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Realistic view Vs Faith
Present day reality and the ought to be the Untold Story of
Hinduism
‘I’
don’t keep its limit to ‘I’. ‘I’ is facing internal
and external undesirable pressures to disturb ‘I’.
The Individual (consciousness) is the Universal
(consciousness) is very appealing to mind to realize
the existence of God but when, how and who to
realize the same? Why doesn’t whoever preach
practically follow it?
Let the day
come when the Individual (consciousness) is the Universal
(consciousness) would be a reality for all by birth till then
‘I’ have to fight to save its the Individual (consciousness)
till it to realize with the Universal (consciousness).
These teachings
of sacred scriptures and thoughts are very helpful to realize
the existence of God within ‘I’ but for ‘its i.e. ‘I’ survival
the just system is the need of hour in the World and that is to
remain universal truth. ‘I’ to struggle to attain the same till
‘I’ don’t start realizing the Individual (consciousness) is the
Universal (consciousness) by birth itself as already said. Here
‘I’ state so from its consciousness i.e. the Individual
(consciousness) that yet to become the Universal (consciousness)
by birth for all, to say more clearly including the answering
‘I’.
At the moment, a
common man like me, being a realistic can only imagine the
theory but not in reality, that the realization of the
Individual (consciousness) as the Universal (consciousness)
would be a reality by birth. Let the time come when human
consciousness will be transformed into higher Supreme
Consciousness through a spiritual evolutionary process, bringing
Divinity (Universal Consciousness) into materialistic life. I am
a staunch believer in God and dead against any ritualistic way
of life like my father and I take pride in remembering my father
as my guru.
Likewise is the
thought advanced against Laws that every individual would be
perfect and then nothing like laws is required to regulate him
or his movements? Again answer is same by the critics of the
thought that let that time come, we would never then teach,
enact and there would never be enforcement of any Law in that
Heavenly World.
Let me cry for
justice for every ‘I’. It is my cry and thought of the day.
With regards
By
Balbir Singh Sooch, Advocate, Ludhiana
Chief and Spokesperson, Sikh Vichar Manch
http://www.sikhvicharmanch.com/
December
16, 2007
Mobile: 98143-34544;
Courtesy by:
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Originally published
December 15, 2007
The Untold Story of Hinduism
By Sastry Putcha
FAITH
During my recent visit to
India, as I was handling the currency, I came across a two rupee
coin with an engraved picture of the early twentieth-century
Indian sage and philosopher Sri Aurobindo. Carved on the coin is
his aphorism: "All life is Yoga," which reminded me that
original perspectives can still be drawn from ancient spiritual
systems.
The Hindu Philosophical system, founded on the spiritual
scriptures, Upanishads, probes the ultimate questions: 'What is
the purpose of our existence? What is reality?' Through the
ages, great Hindu seers, saints (Maharshis), and others have
revivified these soul searching queries.
One such person was Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu seer who
addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in
Chicago in 1893. Beginning the address with "Sisters and
Brothers of America" the Swami electrified the recalcitrant.
The times that Swami Vivekananda faced were, like the present
time, filled with leapfrogging science, technology and
literature. New genres in painting and music broke open the lids
of inhibitions and soared to unexplored heights. Political and
cultural revolutions obliterated all taboos introducing fierce
independence into the new world. No wonder that intellectual
honesty demanded religious innovations
To such a world, through his discourses, the Swami expounded the
core of Hindu Philosophy, the Advaita Vedanta which emphasizes
the theme, "Tattvamasi". Translated from Sanskrit with a literal
meaning of "thou art that," the cryptic phrase loosely means
that the Individual (consciousness) is the Universal
(consciousness).
In other words, there is nothing there for the Individual to
'realize' since he/she is already the Infinite. Therefore,
Advaita Vedanta says there is no separate God once the truth is
uncovered. When audiences heard this during Swami's lectures,
they were shocked and exhilarated.
During the first half of the twentieth century, another sage,
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi from the southern part of
India, also revitalized Hinduism. Several devotees from within
and outside India lived near the Maharshi from time to time and
documented his daily discourses with visitors.
Questioned why the materialists say there is no such thing as
God, the Maharshi said: "Never mind what the materialists or
others say and don't bother about God. Do you exist or not? What
is your idea of yourself? What do you mean by 'I'?"
Again and again, to many enquirers who wanted to know about God,
he exhorted: "We know nothing about God. But 'I exist' is known
beyond all disputes by all. So let us know who that 'I' is."
Through such self enquiry, he said, one becomes the Pure
Consciousness. From these discourses we get a first hand glimpse
of the Advaita in practice in the Maharshi's life.
Finally, there was Sri Aurobindo, the sage whose saying was on
the coins I used in
India.
Aurobindo was an England-educated, Indian freedom-fighter turned
spiritualist who was deeply rooted in ancient Hinduism. His
innovation was Integral Yoga. According to him, human
consciousness will be transformed into higher Supreme
Consciousness through a spiritual evolutionary process, bringing
Divinity (Universal Consciousness) into materialistic life. His
is an original perspective of ancient Hindu Philosophy.
Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi and Aurobindo are a succession of
Hindu sages who brought forth periodic resurgence of the august
Hindu Philosophy lost in the argument if Hinduism is way of life
or a religion. This is the untold story of Hinduism.
Sastry Putcha is an engineer with the Florida Department of
Transportation in Tallahassee. He is a frequent writer to the
Indian American magazines |