Lorry G Halfkenny Just now · Wakefield, MA · Sri RAMAKRISHNA.........................God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole hearted devotion. One may eat a cake with icing either straight or sidewise. It will taste sweet either way. As one and the same material, water, is called by different names by different peoples, one calling it water, another eau, a third aqua, and another pani, so the one Everlasting-Intelligent-Bliss is invoked by some as God, by some as Allah, by some as Jehovah, and by others as Brahman. As one can ascend to the top of a house by means of a ladder or a bamboo or a staircase or a rope, so diverse are the ways and means to approach God, and every religion in the world shows one of these ways. As the young wife in a family shows her love and respect to her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and every other member of the family, and at the same time loves her husband more than these; similarly, being firm in thy devotion to the deity of thy own choice, do not despise other deities, but honour them all. Bow down and worship where others kneel, for where so many have been paying the tribute of adoration the kind Lord must manifest Himself, for He is all mercy. The devotee who has seen God in one aspect only, knows Him in that aspect alone. But he who has seen Him in manifold aspects is alone in a position to say, All these forms are of one God and God is multiform. He is formless And with form, and many are His forms which no one knows. The Saviour is the messenger of God. He is like the viceroy of a mighty monarch. As when there is some disturbance in a far-off province, the king sends his viceroy to quell it, so wherever there is a decline of religion in ANY part of the world, God sends His Saviour there. It is one and the same Saviour that, having plunged into the ocean of life, rises up in one place and is known as KRISHNA (the leading Hindu incarnation of God), and diving down again rises in another place and is known as Christ. Every man should follow his own religion. A Christian should follow Christianity, a Mohammedan should Mohammedanism, and so on. For the Hindus the ancient path, the path of the Aryn sages, is the best. People partition off their lands by means of boundaries, but no one can partition off the all-embracing sky overhead. The indivisible sky surrounds all and includes all. So common man in ignorance says, My religion is the only one, my religion is the best. But when his heart is illumined by True Knowledge, he knows that above all these wars of sects and sectarians presides the One Indivisible, Eternal, All-knowing Bliss. As a mother, in nursing her sick children, gives rice and curry to one, and sago arrowroot to another, and bread and butter to a third, so the Lord has laid out different paths for different men suitable to their natures. Dispute not. As you rest firmly on your own faith and opinion, allow others also the equal liberty to stand by their own faiths and opinions. By mere disputation you will NEVER succeed in convincing another of his error. When the Grace of God descends on him, each one will understand his own mistakes. There was a man who worshiped Shiva but hated all other deities. One day Shiva appeared to him and said, I shall never be pleased with thee so long as thou hatest the other gods. But the man was inexorable. After a few days Shiva again appeared to him and said, I shall never be pleased with thee so long as thou hatest. The man kept silent. After a few days Shiva again appeared to him. This time one side of his body was that of Shiva, and the other side that of Vishnu. The man was half pleased and half displeased. He laid his offerings on the side representing Shiva, and did not offer anything to the side representing Vishnu. Then Shiva said, THY BIGOTRY IS UNCONQUERABLE. I, by assuming this Dual aspect, tried to convince thee that all gods AND goddesses are but various aspects of the one Absolute Brahman..........................originally from The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (New York: The Vedanta Society, 1903) compiled by Swami Abhedananda Reprinted in The Religions of Man pgs. 86---88 by Houston Smith 1958 2nd edition 1965 BY Harper & Row LikeLike
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 05:04:22 +0000
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