Hindu Samskriti - The Nature of Hinduism 1
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The Nature of Hinduism
Hinduism, the Greatest Religion in the
World
A Satguru’s Penetrating Insights
on
the Earth’s Oldest Living Faith
Religion is man’s association
with the Divine, and the ultimate
objective
of religion is realization of Truth. Forms which symbolize
Truth
are only indications; they are not Truth itself, which
transcends
all conceptualization. The mind in its efforts to understand
Truth
through reasoning must always fail, for Truth transcends the very
mind
which seeks to embrace it. Hinduism is unique among the world’s
religions.
I boldly proclaim it the g reatest religion in the world. To begin
with,
it is mankind’s oldest spiritual declaration, the very fountainhead of
faith
on the planet. Hinduism’s venerable age has seasoned it to maturity.
It is
the only religion, to my knowledge, which is not founded in a single
historic
event or prophet, but which itself precedes recorded history. Hinduism
has
been called the “cradle of spirituality” and the “mother of all religions,”
partially
because it has influenced virtually every major religion
and
partly because it can absorb all other religions, honor and embrace
their
scriptures, their saints, their philosophy. This is possible because Hinduism
looks
compassionately on all genuine spiritual effort and knows
unmistakably
that all souls are evolving toward union with the Divine,
and all
are destined, without exception, to achieve spiritual enlightenment
and
liberation in this or a future life. 費f course, any religion in the
world
is a mind stratum within people, isn’t it? It is a group of people who
think
consciously, subconsciously and subsuperconsciously alike and who
are
guided by their own superconsciousness and the superconsciousness
of their
leaders which make up the force field which we call a religion.
It does
not exist outside the mind. People of a certain religion have all
been
impressed with the same experiences. They have all accepted the
same or
similar beliefs and attitudes, and their mutual concurrence creates
the
bonds of fellowship and purpose, of doctrine and communion.
The people who are Hinduism share a mind
structure. They can
understand, acknowledge, accept and love the
peoples of all religions,
encompass them within their mind as being
fine religious
people. The Hindu truly believes that there
is a single Eternal Path,
but he does not believe that any one religion
is the only valid religion
or the only religion that will lead the soul
to salvation. Rather,
the Eternal Path is seen reflected in all
religions.
To put it another way, the will of God or the
Gods is at work in
all genuine worship and service. It is said
in Hindu scripture that
“Truth is one. Paths are many.” The search
for Truth, for God, is
called the Sanatana Dharma, or the Eternal
Path, because it is inherent
in the soul itself, where religion begins.
This path, this return
to the Source, is ever existent in man, and
is at work whether he is
aware of the processes or not. There is not
this man’s search and
that man’s search. Where does the impetus
come from? It comes
from the inside of man himself. Thus,
Hinduism is ever vibrant and
alive, for it depends on this original source
of inspiration, this first
impulse of the spirit within, giving it an
energy and a vibrancy that
is renewable eternally in the now.
Naturally, the Hindu feels that his faith is
the broadest, the most
practical and effective instrument of
spiritual unfoldment, but he
includes in his Hindu mind all the religions
of the world as expressions
of the one Eternal Path and understands each
proportionately
in accordance with its doctrines and dogma.
He knows that certain
beliefs and inner attitudes are more
conducive to spiritual growth
than others, and that all religions are,
therefore, not the same. They
differ in important ways. Yet, there is no
sense whatsoever in Hinduism
of an “only path.” A devout Hindu is
supportive of all efforts
that lead to a pure and virtuous life and
would consider it unthinkable
to dissuade a sincere devotee from his chosen
faith. This is the
Hindu mind, and this is what we teach, what
we practice and what
we offer aspirants on the path.
We often send people back to their own
religion, for Hindu doctrine
would consider it an unseemly karma to draw
someone away
simply because he believed differently. To
the Hindu, conduct and
the inner processes of the soul’s maturation
are more essential than
the particular religion one may be by the
accidents of birth, culture
or geography. The Hindu knows that he might
unknowingly
disturb the dharma of the individual if he
pulls him away from his
religious roots, and that would cause an
unsavory karma for them
both. He knows, too, that it is not necessary
that all people believe
exactly the same way or call God by the same
name.
A
Religion of Experience
Still, Hinduism is also extremely sectarian,
altogether adamant in
its beliefs. Its doctrines of karma and
reincarnation, its philosophy
of nonviolence and compassion, its certainty
of mystical realities
and experience and its universality are held
with unshakable conviction.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that Hinduism
is a religion
more of experience than of doctrine. It
prefers to say to its followers,
“This is the nature of Truth, and these are
the means by
which that Truth may be realized. Here are
the traditions which
have withstood time and proved most
effective. Now you may test
them in your own life, prove them to
yourself. And we will help as
we can.” Hinduism will never say, “You must
do or believe thusly
or be condemned.” In Hinduism it is believed
that none is eternally
condemned. That loving acceptance and
unremitting faith in the
goodness of life is another reason I boldly
say that Hinduism is the
greatest religion in the world.
Within Hinduism, as within every religious
system, are the practical
means of attaining the purity, the knowledge
and the serenity
of life. Each Hindu is enjoined to attend a
puja every day, preferably
at a certain and consistent time. He must
observe the laws
of virtue and the codes of ethics. He must
serve others, support
religion within his community. He should
occasionally pilgrimage
to sacred shrines and temples and partake in
the sacraments. If
he is more advanced, an older soul, then he
is expected, expects
of himself, to undertake certain forms of sadhana and tapas, of
discipline and asceticism.
Though it is broad and open in the freedom of
the mind to inquire,
Hinduism is narrowly strict in its
expectations of devotees—the
more awakened the soul, the higher the
demands and responsibilities
placed upon him. And though other systems of
belief are fully acceptable
mind structures within the structure of the
higher mind, there
is no way out of Hinduism. There is no
excommunication. There is
no means of severance. There’s no leaving
Hinduism once you have
formally accepted and been accepted. Why is
that? That is because
Hinduism contains the whole of religion
within itself. There is no
“other religion” which one can adopt by
leaving Hinduism, only other
aspects of the one religion which is the sum
of them all, the Eternal
Path, the Sanatana Dharma.
I would say that, if it lacked all the
qualities of open-mindedness
and compassion and tolerance just mentioned,
Hinduism would be
the greatest religion on the basis of its
profound mysticism alone. No
other faith boasts such a deep and enduring
comprehension of the
mysteries of existence, or possesses so vast
a metaphysical system. The
storehouse of religious revelations in
Hinduism cannot be reckoned.
I know of its equal nowhere. It contains the
entire system of yoga, of
meditation and contemplation and Self
Realization. Nowhere else is
there such insightful revelation of the inner
bodies of man, the subtle
pranas and the chakras, or psychic centers
within the nerve system.
Inner states of superconsciousness are
explored and mapped fully in
Hinduism, from the clear white light to the
sights and sounds which
flood the awakened inner consciousness of
man. In the West it is the
mystically awakened soul who is drawn to
Hinduism for understanding
of inner states of consciousness, discovering
after ardent seeking
that Hinduism possesses answers which do not
exist elsewhere and
is capable of guiding awareness into
ever-deepening mind strata.
Hinduism’s
Unbounded Tolerance
In apparent conflict, the scriptures written
thousands of years ago
explain how we should live, and saints and
rishis and seers throughout
the ages have told us that it is impossible
to live that way. So,
Hinduism has a great tolerance for those who
strive and a great
forgiveness for those who fail. It looks in
awe at those who succeed
in living a life according to its own strict
ethics. In Hinduism, we
have many, many saints. You don’t have to die
to be acknowledged
a saint in our religion, you have to live.
The Hindus, perhaps beyond
all other people on the earth, realize the
difficulties of living
in a human body and look in awe at those who
achieve true
spirituality.
The Hindu believes in reincarnation. He
believes that he is not
the body in which he lives, but the soul or
awareness which takes
on a body for a definite purpose. He believes
he is going to get a
better body in a better birth, that the
process does not begin and
end in a single life, that the process is
continuous, reaching beyond
the limits that one life may impose on inner
progress. Of course,
his belief in karma assures him that a better
birth, that progress
inwardly will come only if he behaves in a
certain way. He knows
that if he does not behave according to the
natural laws, to the
Hindu ethics, that he will suffer for his
transgressions in a future
life, or future lives, that he may by his own
actions earn the necessity
of a so-called inferior birth, earn the right
to start over where
he left off in the birth in which he failed.
The belief in karma and reincarnation is
exclusively Hindu, and
yet many people in the world today, whether
they call themselves
religious or not, are coming to the same
conclusions, not from being
told to believe but in a natural way, from
the inside out. This belief
in more than a single life brings to the
Hindu a great sense of peace.
He knows that the maturity of the soul takes
many lives, perhaps
hundreds of lives. If he is not perfect right
now, then at least he
knows that he is progressing, that there will
be many opportunities
for learning and growing. This eliminates
anxiety, gives the serene
perception that everything is all right as it
is. There is no sense
of a time limit, of an impending end or an
ultimate judgment of
his actions and attitudes. This understanding
that the soul evolves
appreciation for all men in all stages of
spiritual development.
Hinduism is so broad. Within it there is a
place for the insane
and a place for the saint. There is a place
for the beggar and for
those who support beggars. There is a place
for the intelligent person
and plenty of room for the fool. The beauty
of Hinduism is that
it does not demand of every soul perfection
in this life, a necessary
conclusion for those who believe in a single
lifetime during which
human perfection or grace must be achieved.
Belief in reincarnation
gives the Hindu an acceptance of every level
of humanity.
Some souls are simply older souls than
others, but all are inherently
the same, inherently immortal and of the
nature of the Divine.
Hindu
Views of the Divine
In Hinduism it is believed that the Gods are
living, thinking, dynamic
beings who live in a different world, in an
inner world in
the microcosm within this world in which
there exists a greater
macrocosm than this visible macrocosm. For
the Hindu, surrender
to the Divine Will that created and pervades
and guides the universe
is essential. The Hindu believes that these
beings guide our
experiences on Earth, actually consciously
guide the evolutionary
processes. Therefore, he worships these
beings as greater beings
than himself, and he maintains a subjective
attitude toward them,
wondering if he is attuned with these grand
forces of the universe,
if his personal will is in phase with what
these great beings would
have him do. This gives birth to a great
culture, a great attitude,
a great tolerance and kindness one to
another. It gives rise to humility
in the approach to life—not a weak or false
humility, but a
strong and mature sense of the grand presence
and purpose of life
before which the head naturally bows.
There are said to be millions of Gods in the
Hindu pantheon,
though only a few major Deities are actually
worshiped in the temples.
That God may be worshiped as the Divine
Father or a Sainted
Mother or the King of kings is one of the
blessings of Hinduism. It
offers to each a personal and significant
contact, and each Hindu
will choose that aspect of the Deity which
most appeals to his inner
needs and sensibilities. That can be
confusing to some, but not to
the Hindu. Within his religion is monism and
dualism, monotheism
and polytheism, and a rich array of other
theological views.
God in Hinduism is accepted as both
transcendent and immanent,
both beyond the mind and the very substratum
of the mind.
The ideal of the Hindu is to think of God
always, every moment,
and to be ever conscious of God’s presence.
This does not mean the
transcendent God, the Absolute Lord. That is
for the yogi to ponder
in his contemplative discipline. That is for
the well-perfected Hindu
who has worshiped faithfully in the temples,
studied deeply the
scriptures and found his satguru.
For most Hindus, God means the Gods, one of
the many personal
devas and Mahadevas which prevail in our
religion. This means a
personal great soul which may never have
known physical birth, a
being which pervades the planet, pervades
form with His mind
and Being, and which guides evolution. Such a
God is capable of
offering protection and direction to the
followers of Hinduism. The
Hindu is supposed to think of God every
minute of every day, to see
God everywhere. Of course, most of us don’t
think of God even one
minute a day. That’s the reason that each
Hindu is obliged to conduct
or attend at least one religious service, one
puja or ceremony,
every day in his temple or home shrine. This
turns his mind inward
to God and the Gods.
Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, is an Eastern
religion, and the
Eastern religions are very different from
those of the West. For
one thing, they are more introspective.
Hinduism gave birth to
Buddhism, for Buddha was born and died a good
Hindu. And it
gave birth to other religions of the East, to
Taoism, to Jainism, to
Sikhism and others.
There are three distinct aspects of Hinduism:
the temples, the philosophy
and the satguru. It is very fortunate that in the last two
decades
Hindu temples have nearly circumferenced the
world. There
are temples in Europe, in North America, in
South America, Australia,
in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia. The
Hindu temple
and stone images in it work as a channel for
the Deity, for the Gods,
who hover over the stone image and, in their
subtle etheric forms,
change people’s lives through changing the
nerve currents within
them through their darshana. People come to a
sanctified temple
and go away, and in that process they are
slowly changed from the
inside out. They have changed because their
very life force has
changed, their mind has been changed and
their emotions have
undergone a subtle transformation. The
temples of Hinduism are
magnificent in their immensity and in their
ability to canalize the
three worlds, the First
World of physical, outer existence and the
inner Second and Third Worlds.
Hindu temples are not centered around a
priest or minister,
though there may be a holy man associated
with a temple whose
advice is cautiously and quietly sought.
There is no sermon, no
mediator, no director to guide the worship of
pilgrims. The temple
is the home of the Deities, and each devotee
goes according to his
own timing and for his own particular needs.
Some may go to weep
and seek consolation in times of sorrow,
while simultaneously others
will be there to rejoice in their good
fortune and to sing God’s
name in thanksgiving. Naturally, the
sacraments of name-giving and
marriage and so forth are closely associated
with the temple. One
has only to attend a Hindu temple during
festival days to capture
the great energy and vitality of this ancient
religion.
In its second section, philosophy, Hinduism
has influenced the
deep religious thinkers of all cultures
through known history. There
is not a single philosophy which can be
labeled “Hinduism.” Rather,
it is a network of many philosophies, some
seeming to impertinently
contradict the validity of others, yet on
deeper reflection are seen as
integral aspects of a single, radiant mind
flow. In the area of philosophy
must be included the enormous array of
scripture, hymns, mantras, devotional
bhajana and philosophical texts which are
certainly unequaled
in the world.
In the natural order of things, temple
worship precedes philosophy.
It all starts with the temple, with this
sacred house of the Deities, this
sanctified site where the three worlds
communicate, where the inner
and outer mesh and merge. It is there that
devotees change. They become
more like the perfect beings that live in the
temple, become the
voice of the Deity, writing down what is
taught them from the inside,
and their writings, if they are faithful to
the superconscious message of
the God, become scripture and make up the
philosophies of Hinduism.
The philosophies then stand alone as the voice
of the religion. They are
taught in the universities, discussed among
scholars, meditated upon
by yogis and devout seekers. It is possible
to be a good Hindu by only
learning the philosophy and never going to
the temple, or by simply
going to the temple and never hearing of the
deeper philosophies.
Hinduism has still another section within it,
and that is the guru—
the teacher, the illuminator, the spiritual
preceptor. The guru is the
remover of darkness. He is one who knows the
philosophy, who knows
the inner workings of the temple, and who in
himself is the philosopher
and the temple. The guru is he who can
enliven the spirit within
people. Like the temple and the philosophy,
he stands alone, apart from
the institutions of learning, apart from
sites of pilgrimage. He is himself
the source of knowledge, and he is himself
the pilgrim’s destination.
Should all the temples be destroyed, they
would spring up again
from the seeds of philosophy, or from the
presence of a realized man.
And if all the scriptures and philosophical
treatises were burned, they
would be written again from the same source.
So Hinduism cannot be
destroyed. It can never be destroyed. It
exists as the spirit of religion
within each being. Its three aspects, the
temple, the philosophy and
the satguru, individually proficient, taken together make Hinduism
the
most vital and abundant religion in the
world.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My
humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami
ji, Hinduism Today dot com for the collection)
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