HINDUISM-A Hard Nut to Crack
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
INTRODUCTION
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 HINDUISM IS TOLERANT &
is the readiness to respect and accept all the gen- RESPECTFUL OF OTHER
uine and compatible religious and spiritual paths GENUINE RELIGIONS
within its fold. My first spiritual master told us
Genuine Religions are
that, if someone is a Christian or a Muslim, he
characterized by:
should be encouraged to be a good Christian or
Muslim.
1. TRUTHFULNESS
4. COMPASSION
2. CLEANLINESS
Those groups who pledge allegiance to leaders
and traditions that do not follow or value the four 3. AUSTERITY
universal principles of religion: Truthfulness,
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
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.
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.
THE STORY OF NIXON
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
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.
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.
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
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
The vedas come from an even more ancient
oral tradition in India From time immemoriVEDA means KNOWLEDGE
al, 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 unfortu- an incarnation of Vishnu
nate qualities of this age, this oral tradition of
knowledge needed to be written down. This knowl- 4 Original Vedas
RG VEDA
edge with it’s many branches was first organized
SAMA VEDA
into 4 sections, the Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva
YAJUR VEDA
vedas. The author who compiled this knowledge in
ATHARVA VEDA
written form was an empowered incarnation of
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
Large parts of northern India have been damMAIN OBSTACLES TO
aged and covered in the last 1000 years by
UNDERSTANDING HINDUISM
invaders, so today there is confusion about vedic
“HINDU” not a vedic term
culture even in India itself. The very word
‘Hindu’ originated about 1000 years ago as a mis- INDIA damaged & covered
Misinformation & Confusion
pronunciation by invaders of the word ‘Sindhu’,
which was the name of a sacred river and valley Our Western Orientation
where some ancient Indian people once lived. The Material indentity with body
mispronunciation was “Indus.” While this word
has some meaning in Persian, it is not Sanskrit. This word ‘Hindu’ is not
found in the vedas.
MODERN INDIAN CULTURE IS DAMAGED & COVERED
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.’
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 .
MISINFORMATION & PROPAGANDA
HINDUISM
would be more easily
HINDUISM IS ACTUALLY SANATAN DHARMA
understood as:
Many spiritually cultured Indians and Saints in
India generally agree that the vedic spiritual culture 1. SANATAN DHARMA
of India would be better served to be known as
2. VEDIC DHARMA
Sanatan Dharma rather than ‘Hinduism’. We will
3. BHAGAWAT DHARMA
4. VAISNAVISM
4
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.
................
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.
OUR OWN EDUCATION & CONDITIONING
Even today, western scientists still promote the
HINDUISM OR
idea that life, or consciousness, came from inert
SANATAN DHARMA
matter. In other words, a ‘primordial soup’ of inert Incompatible
elements somehow made the quantum leap into
with Evolution theory
animated single-cell organisms and evolved from
or Western Scientist idea
there into more complex forms. This is the main“Life comes from Matter”
stream 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 MODERN EVOLUTION THEORY
Vedic version differs from:
there is no God and that everything we see
before us some cosmic accident by some natural 1. life comes from primordial
soup (chemicals/matter)
selection. There are many problems with this
theory that don’t get discussed enough, so this 2. Men evolve from monkeys
3. Civilization gradually
theory goes largely unchallenged. But even
rises from cavemen
Darwin had problems believing this himself
when he would look at a peacock feather and
4. General spin that world
try to understand the utility of such a thing in
is evolving upwards.
the scheme if ‘Survival of the fittest.’
5
THE THEORY THAT MATTER GENERATES CONSCIOUSNESS
My spiritual master once paraphrased evolu- WHAT IS MORE REASONABLE?
tion theory in it’s simplest terms: What the
Consciousness from Stone?
scientists are actually proposing is—
Stone from Consciousness?
“Consciousness is coming from stone (stone
VEDIC VERSION:
densest form of matter). But, he said this is
not a very reasonable theory to promote— that Spirit, or Consciousness
animates matter.
something infinitely more valuable
(Consciousness) is coming from far less valuConscious Creator(God)
able(stone). He said it would be more reasonresponsible for the creation
able to theorize that stone is coming from conof Matter & Spirit
sciousness: 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.
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.
SPIRIT MOVES MATTER
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.
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.
BODILY IDENTIFICATION
6
SANTATAN DHARMA-”WE ARE SPIRITS IN THE
MATERIAL WORLD”
SANATAN DHARMA
”We are Spirits in the
So, Sanatan Dharma means that we are in
Material World”-Police
essence, Spirit, and that we should act accordingWe are spirit in essence
ly, Just as the essence of sugar is sweetness, and
& we should act accordingly
heat and light cannot be separated from fire, we
cannot avoid being spirit in essence, No matter if recognizing the sacredness
of life in everyone.
one identifies himself as Hindu, Christian,
Muslim, Jew, Buddhist,agnostic or atheist, this
universal principle applies to everyone.
Obstacle to understanding:
Strong identification with body
and everything connected to it.
.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.”
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT
RECOGNIZING SPIRIT IN
And because this concept of everyone being
spirit souls is not clear in various religions, it EVERYONE AS A CHILD OF GOD
opens the door for fundamentalism and
Fundamentalism & Fanaticism
fanaticism. In extreme cases, those who do
Poisoning Religion with Politics or
not share a group’s particular belief system
are labeled infidels or heathens and are con- ignorance
ceived to be fit to be either aggressively con- Justifying aggression against others
verted, squelched or even killed. In recent
such as ‘heathens,’ ‘infidels.’ & idoltimes, it has been the practice of politicized
itors, or whatever
so-called religionists to dehumanize entire
populations to pave the way for genocide or
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
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.”
JESUS
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.
LIFE IS SACRED
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.
THEORY & PRACTICE
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.
Ascetics mortify the flesh to detach themselves from carVaisnavas
nal desires as did monks in medieval Europe who
Shaivites
flogged themselves. Yogis practice an 8-fold mystic
process for balancing the physical processes of the body, Yogis
Shaktas
quieting the senses and the mind to make it fit for one
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,
1996 BRITANICA
who Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita(verse Sanskrit &
BOOK OF THE YEAR
English slide) are higher than all of the above, practice
Vaisnavas 70% of
devotion to God in the form of Vishnu or Krishna to
800 million Hindus
clear their path back to the spiritual world. This last
category is by far the most common form of Hinduism.
25% are Shaivites
VAISNAVAS, SHAIVITES, YOGIS, SHAKTAS & ASCETICS
REALIZING SPIRIT
Overwhelming majority
worship Vishnu
8
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.”
MOST HINDUS REVERE RAMA & KRISHNA
VEDIC LITERATURES
VEDIC LITERATURES BY VEDA VYAS
by Veda Vyas
After Veda Vyas compiled the original 4 vedas, he wrote 4 vedas
supplementary historys called Puranas, the
Puranas
Upanishads. Veda Vyas also codified all this knowledge Upanishads
in stories for the less educated masses in the epic
Mahabharata
Mahabharata which also contains the Bhagavad Gita,
a.Bhagavad Gita
So Storytellers, usually brahmans, could tell illiterate
Vedanta Sutras
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
5.000 years ago in northern India.
VEDIC LITERATURES
Finally, Veda Vyas summarized the Vedas in the
4 Original Vedas
vedanta sutras. But somehow he remained unsatis- & many volumes of
fied. After consulting with his spiritual master,
supplementary literatures are
Narada Muni, he realized that, although he had
all compiled by Veda Vyas,
written so much knowledge for the benefit of the
world, the conclusion of all this knowledge was not Srimad Bhagavatam
Vyas’ natural commentary
clear. So Veda Vyas wrote his own natural commentary on the vedas called Srimad Bhagavatam. reveals Krishna as origin of all
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.
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
PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING THE CONCLUSION OF THE VEDAS
9
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.
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
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)
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
3 MODES OF NATURE
Goodness
Enlightened
Everyone is influenced by a mixture of these three
Desires Ignorance
Suffering
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.
Passion
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
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.
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
VARNASHRAM SYSTEM
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
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.
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?
KARMA
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
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.
So the vedas encourage those in the human ANIMAL LIFE VRS. HUMAN
form of life to purify themselves so they can
Animal life- Instincts/ No Free Will
become more spiritually conscious and
Eating, Sleeping, Mating & Defending
enlightened. If one misuses this human
No Karma
form of life by simply engaging in common
animal propensities of eating, sleeping,
Human Life- Developed Intelligence
mating and defending and neglects to
Can know Right from Wrong
develop his spiritual awareness, he may
Free Will & Accountability
lose his status as a human being and fall
Knows Death is coming
back down into an animal form where he
Can Know God
can simply eat, sleep, mate and defend.
Animals are not held accountable for their
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.
ANIMAL LIFE & HUMAN LIFE
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.
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 WORLDS
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
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-MANY VOICES
Encourages Regulation
for gradual elevation &
improving Karma
Sometimes gives instructions
to attain Heavenly Planets“if you do this you get this”
So you are starting to get a picture that there are
Also instructs how to
many different instructions in the vedas meant
achieve Final Liberation
for different types of people. Taken all together, it
from Birth & Death
can appear contradictory and confusing. That’s
why we have self-realized spiritual teachers who
understand the conclusions of all this knowledge and can guide us according
to our individual situation..
VEDAS HAVE MANY VOICES
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.”
HEAVEN & THE KINGDOM OF GOD
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
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.
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
THIS WORLD IS A REFLECTION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
14
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.
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.
ETERNAL TIME
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 VRS. THE SUPREME GODHEAD
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
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 DIFFERENT BODIES
15
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
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.
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
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
God has also entered into his material creCreates everything with a spark of
ation as the all-pervading Supersoul. He has
Himself and resides in his Kingdom
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.
Bhagavan-The Supreme Person
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
VISHNU AND HIS EXPANSIONS
He is infinite and unlimited so He can expand God-Creator & Controller
Himself and Express Himself in unlimited
of everything
VISHNU AND HIS EXPANSIONS
ways. Vishnu is One but He expresses Himself
Krishna original Vishnu
in many forms. As one candle lights another,
Vishnu expands into different forms to disAs one candle lights another
playing His unlimited opulences and qualities. Krishna expands Himself
to express Himself in different
Vishnu forms
i.e., Ram as Ideal King
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.
BECOMING GOD CONSCIOUS
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.
MAIN YOGIC PATHS
Yoga means “to link up”
MYSTIC YOGA
KARMA YOGA
Mystic yoga is not practical for this age. The most
JNANA YOGA
accessible path open for everyone is a life of devotion.
If we arrange our lives as an offering to God, God will BHAKTI YOGA
All these paths require
reciprocate and help us come back to the spiritual
world.Otherwise, it is not possible. All things become some Bhakti or Devotion
possible with Gods help. The Vedas, in the end, are
devotional and monotheistic. Thank you for your
attention.
QUESTIONS:
Knowledge ends
in Devotion
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 935-4905 or [email protected]
17
18