Thoshi Takeuchi: The truths espoused in Christianity are appearing to me the same truths that are taught in Hinduism or Buddhism.

[Guest guest]

>

> Thank you. If we focus ourselves on the teachings and message of the

> Divine Mother and Jesus we can achieve much. There are superb books

> out there that support and enlighten, some of which we are already

> posting here. They are so enriching and comforting to our mind, body

> and spirit. So lets raise the bar a notch or two, and set a minimum

> standard for the Blossom Time.

>

> jagbir

>

 

>

> The Good News Indeed!, August 29, 2002

> By A Customer

>

> Some time ago, I wrote the following. Having re-read the book, I

> would like to repeat it. I truly hope my path crosses the Bishop's

> some day, and I can tell him in person how much he has done for me:

> I loved this book. I was brought up in the Episcopal Church, but

> have not attended church for years. When I have found myself in

> church over the years, I have felt, just as Bishop Spong describes,

> hypocritical and rather numb, saying words that do not, in truth,

> hold meaning for me, yet yearning to find a home for my own

> spirituality. Reading the Bishop's book, I find someone expressing,

> and supporting with scholarship, what I feel. I am inspired by the

> idea of God as the Ground of Being of which we all partake; of

> Jesus, not as unattainable perfection, but as the model for

> passionate expression of that Being, which is available to all of

> us. Clearing all the paths for its expression is the task, but it's

> there, and it's ours. This is the true message of the Gospels. This

> is truly the Good News.

>

 

 

Thoshi Takeuchi's Upanishads

 

The Upanishads may seem somewhat more difficult to grasp compared

with the Dhammapada. At least they are certainly more difficult for

me to understand. Unlike the Dhammapada, which outlines a philosophy

and practice, the Upanishads describe experiences and realizations by

a number of ancient sages (gurus). The goal of the text may be to

help the reader in the path towards spiritual enlightenment by

describing many of the experiences along the way.

 

The way I have approached these texts is to read them and obtain

understanding of these works at whatever level I can. Some parts make

sense, while other aspects do not make sense to me. However, I found

that when I reread the texts at a later time, I can appreciate and

understand more because of the experiences I have gained in the

intervening time.

 

I think the way NOT to approach these texts is overanalyzing or

trying to obtain logically consistent ideas (because they were

written by many people). Similarly I would not take the opposite

approach and believe and follow everything in the texts without a

basis of personal experience to help back up the teachings. The

experience is an essential part of the understanding...

 

The Kena Upanishad

 

The Kena Upanishad addresses some of the deepest questions of

spirituality and mankind. What is life? What is thought? What is

consciousness? What does any of this have to do with religion,

spirituality or philosophy? In this Upanishad, the dialogue occurs

between a student and a teacher. The student wonders for example,

" Who makes my mind think? Who fills my body with vitality? " The

answer to these questions as explained by the teacher is that our

Self is that part of us that IS.

 

The Self cannot be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or touched. The Self

cannot be known by the intellect or understood by the mind. It is a

strange paradox that we may want to understand our true Self, but the

Self is so difficult to find. " There is only one way to know the

Self, and that is to realize him yourself. "

 

The question that may arise in our mind is, what is this " Self " , and

why would we want to strive to realize it? The first aspect is that

deep driving quest for Truth within all of us. If by achieving and

realizing the Self, we achieve awareness of reality, then that in

itself is a wonderful quest! The second point is that by

understanding ourselves, we go beyond the cycle of birth and death.

Birth and death are meaningless when we are in contact with Reality.

Thus the Kena Upanishad is not wonderful for the practicality as with

the Dhammapada but is wonderful because it inspires the seeker by

acknowledging the quest for Truth and pushes us to desire to achieve

this Truth.

 

The second part of the Kena Upanishad describes a story where the

gods defeated the demons, but these gods (Agni, god of fire; Vayu,

god of air; and Indra, leader of gods) got arrogant and decided that

the power of Good was theirs and that power and glory were theirs

alone. Thus the true spirit and power (Brahman) taught these gods a

lesson. Brahman showed them that the true power comes from the power

of the Self, and not from the gods themselves.

 

It is the power of Brahman that makes

The mind to think, desire, and will.

Therefore

Use this power to meditate on Brahman.

 

He is the inmost Self of everyone;

He alone is worthy of all our love.

Meditate upon him in all. Those who

Meditate upon him are dear to us all.

 

This passage raises a very interesting point about Hinduism. Although

Hinduism is a pantheistic religion with multiple gods, everything and

everyone (including all of us) receives their power from our true

Self, that which is Brahman. From this sense, the Brahman, the Self,

is the true God, while the other gods are simply manifestations of

the Self in lesser forms. " Agni, Vayu, Indra?these three excel Among

the gods because they realized Brahman. "

 

The Upanishad ends:

 

Those who realize Brahman shall conquer

All evil and attain the supreme state.

Truly they shall attain the supreme state!

 

These statements are extremely interesting because they say that the

power of the gods (and all of us) are derived from the Self, the

Brahman. The ability of the gods Agni, Vayu, and Indra to be powerful

and defeat the demons was because these gods excel in the

understanding of our true Self. The corollary to these statements is

that if we can find our true Self, then we will be in contact with

what gives the power to the gods, and therefore we can " conquer all

evil " .

 

I will state this again, because it is so important:

 

If we can find our true Self, then we will be in contact with what

gives the power to the gods, and therefore we can " conquer all evil " .

 

 

This statement might be interesting to some as an ego trip or as a

power boost. However, that is not the idea behind this Upanishad.

Agni, Vayu, and Indra were taught a lesson because of their power

trip. The idea behind this principle lies in the power of inspiration

and renunciation. We are honored when we truly understand our

relationship to the Universe and attain power, not as an individual

entity, but as part of the greater whole.This realization of Truth is

the goal, and through understanding this Truth, we can understand and

overcome any obstacles. I personally find this idea inspiring, and

appears to have many similarities to Christian ideas and principles.

(I am the way)

 

It is very interesting, because I was initially driven away from

Christianity because of the dogma that you must put your faith in

God/Jesus before you will be shown the way. However, the Eastern

tradition is different. In the Kena Upanishads, it states very

clearly that only way to experience the true power, God (Brahman), is

to experience the realization firsthand. However, one important

difference in the text is that that the way toward this realization

is meditation. Thus you will experience the nature of reality and

Truth through the practice of meditation. This idea is much more

appealing to my scientific train of thought, rather than the dogma

that faith must come before the experience. It does not say that I

must believe in something to find Truth. It says that you must

practice (meditation) in order to find the Truth.

 

However, now that I have practiced meditation for many years, I find

that I am becoming more devotional and spiritual. The truths espoused

in Christianity are appearing to me the same truths that are taught

in Hinduism or Buddhism. Thus, I will say to those seekers on the

path of meditation, continue with the meditation and see how your

view of reality changes with time. Do not deny your rational and

skeptical thought (I cannot, after all, I am a scientist :-);

however, at the same time, keep an open mind.

 

Toshi Takeuchi