Balancing Faiths...Please help

Hi. I feel a union with all faiths. In my eyes, all faiths tie to the same religion and one God. How can I tie Indian philosophies to my Christian beliefs successfully? Is is true that in chanting the ancient mantras I can apply anything of myself to these chants or any aspcet of myself that I wish to better rather than the pictures of the deites? I recognize the pictures as beautiful art and awesome representations of God but they confuse me in giving praise and chanting. I think that I can do better without pictoral aids. I feel this is the right thing for me, but any opinions and stories are welcomed for sharing. I would love to hear about your experiences and ideas.

Peace and Love,
Ben.

Yep, I too feel the one source to all faiths and hence have the same view as u.
It can be so hard always having to do ur own mental justifictions and analyzations to find the answer to religious theories so its fits with this view. Sometimes I wish that I was a small minded catholic(for example) so than the xplanantions were spoon fed to me, and I could still reach God. But for some reason Im meant to connect with God's Light force, with what could seem as the hard way, but actually so simple.

Anyway Ben, all I can advise from my own experience, that u probably already think, is to trust what u feel. Pictorial aids may be preventing u from what ur actually capable of acheiving, by ur own devices,
Also If ur praising(chanting) the deites, ur doing so to God, they are God energy. Mix, match thats what I say, whatever gets your soul going. U know what feels right. U know truth.
Oh and incorporating christian beliefs, I know its fine when ur dealing with compassion, love etc, but aint it the pits when u have to deal with "my way or the highway" mindset,

It's realy a bummer dealing with that mindset. Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your opinion. I do feel the same as you on these levels.

Peace,
Ben.

understand that all that exists is consisting of vibrations.

religions are descriptions of systems of interpretations.

the wheel has a hub, and it has many spokes.

the wheel is vibration. religion is your sense-interptretation of the wheel (spoke), and is usually borrowed (learned) from those who educated you - mum & dad, etc. the truth is the hub.

the truth is the same no matter how you describe it.

(life is a puzzle with no definite shape, but definite laws)

check out the book _christian yoga_ by j-m dechanet...

An organized religion has two pieces: the fundamental belief, and the elaboration. Religions look so different because over time they have been adorned with a multitude of elaborations. Get to the bottom of what is really believed, and you'll see far fewer differences.

You have a God force, and you have a human who has God-like qualities because he/she has been chosen as the spokesperson for this God force. Do names really matter? Do images really matter? Look at the core, at the essence.

i'll just throw one more into the pot to check out: Baha'u'llah

who actualy explicitly conferms your suspicions that all revealed religeons really are from the same god and have the same things to teach us. i won't call any of their revealers infallable the way he seems to imply they all were, that's one of the very few points on which i differ with my understanding of his teachings, but that's just me, and my own limited and imperfect understanding at that.
i also question that anything in its right mind would ever have the slightest desire to be worshipped, but not that the nontangable exists nor that it has unimaginably tremendous love for us, whatever else its nature and origen, upon which it may be pointless to speculate

Sri Ramakrishna

(1836 - 1886)



Sri Ramakrishna, well-known as the `Paramahamsa', is the brightest star that rose on the spiritual firmament of the India of the nineteenth century. Born of pious parents in the little village of Kamarpukur in a remote part of Bengal (b.18th February 1836) he spent his early life there itself. Ever since he shifted to Calcutta in 1852 to assist his elder brother, until his Mahasamadhi on the 16th August 1886, it was a long life of total dedication to God. Starting his life as an unknown temple priest - which vocation was not considered as a very honorable one - he rose to be a world teacher of religion and spirituality, by dint of intense sadhanas culminating in a uniquely comprehensive spiritual experience. From simple image worship right up to the highest flights of Advaita philosophy, the whole gamut of Indian spiritual life was traversed by him. Not being satisfied with it, he experimented with alien religions like Christianity and Islam and found, to his amazement, that they too lead to the same superconscious mystic state. Being thus armed with the direct experience of Truth through the known paths of various cults and religions, he proclaimed the great message of his life: the essential unity of all religions and the consequent need for harmony among the votaries of various religions. He specially prepared a band of disciples under the leadership of Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) to give a practical shape to his teachings and spread them far and wide for the benefit of humanity. The Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission are the direct offshoots of this. Through Sri Sarada Devi, his consort, he has exhibited to the world the possibility of raising conjugal life to the highest spiritual level and the nature of universal motherhood.

Teachings

• As long as I live, so long do I learn.
  
  
  Do yourself what you wish others to do.
  
  
  Men are quick to praise and quick to blame; so, pay no heed to what others speak of you.
  
  
  Bow your head where others are bowing. Veneration never goes unrewarded.
  
  
  Remain always strong and steadfast in your own faith, but eschew all bigotry and intolerance.
  His steps falter not, who has taken refuge in Him.
  
  

Back to Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Page
Back to The Ramakrishna Movement Page

_the way of the pilgrim_ is the story of a russian seeker who discovers the "philokilalia" (eastern orthodox "prayer of the heart")...

some other books to check out, maybe:
aldous huxley's _the perennial philosophy_
thomas merton's _mystics and zen masters_
dom aelred graham's _zen catholicism_
steven gaskin's _this season's people_

& a couple links that might be of interest:
www.sacred-texts.org
www.csp.org

Originally Posted by Cloudminerva

Hi. I feel a union with all faiths. In my eyes, all faiths tie to the same religion and one God. How can I tie Indian philosophies to my Christian beliefs successfully?

What about the religions that have nothing to do with faith?

Are you aware that certain branches of Hinduism, aka Indian philosophies, are athiestic, though others are polytheistic or pantheistic? The Vedas are the sacred scriptures of Hinduism and are claimed to be eternal. In religious debates, one school of Hindus were challenged by the question of how the Vedas could be eternal if there is a god who created them. If they are created, they are not eternal. Therefore, this particular sect determined that there could be no omnipotent god because the Vedas are supreme. I don't recall which school took this position, I would have to dig through a semester worth of class notes to find it, which I see no reason to do unless you care to know.

What about Buddhism? The Buddha is an enlightened man and venerable teacher, but he is no god. Faith does not factor into Buddhism in general, though it may be an element in some sects.

In many indigenous religions, faith is insignificant. It doesn't matter whether you believe, all that matters is that you participate in rituals and perform the appropriate sacrifices. People often do not question whether someone is participating because s/he believes, or because of social pressures or the opportunity for a social event, or because of some individual non-supernatural benefit s/he may gain from participating.

I don't have any suggestions of how to relate this to a Christian perspective, as I am not Christian. However, I am a religious studies major, so definitions of religion are a regular topic of debate. Since you seem to be pondering what exactly religion is, as you make generalizations in looking at the similarities, it is important to expand beyond a focus on faith.