Hinduism

Reply to Gregory

best part of hinduism is advaita vedanta, stick to that and forget the rest

https://dialecticspiritualism.com/?fbclid=IwAR2FbV1MjNOpFt7orEm9dLer5bYg9YpUs3d7wUihaR0E7UmmpewBJVi0m3Q

That guru says that God is not distinct in quality from our Atman. Just in quantity. This traditionalist young Catholic guy who recently stole Amazonian statues from a church and threw them in a river doesn't understand religion. He does even understand his own faith. Vatican II said "Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flightto God with love and trust".

The guru however seems to have hit the nail on the head, philosphically. Huston Smith says in his book The World's Religions, "As a Hindu devotional classic puts the point, 'I want to taste sugar; I don't want to be sugar.'" The next page says, "Even village priests will frequently open their temple ceremonies with the following beloved invocation:"O Lord, forgive three sins that are sue to my human limitations. Thus art everywhere, but I worship you only here. Thou art without form, but I worship you in these forms. Thou needest no praise, yet I offer you these prayers and salutations. Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations".

Hinduism understands monism in a duality it seems. And maybe that is truth. Greg

"The attitude of regarding God as one's child sounds somewhat foreign to Western ears, yet much of the magic of Christmas derives from this being the one time in the year when God enters the heart as a child, eliciting thereby tenderness of the parental instinct."

Hinduism is much about all the parts of life being for the Divine. In a forum discussion many years ago this guy was saying the people should only receive the Eucharist on the tongue. I responded that one can cradle Jesus for a second if received on the hand, Jesus being then in the form of the Infant of Prague (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_Jesus_of_Prague). He didn't like that idea

Reply to OmniscientNihilist :up:

Quoting Gregory

Christians often say that if we are ultimately one person than we can't love. I think this false because it forgets spiritual discernments. But if we are all one person, does this mean I either have or someday will literally live your life? I dont get how the dispersion works

Hinduism, on the whole, has many teachings concerning who we are, now as humans and ultimately as life. I think only those Christians who aren't acquainted with those teachings do find any problems with them.

As to living others' lives, it seems unnecessary. Much easier to gain others' perspectives.