The Essence of Hinduism

[Xan]

Maybe I didn't may it clear, but I didn't mean that yoga is Hinduism. In fact most Hindus don't practice yoga, neither the physical or the meditation parts. I meant yoga is one of the gifts to the modern world from that religion and culture.

I practice yoga daily but I am not involved with the Hindu religion. I just know a good bit about it from reading the scriptures and time spent in India.


Xan

Yoga doesn't equal Hinduism, Yoga is an offspring of Hinduism, though some people in the West who practice Hatha Yoga may not be aware of it's origin in Hinduism.

It is common in many cultures that there is a religion, which is meant to be practiced by all people, and an esoteric teaching, linked to that religion, which is meant to be practiced by relatively few, who aspire spiritual development. It can be seen in the relationship between Hinduism and Yoga, Judaism and Kabbalah, Islam and Sufism, Christianity and Rosicrucian and Freemasonry.

Buddhism is an interesting case. It started out by Buddha as a secular spiritual path. Later on it developed to be also a religion. Today, Buddhism has two aspects to it: a religion followed by many and spiritual path(s) followed by few (relatively).

Joshua,

Thank you for the clarification. "Yoga doesn't equal Hinduism. Yoga is an offspring of Hinduism."

Hare Krishna !

From mistogan....

"hello there :),

storymaker, (or others too), can you explain me why there is cast system ? where it takes source ?
Is it the same like in Europe some centuries ago, where there were Nobles, Aristocrats, workers... ?
But the difference is in the european cast system, there is no link between cast and religion, whereas in Hinduism, there is.
Another question, you said in Hinduism there is the cast system, and not in the Gita... but I thought Gita is a sort of branch of Hinduism ... ?

advance thanks for your answer

bye bye"

From mistogan's another post......

"My point is in a spiritual view, the cast system is completely useless. There is God and there is living things, as you said guys, everybody is equal to the supreme Deva.

I also heard that a the beginning, the cast system wasn't as strict as now: a kshatriya could become a vaishya and a vaishya could become a brahmin : only studies mattered at this time, not family background or whatever. Then the head of the system consolidated their position with a stricter system, and by bounding casts.

what would you say ? "

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>

Dear mistogan,

Thanks for your posts. I am sorry, I could not join earlier.

It's so nice to read your posts ! It appears that you already have the answers to all your questions.

First of all let me tell you that I stand by what I had said earlier. Following your asking points, I would love to go further adding here that the Gita has had nothing to do with Hinduism or any other religion. The Gita is for all humankind. It has had nothing to do with caste or any religion, it is all about the absolute truth and how to attain that. It's all about the right ways of living life, about the illusions and realities of life. It teaches how to be rational in your thoughts and analysis of problems. It teaches and makes one aware of the subtle and dormant qualities and power within ourselves. It leads us to salvation and makes our lives significant.

Caste and class are two different things. In Hinduism, whatever practices you see outside God or the quest of God, did not come from the Gita. We only make a mess of a thing and then we only start squabbling about it. Yes, as per the Gita, it was somewhat like in Europe centuries back. Different classes, defined by their livelihood and duties, were there but they all lived together in a dignified manner, with love and respect for each other. Lord Krishna himself was from Vaishya class.

If classes are different, then treatments are also different but that does not mean treatment with hatred and no love or respect. Students in 3rd standard and 12th standard are for sure treated differently but where is the scope of neglect, dislike and hatred ?

Today we all live in a hipocrite stupid society. Here we make cigarettes and then say, "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you." Here we run here and there looking for a Saint but when our own son wants to become a Sadhu(Monk/saint) we do not like to be proud of him, rather we start crying.

Mistogan dear, God alone should be the point of focus. He is all pervading and omnipresent. When you see Him everywhere, in every animate and inanimate object and in within yourself, then only you can go above all these senses of caste, religion, creed, etc and love all. After all, you cannot hate or dislike yourself.

Lots of love and best wishes,

SM

Hare Krishna!

From Mayflow.....

"What? The Gita is based on the caste system. I think Buddha and Jesus both disdained the caste system. I am with them on this one. In the Gita, the author(s) continually tell Arjuna that he is of the warrior caste and has to comply with what he is told to do. The Gita is to me a horrid teaching."
__________________

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>

Dear Mayflow,

Thanks for your post.

It leaves me with no doubt that you have neither read The Mahabharata nor The Gita well. That is why The Gita is a horrid teaching to you. Without reading or understanding it at all, I suppose, you should not make a comment like that. Of course it is your personal opinion but you should not do or say something now for which you will be ashamed later. Request that you have a little patience and read the book fully well and try to understand the basis of everything in there.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am sorry if I have hurt you.

Love,

SM

Hare Krishna!

Thanks to all for the beautiful posts in this thread. Xan and Joshua G have put in their short and valuable comments as always. A few posts have digressed the main topic. However, for the sake of establishing the truth it is all fine and well.

Someone said the all important thing that in the eyes of the Lord all are equal. That should be the way to look at it. For the teacher all are students from different standards(Classes) but difference in treatment, in reprimand, in everything.... is there. The relationship, care and love remain the same for all.

The basis of all yogas is to connect with the The Lord, the super-natural being. The basic purpose of yogas is dehashuddhi and chittasuddhi (Purity and well-being of body and mind). Long practice of Yoga leads to awakening of the Kundalini Shakti. Some of us do it just for health and some others do it for both health and spiritual advancement. Yoga very soon increases the power of concentration and it helps training the mind easily.

The art of performing various yogas came even before existence of any religion as we know that to lie or sit straight in a relaxed posture is also an important Yoga Process of evolution brought the other Pranayams, yogas and hathayogas through our ancient enlightened sages from all cultures. And that process of evolution is still on. The main reason for practice of Yoga was to concentrate, do pranayam for easy Kumbhak (Arrest of breath) and then for other purposes of healing and maintaing sound health.

The problems and troubles of doing Yoga (Hathayoga) are also there, these can give you super-natural and uncanny powers in a very short period of time which may stop a yogi or an aspirant from further advancement. That is why so many other yogas are there. They are mainly Bhakti Yoga(Love and devotion) and Karma Yoga(Doing jobs as duty and service to the Lord without any desire for the fruits of gain or loss).

To sum up, religions are totally irrelevant in the subject. The great teachers from all faiths taught us everything but religion. They knew God and talked about God alone.

Love and best wishes to all,

SM

Originally Posted by storymaker

The basis of all yogas is to connect with the The Lord, the super-natural being.

Hare OM!

Some relate more to God as a super-natural being, like Krisna or Brahma.
Others relate more to the godhead (Brahman), which is absolute, transcendent, the essence of all-that-is, including the essence of God.

Originally Posted by storymaker

The basic purpose of yogas is dehashuddhi and chittasuddhi (Purity and well-being of body and mind).

The basic goal of Yoga is liberation, by realization of the Supreme Reality.

As Sankara said:

(6) "Men may recite the scriptures and sacrifice to the holly spirits, they may perform rituals and worship deities -- but, until a man wakes to knowledge of his identity with the Atman, liberation can never be obtained; no, not even at the end of many hundreds of Brahma's years."

(9) "Through devotion to right discrimination he will climb to the height of union with Brahman. By the power of Atman, let him rescue his own soul which lies drowned in the vast waters of worldliness."

(10) "Let the wise, who have grown tranquil and who practices contemplation of the Atman, give up all worldly activities and struggle to cut the bonds of worldliness."

(11) "Right action helps to purify the heart, but it does not give us direct perception of the Reality. The Reality is attained through discrimination, but not in the smallest degree even by ten million acts."

(27) "Longing for liberation is the will to be free from the fetters of ignorance -- beginning with the ego-sense and so on, down to the physical body itself -- through realization of one's true nature."

(56) "Neither by the practice of Yoga or of Sankhya philosophy, nor by good works, nor by learning, does liberation come; but only through the realization that Atman and Brahman are one -- in no other way."

(59) "Study of the scriptures is fruitless as long as Brahman has not been experienced. And when Brahman has been experienced, it is useless to read the scriptures."

(62) "A sickness is not cured by saying the word "medicine". You must take the medicine. Liberation does not come by merely saying the word "Brahman". Brahman must be actually experienced."

(63) "Until you allow this apparent universe to dissolve from your consciousness -- until you have experienced Brahman -- how can you find liberation just by saying the word "Brahman"? The result is merely noise."

(82) "If you have desire for liberation, give up like poison from a long distance the objects of senses; and take to contentment, kindness, forgiveness, straightforwardness and peace."

(110) "… Knowledge of Brahman -- the One, pure, without a second -- destroys it (Maya), as the illusion of the snake in the rope is destroyed when the nature of the rope is known."

Hare Krishna!

Dear Joshua G,

Thanks for your beautiful post. I agree cent per cent.

And those quotes of Shankaracharya are simply wonderful and gems. Hope, all friends here take a note of them and try to understand. Simplicity is the key to understand big things in simple words. Wonderful !

Hare Krishna!

Love,

SM

[quote=storymaker]Hare Krishna !

From mistogan....

"hello there :),

storymaker, (or others too), can you explain me why there is cast system ? where it takes source ?
Is it the same like in Europe some centuries ago, where there were Nobles, Aristocrats, workers... ?
But the difference is in the european cast system, there is no link between cast and religion, whereas in Hinduism, there is.
Another question, you said in Hinduism there is the cast system, and not in the Gita... but I thought Gita is a sort of branch of Hinduism ... ?

advance thanks for your answer

bye bye"

From mistogan's another post......

"My point is in a spiritual view, the cast system is completely useless. There is God and there is living things, as you said guys, everybody is equal to the supreme Deva.

I also heard that a the beginning, the cast system wasn't as strict as now: a kshatriya could become a vaishya and a vaishya could become a brahmin : only studies mattered at this time, not family background or whatever. Then the head of the system consolidated their position with a stricter system, and by bounding casts.

what would you say ? "

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>

Dear mistogan,

Thanks for your posts. I am sorry, I could not join earlier.

It's so nice to read your posts ! It appears that you already have the answers to all your questions.

First of all let me tell you that I stand by what I had said earlier. Following your asking points, I would love to go further adding here that the Gita has had nothing to do with Hinduism or any other religion. The Gita is for all humankind. It has had nothing to do with caste or any religion, it is all about the absolute truth and how to attain that. It's all about the right ways of living life, about the illusions and realities of life. It teaches how to be rational in your thoughts and analysis of problems. It teaches and makes one aware of the subtle and dormant qualities and power within ourselves. It leads us to salvation and makes our lives significant.

Caste and class are two different things. In Hinduism, whatever practices you see outside God or the quest of God, did not come from the Gita. We only make a mess of a thing and then we only start squabbling about it. Yes, as per the Gita, it was somewhat like in Europe centuries back. Different classes, defined by their livelihood and duties, were there but they all lived together in a dignified manner, with love and respect for each other. Lord Krishna himself was from Vaishya class.

If classes are different, then treatments are also different but that does not mean treatment with hatred and no love or respect. Students in 3rd standard and 12th standard are for sure treated differently but where is the scope of neglect, dislike and hatred ?

Today we all live in a hipocrite stupid society. Here we make cigarettes and then say, "Smoking seriously harms you and others around you." Here we run here and there looking for a Saint but when our own son wants to become a Sadhu(Monk/saint) we do not like to be proud of him, rather we start crying.

Mistogan dear, God alone should be the point of focus. He is all pervading and omnipresent. When you see Him everywhere, in every animate and inanimate object and within yourself, then only you can go above all these senses of caste, religion, creed, etc and love all. After all, you cannot hate or dislike yourself.

Lots of love and best wishes,

SM

Hare Krishna!

OOOPs............ Double post. I dont know what is happening. Even PCs are in the Divine Game. !

Love to all.

SM