Vedanta:our true nature is divine

Vedanta is one of the most ancient religious philosophies and one of its broadest. Vedanta affirms the Oneness of existence, the Divinity of the soul and the Harmony of religions. Vedanta is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism. Vedanta is Universal and is equally relevant to all countries , all cultures and all religious backgrounds.
A closer look at the word " Vedanta" is revealing , it is a combination of two words -"Veda" which means knowledge and "anta" which means the end of . In this context the goal of knowledge is not intellectual, the limited knowledge we acquire by reading books. " Knowledge" here means " the knowledge of God " as well as the "knowledge of our own divine nature". Vedanta then is the search for self knowledge as well as the search for God.
According to Vedanta- God is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, infinite love and infinite bliss.
Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine self. This divine self is never born nor will it ever die, neither stained by our failings nor affected by the fluctuations of the body or mind. The divine self is not subject to grief , despair, disease or ignorance.
This pure , perfect , free from limitations -the divine self , Vedanta declares, is one with the impersonal ,transcendent reality. The greatest temple of God lies within the human heart.
Vedanta further asserts that the goal of human life is to realise and manifest our divinity. Not only is this possible but it is inevitable.Our real nature is divine; God realisation is our birthright. Sooner or later we will all manifest our divinity because the greatest truth of our existence is our own divine nature. Finally Vedanta affirms that all religions teach the same basic truth about God , the world and our relationship to one another.
Thousands of years ago the Rig Veda declared "truth is one". Sages call it by various names.

The world's religions offer varying approaches to God, each one true and valid, each religion offering the world a unique and irreplaceable path to God realisation. The conflicting messages we find among religions are due more to doctrines and dogmas than to reality of spiritual experience. While dis-similarities exist in the external observances of the world's religions, the internals bear remarkable similarities.
Shree.

http://www.vedanta.org/wiv/philosophy/oneness.html

Ibn'Arabi

Ibn'Arabi said"Tradition has left us only words ;it is upto us to find out what they mean".He also said "The wise men will not allow himself to be tied to one form of belief"Such a large point of view is a priceless gift ,to be strived for and celebrated.

IN THE NAME OF GOD ,THE COMPASSIONATE,THE MERCIFUL



God is the light
of the heavens and the earth.
The smile of God's light
is like a niche in which is a lamp,
the lamp in a globe of glass,
the globe of glass as if it were a shining star,
lit from a blessed olive tree
neither of the East nor of the West,
its light nearly luminous
even if fire did not touch it,
Light upon light,
God guides to this light
whomever God will,
and God gives people examples;
and God knows all things.

Qur'an -24:35 - Al 'Nuur - The light

Today this verse made me realize that until and unless He wants, me cannot even turn towards Him, so small so unworthy i am.

Again Rumi

......"Move beyond my attachment to names"
Every war and every conflict between human beings has happened
because of some disagreement between names.

It is such an unnecessary foolishness,because just beyond the arguing there's
a long table of companionship set and waiting for us to sit down."
.........................................................................................................................
"What is praised is One,so the praise is One too,
many jugs are poured into a huge basin.
All religions ,all this singing one song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.
sunlight looks slightly different on this wall,
that it does on that wall and a lot different on this other one,
but it is still one light.
We have borrowed these clothes,these time and space personalities,
from a light,and when we praise,we pour them back in"

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi ......

Life Lessons 3

Love:

Love ,that thing I have great difficulty even describing,is the only truly real and lasting experience of life.It is the essence of relationships,the core of creativity,the grace of Almighty ,an itricate part of who we really are.

Love has nothing to do with knowledge,education,age or power,it is beyond behaviour.It is the only gift in life that is not lost and which we can give really give and receive .Love is the source of truth.

Some spend their lives searching for love.We are afraid we will never have it,that if we find it we will lose it and fearing it will not last.We think we know what love looks like ,since we formed pictures of it during childhood.The most common picture is the romantic love,when we meet someone special ,we surely feel whole,everything is wonderful and we live happily ever after.

Ofcourse we are brokenhearted when in real life ,we have to fill in the not so romantic details,when we find out that most of the love we give and receive is conditional.
Even the love for and from the families and friends is based on expectations and conditions .When the expectations and conditions are not met we find ourselves in loveless relationships.
Fortunately true love is possible,we can feel the love we had hoped for .It does exist but not in our approach to love.It does not live in the dream of finding the perfect mate .The wholeness we seek lives here,with and within us ,now in reality.

We're loved because of what we do for others,how much we earn,how funny we are,how we treat our children or keep our houses and so on....list can be endless.We find it hard to love people just the way they are.
Conditions on love are weights on our relationships.When we release the conditions ,we can find love in many ways we never thought possible.One of the greatest obstacles to giving unconditional love is our inner fear that the love may not be returned.We don't realize that the feeling we seek lies in the giving ,not in the receiving.Love others in freedom and without fear.

Love is always present in our life ,in all our wonderful experiences and even in losing our special loved ones.Love is what gives our days their deep meaning,it is what we are truly made of because our Beloved Maker is Love.
Love is very much alive and tangible......living within us all.Love is our experience of the Divine,of sacred holiness.Love is the greatest gift from God ,love is the richness all around us.It is ours for giving and receiving unconditionally .

Islam: Verse of the Throne

The Holy Q'uran refers to God as Rabb-al-Alameen,the Lord of all creation[literally 'the worlds'].The whole of the cosmos,nature as well as humanity is created and sustained by God.This notion of sovereignty is expressed in the following 'verse of the Throne'


Allah,there is no God but He,
the living the Eternal.
Neither slumber nor sleep seizes Him.
To Him belongs what is in the heavens and
in the earth.
who can intercede with Him,
except by His permission?
He knows what lies before them
and after them,
and they know nothing of His knowledge.
Save such as He wills .
His throne encompasses the heaven,
and the earth ,
and He never wearies of preserving them.
He is sublime,the Exalted.




Shree loves this verse .

Life Lessons 2

Relationships:

We will have many relationships in our lifetime.Our partners ,friends and significant others we choose but others such as parents and siblings are chosen for us.

Relationships offer us the biggest opportunities for learning lessons in life ,for discovering who we are,what we fear, where our power comes from and the true meaning of love .
We tend to think that we have relationship with relatively few people but the truth is we have relationships with everybody we meet, be they friends, relatives, co-workers, teachers or simply passer-by's. The attitude we bring to one relationship- positive or negative, loving, hopeful, encouraging, its we who bring to them all. We have the choice of bringing a little or a lot of love to each of our relationships. We have so much love all around us...no need to categorise them.

There is no mistake in relationships, everything unfolds the way its supposed to. We learn through them to see our own souls, with their rich topography,and to deliver ourselves to healing.

When we let go of our preconceived agendas in loving relationships, we set aside questions of whom we will love and for how long. We transcend these limits to find a love that is magical and created by HIM....just for us.

SHREE......