Loving Ganesha: Chapter 21 (section 3) - Hinduism: The Greatest Religion in the World--Hindudharmah Mahattamo Visvadharmah

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font-family:Arial">Namaste all,

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font-family:Arial">The third section of chapter 21 of Loving Ganesha, from

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

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

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font-family:Arial">Neil

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font-weight:bold">Hinduism's Unbounded Tolerance

In

apparent conflict, the scriptures written thousands of years ago explain how we

should live, and saints and rishis and seers

throughout the ages have told us that it is impossible to live that way. So,

Hinduism has a great tolerance for those who strive and a great forgiveness for

those who fail. It looks in awe at those who succeed in living a life according

to its own strict ethics. In Hinduism, we have many, many saints. You don't

have to die to be acknowledged a saint in our religion, you have to live. The

Hindus, perhaps beyond all other people on the earth, realize the difficulties

of living in a human body and look in awe at those who achieve true

spirituality.

The Hindu

believes in reincarnation. He believes that he is not the body in which he

lives, but the soul or awareness which takes on a body for a definite purpose.

He believes he is going to get a better body in a better birth, that the

process does not begin and end in a single life, that

the process is continuous, reaching beyond the limits that one life may impose

on inner progress. Of course, his belief in karma assures him that a better

birth, that progress inwardly will come only if he behaves in a certain way. He

knows that if he does not behave according to the natural laws, to the Hindu

ethics, that he will suffer for his transgressions in a future life, or future

lives, that he may by his own actions earn the necessity of a so-called

inferior birth, earn the right to start over where he left off in the birth in

which he failed.

The

belief in karma and reincarnation is exclusively Hindu, and yet many people in

the world today, whether they call themselves religious or not, are coming to

the same conclusions, not from being told to believe but in a natural way, from

the inside out. This belief in more than a single life brings to the Hindu a

great sense of peace. He knows that the maturity of the soul takes many lives,

perhaps hundreds of lives. If he is not perfect right now, then at least he

knows that he is progressing, that there will be many opportunities for

learning and growing. This eliminates anxiety, gives the serene perception that

everything is all right as it is. There is no sense of a time limit, of an

impending end or an ultimate judgment of his actions and attitudes. This

understanding that the soul evolves gives the Hindu remarkable insight into the

human condition and appreciation for all men in all stages of spiritual

development.

Hinduism

is so broad. Within it there is a place for the insane and a place for the

saint. There is a place for the beggar and for those who support beggars. There

is a place for the intelligent person and plenty of room for the fool. The

beauty of Hinduism is that it does not demand of every soul

perfection in this life, a necessary conclusion for those who believe in

a single lifetime during which human perfection or grace must be achieved.

Belief in reincarnation gives the Hindu an acceptance of every level of

humanity. Some souls are simply older souls than others, but all are inherently

the same, inherently immortal and of the nature of the Divine.

 

 

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

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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

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Kapaa, HI 96746-9304

 

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