vedanta - Profile (original) (raw)
on 7 September 2001 (#341285)
Welcome to The LiveJournal Vedanta Center.
"The word 'Vedanta' means the end (or final chapters), or essence of the Vedas, the ancient sacred scriptures of Hinduism. The end portions of the Vedas are also called the Upanishads. These scriptures are the record of the spiritual experiences of many ancient sages of India in their search for God and Reality. The sages who wrote these books are largely anonymous; the truths they taught, not their personalities, were important. Thus Vedanta, though it represents the philosophical and religious backbone of the many sects of Hinduism, is not relevant only to Hinduism. Its teachings are universal and impersonal. They consist of basic principles of spiritual life which can be experienced and tested by earnest seekers of every race, religion, and epoch." --from the Vedanta Society of Western Washington web site
"Vedanta teaches that every soul is potentially divine, and can realize that divinity through the yogas of devotion, meditation, selfless work, and philosophical discrimination. According to Vedanta, Truth is universal and all humankind and all existence are one. It accepts every faith as a valid means for its own followers to realize the Truth. " --from the Vedanta Society of Portland web site
"Vedanta does not teach the divinity of all things merely as a theory or dogma. Vedanta teaches various methods, called yogas, by which the individuals, according to their temperament, can realize their inherent divinity or God. There are four primary methods called "yogas": jnana yoga, the path of discrimination between the real and the unreal; bhakti yoga, the path of love and devotion; karma yoga, the path of selfless action; and raja yoga, the path of concentration and meditation. By following one or more of these under the guidance of a qualified teacher, the aspirant can fully realize the existence of the divine reality as the very essence of oneself and the world."--from the Vedanta Society of Western Washington web site
"What do we mean when we say God? According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age."--from the Vedanta Society of Southern California web site
"Finally, Vedanta affirms that all religions teach the same basic truths 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-realization. The conflicting messages we find among religions are due more to doctrine and dogma than to the reality of spiritual experience. While dissimilarities exist in the external observances of the world religions, the internals bear remarkable similarities."--from the Vedanta Society of Southern California web site
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