Pluralism

[Guest guest]

Dear Jay

 

I want to follow up on pluralism once more. You say,

 

" Pluralism does not teach that all religions are same. In fact it says that

there are 'different' pathways to the same destination. "

 

But the destinations themselves are totally different. The Hindu 'atman' is

essentially divine and the goal is to manifest that divinity. On the other

hand, the christian soul is " eternally damned " and needs to be saved by

Jesus and can NEVER be considered divine. There are too many other

differences to enumerate here.

 

Many great Hindu saints, including Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi,

have spoken of many paths to self-realization. However, what they mean is

that the techniques of sadhana are several and have to be adapted to the

needs of the seeker. Going to temples, murti pujas, sastraic rituals, food

restrictions, fasting, bhajans, veda adhyayana, pranayama, mantra japa, nama

japa, ashtanga yoga, dhyana, self-enquiry and any combination of one or more

or all of these and other techniques may have to be employed by any given

seeker based on his prarabdha karma, or pakva. In this sense it is possible

for people to have Jesus or Allah as their ishta Devata or to use Jesus'

teachings as upadesa. In this sense ONLY, Sanatana Dharma recognizes

multiple paths to god. Christians and muslims dont recognize the concept of

self-realization at all.

 

Arguing that christianity (as defined by christians, not as understood by

us, as I argued in the last post) and Hinduism are different paths to the

same goal, is wrong as per both the traditions, I feel. What do you think?

Thus pluralism can at bext be defined as " Difference with respect " or

" Different but equal " . This is another way to go forward with mutual respect

for each other. Why force both to believe in the " same destination? " The

destination is the same only under the vedantic interpretation of Jesus'

teachings, not as per the Vatican or the Baptist interpretation. Sri

Ramakrishna worshipped Jesus and found that he merged in him. Christians

would find that blasphemous. Sri Ramakrishna remained true to the Hindu

concept of self-realization even as he practiced christianity. Similar

christian mystics such as Meister Echkart have been totally sidelined by the

church and are not representative of christianity for inter-religious

dialogue purposes.

 

regards

 

Swami

 

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