Pluralism - response from Sw Yogeshananda

[Guest guest]

Further to the email from Swaminathan...Swami Yogeshananda has given a

detailed response as under. We have edited the message separating the

remarks and the individual response as under...........jay

 

------------------------------Pluralism----------------------

 

" 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. "

 

Response:

This is not true of the great Christian mystics. St. Teresa of Avila, St.

John of the Cross, Meister Eckhart, the " Pilgrim " of Russia and many others

affirm the oneness of the soul with God, albeit it comes by grace and the

unity of essence is by God's " lending " his substance to the soul.

 

 

" Christians and muslims dont recognize the concept of

self-realization at all

 

Response:

This is patently untrue. The writer is not familiar with the literature of

the mystics, Christian or Sufi, ancient or modern, and it is in the mystical

tradition that Vedanta speaks of pluralism.

 

 

" 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. "

 

Response:

This directly contradicts the words of Sri Ramakrishna and the teachings of

Swami Vivekananda. When both traditions fully understand the goal, as

described by them, both can see that it is the same for all.

 

 

" 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. "

 

Response:

The writer might be surprised to know that in the West, at least, where a

lot of interfaith dialogue is going on, many Christians are not finding it

blasphemous, and the sidelining of the mystics is rapidly ending. Is

interfaith dialogue with exclusivist representatives of any faith, really

worthwhile? It can only be done with those who are open to dialoguing.

 

 

Swami Yogeshananda

Vedanta Center of Atlanta

2331 Brockett Road

Tucker, GA 30084 Ph: 770-938-6673

yogeshananda

http://www.vedanta-atlanta.org/

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