Our Long Journey with
Mystery
Part One :- Hinduism – the Eternal Journey
' We are
not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having
a human experience'
Humanity
has evolved over millions of years and as an innovative, creative and curious
species is fascinated with the mystery and the unknown. This underpins our
spiritual sense of, and quest for, a Presence or Mystery at the heart of
creation. The quote from Teilhard De Chardin above expresses this fascination and
our human story echoes it in many different forms that reflect cultural and
spiritual experiences. These have been recorded and form part of our inherited Universal Wisdom. One outcome has
been the emergence of the major
Religions, the oldest of which is Hinduism. This short article can only begin
to give a 'flavour' of this great spiritual tradition, a ' treasure house' of wisdom with its
emphasis on unity, the oneness of creation and our need for balance between
knowledge and action and sound and silence.
Hinduism
is a name given by westerners to a group of beliefs and practices that emerged
in India Firm Way
However,
the following are some foundational aspects. It is God Centred rather than
prophet centred and emphasises the importance of personal experience over rigid
belief. It believes in a Source (God) who is both immanent and transcendent (within
and beyond). Contrary to popular misconception, Hindus DO NOT worship
many Gods. They believe in One God ( Brahman or Ultimate Reality) and the
concept of the Tri Murti , the three aspects of God in one image. These are :
Brahma – The Creator, Vishnu – The Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer ( of evil)
and Re-Generator. Hindus believe that
Vishnu has come to earth , at least ten times, in different forms that are
called Avatars.
Three
of the most famous Avatars are: Rama, who came as a king to show humans
how to rule with justice and to live simply, Krishna, the simple cowherd
loved by humans and animals for his beauty, love of all and his enjoyment of life and finally Buddha,
revered because he taught and practiced non-violence.
For
most Hindus the practice of their religion is based around the concept of ‘
Murtis’. These are the many representations ,or attributes, of the Mystery who is referred to as ‘ The
God of a Thousand Faces’. Following your ‘dharma’ is extremely important and the goal of life is
to achieve ‘moksha’ liberation from the cycle of birth- death and
rebirth. In Hinduism there are many paths to moksha. Three of these are
prominent. The first is ‘karma’
(action) where positive deeds can eventually lead to liberation. The second is bhakti
’(loving devotion). The majority choose the first two. The third is ‘jhana’ (knowledge/realisation)
and to gain this one needs a Guru or Master.
In this short exposition
on Hinduism it is important to finish with a reference to its wisdom
literature. Arguably, the Hindu Scriptures, known as ‘The Vedas’ ( a rough
translation is Wisdom Scripture) contain some of the most succinct, direct and
helpful wisdom sayings and have much to teach us all. The most famous and
helpful of these come as part of the Vedanta ( the end of the Vedas). These are the Upanishads, which
translates as 'a teaching sitting at the feet of a Master' and the Bhagavad
Gita - ' The Song of the Lord' . The latter is a wonderful story,
known and beloved by Hindus. It recounts the story of a great battle between
the forces of Good and Evil , where the Lord Krishna assists the hero to
overcome his doubts and fears and fight fearlessly in the cause of justice and
right and to beware of the seductive nature of the selfish ego. One of its
lovely quotes is ' on the battlefield of life fight with peace in your
heart. ' This is a message
that rings true for all situations . With peace in our hearts we can face the
many challenges that our world presents.
The other
great literature is the Upanishads. These are teachings from great spiritual
Gurus. The most famous of these is the Isa Upanishad, the shortest book in the
Vedas, only 18 verses. Gandhi once remarked that if somehow the world lost all
of its sacred scriptures and only the 1st verse of the Isa was left, then we
would have enough wisdom to reflect on for our life here in this body-psyche.
The verse is 'Behold the Universe in the glory of
God: and all that lives and moves on earth. Leaving the transient, find Joy in
the Eternal: Set not your heart on another’s possessions.' This underpins the
great Hindu teaching regarding our unity in diversity. To respect and tolerate
all living things and to realise the uniqueness of all humanity and also our
underlying unity. We share far more of the of the Mystery than our
ego-differences may falsely suggest. In
essence Hinduism's great teaching is our Unity as a diverse Human family. The
human family desperately needs to recognise this truth.
