Loving Ganesha: Chapter 21 (section 7) - Hinduism: The Greatest Religion in the World--Hindudharmah Mahattamo Visvadharmah

[Guest guest]

font-family:Arial">Namaste all,

font-family:Arial">

font-family:Arial">The seventh and last section of chapter 21 of Loving

Ganesha, from http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-21.html

font-family:Arial">

font-family:Arial">

12.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Shanti

font-family:Arial">

font-family:Arial">Neil

font-family:Arial">

font-weight:bold">Within Hinduism is a Place for Everyone

Hinduism

is as broad as humanity is, as diverse as people are diverse. It is for the

rich and the poor, for the mystic and the materialist. It is for the sage and

the fool. None is excluded. In a Hindu temple you can find every variety of

humanity. The man of accumulated wealth is there, supporting the institutions

that have grown up around the temple, seeking to spend his abundance wisely and

for its best purpose so that good merit may be earned for his next life. The

pauper is there, begging in hopes that perhaps he will eat tomorrow and the God

will inspire some devotee to give him a coin or two. So, a Hindu temple is a

reflection of life, set in the midst of the life of the community. It is not

making an effort to be better than the life of the village, only to serve that

life and direct it to its next stage of evolution. The same Hindu mind which

can consume within it all the religions of the world can and does consume

within it all of the peoples of the world who are drawn to the temple by the

shakti, the power, of the temple. Such is the great embracing compassion of our

religion.

The

greatness of Hinduism cannot be compared with other religions. There is no

basis for comparison. Hinduism, the Eternal way or Sanatana Dharma, has no

beginning, therefore will certainly have no end. It was never created, and

therefore it cannot be destroyed. It is a God-centric religion. The center of

it is God. All of the other religions are prophet-centric. The center of those

religions is a great saint or sage, a prophet, a messenger or messiah, some

God-Realized person who has lived on earth and died. Perhaps he was born to

create that particular sect, that particular religion, needed by the people of

a certain part of the world at a certain time in history. The Hindus

acknowledge this and recognize all of the world's religious leaders as great

prophets, as great souls, as great incarnations, perhaps, of the Gods, or as

great beings who have through their realization and inward practices incarnated

themselves into, or transformed themselves into, eminent religious leaders and

attracted devotees to them to give forth the precepts of life all over again

and thus guide a tribe or a nation or a race into a better way of life.

margin-left:-15pt;margin-top:-503.25pt;width:3in;height:207.75pt;z-index:1;

mso-wrap-distance-left:7.5pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:1.5pt;

mso-wrap-distance-right:7.5pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:1.5pt;

mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;

mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:line' o:allowoverlap="f">

13.5pt">The Hindu mind can encompass this, appreciate

it, for it is firmly settled in a God-centric religion. The center of Hinduism

is the Absolute, the timeless, formless, spaceless

God who manifests as Pure Consciousness and as the most perfect form

conceivable, the Primal Soul. He radiates out from that form as a myriad of

Gods and Goddesses who inhabit the temples and bless the people, inspire the

scriptures, inspire the spiritual leaders and uplift humanity in general. It is

a one God in many forms. We recently heard a sannyasini at the Ganesha Temple in

New York describe this in a most wonderful and

profound way, "Siva is the fire. Shakti is the heat of that fire. Ganesha

is the red color of that fire. Murugan is the light

of that fire."

There are

nearly a billion Hindus in the world today. That's roughly four times the

population of the entire United States. Every sixth person on the planet is a

Hindu. Hinduism attends to the needs of each one. It is the only religion that

has such breadth and depth. Hinduism contains the Deities and the sanctified

temples, the esoteric knowledge of inner states of consciousness, yoga and the

disciplines of meditation. It possesses a gentle compassion and a genuine

tolerance and appreciation for other religions. It remains undogmatic

and open to inquiry. It believes in a just world in which every soul is guided

by karma to the ultimate goal of Self Realization, leading to moksha,

freedom from rebirth. It rests content in the knowledge of the divine origin of

the soul, its passage through one life and another until maturity has been

reached. It offers guidance to all who take refuge in it, from the nonbeliever

to the most evolved maharishi.

It cherishes the largest storehouse of scripture and philosophy on the earth,

and the oldest. It is endowed with a tradition of saints and sages, of realized

men and women, unrivaled on the earth. It is the sum

of these, and more, which makes me boldly declare that Hinduism is the greatest

religion in the world.

font-family:Arial">

font-family:Arial">Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

font-family:Arial">

font-family:Arial">Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/

& http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy

Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Arial">107 Kaholalele Road

Kapaa, HI 96746-9304

font-family:Arial">

Attachment: (image/jpeg) image001.jpg [not stored]