HINDUISM-A Hard Nut to Crack

Transcription

1 HINDUISM-A Hard Nut to Crack INTRODUCTION To understand ancient Indian spiritual culture is not simply a matter of scholarship. To achieve a correct understanding, it essential to enter into a tradition of practices and disciplines and to study under the guidance of a self-realized spiritual teacher. In other words, those with realization of this knowledge can impart it to those willing to follow certain standards in their life. I have been fortunate to be studying like this for close to 30 years.1 HINDUISM A Hard Nut to Crack Deep Understanding Not Accessible by Scholarship Only Requires Hearing from Self-Realized Spiritual Masters and Practicing Vedic Knowledge HINDUISM TOLERANT & RESPECTFUL OF OTHER RELIGIONS The most outstanding characteristic of Hinduism is the readiness to respect and accept all the genuine and compatible religious and spiritual paths within its fold. My first spiritual master told us that, if someone is a Christian or a Muslim, he should be encouraged to be a good Christian or Muslim. Those groups who pledge allegiance to leaders and traditions that do not follow or value the four universal principles of religion: Truthfulness, HINDUISM IS TOLERANT & RESPECTFUL OF OTHER GENUINE RELIGIONS Genuine Religions are characterized by: 1. TRUTHFULNESS 4. COMPASSION 2. CLEANLINESS 3. AUSTERITY Compassion, Cleanliness & Austerity, cannot be considered genuine religions, even if in their ranks there are sincere people who individually follow the these principles out of common sense and decency. I was brought up as a strict Catholic in the eastern United States. I had close association with priests my whole childhood. But somehow I did not get clarity on some basic spiritual concepts that I now hold near and dear to my heart. I will share some of this with you today. Also, after taking up my present spiritual practices, my appreciation and understanding of Jesus has increased. I have lived and studied in India off and on for over 7 years. 1

2 The Jesuits have a technique they use in the missionary field. To learn something completely foreign to them, They will suspend their own beliefs, for the time being, in order to grasp it. I would like you to try the same in this class. Whatever your belief system is at present, suspend it for the next hour or so and see if you can understand this presentation. THE STORY OF NIXON There was a British pilot in WWII, named Nixon, that was shot down behind enemy lines. His cockpit jammed, so he had to ride the plane down until it crashed. On the way down, he said a prayer, that, if he survived the crash, he would dedicate himself to God 24 hours a day. He woke up in a French hospital as the somehow were able to get him out of the wreckage. After healing his broken body, he returned to England and, true to his word, began to visit different religious clergy there telling them he wanted to dedicate himself 24 hours a day to God. An Anglican Bishop told Nixon that they didn t have such a program in England, but he heard that there was such a program in India. Nixon was an educated man. He went to India to Benares and became a professor at the University there. In a short time, he became very impressed with the wife of one of the other professors there who answered his spiritual inquiries eloquently. She was a vaisnavi, a devotee of Lord Vishnu. He took initiation from her and accepted her as his spiritual preceptor. In time, he became aware of a vow he could take to renounce the world and dedicate himself 24 hours a day o God. He approached his spiritual teacher for the mantra for initiation into the renounced order. This lady told Nixon to come the next day. She spoke to her husband and they agreed for her to take a vow of renunciation and she receive the sannyas mantra. She gave Nixon this sannyas mantra on the next day and he became a barefoot wandering holyman in India. 2

3 THE ANCIENT WORLD When we talk about India, we are talking about the ancient world. All the major world religions trace their roots to the ancient world, from the middle east to India. Christianity, Judaism and Islam from the Middle East, Hinduism and Buddhism from India. Western Europe is the Old World and America is the New World. ANCIENT WORLD World Religions come from the East & the Ancient World MIDDLE EAST-Christianity, Judaism & Islam INDIA-Hinduism & Buddhism VEDAS-5,000 YEAR OLD SCRIPTURES Most of my presentation today will be based on the 5,000 year old scriptures of India upon which the ancient spiritual culture of India is founded.. Veda is a Sanskrit word that means knowledge. The vedas come from an even more ancient oral tradition in India From time immemorial, knowledge was passed from spiritual master to disciple. In previous ages it was sufficient for a disciple to hear once from his spiritual master and he would remember it for the whole lifetime. I represent one of the four recognized disciplic successions in India. This line is called the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya. About 5,000 years ago, the 4th and most polluted age, the Iron Age began. This industrialized age is characterized by quarrel and hypocrisy. Lives and memories are short, people VEDIC LITERATURES are misguided and unlucky, and most everyone is compiled by Veda Vyas, disturbed by something or other. Due to the unfortunate qualities of this age, this oral tradition of an incarnation of Vishnu knowledge needed to be written down. This knowledge with it s many branches was first organized RG VEDA 4 Original Vedas into 4 sections, the Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva SAMA VEDA vedas. The author who compiled this knowledge in YAJUR VEDA written form was an empowered incarnation of ATHARVA VEDA Vishnu, named Veda Vyas. First, I would like to take a few minutes show you some of the obstacles in the way of understanding this ancient spiritual culture. 3 THE VEDAS-THE OLDEST SCRIPTURES IN THE WORLD written down 5,000 years ago Based on ANCIENT ORAL TRADITION written down because of present IRON AGE of Quarrel & Hypocrisy VEDA means KNOWLEDGE

4 MODERN INDIAN CULTURE IS DAMAGED & COVERED Large parts of northern India have been damaged and covered in the last 1000 years by invaders, so today there is confusion about vedic culture even in India itself. The very word Hindu originated about 1000 years ago as a mispronunciation by invaders of the word Sindhu, which was the name of a sacred river and valley where some ancient Indian people once lived. The mispronunciation was Indus. While this word has some meaning in Persian, it is not Sanskrit. This word Hindu is not found in the vedas. The Muslims began their conquest of northern India around the 13th Century and ruled parts of northern India for about 5 centuries. During this time, they killed many brahmins, destroyed many ancient temples, raised whole cities to the ground and generally tried to bury the ancient history of India. The British overcame the Muslims in the mid 1700s and ruled northern India for another 200 years, The term Hindu was popularized during the British rule of India, to differentiate the Indians from the Muslims who were fighting at the time, some say, with the help of the British policy of Divide and conquer. MISINFORMATION & PROPAGANDA In the 1800s, a few Englishmen, who wanted to clear their conscience of wrongdoing, admitted in writing that the British government paid them and other men in the East India Company to re-write the history of India. The motivation? The British could not tolerate a civilization more ancient or greater than their own. The more recent American Indologists have followed the British indologists modernization and distortion of Indian history. You ll find a lot of this kind of dis-information which originated in the British era in India in scholarly books and on the internet. HINDUISM IS ACTUALLY SANATAN DHARMA Many spiritually cultured Indians and Saints in India generally agree that the vedic spiritual culture of India would be better served to be known as Sanatan Dharma rather than Hinduism. We will 4 MAIN OBSTACLES TO UNDERSTANDING HINDUISM HINDU not a vedic term INDIA damaged & covered Misinformation & Confusion Our Western Orientation Material indentity with body HINDUISM would be more easily understood as: 1. SANATAN DHARMA 2. VEDIC DHARMA 3. BHAGAWAT DHARMA 4. VAISNAVISM

5 still use the term Hinduism because of it s wide acceptance, although you should be aware that it confuses the distinct and varied beliefs in India which can better be understood under the broad conception of Sanatan Dharma. Before I explain what Sanatan Dharma is, I would like to ask you all a question. In the late 60 s, my first spiritual master asked an auditorium filled with students and faculty at MIT, Can anyone tell me what the difference is between a living person and a dead person? Would anyone here like to try answer that? Don t feel bad if you don t get it. Not even the faculty at MIT got it, but that was 30 years ago.... OUR OWN EDUCATION & CONDITIONING The simple answer is Consciousness. It is no mistake that the MIT scientists missed this point, because consciousness was not included in their empiric approach to understanding this world and the elements in it. And growing up in the west and being educated here, many of us have been conditioned to think like the scientists. Even today, western scientists still promote the idea that life, or consciousness, came from inert matter. In other words, a primordial soup of inert elements somehow made the quantum leap into animated single-cell organisms and evolved from there into more complex forms. This is the mainstream concept of evolution which we ve all been exposed to. Also, evolution theory contains the idea that we are all progressing onwards and upwards from monkeys and cavemen and that there is no God and that everything we see before us some cosmic accident by some natural selection. There are many problems with this theory that don t get discussed enough, so this theory goes largely unchallenged. But even Darwin had problems believing this himself when he would look at a peacock feather and try to understand the utility of such a thing in the scheme if Survival of the fittest. HINDUISM OR SANATAN DHARMA Incompatible with Evolution theory or Western Scientist idea Life comes from Matter MODERN EVOLUTION THEORY Vedic version differs from: 1. life comes from primordial soup (chemicals/matter) 2. Men evolve from monkeys 3. Civilization gradually rises from cavemen 4. General spin that world is evolving upwards. 5

6 THE THEORY THAT MATTER GENERATES CONSCIOUSNESS My spiritual master once paraphrased evolution theory in it s simplest terms: What the scientists are actually proposing is Consciousness is coming from stone (stone densest form of matter). But, he said this is not a very reasonable theory to promote that something infinitely more valuable (Consciousness) is coming from far less valuable(stone). He said it would be more reasonable to theorize that stone is coming from consciousness: that stone is just one idea in the world of consciousness. Actually, our experience here is that things ARE coming from subtle to gross. If you you simply think about something long enough, desire it and work towards that, it eventually manifests on this gross plane of matter. And, as conscious beings, we are manifesting so many things in this world by manipulating material energy. SPIRIT MOVES MATTER So, this is the vedic version, that Spirit or Consciousness moves matter. According to the vedas, all material bodies, from the elephant to the ant, are all animated by spirit. All living organisms are driven by the presence of a soul. And that soul is who we are. When the body is no longer in suitable for habitation, we leave this body and go somewhere else. Some may resist this idea, but this is clearly stated in the ancient vedas of India. Denying this is something like denying the law of gravity. Someone might deny the law of gravity and even jump out of a 100 story building to prove the point, But on the way down he ll probably wish he had a parachute. Gravity does not depend on us believing it, or not believing it to work. Neither does the soul in the body. And neither does God, for that matter. BODILY IDENTIFICATION These days, most everyone is heavily identified with their material body and everything connected to it. We are being constantly being judged according to our body. Saints and scriptures of different traditions are the exception to this rule. They generally advise us that we must realize the spirit within all of us as sacred and act accordingly. 6 WHAT IS MORE REASONABLE? Consciousness from Stone? Stone from Consciousness? VEDIC VERSION: Spirit, or Consciousness animates matter. Conscious Creator(God) responsible for the creation of Matter & Spirit

7 SANTATAN DHARMA- WE ARE SPIRITS IN THE MATERIAL WORLD So, Sanatan Dharma means that we are in essence, Spirit, and that we should act accordingly, Just as the essence of sugar is sweetness, and heat and light cannot be separated from fire, we cannot avoid being spirit in essence, No matter if one identifies himself as Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist,agnostic or atheist, this universal principle applies to everyone..most religions have some some concept of an immortal spirit soul, But, over time, this idea has been obscured, and, in some cases, even rejected. For example, as a young Catholic, I was told You have an immortal soul. But who is this You in possession of the immortal soul.? Is it me my temporary body or ego? How can can something temporary possess something eternal? What I should have been told is, You are the eternal spirit soul inside a temporary material body. That would have been clear and in line with the vedic version of Sanatan Dharma. Someone said it this way, We are not a material beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a material experience. And because this concept of everyone being spirit souls is not clear in various religions, it opens the door for fundamentalism and fanaticism. In extreme cases, those who do not share a group s particular belief system are labeled infidels or heathens and are conceived to be fit to be either aggressively converted, squelched or even killed. In recent times, it has been the practice of politicized so-called religionists to dehumanize entire populations to pave the way for genocide or SANATAN DHARMA We are Spirits in the Material World -Police We are spirit in essence & we should act accordingly recognizing the sacredness of life in everyone. Obstacle to understanding: Strong identification with body and everything connected to it. CONSEQUENCES OF NOT RECOGNIZING SPIRIT IN EVERYONE AS A CHILD OF GOD Fundamentalism & Fanaticism Poisoning Religion with Politics or ignorance Justifying aggression against others such as heathens, infidels. & idolitors, or whatever mass murder. This is against any real understanding of spirituality or religion. Too much trouble in this world is caused by 3rd and 4th class religionists who don t follow their own teachings while they fight over God s property. 7

8 JESUS In contrast, Jesus has been recorded as saying things like, What you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me. (Matthew 25) Jesus also said he came to fullfill the law of the old testament, which includes Thou Shalt not Kill. LIFE IS SACRED According to the vedas, life is sacred. It is full of purpose, as the immortal soul journeys through many lifetimes before he finally realizes his spiritual nature and makes his peace with his Creator and returns to Him in the Kingdom of God. THEORY & PRACTICE Now, it is one thing to theoretically accept that you are a spiritual being, and another to actually realize this. That is why some spiritually focused persons take up austerities, penances, yoga, and other spiritual disciplines; to realize they are something beyond these material bodies. So, we have varieties of paths in India that follow this same principle of realizing their eternal spiritual essence, their Sanatan Dharma in different ways such as Vaisnavas, Shaivites, Yogis, Shaktas & Ascetics, Of course, the foundation for all of these paths have some basis in the vedas. VAISNAVAS, SHAIVITES, YOGIS, SHAKTAS & ASCETICS REALIZING SPIRIT Ascetics mortify the flesh to detach themselves from carnal desires as did monks in medieval Europe who Vaisnavas flogged themselves. Yogis practice an 8-fold mystic Shaivites process for balancing the physical processes of the body, Yogis quieting the senses and the mind to make it fit for one Shaktas pointed concentration and meditation on God within the Ascetics heart. Shaivites also practice asceticism and yoga and meditate on Lord Siva. Shaktas appeal to the governing goddess of the material creation for her benedictions. And the Vaisnavas, who Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita(verse Sanskrit & English slide) are higher than all of the above, practice devotion to God in the form of Vishnu or Krishna to clear their path back to the spiritual world. This last category is by far the most common form of Hinduism BRITANICA BOOK OF THE YEAR Vaisnavas 70% of 800 million Hindus 25% are Shaivites Overwhelming majority worship Vishnu

9 MOST HINDUS REVERE RAMA & KRISHNA Behind me are two pictures of the most popular avatars of Vishnu in India.,Lord Rama and Sri Krishna. The story of Rama, the Ramayan, has been recorded in ancient times by the sage Valmiki. Veda Vyas tells the story of Krishna in the epic Mahabharata and in Srimad Bhagavatam. These books are some of the most read and studied books in the world, right up there with the Bible, full of lessons in ancient culture and spiritual realizations. It has been said, If it isn t in the Mahabharata or the Ramayan it isn t in India. VEDIC LITERATURES BY VEDA VYAS After Veda Vyas compiled the original 4 vedas, he wrote supplementary historys called Puranas, the Upanishads. Veda Vyas also codified all this knowledge in stories for the less educated masses in the epic Mahabharata which also contains the Bhagavad Gita, So Storytellers, usually brahmans, could tell illiterate villagers these stories in the evening after they came home from the fields and even they would become cultured in vedic truths. Bhagavad Gita means the Song of God, This book has been studied and gloried for thousands of years. Krishna explains the essence of the vedas in 45 minutes to his friend and warrior-disciple Arjuna just before great battle years ago in northern India. VEDIC LITERATURES by Veda Vyas 4 vedas Puranas Upanishads Mahabharata a.bhagavad Gita Vedanta Sutras VEDIC LITERATURES 4 Original Vedas & many volumes of supplementary literatures are all compiled by Veda Vyas, Srimad Bhagavatam Vyas natural commentary reveals Krishna as origin of all Finally, Veda Vyas summarized the Vedas in the vedanta sutras. But somehow he remained unsatisfied. After consulting with his spiritual master, Narada Muni, he realized that, although he had written so much knowledge for the benefit of the world, the conclusion of all this knowledge was not clear. So Veda Vyas wrote his own natural commentary on the vedas called Srimad Bhagavatam. Although it was stated in many places in the previous vedas, this commentary made it crystal clear that Vishnu was the Supreme Godhead and that Krishna was the original Vishnu. PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING THE CONCLUSION OF THE VEDAS Now what makes the vedas confusing? Because the vedas address many different types of people in different situations. We take birth in this world in 9

10 many different kinds of situations. The son of a doctor or a wealthy person in the west will have a completely different environment and life experience than a person born in a poor family or in a war torn country where you have to struggle day to day just to survive. The educational systems, the society we live in, our particular life experiences, but most importantly, our association, shape the way we think, eat and live. The vedas address all classes of people in many different stages of spiritual evolution. For example, Veda Vyas wrote 18 upanishads. Six of those upanishads were directed for those predominantly in the mode of Goodness, six were written to help those in the mode of Passion and six were meant to elevate those in the mode of Ignorance.(verse in Bhagavad Gita) 3 MODES OF NATURE This is a very important concept you will not find anywhere else, so listen closely. Everyone in this world is influenced by a mixture of these three modes or gunas(ropes, of material nature). This is why some people like President Bush and some people hate him. This is why some people become vegetarian and some do not. This is why some people take shelter of drugs while others take up the practice of yoga. 3 MODES OF NATURE You can think of the modes as the three primary colors, Yellow(Goodness) Red(Passion) and Blue(Ignorance) Slide Everyone is influenced by a mixture of these three modes. Ones activities, the way one eats, what a person associates with determine what modes is affected by. Even places, environments can influence the modes one is affected by. The early morning is in the mode of Goodness, noon is in the mode of passion and night is in the mode of darkness or ignorance. Hawaii s mild climate is in the mode of goodness. Getting up early and going to bed early is in the mode of goodness. Interested in spiritual enlightenment, doing good and offering.service to others, like eating healthy food, clean air & water, quiet reflective living are 10 PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING THE CONCLUSION OF VEDAS Vedas address different types of persons in different stages of life Vyas wrote 18 PURANAS 6 for those situated in Goodness 6 for those w/passionate nature 6 for those covered by Ignorance Goodness Enlightened Passion Desires Ignorance Suffering

11 more in the mode of goodness. Saints are in the mode of pure goodness. Fasting or practicing other austerities for spiritual awareness is in the mode of goodness. A person predominantly in the mode of passion has many desires, intense hankering, likes city life and has as enjoying spirit. They are pleasure seekers but they are frustrated because most temporary pleasures they seek end in suffering. LORD SIVA HELPS THOSE IN IGNORANCE Siva Purana says worship Siva as Supreme Vedas advise regulation of bad habits, once week or month, or add a ritual to it. General idea is to improve towards mode of Goodness Those in ignorance are inclined to do things that are destructive to themselves and others. Too much sleep, intoxication, inertia, violence and unhealthy practices affect both the body and mind to be in the mode of ignorance. VARNASHRAM SYSTEM To illustrate this system, it is useful to hear about the vedic organization of society. There are 4 types of men according to their nature. The corruption of the Caste System is the rigid attempt to restrict these roles in society according to birth and not by qualities or work. Samskaras. born in Doctor family-doctor. Brahmin good birth VEDIC SOCIETY Qualified by Work, not birth 4 VARNAS 1. Brahmins- Teachers, Priests 2. Ksatriyas- Warriors & Kings 3. Vaishyas-Merchant Class 4. Suddras- Workers (70%) The 1st class men are the Brahmins, the intellectual priestly class. They are spiritual enlightened as they know Brahman-spiritual substance. They are advisors to kings are truthful, austere mode of goodness Ksatriyas are the next best class, Those men with fighting spirit- the warrior class. Soldiers to Kings, their duty is to protect the innocent and deal with the criminal elements in society. Their qualities include chivalry, honor, nobility. courage. generosity, Truthfulness, responsibility Ksatriyas are a mix of passion and goodness. Vaishya are the 3rd class men. They have the intelligence for commerce, organizing business and generating wealth. They are given responsibility to organize food production and in vedic society the responsibility for cow protection. Vaishya are a mix of passion and ignorance 11

12 Suddra are the 4th and largest class. These men are meant to serve the other 3 classes. The laborer class is provided for and they are characterized to be a mix of ignorance and passion Besides the 4 Varnas, there are 4 Ashrams.in Vedic life. each is meant to be 20 or 25 years in length. At 5 years of age the boys go to the school of the spiritual master to be trained in spiritual life. They remain celibate until married. These students are called bramacharyis. At age about age 25 a man generally takes a wife and starts a family. This Householder ashram. VEDIC SOCIETY Stages of Life 4 SPIRITUAL ASHRAMS (20-25 years each) 1. Bramacharya- celibate Student 2. Householder- Familyman 3. Vanaprastha- Retired life 4. Sannyas- Renounced Order After 25 years of family life, when the children are grown and the wife is provided for, sexual relations stop and the man may travel to holy places with his wife and they live as a retired couple for as many as 20 years, focusing on spiritual life and getting the man ready for the renounced stage of life. This is called the vanaprastha stage. Finally, the man renounces the world and separates from his wife as a Sannyasi. He practices many austerities to prepare himself for the next life and hopefully will attain God Consciousness, so at the moment of death he remembers God. For such a fortunate soul, he goes to the spiritual world to be with God. KARMA We are creatures of habit. We are all dealing with karma, past and present. Karma simply means, action and reaction. Even modern physics recognizes the law of material nature that, Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, if gross matter works like that, why not subtle matter? So, if you do something good, you get a good result, If you do something bad, you get a bad result. Dah. If you do something really bad, you may go to prison or even get sentenced to lose your life! 12 KARMA & ACCOUNTABILITY Action & Reaction Material body- Past Karma Parents & Place of Birth Samskaras- Tendencies Good Karma / Bad Karma Karma can be Changed Spiritually motivated activities have No reaction

13 Karma means accountability. The human form of life is a life of responsibility. In this form of life, one has developed intelligence beyond that of animals and can know right from wrong, what is up and what is down that we are all going to die, More importantly, in the human form, one can know God. ANIMAL LIFE & HUMAN LIFE So the vedas encourage those in the human form of life to purify themselves so they can become more spiritually conscious and enlightened. If one misuses this human form of life by simply engaging in common animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending and neglects to develop his spiritual awareness, he may lose his status as a human being and fall back down into an animal form where he can simply eat, sleep, mate and defend. Animals are not held accountable for their ANIMAL LIFE VRS. HUMAN Animal life- Instincts/ No Free Will Eating, Sleeping, Mating & Defending No Karma Human Life- Developed Intelligence Can know Right from Wrong Free Will & Accountability Knows Death is coming Can Know God actions, but simply suffer out their lives until they are once again awarded a human birth. Human life is a life where there is opportunity to improve your situation and change your karma. In India, it is basic to their spiritual culture to understand we are spirit souls and that human life is an opportunity to upgrade to a better position in the next life. VEDIC COSMOLOGY 3 WORLDS According to vedic cosmology, there are 3 planetary systems, the upper heavenly planets, middle planets and lower hellish planets. In the vedas there is no such thing as eternal damnation. The souls in this world elevate or degrade themselves by their actions(karma) and sometimes they go to heaven and sometimes they go to hell for some temporary punishment for their bad behavior. VEDIC COSMOLOGY 3 Planetary Systems Upper-Heavenly Planets Middle-Earth part of this system A. Some pleasure, some pain Lower-Hellish planets No Eternal Damnation The Earth is in the middle planetary system. While heaven is characterized by heavenly enjoyments and hell is characterized by suffering, there is some of both here. Relatively speaking, Hawaii is a nice place on this planet while, 13

14 Iraq and Afganisthan are not desirable places to be right now. So, according to their karma, souls are apparently enjoying or suffering in this world. There are sections of the vedas that entice people of different natures to practice some sort of sacrifice in their lives so they can go to heaven at the end of this lifetime. The vedas also prescribe regulation of certain activities that will degrade a person if he indulges in them without restriction. VEDAS HAVE MANY VOICES So you are starting to get a picture that there are many different instructions in the vedas meant for different types of people. Taken all together, it can appear contradictory and confusing. That s why we have self-realized spiritual teachers who VEDAS-MANY VOICES Encourages Regulation for gradual elevation & improving Karma Sometimes gives instructions to attain Heavenly Planets- if you do this you get this Also instructs how to achieve Final Liberation from Birth & Death understand the conclusions of all this knowledge and can guide us according to our individual situation.. HEAVEN & THE KINGDOM OF GOD While heaven and the Kingdom of God are obscured in some religions, it is clearly stated in the Bhagavad Gita and the vedas the the Spiritual world and Heaven are not the same at all. Jesus is recorded to have said, Heaven and Earth will pass but the Kingdom of God is forever. That is a vedic statement. The upper Heavenly planets are within this universe, which is described in the vedas like a coconut, The coverings of this universe are successive layers of earth, water, fire and air, and ether and outside of this universe is the eternal spiritual sky or the Kingdom of God. THIS WORLD IS A REFLECTION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD Here is where it gets interesting. The eternal spiritual sky also has planets and is a world of variety, according to the vedas. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato described this world as the Shadow 14 HEAVEN VRS. KINGDOM OF GOD Heaven / Temporary Kingdom of God / Eternal Kingdom of God, or Spiritual World, Beyond (outside) this Universe Material World is a Reflection of the Spiritual World but is Under the Influence of Time

15 World, a mere reflection of the real world. And that is a vedic statement. This world of temporary forms is a reflection of the eternal world full of trees and birds and living beings not under the influence of time. ETERNAL TIME Time is the problem here. Everything here is under the influence of time. In the material world, no matter how good it gets, we all share the same problems, Buddha saw this. The problems we are all up against are repeated birth, death, old age and disease. This is unnatural for the spirit soul which is eternal by nature, full of knowledge and bliss. DEMIGODS VRS. THE SUPREME GODHEAD Demigods live in the heavenly planets and look after universal affairs. That means the rains and the sun and moon all the life-giving and devastating forces in this world are regulated by demigods. There s many demigods but they are simply empowered by God to do their jobs here in this world. They get their power from Vishnu who also is represented here but mostly resides outside of this universe. DEMIGODS & SUPREME GODHEAD Demigods- empowered representatives of God. They Reside in the Heavenly Planets & look after Universal Affairs. GOD (Vishnu) is the Creator/Controller of Everything & Resides in Spiritual World but Expands Himself Here. The demigods, no matter how powerful, are spirit souls like you and me, but due to some good karma, austerities etc, they have been placed in charge of something in this universe while residing in a Heavenly world where everyone has palatial homes, Many are gifted musically and many have mystic powers,( like if they wanted a mango they just think mango and it appears in their hand.) Pele is a demigod 3 DIFFERENT BODIES Many demigods have ethereal bodies, not earth, water bodies like ours. All of us here have a gross body. Our flesh and blood bodies are made up of earth, water, fire air and ether. Then we have a subtle body, mind, intelligence and ego. The subtle body fits on the gross body like a glove. When we dream at night, our gross body is just laying there, but our subtle body is active doing so many 3 BODIES IN ONE Gross Body- Earth, Water, Fire Air, & Ether. Demigods have Ethereal bodies Subtle Body - Mind, Intelligence, Ego. Ghost Body. Dream Body Fits like a glove on gross body Spiritual Body-Develops as we realize our unique relationship with God 15

16 things. Our subtle body is also our dream body. The soul, in our heart region, animates both the gross and subtle body. This subtle body is also a ghost body which usually leaves the gross body at the time of death. You have seen the movie Ghost? The subtle body pops out of the gross body 3 times in the movie. The man that wrote that script spent 6 months in a monastery in Tibet. Some of what was in the film follows the vedic version. A ghost is someone who is stuck in this world due to some attachment or for some other reason, So, when the scientist are looking for life, they are looking for organic life forms like those on Earth. They have no idea that the demigods don t have earth bodies and therefore live on a subtle invisible plane in apparently unhabitable environments where we need space suits to survive. 3 STAGES OF GOD REALIZATION There are 3 distinct stages of God realization. The first is Brahman. Everything is coming from God and is therefore connected, It s all One, is the expression. The underlying support for everything is Brahman, sometimes referred to as white light, a non-differentiated field of consciousness. 3 STAGES OF GOD REALIZATION Brahman-All pervading impersonal & invisible support for the entire material creation Om(symbol) Paramatma or SuperSoul God expands in the Heart of all Bhagavan-The Supreme Person Creates everything with a spark of Himself and resides in his Kingdom God has also entered into his material creation as the all-pervading Supersoul. He has entered the heart of every living entity and accompanies them as a witness in their journey through many lifetimes. As soon as the soul becomes aware of God s presence in his heart, either from the mystic yoga process or through hearing from spiritual authorities, he accepts the Lord in his heart as a guide to help him get back to the Spiritual world. The spiritual master, who is already in touch with the Supersoul, can guide his disciple so that he can also get a clear connection. Finally, if he is fortunate, the soul comes into connection with self-realized devotional saints and hears about the Lord in His Personal Feature. Bhagavan means God is unsurpassed in six oppulences. He is the most beautiful, He is the most powerful, He is All-Knowing, He owns everything, so He is the Wealthiest of all, He is the most Famous and He is the most Renounced. 16

17 VISHNU AND HIS EXPANSIONS He is infinite and unlimited so He can expand Himself and Express Himself in unlimited ways. Vishnu is One but He expresses Himself in many forms. As one candle lights another, Vishnu expands into different forms to displaying His unlimited opulences and qualities. BECOMING GOD CONSCIOUS There are a number of Yogic Paths to link up with God. Mystic Yoga where one realizes the Lord within the Heart, Karma Yoga where one gives the fruits of his work to God, Jnana Yoga where he develops knowledge for liberation and Bhakti Yoga, where one dedicates himself wholesale for God s pleasure. One who cultivates real knowledge becomes situated in wisdom. One who achieves wisdom takes up a life of devotion. God helps those who help themselves. Mystic yoga is not practical for this age. The most accessible path open for everyone is a life of devotion. If we arrange our lives as an offering to God, God will reciprocate and help us come back to the spiritual world.otherwise, it is not possible. All things become possible with Gods help. The Vedas, in the end, are devotional and monotheistic. Thank you for your attention. VISHNU AND HIS EXPANSIONS God-Creator & Controller of everything Krishna original Vishnu As one candle lights another Krishna expands Himself to express Himself in different Vishnu forms i.e., Ram as Ideal King MAIN YOGIC PATHS Yoga means to link up MYSTIC YOGA KARMA YOGA JNANA YOGA BHAKTI YOGA All these paths require some Bhakti or Devotion Knowledge ends in Devotion QUESTIONS: I have some copies of a 200 page full-color book, entitled The Hidden Glory of India, which I can let you have for the printing cost of $4. This book is layed out in two page spreads that explain many topics about India and Hinduism. You don t have to read this book, you can just flip through it and reference what you want to read in just two pages. If your interested in this book or have a question about the presentation, you may contact me at: John Daley or jjram@verizon.net 17

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