| Awaken Bharata |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| SARVA DHARMA SAMABHAVA : UNITY OR CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS | |
| The
Pluralism of Paths
Sarva Dharma Samabhava is equated with the idea that "Truth is one but the paths are many." There is indeed One Truth and there is no limit as to the number of potential paths to it, whether inside religion as we know it or beyond it. This plurality of paths is as important a principle as the unity of Truth. There are many and diverse paths to truth that cannot be limited or stereotyped along one approach, however useful that approach may be. Different individuals possess different temperaments and are at different stages of spiritual growth. Therefore a variety of approaches must be offered to meet the various needs of living beings. We must respect this pluralism of paths as much as the Unity of Truth or we will turn that infinite unity into an exclusive path or rigid uniformity in which both the One truth and the many paths are denied. The pluralism of paths is the basis of religious freedom and freedom of inquiry through which alone we can discover what is real. Yet the statement that truth has many paths does not mean that all paths, as long as they call themselves religious, must be equally good and lead to the same goal. A pluralism of spiritual paths implies that there are paths that lead to falsehood and paths that lead only to partial truths. Not all paths take us to the full truth of existence. A path can only take us as far as it goes. For example, a religion that does not teach any experiential path to Self-realization, which has no concept of karma or liberation, and no gurus or living lineages who have attained it, cannot take us there, however faithfully we may practice it. |
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