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Spirituality Is The Only Key For Human Survival
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Global Hindu Heritage Foundation 06/16/2016
'It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western
beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in
self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment
in human history, the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way.
Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the
human race to grow together in to a single family. So now we turn to
India.
This
spiritual gift, that makes a man human, is still alive in Indian souls.
Go on giving the world Indian examples of it. Nothing else can do so
much to help man- kind to save itself from destruction.... that in the
21st century "India will conquer her conquerors." Arnold Toynbee (A British Historian, 1889-1975)
Both Abrahamic religions have caused untold misery by killing the
nonbelievers, destroying the property, enslaving the people they have
conquered, raping the women, occupying the lands forcefully, converting
the nations to their respective religions either with force or with
deception. In India and elsewhere, Christians authorities have used
every trick, deceit and deception to convert gullible and innocent
Hindus into Christianity. Their goal is to dismantle the Hindu edifice
and erect Christianity. They do not even mind going against their own
religious scripture, Bible. Why do they use so many deceptive techniques
to convert people? Billions of dollars are pouring into India from
many foreign countries. The Christian preachers have to show that they
are converting in order to get more and more money from these
countries. The Christian Preachers remuneration depends on the numbers
game. The more they show the number of converts, the more money they
get. Many of these Christians are delusional to think that they go to
heaven if they can convert non-Christians to Christianity. This
delusional thinking and greed to make more money would make the
Preachers to smack and slap their own Bible and the teachings of their
only savior Jesus. They use such method as deception, deceit, force,
manipulation, allurement, tricks, treachery, exploitation, violence,
killings, educational
indoctrination, defame other religions, demean other gods, denounce
other scriptures, sexual exploitation and the list goes on. Thomas Jefferson,
the third President of the United States stated, “Millions of innocent
men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have
been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one
inch towards humanity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one
half of the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support
error and roguery all over the earth.â€
Islamic brutality on Hindus was unmatched in the annals of human
history. It is bigger than the holocaust of Jews by the Nazis and also
much bigger than the massacre of the Armenians by the
Turks. According the estimates that as many as 60 million Hindus were
massacred by Islamic rulers. Actual numbers could be very well up to one
billion. Every Islamic ruler made hills of Hindu skulls to outnumber
the previous rulers. In Afghanistan, Hindu Kush mountain has seen more
blood and brutality. Will Durant has argued in his 1935 book “The Story
of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage†that “The Mohammedan conquest of
India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic
historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride the
slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and
children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by
the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD. Millions of Hindus were
converted to Islam by sword during this period.†(P:459). Since
Independence, the atrocities have not declined as the Hindu population
reduced to almost nil in Pakistan from nearly 18 percent and to about 6
percent from nearly 24 percent in Bangladesh. Muslim population is
increasing day by day in India and with the sole purpose of converting
India into an Islamic Country. ISIS is formed to establish a new
Islamic caliphate across the Middle East. ISIS' desire (and apparent
strategy) is to overthrow the existing governments of unstable, heavily
Muslim nations and establish their own theocratic state in its place.
They have spread all across the globe to establish Islam though force
and terror. The German writer and journalist Jurgen Todenhofer,
who actually did the unthinkable and spent 10 days in the Islamic State
as the Caliph's guest, says that the IS wants to kill "all
non-believers and apostates and enslave their women and children. All
Shiites, Yazidi, Hindus, atheists and polytheists should be killed . . .
Hundreds of millions of people are to be eliminated in the course of
this religious cleansing. All moderate Muslims who promote democracy
should be killed [as well]. Because, from the IS perspective, they
promote human laws over the laws of God."
The only solution to this mentality of conquering the humanity by terror
and deception to submit to their respective religion, is follow the
advice of Toynbee who suggested all the nations to turn to India
and embrace the spiritual path couched in the principle of ahimsa.
Patanjali Yoga Sutras enumerate five yamas that are considered the codes
of restraints, truthfulness, abstain from immoral acts, think of
highest reality and no-acquisitiveness. The five niyamas prescribing the
virtues such as purity, contentment, controlling the senses, surrender
and self-study. By practicing one will be elevated to the path of
spirituality allowing one know the true nature of human existence and
find the truth (atman) and it is relevant to the higher truth
(Paramatma). Patanjali says “Ahimsa pratishtayam tat sannidhau vairatyagaha’’ meaning “When a person is established in non-violence, then violence is dropped in his or her presence.†(2:35).
Dropping off these violent behaviors is the need of the hour if the
humanity has to prevent itself from self-destruction. As Toynbee stated
that the only salvation for the humanity is to turn to India for her
spiritual legacy that can prevent the holocausts.
What is Spirituality
Spirituality is
an inward journey that enables us to go beneath the surface of Atma,
true self and allows to examine who we are, what we think and we are and
guides each of us home to our truest Self. Spirituality is a broad
concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense
of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically
involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human
experience—something that touches us all.
Christina Puchalski, MD, Director of the George
Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, contends that
"spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way
individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they
experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to
nature, and to the significant or sacred."
According to Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary,
researchers and authors of The Spiritual Brain, “spirituality means any
experience that is thought to bring the experiencer into contact with
the divine (in other words, not just any experience that feels
meaningful).â€
Nurses Ruth Beckmann Murray and Judith Proctor Zenter write
that spirituality is “a quality that goes beyond religious affiliation,
that strives for inspiration, reverence, awe, meaning and purpose, even
in those who do not believe in God. The spiritual dimension tries to be
in harmony with the universe, strives for answers about the infinite,
and comes essentially into focus in times of emotional stress, physical
(and mental) illness, loss, bereavement and death†(1989:259).
L Kaiser “ … refers to a broad set of principles that
transcend all religions. Spirituality is about the relationship between
ourselves and something larger. That something can be the good of the
community or the people who are served by your agency or school or with
energies greater than ourselves. Spirituality means being in the right
relationship with all that is. It is a stance of harmlessness toward all
living beings and an understanding of their mutual interdependence.â€
(L. Kaiser 2000)
Spirituality
is perceived in the context of integrating every segment in the
universe to bring about unity – nothing is excluded and everything is
included that will bring happiness and harmony. Spirituality involves
the integration of three dimensions— knowledge base and belief systems,
interior life and inner self, and exterior life and institutional
activity. These three domains overlap and interact with each other – one
dealing with individual experience, search for inner life and also the
external world. Spirituality is the experience of connection to
something higher level that transcends our ordinary lives. The most
prominent feature of spirituality in Indian culture is the ideal of
oneness of all beings in the universe (Radhakrishnan 1929).
The oneness of the knowledge of the self, the internal self and external
life is exemplified in the story of Lord Dattatreya. Nature has guided
him the needed wisdom and knowledge and also He learned and developed
his spiritual equanimity provided him with requisite arsenal for the
development of spirituality. This is the best example for the saying
that true knowledge of the nature will provide true knowledge of self
and God. As Lord Dattatreya wandering around, he has taken
the examples of 24 elements or Gurus who provided him the necessary
ammunition to lead a spiritual life and also lead him to the salvation.
Earth, Air, Sky, Water, Fire, Moon, Sun, Pigeon, Boa constrictor, Sea,
Moth, Bee, Elephant, Honey-thief, Deer, Fish, A Harlot named Pingala,
Osprey, Boy, Maiden, Arrow-maker, Snake, Spider and Insect were his
twenty-four gurus who provided the wisdom to realize that all things
follow the natural divine law universally accepted. He learned from earth two virtues of forgiveness and doing good to others. From air he learned the quality of nonattachment and stainlessness. From the sea he
learned that although the sea is very large, it does not even allow a
small dry leaf landing on its surface to stay there. Instead, the sea
drives it away to the shore. If the sea had not always done so, it
would have dried up like a tank by now. In the same way, however great a
tapasvin or yogi might be, he should not allow even the smallest desire
or agitation to enter his mind. He learned from honeybee to collect
little bit of nectar going from one flower to another without causing
any flower to shrivel. He realized that he should study all the
scriptures, grasp the knowledge skillfully and use it in his search for
the Self.
Swami Prabhavananda argued based on the Upanishads, which comprise the
foundations of Indian culture, that the ultimate reality in this world
is the universal spirit, which lies deep within us. Often it remains so
deep within us that we are unaware of its existence. Hence, we falsely
imagine that we are individuals composed only of body, senses and mind.
We imagine further that this individual being has a separate and
independent existence, whereas in fact, it is only an appearance—a light
upon a screen, the source of which is the spirit that we do not see.
“The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe.
The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the
stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and
all that is not.â€
The process of realizing the spirit for what it is (the reality) and
our individual being for what it is (a mere appearance) is the process
of spiritual growth (Prabhavananda 1960). When a person is aware of this
reality, he or she begins to feel that, for instance, backbiting a
colleague is a denigration of himself or herself. Cheating, lying or
concealing for selfish gain at someone else’s expense is really harm
done to oneself. Hating someone else is hating oneself (Chakraborty
1995: 25).
Those who are high on spirituality or those who perceive their oneness
with others can be characterized by certain qualities. Spirituality or
oneness makes individuals friendly and compassionate, and love all
living beings. When people see no difference between themselves and
others, they cannot be prejudiced or biased with respect to one
particular person and will, thus, be fair to all. Oneness involves
sympathy, empathy and identification not only with the feelings of
others, but also with their goals and objectives. Spirituality is
characterized by sensitivity, such that the person can identify with the
feelings, needs, demands and aspirations of people around.
Why Spirituality is important
Whenever
we talk about spirituality, we describe our perception, attitude and
desire to know God through the inner journey to awaken the light within
the self. In this process one would be discerning the godlike qualities
such as love, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, kindness, ananda
(bliss), and truth. According to Wayne Teasdale (The Mystic Heart) “The
divine calls us all into being out of itself. We are meant for it: That
is the point of the spiritual journey. The journey puts us on the road
to realizing and actualizing who we really are in our ultimate being.
Enlightenment is the awakening to our identity as boundless awareness,
but it is incomplete unless our compassion, sensitivity, and love are
similarly awakened and actualized in our lives and relationships …
Awakening to and developing compassion, sensitivity, and love is thus
also part of the spiritual journey.â€
Scriptures clearly stated that one can embark on the spiritual journey
provided he understands the permanence of the self and renounce the path
of violence. "The wise who knows the Self as
bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as
great and omnipresent, does never grieve. That self cannot be gained by
the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self
chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body)
as his own. But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness,
who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can
never obtain the Self (even) by knowledge.†Katha Upanishad 1.2.22-24
Spiritual approach is the key to avert human tragedy, mitigate terror
and violence across the world, alleviate the natural disasters, ease the
tensions across the nations, bridge the gap between religions, and
establish world peace. There is going to be a long journey to convince
all the religions to pursue the virtue of universal peace and harmony
without resorting to the ideology of dominance, religious conversion,
demeaning other faiths, and tarnishing the universal freedom and
liberty. There is a lesson to learn from Bhagavad Gita
(6:26-28) which says: “And whenever the mind unsteady and restless
strays away from the Spirit, let him ever and forever lead it again to
the Spirit. Thus joy supreme comes to the Yogi whose heart is still,
whose passions are peace, who is pure from sin, who is one with Brahman,
with God. The Yogi who pure from sin ever prays in this harmony of
soul soon feels the joy of Eternity, the infinite joy of union with
God.â€
Spirituality is associated with love, compassion, ahimsa (non-violence),
kindness and consideration for others. Based on the review of the
responses to over 30 surveys, Ryan Howell listed five
unique characteristics of spiritual people. Being gracious,
compassionate, optimistic, pursuing of self-actualization and building
of lasting memories are the unique characteristics of spiritual people.
In The Art of Happiness, His Holiness Dalai Lama
defines compassion in this way: “Compassion can be roughly defined in
terms of a state of mind that is nonviolent, non-harming, and
nonaggressive. It is a mental attitude based on the wish for others to
be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment,
responsibility, and respect towards the other†(114). He further spells
out, ― â€In developing compassion, perhaps one could begin with the wish
that oneself be free of suffering, and then take that natural feeling
towards oneself and cultivate it, enhance it, and extend it out to
include and embrace others†(114).
Steven Southwick’s book, Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges,
describes how some people overcome trauma—such as abduction, war, and
imprisonment—by seeking comfort in spirituality or religion. He gives
examples where spiritual people find ways to “meet the challenge and
continue with purposeful lives…they bounce back and carry on.†Having a
strong spiritual outlook may help you find meaning in life’s difficult
circumstances. Southwick describes the story of a woman who overcame the
post-traumatic stress following an abduction and rape by believing that
her trauma “served as a platform for her personal development, forcing
her to evaluate her life and gradually change it for the better. She
credits her ability to move forward with her life…to her dedication to
spirituality.â€
Over
the decades, spirituality is enjoying positive evaluation with
increased number of people embracing the ideals while the numbers of
people believing in religion is declining. David John Tracy
states, “If religion is in serious trouble, spirituality is in the
ascendancy and the irony of this situation evokes puzzlement and anxiety
in the religious establishment, scrutiny among theologians, and
justification among those who have traded the religion of their past for
the spirituality of their present.†There is more talk about
spirituality and how to relate oneself and one’s self development. The
spiritual quest is slowly but definitely establishing firm roots in all
the societies with the decline of Church attendance is Europe and USA.
Spiritual revolution is taking place all across the globe and spreading
without any support or propagation from any organizational structure.
Spirituality is transforming all sections of the population whether they
are religious or secular, theists or atheists, educated or uneducated,
young or old, men or women, and married or unmarried. There is an
increased realization among people, especially younger generation, that
the society is in need of rejuvenation and the spirituality is the key
that can unlock the vacuum for the development of personal,
professional, social, cultural and educational growth for future
survival.
Majority of the scholars in the Western societies were concerned with
the religion, worldly matters and pragmatism. They have taken an
objective and critical attitude toward spirituality that may have
included the concepts of reincarnation, karma theory and the true nature
of human existence. But the result is disappointing. In his lecture, Origin of the Vedanta, Max Muller quotes the remarks of the German philosopher, Frederick Schlegel:
'It cannot be denied that the early Indians possessed a knowledge of
the true God; all their writings are replete with sentiments and
expressions, noble, clear, and severely grand, as deeply conceived and
reverentially expressed as in any human language in which men have
spoken of their God. . . Even the loftiest philosophy of the Europeans,
the idealism of reason, as it is set forth by the Greek philosophers,
appears, in comparison with the abundant light and vigour of Oriental
idealism, like a feeble Promethean spark in the full flood of heavenly
glory of the noonday sun-faltering and feeble, and ever ready to be
extinguished.' And with regard more especially to the Vedanta
Philosophy, he says: 'The divine origin of man is continually inculcated
to stimulate his efforts to return, to animate him in the struggle, and
incite him to consider a reunion and reincorporation with divinity as
the one primary object of every action and exertion.' (Three Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy, pp. 10-11.)
The impact of this spiritual revolution is far reaching as it shakes the
very foundation of Christianity that believed in the supremacy of the
teachings of Jesus and the dominance of the clergy who controlled the
mind and bod of their congregation.
As far back as 1875, Henry Steel Olcott, one of the founders of
Theosophical Society was looking toward East for to find answers for the
modern ills by tapping into the well of Ancient Wisdom. He was looking
for alternatives to the Christian dogma and fundamentalism and the
liberal skeptical scientific minds and finding answers in the profound
scientific attainments of ancient India. He stated that, “Society has
reached a point where something must be done; it is for us to indicate where that something may be found.â€
What is spirit?
A
Hindu believes that an individual is a spirit more than a matter or a
body. But somehow or other it has got itself bound down by matter, and
thinks of itself as matter. Many Hindu scriptures explains the myth that
matter is the solution for modern ills.
The soul is eternal and immortal, perfect, infinite, ever blissful, and
transcends time and space. Death means change of the center to another
body. It never dies. It moved to another center. Lord Krishna describes
that eternal essence or permanent nature of soul as follows:
Whosoever knows this (eternal essence) to be imperishable,
eternal, birth less and changeless, how can that individual, O Paartha,
slay or cause anyone to be slain? (2:21)
Weapons cannot pierce this (the eternal essence), fire cannot burn this, water cannot wet this, and wind cannot dry this. (2:23)
This is uncleavable, incombustible, and cannot be wetted or
dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable and everlasting. (2:24)
This (eternal essence) is imperceptible, this is
incomprehensible, this is unchanging, it is said. Therefore, having
known this, it is not worthy of grief. (2:25)
Atman is the inmost Self or Spirit of man. Atman is the fundamental, ultimate, eternal, immutable pure consciousness. Thus, it appears that Brahman is the ultimate reality behind all world-objects and Atman is pure spirit in all beings. Truly speaking, both Brahman and Atman
are not different realities. They are identical. Only for our basic
understanding, they are referred to separately. They are the eternal,
all-pervading realities underlying all existence. They are two different
‘labels’ for one and the same reality behind all the objects, all
matter, all beings of the universe.
“The Self pervades. Bright, without body, free from harm, unmuscular,
pure, exempt from evil, wise, equipped with Mind, encompassing,
Self-existent, appropriately he assigned values throughout eternity†(ĪśÄ-upanishad, 8).
Where can we find this soul/atma
According to Katha Upanishad,
“One who is smaller than the atom and (at the same time) greater than
the greatest (which is the universe) is the Atma that remains in the hrudaya guha (heart's cave)†(1.2.20).
The soul is a particle that is the size of a thumb while some other
scriptures talk of varying sizes. Irrespective of the size, it is
located in the heart chakra. But the individual atma reflects the same
qualities as Paramatma. They are one and the same. They are not separate
entities. But, Swami Vivekananda, “It is impossible to
find God outside of ourselves. Our own souls contribute all of the
divinity that is outside of us. We are the greatest temple. The
objectification is only a faint imitation of what we see within
ourselves.â€
Alain Danielou has studied extensively the relationship
between Atma (Self) and Brahman (Supersoul). It is through yoga he was
able to connect the mind, body and soul. In fact, he says, one can
understand the whole universe by understanding one’s own self. “It is by
studying the microcosm that we can understand macrocosm; it is through
our own impermanent being that we can reach the Universal Being. It is
in the cavern of our heart that we can realize the immensity of spaces,
and by controlling our own vital rhythms that we can escape the power of
time. It is by reaching the source of life that we can escape the power
of death. It is by exploring the unknown spheres within ourselves that
we can visit the celestial and infernal worlds.â€
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