How can we choose rightly among various religions?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
spiritual side, there are different religions and when we have to choose, we take a chance about choosing, how can we make the right choice? All religions, they have a esoteric side and an exoteric side.
Exoteric refers to, that is external. Esoteric is that which refers to internal. So often we see the exoteric differences and we think, this whole thing is a confusing mess.
I don’t want to get into this. But if we learn to focus on the essence, we will see the similarity. For example, say now here in America, all over the world, there are traffic and there are traffic rules.
The purpose of traffic rules is the orderly movement of vehicles. Now if you see in India and in America, the rule is not just different, the rule is opposite. The rule is opposite but the purpose is the same.
So if you focus on the rules, we will think, what is this contradictory? Which is the purpose, the purpose is the same. So like that, there are differences in religions, no doubt. Undeniable differences.
But the purpose is to raise human consciousness. To raise human consciousness from the material level to the spiritual. And once we understand this common principle, then we can look at the support systems offered by various religions for raising one’s consciousness.
So in general, if we look at the Bhagavad Gita or the yoga texts which are coming in the Vedic body of literature, they give a very systematic understanding of life’s spiritual side, of exactly who we are. The self, the locus of consciousness, we see that as an intellectual support system for understanding who we are and what we are meant to realize, how to realize it. That understanding of the soul as a concrete higher dimensional entity, that is far more clearly given in the Vedic texts.
If we look at the Bible, it does talk about the soul. But largely, whether it is the Bible or the Quran, they refer to the soul as a way to, as a metaphorical reference to our non-material essence. There is no very clear description of what the soul is.
The concept of the soul is there, but the specific explanation of what the soul is, that is not so much given over there. So in terms of intellectual support system to understand the soul, to realize the soul, the facility is much more. So it’s like you have to climb up a mountain.
Now while climbing up a mountain, there can be different paths to go up the mountain. The purpose is to rise up to the top of the mountain. Now some paths may be easier, some parts may be tougher.
So similarly, like the top of the mountain is like spiritual consciousness, bottom of the mountain is like material consciousness. So we have to rise from material consciousness to spiritual consciousness and the different religions are like pathways up that mountain. So as I said, in some religions, some support systems are more.
In some religions, those support systems may not be there. The purpose is the same. The purpose is all the paths are meant to take us to the top.
So as far as the specific knowledge of the soul is concerned, that is not so clearly given. And I just, I have written a new book on reincarnation. I just came to three days ago.
So actually the concept of the soul and its journey through many lifetimes, that is also not so clearly described in the Abrahamic religious texts. Now reincarnation is pointed to, there are several references which do talk about reincarnation, at least reincarnation is compatible. But it is not explicitly mentioned or explained.
So exactly who we are and how we evolve in our journey towards God, some of these things are not so well explained. And so there is the philosophical understanding which the yoga texts give much more clearly than in other cases. But this is not, this is not something which is just because we are practitioners of the Vedic texts, so we say this is better.
It is something which you can evaluate. The more important thing is that we practice. Just like if I am sick, now I need to take a medicine.
If the medicine is not working for me, I’ll find out if it doesn’t work for me. If it works for me, great, I get cured. So Srila Prabhupada, once he was giving a talk in America, in New York and a young man said, Swamiji, your philosophy sounds like that of the Buddha.
So Prabhupada said, do you follow Buddha? No Swami. Prabhupada said, follow Buddha, follow Jesus, follow Krishna, follow someone. Don’t just talk.
The point is when we follow, we will realize whether this is helping me or not, whether this is raising my consciousness or not. If we just stay arm-chest, speculators, maybe this is like this, maybe this is like that, then there is no transformation that happens. Sometimes people just get so caught in what to follow that they don’t follow anything.
So ultimately we have to understand that the religion, various religions that are there in the world, they are pathways which God has provided for us to come to Him. So when we follow a particular religion, it is not that we are following that religion, we are following God and if that religion is not the best for us, we put our faith in God and God will guide us. So religion is meant for God.
God is not meant for religion. So that means that when we follow any particular path, it is not just that we shouldn’t see, okay, I am here, this path is here, this path is here, this path is here, which path should I follow? You see, I am here, God is here and I want to go close to God and with my God-given intelligence right now, I will choose something. I use my intelligence to choose and I am not just putting faith in this path or that path or that path.
I am actually putting faith in God. If we have that attitude and we put that faith, we will be guided onwards in our spiritual journey. Is the answer your question? Yes, we will come to you.
Mataji, you had a question? Yes, please.