Gods or no gods
In a recent person-to-person dharma exchange with a good friend, we touched on the topic of theistic versus non-theistic religions. A spiritual path can be founded on prayer and devotion to a god or on meditation, pure observing of mind. This is one of my favorite arguments in favor of Buddhism as I am really attached to not having a central deity that everything evolves around. There is too much bundled up for me in this concept of a personified God and being free of it is an opening to authentic spirituality.
Although not in any shape fundamentalist about it, I was pretty satisfied with my position on the topic. I liked the smugness of "Prayer is talking to god, meditation is listening to god." But a paragraph of the Bhagavad Gita got me thinking differently. Here our good friend Arjuna asks the Blessed Lord:
"One man loves you with pure devotion; another man loves the Unmanifest. Which of the two understands the yoga more deeply?"
The Blessed Lord answers him:
"Those who love and revere me with unwavering faith, always centering their minds on me - they are the most perfect in yoga.
But those who revere the Imperishable, the Unsayable, the Unmanifest, the All-Present, the Inconceivable, the Exalted, the Unchanging, the Eternal,
mastering their senses, acting at all times with equanimity, rejoicing in the welfare of all beings - they too will reach me at last.
But their path is much more arduous because, for embodied beings, the Unmanifest is obscure, and difficult to attain."
Wow, so right there in this ancient text lies the clarity that neither path is right or wrong, they all point to what lies beyond the small self. All religious differences resolved! Devotion to one or more deities can be very effective at transcending your ego, maybe a "short cut" even. And so can meditation on Emptiness be a very viable path, maybe only a bit harder, less accessible.
Ultimately, whether we call it God, the Unmanifest, Emptiness, the Infinite or the Universe, it all just points us at our Big Self. Something that is bigger than our temporary form of being, our small self or ego. Something so big, it is One with everything. Something so big, it simply is - just pure Being.
If all religious texts had the clarity of the Gita, we'd be much better off...
Although not in any shape fundamentalist about it, I was pretty satisfied with my position on the topic. I liked the smugness of "Prayer is talking to god, meditation is listening to god." But a paragraph of the Bhagavad Gita got me thinking differently. Here our good friend Arjuna asks the Blessed Lord:
"One man loves you with pure devotion; another man loves the Unmanifest. Which of the two understands the yoga more deeply?"
The Blessed Lord answers him:
"Those who love and revere me with unwavering faith, always centering their minds on me - they are the most perfect in yoga.
But those who revere the Imperishable, the Unsayable, the Unmanifest, the All-Present, the Inconceivable, the Exalted, the Unchanging, the Eternal,
mastering their senses, acting at all times with equanimity, rejoicing in the welfare of all beings - they too will reach me at last.
But their path is much more arduous because, for embodied beings, the Unmanifest is obscure, and difficult to attain."
Wow, so right there in this ancient text lies the clarity that neither path is right or wrong, they all point to what lies beyond the small self. All religious differences resolved! Devotion to one or more deities can be very effective at transcending your ego, maybe a "short cut" even. And so can meditation on Emptiness be a very viable path, maybe only a bit harder, less accessible.
Ultimately, whether we call it God, the Unmanifest, Emptiness, the Infinite or the Universe, it all just points us at our Big Self. Something that is bigger than our temporary form of being, our small self or ego. Something so big, it is One with everything. Something so big, it simply is - just pure Being.
If all religious texts had the clarity of the Gita, we'd be much better off...
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