Right or wrong religion?

[Shantanu]

I prefer dropping language such as "attain Godhood", as if it were something you don't have already and have to get. In reality, that's like saying we "attain our lungs", or we acquired our eyes. It's not something outside of us we have to "get".

To imagine we "attain Godhood" is a fantastic doorway for the ego to fool us into thinking we have "arrived", and are now, and fully keeps ourselves from actually realizing the Truth of what we all fully, and always, are already.

How do you test your faith in non-duality being the truth?

 

[Windwalker]

How do you test your faith in non-duality being the truth?

This makes no sense. There is no "testing" to be done. That implies there is a division between possible options of Truth. There is only one Truth, and it is nothing you reason with the mind through dividing this from that. You simply see what simply is, and allow it to be without judgements, without "testing", and without "faith". You have moved beyond faith, beyond beliefs, into what IS.

The Truth, is purely Self evident. It needs no test. It's no proposition to 'believe in", or have faith exists. It's like someone asking you, "How do you know that you exist"? It's like asking me, "How do I know it's me typing these words? What test do you use to know it's you?" What? You don't already know it's really you?

 

[Shantanu]

This makes no sense. There is no "testing" to be done. That implies there is a division between possible options of Truth. There is only one Truth, and it is nothing you reason with the mind through dividing this from that. You simply see what simply is, and allow it to be without judgements, without "testing", and without "faith". You have moved beyond faith, beyond beliefs, into what IS.

The Truth, is purely Self evident. It needs no test. It's no proposition to 'believe in", or have faith exists. It's like someone asking you, "How do you know that you exist"? It's like asking me, "How do I know it's me typing these words? What test do you use to know it's you?" What? You don't already know?

If I understand you: all one needs to do is open ones eyes to see Reality.

 

[LuisDantas]

You see if you follow the 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold path, you not only attain a life without 'dukha', you are well on your way to nirvana given the right thoughts: that is what I mean by faith. I would need to go the the Buddhism DIR to review this for I am not clear on whether the Noble Truths are scientifically-based. What is your view?

What would that have to do with Salvation? That is the word that you used and that I object to.

 

[Windwalker]

If I understand you: all one needs to do is open ones eyes to see Reality.

Yes. However, the difficulty is that we seem hell-bent on clinging to our perceptions of truth as Truth itself. We don't like to surrender our "thinkingness" into the Unknown.

The experience of letting go, is like facing one's own death. All is surrendered in dying. And the moment of death's door can be quite terrifying, but presents itself as having been nothing at all, once we step over. The "gateless gate" is a great way to describe it. It's like opening a window that you learn was never actually even there at all.

Once the fear is released, then we open up the floodgates to our soul, and Reality rushes in. It is found it was everywhere fully available the whole time, and the only thing blocking us from knowing the Truth, was our belief in our separation from the Source and our true Identity. Everyone, everything, all that exists, is the Divine Reality. We simply wake up from being asleep to see the day as it truly is.

 

[Spirit of Light]

You see if you follow the 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold path, you not only attain a life without 'dukha', you are well on your way to nirvana given the right thoughts: that is what I mean by faith. I would need to go the the Buddhism DIR to review this for I am not clear on whether the Noble Truths are scientifically-based. What is your view?

can you scientificly prove hinduism?

The 4 noble truth is what buddha sakyamuni realized to be the cause of suffering. can you scientificly prove the thoughts of someone realizing it 2600 years ago?

 

[Jainarayan]

Simply being in the material world is not something which innately causes this division.

According to Hindu belief it is.

 

[Shantanu]

can you scientificly prove hinduism?

The 4 noble truth is what buddha sakyamuni realized to be the cause of suffering. can you scientificly prove the thoughts of someone realizing it 2600 years ago?

If you are happy believing what the Buddha taught, that is the most important thing.

 

[Shantanu]

Yes. However, the difficulty is that we seem hell-bent on clinging to our perceptions of truth as Truth itself. We don't like to surrender our "thinkingness" into the Unknown.

The experience of letting go, is like facing one's own death. All is surrendered in dying. And the moment of death's door can be quite terrifying, but presents itself as having been nothing at all, once we step over. The "gateless gate" is a great way to describe it. It's like opening a window that you learn was never actually even there at all.

Once the fear is released, then we open up the floodgates to our soul, and Reality rushes in. It is found it was everywhere fully available the whole time, and the only thing blocking us from knowing the Truth, was our belief in our separation from the Source and our true Identity. Everyone, everything, all that exists, is the Divine Reality. We simply wake up from being asleep to see the day as it truly is.

Do you not believe that a God directs our actions if we sought God?

 

[Shantanu]

What would that have to do with Salvation? That is the word that you used and that I object to.

To escape from suffering with the right thoughts and actions.

 

[Windwalker]

According to Hindu belief it is.

Is Hindu belief a single point of view? My understanding is there are many different schools of thought, and no some central tenet of faith, like you might find in Christian churches.

But in a sense this is true. Being in the material world lends itself to dualistic perception by default. However, it does not make one consigned to that and nothing higher. I believe the material world is by default, nondual in nature. Once one Awakens to it, then the material world is but the body of God, not other to God. It is traditional theism which places God outside creation. I do not believe that is reflective of most Hindu beliefs.

 

[Windwalker]

Do you not believe that a God directs our actions if we sought God?

Yes.

 

[Shantanu]

Yes.

So God is a Personal Entity separate from ourselves until we have become God.

 

[Jollybear]

That goal is completely lost now, due to proselytizing focus of Chistians,

Yes, its lost, but christians need to refocus on the real goal.

 

[Windwalker]

So God is a Personal Entity separate from ourselves until we have become God.

I think I misread your question. I do believe God is fully available to reveal Truth to us, when we are receptive to that though our intention towards the Divine Reality (which is what I call God). However, one has to be aware of what is the ego first, which can play "God" to itself, in some self-reinforcing delusion.

As far as God being an "Entity", that is a perception of the Divine as separate to us, while we are in a state of separation in ourselves. God cannot be an "entity" in actuality, as God, or the Divine Reality, by "definition" is everything that is. To be an "entity" makes God an object, like a cat or a dog or a person, or some such division.

God being Infinite, cannot be separate from anything and still be infinite. God is not a block of swiss cheese with holes in the middle of this infinity. There are no holes, or gaps, or divisions, or boundaries. All of those, are simply the mind dividing Reality into parts. It's a "mind reality", not Actuality.

Again, we cannot "become God", because God is All That Is. How can something become what it already is? All that happens, is we Realize it. And upon that realization, it transforms the condition of the mind and the body to be consistent with Reality, rather than dividing itself apart from Truth, which division is the root of all our suffering.

 

[Shantanu]

I think I misread your question. I do believe God is fully available to reveal Truth to us, when we are receptive to that though our intention towards the Divine Reality (which is what I call God). However, one has to be aware of what is the ego first, which can play "God" to itself, in some self-reinforcing delusion.

As far as God being an "Entity", that is a perception of the Divine as separate to us, while we are in a state of separation in ourselves. God cannot be an "entity" in actuality, as God, or the Divine Reality, by "definition" is everything that is. To be an "entity" makes God an object, like a cat or a dog or a person, or some such division.

God being Infinite, cannot be separate from anything and still be infinite. God is not a block of swiss cheese with holes in the middle of this infinity. There are no holes, or gaps, or divisions, or boundaries. All of those, are simply the mind dividing Reality into parts. It's a "mind reality", not Actuality.

Again, we cannot "become God", because God is All That Is. How can something become what it already is? All that happens, is we Realize it. And upon that realization, it transforms the condition of the mind and the body to be consistent with Reality, rather than dividing itself apart from Truth, which division is the root of all our suffering.

So you would not trust someone saying that he or she has followed instructions from God in carrying out certain tasks in the material sphere?

 

[Windwalker]

So you would not trust someone saying that he or she has followed instructions from God in carrying out certain tasks in the material sphere?

I would trust someone I could tell was actually speaking from experience of the Divine, versus those who are talking about what they think or believe about the Divine. There is a qualitative difference.

Drawing from the Christian tradition, Jesus gave a criteria to discern between the simply religious, and those who know God. "By their fruits you shall know them." Even if what they say may cause one dismay in the light of what they currently believe, the Truth can be heard beyond those beliefs by those with, "ears to hear, and eyes to see". Having those kinds of eyes and ears, it becomes apparent who are simply liars, such as the televangelists, for instance.

 

[Shantanu]

I would trust someone I could tell was actually speaking from experience of the Divine, versus those who are talking about what they think or believe about the Divine. There is a qualitative difference.

Drawing from the Christian tradition, Jesus gave a criteria to discern between the simply religious, and those who know God. "By their fruits you shall know them." Even if what they say may cause one dismay in the light of what they currently believe, the Truth can be heard beyond those beliefs by those with, "ears to hear, and eyes to see".

Why do you use the word 'Divine'?

 

[Spirit of Light]

If you are happy believing what the Buddha taught, that is the most important thing.

Yes i have no doubt in the teaching

 

[Windwalker]

Why do you use the word 'Divine'?

It's a little softer than the word God. It has a whole lot less baggage.

To me God and the Divine Reality are the same, just different words. A lot of people hear "God" and think of a "person" "up there" somewhere, literally, rather than simply as a figure of speech. The Divine in my use, is directly comparable to Emptiness in Buddhist thought, or Brahman in Hindu thought, or Godhead in Christian thought. The "Essence" of Reality, is the Divine. As the Buddhist might say,

form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.
Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness
is not other than form.
​

 

[Muffled]

I have noticed that some religious people often tend to think that the religion they follow is the only "right" religion. But in my head that sound in some way incorrect.

I think a religion that is right for me does not need feel right for others,
Any thoughts?

I believe If you are i na building with many doors but only one leads to your doctors office then there is only one right door.

I believe that is also true for eternal life. Only one door leads there and that is Jesus.