{"id":204,"date":"2019-11-15T01:06:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T01:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?page_id=204"},"modified":"2020-02-07T17:42:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T07:42:54","slug":"oneness-with-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/","title":{"rendered":"[5] Equal Love for All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following article (written from a Hindu perspective) has valuable insights for recognizing the underlying unity of faith traditions. It shows how one can see a harmony of religions<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genuine revelations express the highest spiritual experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swami\nVivekananda says: \u201cTo learn this central secret that the truth may be\none and yet many at the same time, that we may have different visions of the\nsame truth from different standpoints, is exactly what must be done. Then,\ninstead of antagonism to anyone, we shall have infinite sympathy with all.\nKnowing that as long as there are different natures born in this world, the\nsame religious truth will require different adaptations, we shall understand\nthat we are bound to have forbearance with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The genuine spiritual experience that is had by some people\nwill be essentially the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinduism\u2014non-theistic and non-dogmatic\u2014has always merged\nharmoniously with theistic religions which, except for recent Judaism, are\nhistorically characterized by interreligious conflict and aggressive missionary\nzeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The labels, \u201cheathen,\u201d \u201cun-Hindu,\u201d \u201cuncivilized,\u201d and\n\u201cinferior religion\u201d have never been broadcast by Hinduism. Though Hindu masses\ntraditionally honor and cling to the provincial religious customs learned while\ngrowing up in their respective tiny hamlets, villages and cities, they have\nnever gone to war to convert others to Hinduism. Its acceptance of diversity prevents\nHinduism from becoming oppressive, monotonous, static and insipid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinduism does not pigeonhole truth into a single creed,\nrecommending instead various helpful disciplines suitable for growth in\ndifferent individuals. Vedanta [the most prominent of the six schools of Hindu\nphilosophy] grants wide latitude for personal choice in religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why within Hinduism, we find religious expression in\na bewildering variety of sects, rituals, beliefs and forms of worship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We worship according to our individual spiritual development\nand knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sanskrit text draws attention to this fact of life: \u201cThe\nhigher castes worship God in the fire, the advanced seekers meditate on Him in\ntheir own hearts, the ignorant think of Him in the image, and those who have\nattained to the Infinite realize His presence everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swami Vivekananda says: Mark, the same earnest man who is\nkneeling before the idol tells you, \u201cHim the sun cannot express, nor the moon,\nnor the star; the lightning cannot express Him, nor what we speak of as fire;\nthrough Him they shine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he does not abuse anyone\u2019s idol or call its worship sin.\nHe recognizes in it a necessary stage of life. \u201cThe child is father of the\nman.\u201d Would it be right for an old man to say that childhood is a sin or youth\na sin? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a man can realize his divine nature with the help of an\nimage, would it be right to call that a sin? Nor even when he has passed that\nstage, should he call it an error? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the Hindu, man is not traveling from error to truth, but\nfrom truth to truth, from lower to higher truth. To him, all the religions,\nfrom the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, mean so many attempts of\nthe human soul to grasp and realize the Infinite, each determined by the\nconditions of its birth and association, and each of these marks a stage of\nprogress; and every soul is a young eagle soaring higher and higher, gathering\nmore and more strength, till it reaches the Glorious Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shri Ramakrishna experimented with the various methods of\nHinduism and followed the paths prescribed by the scriptures; he followed also\nthe scriptural paths of Christianity and Islam and realized their essences to\nbe one essence\u2014he saw God in everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the opinion of one venerable monk about Ramakrishna:\nIn his life one finds an unsurpassed record of God-intoxication, spotless\npurity and suing [wooing] love for humanity. And then with his mind broad as\nthe sky, strong as adamant and pure as crystal, he plumbed the depths of\nspirituality, collected the treasures of the entire wisdom of the past, tested\ntheir worth and reinvested them with a fresh hallmark of truth. From his lips\nthe world hears the voice of the ancient prophets; in his life it discovers the\nmeaning of the scriptures. Through his life and teachings man has got an\nopportunity of learning the old lessons afresh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By his deep and extensive spiritual experience of the entire\nrange of Upanishadic truths, Ramakrishna surely heralded an epoch-making Hindu\nrenaissance, which is expected to bring in its train a general spiritual\nupheaval all over the world. He discovered the wonderful spirit of Catholicism\nwithin the sealed bosom of Hinduism and released it through his own\nrealizations to spread all over the globe and liberalize all communal and\nsectarian views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His advent marks a new era in the evolution of religion,\nwhen all sects and all communities, keeping intact the individual\ncharacteristics of their faiths, will transcend the limitation of a narrow and\nsectarian outlook and thus pave the path for a universal Brotherhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After submitting himself to intense austerities and\nspiritual practices according to Hinduism and other religions with fervor to\nrealize God, Shri Ramakrishna became a harmonious blend of all religions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Master\u2019s thesis, \u201cAs many faiths, so many paths,\u201d is\nlikely to be misunderstood, unless we accept one God as the sole support and\nsubstratum of the manifold universe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, Swamiji says: We must learn that truth may be\nexpressed in a hundred thousand ways, and that each of these ways is true as\nfar as it goes. We must learn that the same thing can be viewed from a hundred\ndifferent standpoints, and yet be the same thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take for instance the sun. Suppose a man standing on the\nearth looks at the sun when it rises in the morning; he sees a big ball.\nSuppose he starts on a journey towards the sun and takes a camera with him,\ntaking photographs at every stage of his journey, until he reaches the sun. The\nphotographs of each stage will be seen to be different from those of the other\nstages; in fact, when he gets back, he brings with him so many photographs of\nso many different suns, as it would appear; and yet we know that the same sun\nwas photographed by the man at the different stages of his progress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so it is with the Lord. Through high philosophy or low,\nthrough the most exalted mythology or the grossest, through the most refined\nritualism or arrant fetishism, every sect, every soul, every nation, every\nreligion, consciously or unconsciously, is struggling upward, towards God; every\nvision of truth that man has is a vision of Him and none else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose we all go with vessels in our hands to fetch water\nfrom a lake. One has a cup, another a jar, another a bucket, and so forth, and\nwe all fill our vessels. The water in each case naturally takes the form of the\nvessel carried by each of us. He who brought the cup has the water in the form\nof a cup; he who brought the jar\u2014his water is in the shape of a jar, and so\nforth; but, in every case, water, and nothing but water, is in the vessel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is in the case of religion; our minds are like these\nvessels, and each one of us is trying to arrive at the realization of God. God\nis like that water filling these different vessels, and in each vessel the\nvision of God comes in the form of the vessel. Yet He is One. He is God in\nevery case. This is the only recognition of universality that we can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all at different stages of evolution; our minds and emotions vary. Swamiji accepted this variation: \u201cYou cannot make all conform to the same ideas: that is a fact, and I thank God that it is so. . . . Now, if we all thought alike, we would be like Egyptian mummies. . . . Variation is the sign of life and it must be there.\u201d \u201cJust as we have recognized unity by our very nature, so we must also recognize variation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Adapted from Tathagatananda, Swami. \u201cFundamental Principles of Vedanta\u201d. New York: Vedanta Society of New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a PDF copy of the information, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Reflecting
Reflection: Is there not an underlying unity in the world’s religions, allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article (written from a Hindu perspective) has valuable insights for recognizing the underlying unity of faith traditions. It shows how one can see a harmony of religions: Genuine revelations express the highest spiritual experiences. Swami Vivekananda says: \u201cTo …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":""},"yoast_head":"\n[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following article (written from a Hindu perspective) has valuable insights for recognizing the underlying unity of faith traditions. It shows how one can see a harmony of religions: Genuine revelations express the highest spiritual experiences. Swami Vivekananda says: \u201cTo … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"End-of-Life Reflections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T07:42:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/\",\"name\":\"End-of-Life Reflections\",\"description\":\"Reflections on dying and death from a Buddhist view\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/\",\"name\":\"[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-15T01:06:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-07T07:42:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"[5] Equal Love for All\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections","og_description":"The following article (written from a Hindu perspective) has valuable insights for recognizing the underlying unity of faith traditions. It shows how one can see a harmony of religions: Genuine revelations express the highest spiritual experiences. Swami Vivekananda says: \u201cTo … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/","og_site_name":"End-of-Life Reflections","article_modified_time":"2020-02-07T07:42:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/","name":"End-of-Life Reflections","description":"Reflections on dying and death from a Buddhist view","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-in-a-Park-1024x768.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/","name":"[5] Equal Love for All - End-of-Life Reflections","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-11-15T01:06:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-07T07:42:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/oneness-with-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"[5] Equal Love for All"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1513,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/204\/revisions\/1513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}