Vedanta and Secularism
It was one of those typical days when jnani and jignasu were talking their walk after dinner. Jnani was a wise man and Jignasu expected him to be of broad mind and wanted to know what he thought of other religions. Jignasu asked him suddenly, are you secular? Jnani shot back, what is being secular? Jignasu said, it means to be tolerant of all religions; accepting them to be true. To Jignasu's utter surprise, he answered, then Iam not at all secular because neither do I tolerate all religions nor do I accept them all as totally true.
Jignasu pleaded him to explain the rationale to him. Jnani said, " You tolerate something that is wrong, not something that you believe is right. So in that way, I cannot tolerate all religions as I look at them as different paths to the same goal. But as different paths are just means to reach the goal and by themselves cannot define the goal, they can all be true. what is 3+2?" five, Jignasu said. Then what is 1+4? again five so you see? How is this related to god and religions, Jignasu asked. Jnani said, you have no problem in accepting that there could be so many ways just to get to one point on a number line, think of how many ways there could be in getting to that supereme truth of whom the numer is just one manifestation. So do not say you tolerate other religions, say they are other ways to get to the same destination. I do not accept all of the religions as completely true either, because the process of getting to the number cannot tell us anything about the number itself.
Remember the story of blind men and the elephant, while one called it to be like a tree, one said it was like a brush..knowing all these options will help you see the reason behind all religions. But religions cannot and should not stop at knowing one/ all the options. Their utility is just as a tool to help us see the whole elephant. For that what you need is vision and for that you need to open the spiritual eyes. Once the elephant is known all the religions are simultaneously true and false. After that like the two numbers used to get to the sum, the utility of religions remains just what it is... a tool. Do not be attatched to your religion either, because by doing so you say that there is only one way of getting to the number.
This requires you to revise everything you have known and to complicate the matters, no one can help you, you are on your own as you are given both the strength and resposibility to find that yourself.
Therefore rise up and be strong; physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually.
Jignasu pleaded him to explain the rationale to him. Jnani said, " You tolerate something that is wrong, not something that you believe is right. So in that way, I cannot tolerate all religions as I look at them as different paths to the same goal. But as different paths are just means to reach the goal and by themselves cannot define the goal, they can all be true. what is 3+2?" five, Jignasu said. Then what is 1+4? again five so you see? How is this related to god and religions, Jignasu asked. Jnani said, you have no problem in accepting that there could be so many ways just to get to one point on a number line, think of how many ways there could be in getting to that supereme truth of whom the numer is just one manifestation. So do not say you tolerate other religions, say they are other ways to get to the same destination. I do not accept all of the religions as completely true either, because the process of getting to the number cannot tell us anything about the number itself.
Remember the story of blind men and the elephant, while one called it to be like a tree, one said it was like a brush..knowing all these options will help you see the reason behind all religions. But religions cannot and should not stop at knowing one/ all the options. Their utility is just as a tool to help us see the whole elephant. For that what you need is vision and for that you need to open the spiritual eyes. Once the elephant is known all the religions are simultaneously true and false. After that like the two numbers used to get to the sum, the utility of religions remains just what it is... a tool. Do not be attatched to your religion either, because by doing so you say that there is only one way of getting to the number.
This requires you to revise everything you have known and to complicate the matters, no one can help you, you are on your own as you are given both the strength and resposibility to find that yourself.
Therefore rise up and be strong; physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually.
posted by atma_tripta at 7:22 AM
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