Tig; Why I like Vedanta (experience, faith, religions, science)

[michel]

I admire Vedanta - perhaps partly because i have noticed that those who follow this Faith are quiet, mild and well humoured; they are a credit to the belief system.

Vedanta seems to be a composite of the best parts of many philosophies.

I did a little more research on the religion, and found this helpful (From:-http://www.vedanta.org/reading/monthly/articles/2000/9.Is_Ved_for_West.html)

When asked, most Western Vedantins say what first attracted them was the universal outlook toward other religions: the teaching that all religions are different paths leading toward the same goal.

Others are attracted because in their prior experience, religion has been at war with science. Yet science demonstrates its truths right in front of our eyes, while religion seems to say, wait till after death and you'll find out that religion was true. How can a sensible person accept the latter and deny the former? Such religious claims appeal to our fears and not to our intelligence. But Vedanta is a religion in search of truth, based on experience rather than on creed, and therefore has no conflict with the thrust of science. Yet it offers an exquisite idealism and the chance of transcendence, which science cannot offer.

It is also the emphasis on personal transformation, on practice and realization, which attracts people. Religion for the Vedantin lies in being and becoming, not in believing and proclaiming. All religions, of course, emphasize personal growth to some extent, but for the Vedantin it is the only standard of measurement. It's not what we say we believe, but what we are that matters.

Some are attracted by great souls—the lives of great illumined beings like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda—or perhaps by a living exemplar of Vedanta. In either case they find someone who has attained something they want, something of obvious value which they haven't seen elsewhere. It is fire that generates fire: one burning candle can pass its flame to countless other candles. An unlit candle can't do that. And so it is life that generates life: one great life ignites other lives with a vision of something heretofore unimagined, of priceless value.