We Have a Lesson to Learn from the Past Esoteric Religions/Traditions to accomplish American Dream

We Have a Lesson to Learn from the Past Esoteric Religions/Traditions to accomplish American Dream

[Compilation for a Discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville, TN, USA, November 2020 by N.R. Srinivasan]

 

 Global Esoteric Traditions 

 

Esoteric, mystical, and occult traditions have been widely connected worldwide as far back as we can trace their history. These secret teachings cross over realms of healing, astrology, alchemy, Yoga, mantra, and meditation, emphasizing internal practices to raise our awareness to higher states of consciousness. They have been important in European traditions,   going back to the most ancient times. The last to arrive was the Mystic Sufi Baraka Tradition.

Yet these connections are not always easy to see or even recognized. Many such esoteric groups formed secret societies, particularly in European and Middle Eastern countries where they have faced extensive oppression by religious authorities. They often deliberately veiled their teachings in symbols and hid their identity and associations, retiring from the world or public scrutiny. 

The largest number of such esoteric traditions has occurred in India, Tibet and the Himalayan region. This is because these regions honored freedom of spiritual practice and maintained an unbroken continuity of teachings of Yoga and meditation. 

Spread of the Higher Teachings 

Many esoteric teachings were transmitted along the Silk Trail overland, which began in China, Tibet and India, picking up such Himalayan influences. This was the primary route how Buddhism entered into China two thousand years ago. The Silk Trail was part of other land routes from India and the Himalayas, including south through Iran in the south or north of the Black Sea that brought these traditions into Eastern Europe. 

Another important route was the Spice Trail from South India by sea, which went both to Europe through the Middle East on the western side and to China on the east. Hinduism and Buddhism spread to Indonesia, Indochina and East Asia along this path. Yet ideas also moved to the Middle East, North Africa and Europe by western maritime routes largely through the Persian Gulf. 

Extensive trade existed between India and the Greco-Roman world, including a movement of teachers and teachings. Plotinus (third century AD) – perhaps the most important mystic philosopher of later Rome and who strongly impacted Christian mysticism and the Sufis – was said to have visited India. Another important example was Apollonius of Tyana (first century AD), who visited India and carried on Pythagorean traditions that included vegetarianism and a belief in reincarnation. 

Migratory movements of peoples also allowed for the spread of esoteric ideas and meditation practices. There was a spread of peoples along the land route from India and Afghanistan through Central Asia and into Europe going back to the dawn of history. 

From Afghanistan – itself a Hindu and Buddhist kingdom until a little over a thousand years ago – were ancient trade and migration routes to the Volga, around the Black Sea and to the Danube going back many thousands of years. 

 Indo-Iranian Influences in Ancient Europe 

The main peoples that dominated Eastern Europe in ancient times were Iranian groups with ties to Afghanistan and India. These Northern Iranian groups were older than the Persian Zoroastrian traditions, and culturally different, reflecting teachings more like the Vedas of India. 

Ancient Iranian peoples like the Thracians and Scythians dominated Eastern Europe and the Balkans from well before 1000 BCE to the early centuries AD. The Thracians were the most numerous people in the ancient world according to the Greeks. Indeed the oldest cities and gold work in Europe are sites in Bulgaria going back to before 4000 BCE, like Plovdiv and Varna. Perhaps these were ancient Thracian sites. 

The Greek Orphic tradition arose from the Thracians and strongly influenced Greco-Roman esotericism. The Dionysian tradition, later very popular among the Greeks, was also connected to the Thracians. Dionysus resembles Hindu deity Shiva. Such traditions believed in rebirth and sought higher states of consciousness and ecstasy through music and chanting. 

The Scythians followed after the Thracians. The Scythians were often enemies of the Persians as Central Asian and Eastern European Iranian peoples that had their own distinct culture. Scythian kingdoms dominated Central Asia from 1000 BCE or earlier up to the eighth century AD. Greater Scythia extended from the Danube (Scythia Minor) to the Pontic Steppes (Scythia Major) and to North India and the Tarim Basin now in China. The Scythians and related peoples ruled parts of North India and Central Asia up to the early centuries AD, with Indo-Scythian, Indo-Greek, Kushana and Huna kingdoms that had associations both with India and with their European counterparts. 

Central Asian Scythian kingdoms followed Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Manichean influences, as well as their own indigenous traditions. The worship of Shiva and his son Skanda (Esoteric Sanhatkumar5a tradition) was common among them and frequently found upon their coins. Turkish and Mongolian groups in the region also adapted similar esoteric teachings as part of their worship of Tengri, their great deity of the Sky and the mountains, and their adaptation of Buddhism and Hinduism. 

 

Pagan and Esoteric Traditions 

Ancient European pagans as a whole, most known of which are the Celts and the Druids, had similar esoteric traditions in Western Europe throughout their  own long history, with suggestions of influences from the East, including a belief in rebirth, the use of philosophy, astrology and yoga like practices. 

There was a common extensive esoteric tradition in the ancient world that seems to become stronger the further back we go in time, which was gradually displaced and submerged with the onset of Christianity, though mystical Christianity borrowed much from it. 

These esoteric traditions developed into secret societies. We find Hermetic, Gnostic, Manichean, and Zoroastrian influences common in esoteric traditions of Europe extending into the middle Ages. The Manicheans, a religious group from Syria, also honored Buddha and spread as far as China, had a strong influence on Europe. There were special crusades in Europe against such mystical and pagan groups like the Bogomils and Cathars, which had Manichean and Gnostic influences. 

Meanwhile older pagan traditions survived in Europe until the fourteenth century, particularly in the Baltic region, notably Lithuania, which were the subject to brutal crusades against them by the Teutonic Knights. In many countries of Europe from Ireland to Russia older pagan traditions have survived in hiding, in the background, or by adopting Christian forms and symbols. 

Much of the Renaissance in Europe was based upon bringing back older pagan ideas and esoteric traditions, including Hermetic and Neo-Platonic ideas extending to reincarnation. Unfortunately, the mystical and astrological side of the Renaissance teaching was soon suppressed by the church. 

The Mongols under Genghis Khan and the Golden Horde had Buddhist, Taoist and Shamanic influences that reached Europe and Iran starting in the thirteenth century. The Golden Horde ruled the Eastern European region as far as the Danube for several centuries, only later adapting Islam. 

Alchemy, magic and astrology were common esoteric traditions up to the eighteenth century, with connections worldwide including China, India, the Middle East and Europe. The Gypsies, who came from India around a thousand years ago, brought many esoteric teachings as well as music and dance. 

Such esoteric connections increased after the nineteenth century with the Theosophical movement that spread throughout the globe, and with the travel of great Yoga gurus to the West starting with Swami Vivekananda at the turn of the twentieth century. 

Today there is a large group of neo-pagan traditions in Europe and America, from Celtic, Slavic, Baltic, and Germanic backgrounds, as well as renewed interest in Greco-Roman and Hellenic traditions extending to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian traditions, and indigenous traditions overall. This group is increasing as the interest in orthodox Christianity declines and reviving many of the esoteric sides of these traditions. 

 

Mystic Sufi Baraka Esoteric Tradition

Baraka is a prominent Esoteric Concept in Islamic mysticism, particularly Sufism. ... Baraka is not a state, it is a flow of blessings and grace. It flows from God to those that are closest to God, such as saints and prophets.  Poet-saint Tyagaraja, Ramadasa, Kanakadasa, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna   Paramahamsa and others had such an experience in their mystic lives!

Hindu Americans are familiar with the film Baraka, with a spiritual theme as background. It is an extraordinary non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke that enables us to see with our eyes and feel in our flesh that the Esoteric healing of self and the healing of the planet are inextricably linked.  

The filmmakers have captured a compelling record of dramatic and spiritual moments as well as other scenes which give us pause to wonder about the fate of the planet and its creatures. Everyone will have his or her favorite images or scenes from Baraka. Many Traditions with their esoteric background have their views too!

• Many Traditions of Esoteric background are moved by the variety of scenes portraying the devotional lives of individuals all over the world. There is something touching about men and women in prayer and Bhajans, humbling themselves in acts of veneration to a higher being. Such people can become vessels of compassion. 

• Many Traditions of Esoteric background are awed by the Awe-inspiring Himalayan Mountains of Nepal, the Iguacu Falls in Argentina, Ayers Rock in Australia, the terraced landscapes of Bali, and Canyonlands National Park in Utah. 

•  Many Traditions of Esoteric background are impressed by the rituals of cultures that have retained their intimacy with the natural world — Australian aboriginals, African tribes, and Latin American Indians. In some instances, individuals participating in these rites seemed to be awakened to larger realities. Among these were the Sufi whirling dervishes in Turkey, the Balinese men doing the "Kecek" dance, and the Maasai man jumping for joy. 

• Many Traditions of Esoteric background were  somewhat saddened by the scenes of traffic and subway congestion in New York City and Tokyo where compulsion pushes aside compassion and speed becomes the order of the day. Contrast this with the tranquil monkey meditating in a   pool or  a religious Hindu doing Sandhyavandana  standing in the flowing stream gazing at the Sun or a  Buddhist monk doing a walking meditation on a busy street. 

• Many Traditions of Esoteric background were taken aback by many places in the world where compassion seems to be in exile. Certainly its absence is evident in the faces of poor people scavenging for food at a   garbage dump, in the bundled up bodies of homeless people sleeping on city streets, in the cold stares of prostitutes and in the violent glare of soldiers guarding munitions. 
•  Many traditions of Esoteric background hope that the energy to widen our circle of compassion will come from the Buddhists in their temples, the Christians in their churches, the Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Islamic believers in their mosques, and the Hindus along the sacred river Ganges. 

"Baraka" is a Sufi word meaning a blessing, or the breath, or the essence of life, from which the evolutionary process unfolds originally and later adapted by others.  In Islam generally, it is "a quality or force emanating originally from Allah but capable of transmission to objects or to human beings." In Judaism, it is a ceremonial blessing. In Swahili, it means "blessing”. In French slang, it means "good luck." In Serbian and Bulgarian, it means "shack". In Turkish, it means "barracks".  

Baraka themes of love, spirituality, and journeys infuse traditional Muslim mysticism -- Sufism -- which Munya of USA is trying to revive through its music festivals, art classes, and seminars. The blending of art, music and religious consciousness is meant to internalize the religious experience (turn inwards to our Inner-net), to recapture a certain humanism that was present in traditional [Esoteric Islamic] musical culture. In this way, music becomes a way to access the divine like the popular Hindu Bhajans and Keertans, if not Christmas Carole!

Esoteric   Sanatkumara Tradition

Sage Sanatkumara was one of the Four Kumaras, the four Manasputras (mind-born-sons) or spiritual sons of Brahma according to Puranic texts of Hinduism, including the Bhagavata Purana, whose other sons were Sanaka, Sanatana, and Sanandana.  Sanatkumara in Sanskrit means "eternal youth".  In Mahabharata, total seven sons are mentioned, namely:  Sana,    Sanatsujata, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, Kapila, and Sanatana and further mentions that "Knowledge comes to these seven rishis, of itself (without being dependent on study or exertion).  They are the foremost of all persons conversant with Yoga. They are possessed also of deep knowledge of the Sankhya philosophy. They are preceptors of the scriptures on duty and it is they that introduce the duties of the religion of Nivritti (inward contemplation) and cause them to flow in the worlds".

Scriptures, especially the Mahabharata, say that it was Sanat Kumara who came down to help the Divine Plan of Creation, when Lord Krishna descended on Earth.  He was born to Lord Krishna as his son, and he was named Pradyumna. Sanath Kumara incarnated himself through the Divine Mother Rukmini as Pradyumna. On completion of his work, He again gets back to his original position and takes to the seat in Shambala as Sanath Kumara. These details are given in the last chapters of Mahabharata.

Sanat Kumara is also the author of the Sanatkumara Samhita, which is part of the Shiva Purana, and has 59 chapters. It is also taken as a part of the Pañcaratra, Vaishnavite devotional texts. Sanat Kumara Samhita is also found in Skanda Purana.  He is also mentioned as an avatar of Vishnu one among the twenty two Avatars mentioned in Bhagavata Purana—Sanat Kumara, Narada, Nara Narayana, Kapila,   Dattaytreya, Yajna Purusha, Rishabha, Prithu, Dhanvantari Balarama, Vesdavyasa and Mohini  are to the conventional Dasvataras.

The Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter seven, is about Sanatkumara's Instructions on Bhuma-Vidya to celestial sage Narada, Sanatkumara finds mention across Mahabharata, as a great sage, who dispels doubts  and the preceptor in all matters affecting Yoga. In Sanskrit, "Sanat Kumara" means   “Eternal Youth" (from Sanat =eternal, Ku=with difficulty and Mara=mortal).

Kanakhala Teertha (sacred water resort) near Gangadwara or Haridwar is where through extensive tapas, he attained great ascetic powers.

Sanat Kumara is regarded as the great guru, savior of Earth. Believers in him see him in all the major religions, as Skanda/Kartikkeya in Hinduism, Brahma-Sanam Kumar in Buddhism, the Ancient of Days in Judeo-Christian traditions, and identify him as Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism (although the last of these claims is contested from a lack of information on the subject). It is also considered that Sanat Kumara is Al Khdir (green man) known to Sufi Muslims (according to Dakshinamurti). Sanat Kumara is identified with Gautham Siddharta Sankhyamuni who later incarnated as Buddha.

Kumara resides in the most sublime center of our planet, Shamballa the Sahasraara of the world. The Kumara has several names, relating to the sahasraara centers of different Systemic Existences: At the Supra-Cosmic plane, he is called Sanatana; at the Cosmic plane, it is Subrahmanya; at the Solar plane, the Kumara is Sanaka; at the Planetary plane, it is Sanandana; and on this planet, it is Sanat Kumara. So Sanat Kumara is an aspect of Kumara that resides in Shamballa.

According to the post-1900 publications of  Theosophy   Lord Sanat Kumara  an " Enlightened Being  at the Ninth level of initiation who is regarded as the 'Lord' or 'Regent' of  Earth and of the  Humanity  and is thought to be the Spiritual head of the   Earth who dwells in  the  Shamballah,   a floating city manifested on the  etheric plane somewhere above the Gobi Desert in the borderlands of  Mongolia. Brotherhood is now believed to be shifted to Peru where they are still reported as having an earth base (circa 1985) for fear of persecution by Communist China.  

The Great White Brotherhood is a spiritual 'fraternity' of Ascended Beings, including Lord Sanat Kumara, long since dedicated to the eventual Salvation of Mankind and the establishment of Divine Law again in Three-dimensional reality. They are preceptors of the scriptures on duty and it is they that introduce the duties of the religion of Nivritti (inward contemplation), and cause them to flow in the worlds".

Theosophical schools believe   Venus,   the 'Planet of Love', is the most spiritually advanced planet of our solar system. The beings living on the etheric plane of Venus are said to be hundreds of millions of years ahead of us in their spiritual evolution.  It is said that the governing council of Venus – the Seven Holy Kumars (Sana, Sanatsujata, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara, Kapila, and Sanatana) sent one of themselves, Sanat Kumara, here to guide us.      

Most of the teachings of Saint Thomas in India had a very close resemblance to Hindu Teachings. But the world knows very little of the teachings of Saint Thomas today. Some parts of the lost original text were found in 1945. Many such earlier writings were dismissed   by Christianity later as Gnostic gospels and were deleted from Holy Bible and ultimately King James version was accepted as official Version   which is the Holy Bible today.      Christianity dubbed Sanat Kumara as fallen angel and Saturn based on the interpretation of the words Lucifer to mean both Saturn and Venus. In Hinduism Friday is dedicated to Planet Venus and Sukracharaya, who is the learned Guru of Rakshasas that were once considered as protectors as the name suggests and later  condemned as demons being   in constant  war with divines under the rule of Indra.  Saturday is named after the cruel planet Saturn. Hence Venus is always identified as a spiritual planet and not evil. In Hinduism Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped on Friday to bring prosperity and also worshipped to avoid misfortune. Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles is the most worshiped deity in Hinduism.  Two bishops bore the name Lucifer—St. Lucifer of Caliban and St. Lucifer of Siena.  Sanat kumara was seen as two different and opposed beings---Sanat Kumara as Saturn working for evil and Sanat Kumara as Venus working for good. Theosophists    glorified him  as one who would bring   spiritual harmony and peace.

It is strange a section of orthodox Christianity later condemned Sanat Kumara as fallen angel   translating   the word Lucifer with L capital   as Venus and as Lucifer with lower case “l” as    Saturn. They somehow wanted to dismiss Sanat Kumara worship as Pagan worship. Sanat Kumara is an incarnation and hailed as Son of God of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva or Supreme Spirit.  Until 535 Ad Christian Church had an uncanny fascination for reincarnation. Justin Martyr (100-165 A. D.),   founder of the First Christian School in Rome wrote in his “Dialogue with Toby” that the soul inhabits a succession of bodies, but that it cannot remember its previous lives. Another Christian theologian Origen, tried to incorporate much of the beliefs of Greeks and Hindus into Christianity. Those ideas became so controversial that in the sixth century they were officially condemned in the second council of Constantinople as anathema. The teachings of Origen on reincarnation thus expunged from church doctrine, never to return.

Book of revelations maintains the passages referring to lamb instead of Sanat Kumara as follows:

Rev 14:1   And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb where ever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

The Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; He will guide them to springs of living waters; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 

When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God (this perhaps refers to    the seven rishis who were also mind   born Manasaputra in Hinduism)

Sanat Kumara, called the Ancient of Days in the Bible, came with the 144,000 a long time ago to keep the flame of life on earth. The 144,000 is in the Bible in the Book of Revelation in two passages of the Bible: Revelation 7:1-8 and 14:1-7.

The 144000 are also talked about in the teachings of the ascended masters from the Summit Lighthouse. The teachings explain that the "Ancient of Days" mentioned in the Bible is also the one called Sanat Kumara.  Below, are passages from the Bible on the  144,000.  After the passages, Sanat Kumara, or The Ancient of Days gives two teachings or dictations through the messenger, Elizabeth Clare Prophet. 

Revelation 7:1-8 

1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousands   of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousands. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousands.

6 Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousands. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousands.

7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousands. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousands.

8 Of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousands. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousands.

Text from King James Version of the Holy Bible-- Book of Revelations

Rev 14:1-7

1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their  foreheads,

2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb where ever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruitsunto God and to the Lamb.

5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters om comes when we learn to see secular culture for what it is and then rise above it. 

Esoteric Hinduism as a Point of Synthesis 

Probably the oldest and most extensive esoteric tradition is that of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Tradition. Hinduism is the world’s largest and oldest pagan and pluralistic tradition, with Yoga, Tantra and Veda enshrined within it as a treasure house of cosmic knowledge. 

Yet Hinduism is not a religion as a faith or belief based tradition. It is a way of secret knowledge. While Tantra is the most well-known form of Hindu esotericism, all Hindu Yoga and Vedic traditions have similar concerns and practices. Esoteric Hinduism holds perhaps the keys not only to ancient pagan spirituality but also to much of the world’s mysticism.

Today we are at a new phase in the comparison, revival, and reintegration of ancient esoteric traditions, which deemed pagan or primitive by modern scholarship were not given their proper regard or study. 

Many of these esoteric movements are still distorted and misunderstood, looked upon as cults, as dangerous forms of occultism, or as types of mind control. Yet the deeper yogic, psychological and philosophical side of the same teachings is also becoming popular, and countering this deep seated negativity. 

What is called Tantra in Hindu and Buddhist circles and what was called magic or alchemy in the West are kindred in many ways. In India occultism, meditation and devotion were often pursued together and part of the same body of knowledge. Yet such devotion was an honoring of the Divine within, not the dictates of church or final book of revelation. 

In dharma traditions, there is a recognition of many cycles of civilization, of which ours is not the first or the highest, and is still lacking in the deeper knowledge that the ancients held. 

Conclusion

Today we are entering into a new planetary age in which we can understand how such esoteric traditions can link us with the cosmic mind. It is important to reclaim these older esoteric traditions and practice them again. There is a secret light of higher knowledge hidden within them, not something fearful or dangerous. Such esoteric traditions offer individual spiritual experience and enlightenment that helps us go beyond the limitations of all organized religions. They encourage our search for inner freedom and Self-realization, which is the real goal of life and culture. 

Wisdom comes when we confront our egos and wisdom comes when we can surround ourselves with people who have spiritual depth and compassion and not money minded priests and astrologers. If we are unable to do this, the secular culture will eat us alive, keep restless and lonely and leave us devoid of spiritual meaning and fulfillment. For this we have to look back how we were once strong in ourl culture and spread the message round the globe that had impact on all faiths and beliefs.  We need to focus on Universal Oneness, fusion not fission, and understand that Truth is One and common for all. 

The world is One family—Vasudeka Kutumbakam.  Esoteric Sanat Kumara Tradition that came out of Hinduism had a very strong influence on people but people went out of it for convenience to work as small esoteric groups but always had a focus on Sanatkumara but in the process got lost!

 

There have been several people of great achievements in Social Excellence. But ultimate fulfillment in life will come only from Spiritual Excellence. This is having the true knowledge about oneself as the pure Consciousness, ever unattached and beyond all cause-effect relationships. Swami Vivekananda was a perfect blend of Social and Spiritual Excellence. By following his teachings, we also can strive to inculcate these concepts in our life and attain both these aspects of Human Excellence.

 

 Spirituality need not be confined to forests and caves. As Swami Vivekananda said, it should enter the marketplace, and the field and the factory. When all activities are infused with the leaven of spirituality, a silent revolution will come about. The real satya-yuga will begin. For this, continuous effort in this direction—to focus one’s life on Universal God and Vedanta as the Religion of the World for the Future, and give it a spiritual orientation—is highly necessary. (Swami Smaranananda). Pease recall this powerful message that Swami Vivekanada delivered to the World Forum of Religions in Chicago, more than a century ago--Uttishthata Jaagrata. He called it Religion instead Dharma as the Western crowd did not have any idea of the many faceted meaning of the word Dharma. So also, Aurobindo.

It is Sanatana Dharma in the Indian Peninsula that grew up in seclusion that the Hindu nation has kept, because in this land of the seas and the Himalayas, because in this sacred and ancient land it was given as a charge to the Aryan race to preserve through the ages. But it is not circumscribed by the confines of a single country, it does not belong peculiarly and forever to a bounded part of the world. That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal   Dharma, because it is the universal religion which embraces all others. If a religion is not universal, it cannot be eternal. A narrow religion, a sectarian religion, an exclusive religion can live only for a limited time and a limited purpose. This is the one religion that can triumph over materialism by including and anticipating the discoveries of science and the speculations of philosophy. It is the one religion which impresses on mankind the closeness of God to us and embraces in its compass all the possible means by which man can approach God. It is the one religion which insists every moment on the truth which all religions acknowledge that He is in all people and all things and that in Him we move--SRI AUROBINDO

On November 4, 2008,   Americans elected Illinois senator Barack Obama their 44th president. The result was historic, as Obama, a first-term U.S. senator, became, when he was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, the country’s first African American president.  Obama and Delaware senator Joe Biden defeated the Republican ticket of Arizona senator John McCain, who sought to become the oldest person elected president to a first term in U.S. history, and Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who attempted to become the first woman vice president in the country’s history, winning nearly 53 percent of the vote. 

This was a great revolution in American History broadening the vision by   the   elected Afro American and White Team that changed the concept of “In God We Trust” of past Presidents   that  was  confined to the Zealous God of the Holy Bible. Barack Obama spoke on all Religions and the need for Universal approach to live in peace but not pieces.  He also did not speak of Make America exclusively Great but make it  a Leader in Caring and Sharing and Leading the World with American Values that echoed wisdom of Vedas, sanghacchadvam samvadadvam samanamaakootih--come together, pray together and progress together, spiritually. I would not like to go through his lengthy speech but would like to draw your attention to his thought on Esoteric Mystic Sufi Baraka Tradition that probably influenced his African/White parents to call him Barrack Obama.

In a White House summit on countering violent extremism, President Obama urged attendees to develop strategies to combat the ideologies, supporters, recruiters and funders of extremism. As policymakers in the West debate these strategies for countering groups like ISIS, they would do well to think creatively about supporting the promising efforts already underway in the region. If, in President Obama's words, "we need to find new ways to amplify the voices of peace and tolerance and inclusion," then helping organizations like Munya would seem a good   place to start” writes Dr. Sarah Feuer, an expert on politics and religion in North Africa. 

This historic event has been repeated again this year by the election of strange bed fellows coming together, Biden/Harris, which conveys all the more Unique and significant that sounds “By then (Biden) came blooming  Kamala  Shyamala Harris, raised by a single parent Shyamala with Hindu Values though  had an African father and married to White Jew. We have to wait and see how the future shapes for infusing Universal Oneness and Spirituality   in American Way of Life at a time when “SBNR’ and “Awesome without Allah” movements are spreading like wild fire and church-going crowd is depleting that I have dealt at length before. Both Biden and Kamala Harris have publicly declared their Person of Indian Origin (PIO like you and I) in their post-election   speeches to the Nation.

  If, in President Obama's words, "we need to find new ways to amplify the voices of peace and tolerance and inclusion," then helping organizations like Munya would seem a good   place to start” writes Dr. Sarah Feuer, an expert on politics and religion in North Africa. 

This historic event has been repeated again this year by the election of strange bed fellows coming together, Biden/Harris, which conveys all the more Unique and significant that sounds “By then (Biden) came blooming  Kamala  Shyamala Harris, raised by a single parent Shyamala with Hindu Values though  had an African father and married to White  Jew.  We have to wait and see how the future shapes for infusing Universal Oneness and Spirituality   in American Way of Life at a time when “SBNR’ and “Awesome without Allah” movements are spreading like wild fire and church-going crowd is depleting that I have dealt at length before. Both Biden and Kamala Harris have publicly declared their Person of Indian Origin (PIO like you and I) in their post-election   speeches to the Nation. Future alone can tell about this American Dream!

 APPENDIX

 

 ESOTERIC BRAHMAN

We must distinguish between Brahma the neuter, and Brahmâ, the male creator of the Indian Pantheon who is often mentioned as Brahman to avoid confusion though Upanishads use the term Brahma alone (Om tad Brahma). The former, Brahma or Brahman, is the impersonal, supreme and un-cognizable Principle of the Universe from the essence of which all emanates, and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, eternal, beginning-less and endless. It is all-pervading, animating the highest god as well as the smallest mineral atom. Brahmâ on the other hand, the male and the alleged Creator, exists periodically in his manifestation only, and then again goes into Pralaya, i.e., disappears and is annihilated.

 Brahman — the symbol of the Universe. In esoteric parlance, Brahman is Father-Mother-Son, or Spirit, Soul and Body at once; each personage being symbolical of an attribute, and each attribute or quality being a graduated efflux of Divine Breath in its cyclic differentiation, involutionary and evolutionary. In the cosmic-physical sense, it is the Universe, the planetary chain and the earth; in the purely spiritual, the Unknown Deity, Planetary Spirit, and Man — the Son of the two, the creature of Spirit and Matter, and a manifestation of them in his periodical appearances on Earth during the “wheels,” or the Manvantaras

In Hinduism

Brahmā is the first member of the Hindu triad; the supreme spirit manifested as the active creator of the universe. He sprang from the mundane egg deposited by the supreme first cause, and is the Prajāpati, or Lord and father of all creatures, and in the first place of the Rishis or Prajāpatis 

Brahmā is depicted as red in color, with four bearded faces and four arms, each holding a sacred object. His vāhana or vehicle on which he rides is a milk-white swan or goose, the Haṃsa.

Please go through the excellent exposition of Brahman by the scholar V. Jayaraman.

Brahman, The Universal Self, The Highest God Of Hinduism

 by Jayaram V

Summary: Brahman is the highest Supreme God of Hinduism. He is central to the Vedas and considered the silent and ultimate recipient of all the offerings in the Vedic rituals. Brahman is a mysterious being, unlike the gods that we know,

Please find here the significance of this mysterious deity, who is extolled in the Upanishads as the highest, Supreme and absolute God and the Creator of all.

 Brahman is the central theme of almost all the Upanishads. Brahman is the indescribable, inexhaustible, omniscient, omnipresent, original, first, eternal and absolute principle who is without a beginning, without an end , who is hidden in all and who is the cause, source, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe.

He is the incomprehensible, unapproachable radiant being whom the ordinary senses and ordinary intellect cannot fathom grasp or able to describe even with partial success. He is the mysterious Being totally out of the reach of all sensory activity, rationale effort and mere intellectual, decorative and pompous endeavor.

The Upanishads describe Him as the One and indivisible, eternal universal self, who is present in all and in whom all are present. Generally unknown and mysterious to the ordinary masses, Brahman of the Upanishads remained mostly confined to the meditative minds of the ancient seers who considered Him to be too sacred and esoteric to be brought out and dissected amidst public glare.

Though impassioned and above the ordinary feelings of the mind, the masters of the Upanishads sometimes could not suppress the glory, the emotion, the passion and the poetry that accompanied the vast and utterly delightful , inner experience of His vast vision. In the Mundaka Upanishad the mind explodes to reverberate with this verse," Imperishable is the Lord of love, as from a blazing fire thousands of sparks leap forth, so millions of beings arise from Him and return to Him." Again in the Katha Upanishad we come across a very poetic and emphatic expression, "In His robe are woven heaven and earth, mind and body...He is the bridge from death to deathless life."

The Brahman of the Upanishads is not meant for the ordinary or the ignorant souls, who are accustomed to seek spiritual solace through ritualistic practices and rationalization of knowledge. Discipline, determination, guidance form a self-realized soul, purity of mind, mastery of the senses, self-control and desire-less actions are some of the pre-requisites needed to achieve even a semblance of success on this path. Only the strong of the heart and pure of the mind can think of dislodging layer after layer of illusion and ignorance that surrounds him and see the golden light of Truth beckoning from beyond.

He is not like the other gods either. He is incomprehensible even to almost all the gods. And He chooses not to be worshipped in the temples and other places of worship but in one's heart and mind as the indweller of the material body and master of the senses, the charioteer. He is too remote and incomprehensible to be revered and approached with personal supplications although He is the deepest and the highest vision mankind could ever conceive of or attain.

The weak and the timid stand no chance to approach Him even remotely, except through some circuitous route. For the materialistic and the otherworldly who excel in the art of converting everything and anything into a source of personal gain, He does not offer any attraction, solace or security as a personal God.

That is why we do not see any temples or forms of ritualistic worship existing for Brahman either at present or in the past. We only hear of fire sacrifice, later to be called Nachiketa fire, to attain Him, which was taught to the young Nachiketa by Lord of Death, but lost in the course of time to us. Perhaps the sacrifice was more a meditative or spiritual practice involving the sacrifice of soul consciousness than a ritual worship.

Whatever it is, the fact is that Brahman of the Upanishads is more appealing to the seekers of Truth and Knowledge than seekers of material gains. Even during the Islamic rule when the principles of monotheism challenged the very foundations of Hinduism, Brahman was never brought into the glare of public debate to challenge the invading and overwhelming ideas of the monotheistic foreign theology.

And even during the period of the Bhakti movement, when the path of devotion assumed unparalleled importance in the medieval Hindu society, Brahman was somehow not made the center of direct worship in the form of Brahman as such. He became the personal God with a name and form, but as Brahman remained outside the preview of the Bhakti movement.

Perhaps the exclusion was so evident and seemingly so intentional that even Lord Brahma, the first among the Trinity and the first among the created, was also simultaneously excluded from the ritualistic worship, probably for the similarity in names. Very few temples exist for this god even today in India, probably as He is seen more as a source of intelligence and creativity than of material wealth.

Some Upanishads do describe Brahman as the Lord of Love. It is a description born out of pure personal experience of a seeker of truth, not from a devotee's imaginative and self-induced emotional energy. The description and approach, therefore, is more philosophical and impressionably revelatory in its approach than feverishly emotional or reverently devotional. The reason was not difficult to understand.

Brahman was too remote, indifferent, disinterested, too vast a principle to be reduced into meaningful and intellectually satisfying forms and shapes and worshipped as such. Existing beyond all the surface activities of illusory life, he was like the remote star, heard but rarely seen, seen but vaguely remembered, remembered but rarely explicable, unlike the daily sun that traversed across the sky spreading its splendor in all directions and appealing to the common man with its intensity, visible luminosity and comforting him with its assuring and predictable routine.

Hidden, however, in the practice of Bhakti was the inherent and inviolable belief that the aim of all devotion was the attainment of the Supreme Self, though the path chosen for the purpose was circuitous and symbolic, rarely suggestive of any direct involvement of the eternal Brahman Himself in His original formless condition. Since the mind could only comprehend and derive inspiration in a language that it can understand and interpret, the Saguna Brahman, Iswara in the form of various manifestations became the object of devotion and personal worship.

But the same was not true of the formless Nirguna Brahman, beyond duality and activity. Ignoring the citadels of human civilization, He, the Absolute, continued to remain in the hearts of His spiritual aspirants, away from the din of materialistic life. He remained confined even as of today, to a few illumined minds, guiding them in His mysterious and invisible ways through the minds of self-realized souls, who have been too spiritualistic and disinterested in worldly life to consider anything other than self as a matter of spiritual interest.

The ancient seers described Brahman as the One Eternal Principle, the unity behind all, the connecting principle, the light shining through all. But at the same time they also referred to him variously as almost everything. He was thus One and the many, the finite and the infinite, the center as well as the circumference, the enjoyer as well the enjoyer, the hidden as well as the manifest, in a nut shell, everything and anything that we can conceive of or imagine or perhaps much more than that. Incomprehensible even to the gods, as Kena Upanishad narrates, He stands above all, tall and mysterious, almost incommunicable except through personal experience and inner voyage.

As a formless Being He was the Nirguna Brahman, the unqualified principle totally beyond the reach of all levels of intelligence. Assuming myriad forms He becomes Saguna Brahman, the one with attributes and qualifications. In this capacity as the formless and the One with form, He becomes all the multiplicity in this vast universe. He becomes everything and also nothing. Thus He is the day and night, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, the river and the ocean, the sky and the earth, the sound and the silence, the smallest as well as biggest of all and also the abyss of the mysterious nothingness.

The attributes are many and repetitively suggestive of His universality and His unquestionable supremacy. This existence of the duality and the myriad contradictions inherent in the creation of life are the riddles which the minds of the disciples were expected to understand and assimilate till all the confusion and contradiction becomes reduced to one harmonious and meaningful mass of Truth.

In the Katha Upanishad we come across this explanation of Brahman being compared to the Aswaththa tree in reverse, whose roots are above and the branches spread down below. "Its pure root is Brahman from whom the world draws nourishment and whom none can surpass." Actually this is an analogy drawn from the Sun whose base is above and whose rays spread downwards in thousand directions.

Myriad are the ways in which Brahman is described in the Upanishads. The verses strenuously struggle to explain the novice students of spiritual practice the immensity of the object of their meditation. Theirs is a feeling of respect and reverence mixed with fear and awe. Even the gods seems to be not very comfortable with this concept of an unknown, mysterious and unfathomable God. The Lord of death explains to the young Nachiketa, "In fear of Him the fire burns, the sun shines, the clouds rain and the winds blow. In fear of Him death stalks about to kill."

He is the creator, the life giver and also the reliever of the devoted and determined from Bondage. The manifest universe is his creation. He created it through Self-projection, out of Ananda, pure Delight. The process of creation is not very explicitly mentioned but one can draw some inferences from verses such as this, "The deathless Self meditated upon Himself and projected the universe as an evolutionary energy. From this energy developed life, the mind, the elements, and the world of karma."

This is not the God who can be supplicated with rituals and sacrifices. The Upanishadic seers did not show much respect to the outer aspects of religious practice. The rituals according to them constituted the lower knowledge. "Such rituals," declares Mundaka Upanishad, "are unsafe rafts for crossing the sea of worldly life, of birth and death. Doomed to shipwreck are they who try to cross the sea of worldly life on these poor rafts." The argument does not end here. It goes on," Ignorant of their ignorance, yet wise in their estimate, these deluded men proud of their learning go round and round like the blind, led by the blind. Living in darkness, immature unaware of any higher good or goal, they fall again and again into the sea."