Ch. 5 The Quest (continued)
Hinduism
Go East, young woman! Now for something completely different with no claims of exclusivity and no sending every “other” person to eternal damnation. I loved it! But what was the deal with all those gods? Reincarnation? Could the Vedas be correct: “The Truth is One. The Realized Ones describe the One Truth in several ways."
The Hindu in me embraced that aspect of this diverse religion which was monotheistic in worshiping Brahman, the unifying principle and supreme reality behind all that is. The idea of moksha or liberation as the unification of Brahman with Atman, the eternal divine Self, reminded me of the intriguing idea of deification in the Eastern Orthodox Church. I appreciated the emphasis on dharma, ethics and actions, over adherence to theological doctrine. I valued Hinduism's having three paths to liberation based on devotion, action, or knowledge to better meet the strengths of varying dispositions. I was attracted to the discipline of concentrated meditation. Though I held no allegiance to either practice, I saw the Hindu devotion for many avatars or lesser forms of God as similar to the Catholic devotion for various patron saints. I was intrigued by the concept of the Veil of Maya when it was understood to mean that we falsely perceived and distinguished self and the universe when in truth consciousness and physical matter, mind and body, self and Ultimate Reality were one which would be evident after the Veil had been lifted.
I was not a Hindu because I did not accept the authority of the Vedas or the caste system. I could not comprehend the logistics of reincarnation. How did you know who was a new life form and who was a reincarnated life form? I assumed new life was being created since the human population was increasing yet surely somebody was achieving release from samsara, the cycle of rebirth, so an originally static number of lives would be decreasing. Were all those people coming back as animals? I could not wrap my head around it. Also, this combination of karma and reincarnation seemed ripe for a mentality of blaming the victim. Born with a terrible disease? Well, it must be karmic justice for some sin from a past life. I was concerned about the repercussions on building a loving society and I was confident that God would have been concerned too. I was also troubled by the concept of the Veil of Maya when it was understood to mean that the world we live in is an illusion that clouded our perception of our ultimate unity with God. I believed that the world we live in is the means by which we come to know God through our living out of God's will in God's creation.
