| Hinduism : The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma |
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| Books By David Frawley |
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RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND THE MODERN WORLD |
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| A.
Religion, Spirituality and the Modern World What is God? God is the term most often used in Western religious thought to describe the Supreme Being or spiritual reality behind the universe. The term God is originally a Germanic word and relates to the idea of the good, the summum bonum, what is supremely beneficial in life. God in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic sense stands for the Creator of the universe, who has a personal nature, and is generally conceived of as a father who resides in Heaven. Sanatana Dharma teaches that there is an ultimate spiritual reality, which one can call God, but that this reality transcends all names, forms and actions. Its highest Truth is one of monism - not that there is only One God but that there is nothing but God, who includes all creatures within a greater Being. Such a Divine being id not merely creator. He is the creation itself as well as the Uncreate which transcends time, space and causation as pure consciousness, called Brahman or the Absolute. All creatures and all the universe are in essence God. Our soul is one with God and can experience God in consciousness. Brahman is the very Self of all beings. It is neither male nor female. It is beyond emotion and expression. It has no only sons, favorite prophets or chosen people. It transcends time, space and person. All of creation consists of merely the surface waves on its infinite sea. It is a unity of Truth, not of belief, and a Truth that has many forms and functions in its manifestation. Brahman is not apart from the world. It is the very being and presence underlying all things. It is equally present in an ant as well as in a human being. There is nothing apart from it. Yet it is not tainted by anything. Like space it pervades everything but assumes no form. While one can call Brahman God, one should realize that Brahman is a universal principle of Being transcending both the Creator and the creation and is not the same as the God of monotheistic beliefs (which Hindus call Ishvara or the Lord).
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