realise a) we are porpelled into the state of b) that is to say as long as we are in state a) we look at god as one with form or saguna ... once we realise the object of devotion we are heralded into b) where the form falls off and we realise that only nirguna parabrahman holds and there is nothing else ... and then we merge into the nirguna ... this is loosely what the brahma sutra bhasyas tell us ... Interestingly in a state of Samadhi .. the distinction between the person and the god is supposed to be wiped off ... however Sankaracharya says that this is not the ultimate state of realisation because once samadhi is over duality again creeps in ... in known human history there are a very few examples of people who were in para Brahman all the time ... Suka maharishi had this distinction of perpetually living in parabramhan ... and in some ways he is considered to be one of the greatest sages to walk on earth !! I personally feel that there are only two important things to understand in the path of hinduism .. i) The underlying theory of Gita to adopt the correct way of living when we assume this body form ... ii) The brahma sutra bhasyas by Adi sankaracharya called the "Saririka bhasya" ... that tells us the knowledge of the ultimate truth !! For practice of how to go back to the source there are many paths ... the astanga yoga, the raja yoga, siddha yoga, the sahaja yoga etc etc .. however none of these yogas go against the principles of patanjali yoga sutras which can be used as the baseline ... I would like to write more ... however I have to rest my cursor here right now ... I hope to talk more again later .... on the caste system, the gita, astrology (as to where it fits in the grand scheme of things) the millions of hindu gods ... sati to moral corruption ... etc etc ... I somehow pray that someday we forget hinduism, islam and christianity and pray for just humanity ... this can happen only when we realise that the core of all religions is the same the one formless attributeless dormant god ... never mind which religion helps us reach there ... Take Care, Surya. Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes./signingbonus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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