Unity in Hinduism

[Guest guest]

Further to the question about unity and diversity in Hinduism by

Hilary the following reply recd....................jay

 

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Dear Hilary,

 

Thank you for raising the question whether Hinduism is one religion or a

collection of religions. This is a very key question. I believe the answer

lies in the Vedanta philosophy which underlies Hinduism and is accepted,

with various modifications, by all the Hindu sects.

 

Vedanta philosophy is bsed on the presuppostion that the primary, most

important thing in human life is the direct experience of God or the

superconscious state. Such an experience is available to anyone who follows

the proper methods to do so. That is yoga in its proper meaning.

 

From millennia of testimony of those who have attained to

superconsciousness, Vedanta asserts that the same, unchanging Reality is

expressing Itself through all the possible forms of the universe. There is

no form, including religious forms, that is not an expression of the divine

and through which God/the superconscious cannot be experienced if the proper

methods are scrupulously followed. Therefore, all religious forms are valid.

 

The emphasis here is on experience, not the form through which the

experience is attained. This is a very pragmatic approach, because it means

that anyone can follow his or her own natural bent in seeking religious

experience. There are no artifical barriers to authentic religion.

 

Because of this unifyuing philosophy underlying our human activities, all

conceivable religious forms have developed in Hinduism. The only criterion

of validity of these forms is: Has it produced superconscious seers? In a

culture embedded in this ethos for millennia, there are always people who

are capable of evaluating the claims of any religious sect to genuine

religious experience, no matter how varied the outer forms may be. If a

particular form survives, it does so because it is producing genuine seers

and saints. Of course, people with full-blown superconscious realization

are few and far between; but to have produced even one, or even a few who

are very evolved spiritually, is proof of the validity of any religious

form.

 

I believe this is the answer to your question.

 

Cordially,

Sister Gayatriprana