Is Hinduism a religion of the "I"?
 

Is Hinduism a religion of the "I" or does God go beyond the "I"?

Can't comment on this as I know very little about Hinduism. Shiv is the expert, I'm sure she'll help....

Depends on whom you ask as Hinduism is too big and diverse so you won't get one answer. ''Hinduism'' is a collective term for almost all spirituality in India that isn't one of the other 'big' religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism) so it tends to be a lot of things, that either complement or contradict one another.

Some paths will tell you that God is wholly person and no human soul can be God or become God. The Vaishnavists such as Hare Krishnas take this stance.
Other paths, such as the ones based on advaita philosophy, will claim that the human soul can become enlightened and effectively god in the flesh (please nobody get pedantic here and go ''the one who says, can never be'' etc.).

So Honza, it entirely depend on what path or branch of 'Hinduism' you are thinking about or whom you ask.

Okay, thank you Altair.

No prob., perhaps Shivani can help you further and provide detail.:smile:

Namaste and thank you to both Sky and Altair for the personal acknowledgement....which is also what this thread is all about really.

Like you Honza, I (that is my ego) have problems corresponding the Divine Almighty God with an identifying personal pronoun...however, maybe all this does is to provide the best example as to the limitations of human language in regards to experience.

See, there exists a dichotomy at the very heart of the Vedas and it comes in the form of that great saying: "You are THAT" or "Tat Twam Asi".

This is meant to convey that you...as a Jiva (embodied spark of Divinity) is much more than you could think of or conceive of yourself to ever be and this also includes any notions of "I am THAT" when it is more precise to say "THAT alone exists" totally irrespective of anything that an "I" could ever believe myself to be on any level relating to existential metacognition.

In the Ribhu Gita, it says "I am consciousness, you are consciousness, everything is consciousness".

http://pradeepapte.blogspot.com/2011...ita-5.html?m=1

Now, it becomes a case of Siva and Ribhu telling people more than they need to hear just to "get the point across" because what is happening here, is that we are being separated in order for unification to occur and this is the very essence of Yoga and Sāṃkhya philosophy. All that happens is that it just confuses the majority of us..."if all is Self, why do we need to individuate Self?" Maybe we are just missing some point which has been totally lost on us from the beginning.

We understand that Brahman/God/Source/Consciousness transcends the mind and any notions of who we think we are or who we understand ourselves to be on any level which could ever relate to an utterance like "I am God"..so thus, two schools of thought can arise from such musings...the totally inclusive path (I AM) and the totally exclusive path (I am NOT) and for many Hindus (my ego included) we tend to follow the latter path until Nirvana or Samadhi ensues.

You could say that Hinduism is a religion of the "I" until any notion of an "I" is swept up into the experience of God seeing itself through it's own existence AS us and then pure awareness ensues without an "I" needing to be present to be aware OF the awareness for "Self" is sufficient unto "Self" without any requirement to be labelled as such.

Many worship the concept of a Divine entity...a Deva...a "God" according to one's understanding that such an entity transcends any and all ability TO understand it and that is the whole purpose it serves...to get us OUT of the notion of an individual awareness and into an all inclusive one, where there is no difference between any utterance which can be made in regards: "I AM"..."I am NOT"..."God IS"...it is all the same thing, really.

It is just that many can dispense with the internal narrative dialogue at that point which seems to label a profound experience in retrospect, so the mind can try to make some sense of the nonsensical in hindsight...to try and relate the experience to others and "all is Self" probably comes the closest, yet still does the awareness a huge injustice and disservice by doing so because the elephant in the room is still visible: "what is this Self that the Self IS?" and we tie ourselves up into knots trying to mentally convolute it...much easier to project it onto a concept that nobody can understand (aka God) and say "there we go...have at it".

...and of course, God still exists beyond our individual capacity to realise He/She/It does as any concept of who we believe ourselves to be and this understanding is known as Vishistadvaita or qualified Non Duality and that is what most Hindus ARE.

Aum Namah Shivaya

Thanks Shiv, really interesting (as always) Post :smile:

Thank you Shivani.....

Well, I shall be on Amino Hindu Forums if anybody wants me because I am getting that feeling like I am just way too intelligent and wise to be on here again.

It is like I am trying to teach advanced algebra when others cannot even understand how 1+1=2.....and I am also missing Janielee who could make me chill out whenever this happened before..

This really stresses me out and acts as a trigger for my major depressive episodes. One day...one day, I hope to hear those three "magic words"...not "I love you" but "I get it".

"Hey Shivani..can you please explain the entire Vedas to me in one sentence using English words with no more than 4 letters because I have a learning disability?"

"Yeah...."You are that" now get lost".

Aum Namah Shivaya

Hinduism certainly seems like an expression of I AM. In that sense it is a religion of the "I". I am getting the point that God is as much the "I" as He is the "God".