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{{{A GUEST ESSAY}}}
SOME ASPECTS OF HINDUISM: A Critque
[SOURCE: THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO HINDUISM, by Linda Johnsen, ALPHA PUBLICATIONS, Indianapolis, IN., 2002]
SPECIAL NOTE: Any commentary on above text will be offset as
[[bl]] for byron lebeau
This review will only center on Chapter Six of the above book: ONE GOD WITH MANY NAMES. In this opening chapter of Part II of this guide book, the author shows the Hindu as a group which is basically open-minded, respectful or at least tolerant toward other religious groups. Their beliefs include REINCARNATION~~KARMA~~AN IMMORTAL SOUL. They perceive "an infinite ocean of divine energy...[as well as]...an inner universe of consciousness through which we connect with the whole."
HINDUS & THE WEST:
For Hindus the point is to enter into a living relationship with the Supreme till you feel Its breath in your breath. There are no false gods according to Hinduism (p.74)...While the Jews believe that they have a special relationship with God, the Hindus do not accept a concept of a chosen people.
[[bl]] I believe we are all children of the same God, and exclusionistic concepts tend to lead to friction amonsgt immature spiritual-minded people, which has been the sad lot of humanity's history.....ALSO, I take exception to the concept that their are no false gods: In THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL OF JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus, himself, pointed out the sanctity of even a dog when confronted by an evil spirit who wanted to do harm to that dog; (cf. chapter 83) so, to me, it follows, that the sanctity of life is infinitely more important than the sacrifice of same, (as in any animal) ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO HUMAN SACRIFICE, which is practiced unfortunately in certain so-called churches, like THE CHURCH OF SATAN! If anyone wants to honor his or her God, why would it not be better just to heal or love our fellow man? Sadly, if this were done at the exclusion of any sacrifice of any life, the world would be a much more kindly ~ and therefore ~ a much more divinely place to live.
CHRISTIANS & HINDUS:
Orthodox Christians believe Jesus took on our sins of the entire world. (Hindus also believe saints can take on the karma of their disciples.) To access the saving grace of Jesus, it is absolutely essential to have faith in him.
ACCORDING TO MS. JOHNSEN, a Hindu would find this idea perplexing....According to them, there have been many Hindu saints who have never heard of Jesus. Why should they be consigned to hell for the lack of this? Hindus see little justice or grace in a God who would damn all their ancestors for no fault of their own.
[[bl]] ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS TAKE NOTE: Because of your insistance of the "non-reality" of reincarnation, you make the cheeze more binding with your narrowness of thought, that I believe has nothing to do with the real DIVINE MERCY AND LOVE of the REAL GOD! Someone is truly mistaken in their false beliefs...YET...if we see religious beliefs as mere rungs of a ladder, i.e. from ignorance to enlightenment, this apparent dilemma may be easily resolved...IN TIME!!!
Back on page 75, we continue: Hindus believe very literally, "As you sow, so shall you reap." But in Hinduism there is no eternal damnation. No being could have sown enough bad karma that in the vast stretches of eternity, God can't find a way to bring that lost soul back into the light.
[[bl]] This concept is also echoed in the gnostic text, PISTIS SOPHIA as well as implied in THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL......The expression: MAN IS DOOMED TO PERFECTION would be a fitting one for both gnostic & Hindu thought.
HINDUISM & ISLAM:
Despite the fact that Hindus are and have been very tolerant to the many of the religious groups that had traversed their territories, (with up to 80,000 subcultures in India today,) they did have a problem with Muslims, who had felt that it was a serious crime to make an image of God; this led to the destruction of Hindu temples in North India...which left very heavy scars, testing their religious tolerance to the limit. (pgs. 76-78)
THE MYSTIC TRADITIONS:
The author notes that Hinuism has a very close affinity to the mystic traditions of Judaism, Islam & Christianity, in the respective forms of the Kabbalah, Sufism & Christian Gnosticism., despite the fact that the fundamental religions of each of the above held contradictory doctrines to the Hindus. (p. 76)
[bl]] I know myself, who is sympathetic to the Valentinian Gnostic esoteric tradition which appears - at face value - as a more spiritually mature approach to the orthodox Christina version of things, that there is no contradiction here; as I mentioned before, if you view anyone who is on a spiritual journey as being on a given rung of THE SAME ladder, then it is just a matter of reincarnational time for anyone's bud to eventaully blossom. I believe also that there are two ladders: the ladder mentioned above where those who sincerely believe in God will come to the same eventual conclusion of being inclusive in their love for all men & beasts & insects too. Then there is ladder two, where the descending rungs lead away from the RIGHT path, until one is completely emersed in selfishness, since they honored a selfish & foolish false god; but it is never too late to SWITCH LADDERS & eventually - ASCEND!!! In the same 83rd chapter of THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL...Jesus says as much toa the "evil spirit" who wanted to 'do-in' the dog!
A SURPRISING HINDU who WALKED THE WALK ELSEWHERE:
Ramakrishna, was noted in the guide as being Paramahansa, champion of religious tolerance. He was born in a little village of Kamarpukur in Bengal in 1836. He could spontaneously enter high states of consciousness that took "normal" yogis a lifetime to master. [[bl]] This is defintiely a sigh of an advanced soul - similar to Mahatma Gandhi.
ANYWAY, Hindus were shocked one fine fine day when Ramakrisna felt that the beautiful sayings at the heart of Islam prompted him to pursue the religion as ALSO a way to reach God. After three days a Muslim (remember the Hindus had a real problem with this religion,) Ramakrishna had a vision of Moahammed. He saw the Muslim prophet, shining with spiritual luminosity, desolve into God, and then God desolve into the Absolute Reality. (pgs. 80-81)
As he went back to being a good Hindu, he stated the following: "Islam is a true path. I experienced the highest reality by practicing it." (p. 82)
NOT FINISHED YET: Ramakrishna heard one day about another visitor to India long ago, one ISHA (Jesus) and after listening to the stories about this great man, decided to become a Christian. As the author relates in the text on page 82, Ramakrishna, shortly after adopting the new religion, was astonished to see a foreigner with a face glowing radiantly coming directly toward him. "This is Jesus Christ" he realized. The radiant man walked right up to him and then merged into his heart, throwing the master once more into unspeakable states of bliss. Ramakrishna resumed his duties as a priest of Kali, but now he also told people, "Christianity is a true faith, too. If you practice Christianity sincerely, it will take you to God."
In his life, Ramakrishna tested three great faiths, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He found, through direct experiential practice, that although each religion differed drastically in doctrine, all of them were legitimate spiritual paths. Any one of them could do the job of bringing us home to God.
DID JESUS VISIT INDIA?
The question intrigues people since so many of the miracles attributed to Christ healing the sick,, materializing objects like extra food to feed large crowds, controlling the weather,clairovoyance, and mastery over death -- are identical to the powers attributed to the greatest of Hindu masters even today. Could Jesus have learned these techniques from Hindu gurus?
[[bl]] The text does not say....BUT...if one were to take THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL OF JESUS THE CHRIST seriously, one might perceive that the answer to the question may be ...YES! This astounding book which I have outlined on another website, "AQUARIAN DIALOGUES & SAYIANGS," found at
http://hey_223.tripod.com/aquariandialoguesampsayingsexcerptsampcommentarybyronlebeau
documents just that: that Jesus did go to India and did learn many of the healing arts from gurus, between the ages of 13 & 29. Of course this guide text by Johnsen, not only did not mention this, but rather mentioned in a 'GUIDEPOST' on page 85 that the Jewish Talmud had Jesus spending his missing years in Egypt, studying their "magic" as Moses had done; Linda Johnsen leaves one up in the air as to the truth of the matter. Because Levi Dowling, the author of THE AQUARIAN GOSPEL....was considered such a holy man by the end of his life when he had gotten this information from an angel who directed him to write from his understanding of the AKASHIC RECORDS, I would be more inclined to believe him over any other information to the contrary.
IF ONE READS BETWEEN THE LINES when it comes to the difference between religious doctrine vs. the deeper spiritual understandings, one may readily perceive that the latter develops from the immature bud of the former, after one breaks through the prejudice & control mechanisms of the lower forms of religious~clinging~ systems. SPIRITUALITY & POLITICS (especially church politics) makes STRANGE BED FELLOWS.
byron lebeau reporting
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