to Amarnath about Religion

[Guest guest]

Dear Amarnath ~ well stated. As I have explored various spirituality belief

systems through my life, I have learned that, once you go beyond the surface,

beyond the " dress ups " of how the different religions portray themselves to

their own followers and to the world, is that, underneath all that, truth is

truth, and all carry the same essential seed truths. As a former Christian,

though, I do have difficulty with any system that says " my way is the only

way, " and especially if that is accompanied by, " or else you go to hell

forever. "

In Hinduism and Buddhism I have found more openness in allowing the truth in

all religions. I believe that is part of what caught me up in the beginning,

not to find any hate mongering, only love mongering. : ) Jai Amma Love

~ Linda

 

 

Amarnath wrote:

 

Fundamentalism is basically the belief, " my religion is right, your

religion is wrong. "

 

The fundamentalism's argument is basically to focus on " only " some

good/best aspects of one's own religion while seeing " only " the

bad/worse aspects of all other religions. The obvious mistakes are:

1) Not seeing that, in all religions, there are good aspects and bad

or misinterpreted aspects.

2) Seeing bad in anything is a reflection of the impurity in one's own

mind. But, until we awaken fully, we do have to discriminate as best

we can between good and bad, light and darkness; and this is where the

difficulties of disagreements come in.

 

....That's why, the essential basic teachings of all scriptures advise us

to look within ourselves and observe the nature of our own mind,

first. We will find that within the nature of our own mind there is

good and bad and the source of all the problems, individual as well as

in the world.

 

....When Amma was asked what her religion was, Amma did not say

" Hinduism, " Amma said " Love! "

 

....Another argument that fundamentalism uses is that " only their

scriptures are infallible; while all others are fallible. "

 

....Amma's message in " Awaken Children " is to remove the dark clouds of

ignorance of the mind, to rest in the heart and Awaken to our true

nature as Love and Awareness and only then to see fully things as they

truly are.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Ammachi , nierika wrote:

>

> Dear Amarnath ~ well stated. As I have explored various spirituality

belief

> systems through my life, I have learned that, once you go beyond the

surface,

> beyond the " dress ups " of how the different religions portray

themselves to

> their own followers and to the world, is that, underneath all that,

truth is

> truth, and all carry the same essential seed truths. As a former

Christian,

> though, I do have difficulty with any system that says " my way is the

only

> way, " and especially if that is accompanied by, " or else you go to

hell forever. "

> In Hinduism and Buddhism I have found more openness in allowing the

truth in

> all religions. I believe that is part of what caught me up in the

beginning,

> not to find any hate mongering, only love mongering. : ) Jai

Amma Love

> ~ Linda

>

> >>>

 

what you said, i believe, is what many Christians seeking truth have

found

and although there are still many who believe that their way is the only

way

i have seen signs of hope and in the most unsuspecting places

 

1) the most popular evangelist Billy Graham, when he was younger

did preach that non-Christians would not go to heaven; but now, much

older and wiser,

he says that for himself he believes in Jesus, but for others, it's

between them and God

 

2) Joel Osteen, another very popular TV preacher, at a much younger

age,

has reached a similar conclusion as Graham and refuses to judge whether

non-Christians

will go to heaven or not; Osteen's preaching is very positive and i like

to watch him some times

 

Both are receving some flack on youtube from non-flexible " Christians "

The question is: are they in line with Christ's teaching on flexibility:

" if they are not against us, they are for us " ?

 

But, even in religions like Hinduism, that is supposed be very flexible,

there are fundamentalists like the " Hare Krishnas " although I don't

know

if all of them are of like mind; it's good to be careful.

 

It was a Hindu extremist that assassinated Gandhi.

 

On the other hand, in all religions, you can find the Mystics who either

keep quiet

or preach universal truths; this is what appeal to me the most.

 

And Amma's message seems to be the most universal:

 

Love, Compassion, selfless-service, Awareness

 

Amma Bless,

amarnath