THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EASTERN & WESTERN BELIEF

     One thing that I immediately noticed about Eastern teaching, which is 180 degrees opposite to Western teaching is their entire basic concept for why the world is as we find it today, complete with suffering, cruelty, poverty, starvation, etc. How could this be if the universe was created by an all loving; all powerful God who had a definite plan and goal in mind when he created it and pronounced it all to be “good” on the seventh day of His creation? Well of course Western theologians will explain this apparent disparity by explaining that it was all perfect then when God created it, but that since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that creation was condemned along with them and thrown into confusion.  But in the light of modern science, that is absolutely ridiculous.

       We know for a fact that the universe has been in existence for billions of years and our own earth for at least millions. We know that man is in fact the newest species to evolve of all existing animal life and that our earth was plagued with comet strikes and upheavals of momentous proportions causing extinction of large numbers of species long before man ever stuck his head out of the primordial mud. So how do theologians account for that? If all of this chaos is due to Adam and Eve, and of course SATAN, we mustn’t forget him; then how do we account for the chaos and random disasters of colliding planets and imploding stars along with their solar systems all throughout the universe?  Well of course any self-respecting priest will tell you: “It’s all just a mystery. We poor fallen children of Eve can’t possibly hope to comprehend the ways of God.” Well, I’m sorry, that’s not an answer; that’s simply uninformed and meaningless rhetoric.

       Now don’t get me wrong, Eastern thought does not have answers as to why planets collide or why suns implode either, but at least they don’t blame it all on a man, a woman and a talking snake. You and I have been led to believe by ministers, priests and theologians that God created man to live eternally in the paradise of Eden where there would have been no aging; no pain during child-bearing, or for that matter at all, no sickness and no death.  Well, that’s absolutely ludicrous.

     Aging, pain, suffering and death already existed in the animal kingdoms for millions of years, what plausible reason is there to believe that it would have been any different for mankind? The entire theorem is faulty.  To believe that death is strictly the punishment for sin is absurd. What sins did the animals commit? But that’s all right; blame everything on man and of course, the other scapegoat, Satan. Make man feel even more unworthy than he is; tell him that he was “born in sin and shaped in iniquity” and deserving only of death, but that God, in His mercy has made provision for man’s salvation, which of course is only receivable at the hands of his chosen people or chosen priesthood. This of course turns mankind in general into the surfs and vassals of said priesthood that will then ration out and dispense their blessings or curses depending upon how obedient the surfs and vassals are to the will of the priesthood. No, sorry, I’m not buying into it, although I did for many years.

       Eastern theology or rather cosmology begins on an entirely different premise and even though its genesis is far older than that of Judaism or Christianity it is far closer to modern science in that it postulates the creation of the universe very much in the same mode as the “Big Bang” theory. The ancient Hindu holy books, the Vedas postulate that the “formless” undifferentiated energy and matter which have always existed; basically willed themselves into material form in an explosive act of creation. Consequently since all energy and matter came from God, then God exists in all energy and matter and there is no atom or molecule or sub particle that is not part and parcel of God. Now while God in his cosmic, formless and changeless state is in fact perfect and eternal, God in the form of matter and energy is found to be in a lesser state and not perfect nor eternal and is always subject to change and hence suffering if the created becomes obsessed with the desire to maintain his material form and material identity indefinitely.

       The entire of creation or the material worlds is termed in the Vedas as both, Maya, or illusion, and as God’s Lila or God’s Play. It was simply God’s desire to manifest outside of Himself. And it was His will to create a universe, peopled with beings like Him, and see how they would inter react and what feats they could perform together and separately. Therefore, the creation was never intended to be perfect because, by its’ very nature of change and evolution, it could never be perfect or eternal. It was only intended as a playground and school wherein the soul could grow through experience. The writers of the Vedas, had no concept of “original sin”; nor did they blame the often abysmal state of things in the world on an Adam and Eve or on a rebellious spirit son of God, Satan. The universe to them was simply as it is and still evolving, and wherever possible, it is our responsibility as sentient Sons of God to make life better not only for mankind but for our animal brothers and sisters as well and for plant life and mother earth. We were to respect all life because all life is part of God. No one ever gave us license to abuse other life forms.

       The Vedas are far closer to modern science in that they not only fit in with evolution, but even postulate parallel spiritual evolution; so that as each soul grows and matures, it earns a more evolved and higher body in its’ next life or incarnation. They also teach that self-realization, direct experience of God, or enlightenment is the birthright of every living being and is not dependent upon blind faith, nor on the whims of a priestly class who can dole it out to obedient surfs or withhold it from those not in their favor. Enlightenment is achieved by self-effort in the practice of certain tried and proven methods of meditation which channel energies and innate knowledge which we already possess as sons of God to a point where we can experience a direct connection with the Almighty.

     These are in fact the same procedures and methods which enabled great spiritual teachers and leaders of the past like Moses, Buddha and Jesus to be the great souls that they were.   Every one of them went into the dessert or forests and practiced meditation for great lengths of time prior to their emergence as Holy Men. Likewise, all of the great mystics in the Church, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Theresa of Avila and others, all practiced forms of meditation which elevated them to the heights that they ascended. None of them reached those advanced levels simply by attending church on Sundays and going to confession, in deed they reached those levels despite the guilt trips and constrictions of the churches that they belonged to by bypassing the priesthood and going directly to God.  In prayer we speak to God, but in meditation, we listen for God to speak to us. There must be two way communication; not a monologue.

       This is why even Dr. Carl Jung spoke highly of yoga and meditation. In one of Self Realization Fellowship’s booklets (SRF was founded by Paramahansa Yogananda), Jung is quoted as saying: “Quite apart from the charm of the new and the fascination of the half-understood, there is good cause for Yoga to have many adherents.  It offers the possibility of controllable experience and thus satisfies the scientific need for facts; and besides this, by reason of its breadth and depth, its venerable age, its doctrine and method, which include every phase of life, it promises undreamed-of possibilities”.

       To quote a great Indian spiritual teacher at the turn of the century, Ramakrishna, the Ramakrishna Order in their tract, “What Is Vedanta?” quotes him stating: “Vedanta is a philosophy taught by the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of India.  Its basic teaching is that our real nature is divine.  God, the underlying reality, exists in every being.  Religion is therefore a search for self-knowledge, a search for the God within .  We should not think of ourselves as needing to be SAVED.  We are never LOST. At worst, we are living in ignorance of our true nature.  Find God.  That is the only purpose in life”.

     So rather than a deity who stands apart from his creation and has the right to destroy it all if it doesn’t suit him, Vedanta proposes a deity who is both transcendental on the one hand and yet always imminent and personally present in every atom of the material universe on the other hand.  It proposes a universe and planet which is not alien and frightening, but rather one in which everything and everyone is divine, related and has value; certainly a theory which if carried to its logical end would truly unite all of the families of mankind and even animal life; as opposed to some of the theories we espouse today which destine some for high purposes and others worthy only of exploitation and death. 

       Since the ONE became many, then we might say that we are in effect all reflections or clones of that original one reality that many call God. Fifty years ago, this kind of thinking may have sounded odd. But now with science practicing cloning and genetic engineering, such thinking is not so far fetched.  Of course more highly spiritualized individuals far more accurately reflect that divinity than does a homeless person lying in the gutter, but God is present there too.  This is why when the apostles asked Jesus to show them the Father, he responded, “He who has seen me has seen the father”. It is, likewise why he later said that if someone gave his followers so much as a cup of water he would bless them because “He that did it to one of the least of these my brothers, has done it unto me”. So according to Vedanta, the purpose of each and every one of us is to find within ourselves our own divinity, help others to find theirs and mold the world in such a way as to help even those lower on the evolutionary ladder to move up and eventually find their divinity until at last all are free.

       This is simply a far more positive approach to life and a loftier goal than believing that “The End Is At Hand” and longing for the destruction of the wicked. And it represents a far more compassionate deity than one whose only answer to rebelliousness and ignorance is to destroy everything and start over. Then too, teachers of Vedanta and meditation do not expect or ask you to accept these theories with blind credulity, but simply ask you to go into the laboratory of your own soul, try the methods they have used for centuries and see if you don’t have the same experience of reality and transcendence which the Great Masters like Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Ramakrishna and Yogananda had. This is a living and evolving path. 

       It isn’t just something that happened two thousand years ago once for all time. In John 14:12 Jesus asked his followers why they wondered at the things that he did and inspired them by saying that they would do even greater things.  One wonders based upon that why there have not been so many “greater things” done in the Church over the last 2,000 years; while in the East, thousands of such miracles have occurred right down to this day. Of course the Church will label such miracles wrought by Eastern teachers as demonic or staged by the devil to mimic the miracles of Christ, but they exist none the less.

       Now admittedly, not all Christian denominations are living in the 15^th century with its fire and brimstone ravings. Some like the Unitarians, Quakers, and Unity churches are also on the higher path toward self-realization and would also make fine homes for gay men and women or for that matter anyone who feels that they are stagnating where they are. I personally, was simply attracted to Vedanta and Buddhism because I still had a very bad taste in my mouth for anything with the name Christian attached to it. But the aforementioned basically non-sectarian churches would also be fine choices. Some people might feel uncomfortable with Eastern thought because they feel that it runs contrary to Western thought but that is not entirely true. We had great Transcendentalists in this country like Emerson and Thoreau in the 19^th century who certainly would not be considered foreign, although certainly not main stream.

       While they were writing about transcendentalism, southern white Christians were twisting Bible verses to justify their right to keep slaves and abuse their women and children. Hell, even members of the Ku Klux Klan claim to be Christian and will try to justify themselves and their behavior based on some vague Bible reference, yet I can hardly imagine Jesus donning a hood and lynching people.

       How much longer will the Christian Right and some major denominations of Christianity and even some sects of Judaism continue to persecute God’s gay children based upon their clever cataloguing of obscure Old Testament texts, improperly translated from ancient Hebrew and Greek which “appear” to argue against homosexuality?  Many of those same texts authorize the death penalty for unwed mothers and sex outside of wedlock, but I don’t hear too many preachers daring to open that “Pandora’s Box”; they might lose too many members and too many votes that way. They rave on and on about abortion, but can’t explain what happened to the fetuses in the wombs of those unwed Judean mothers who were stoned to death under the Mosaic Law. I don’t recall anywhere in scripture where the mothers were allowed to live until after they gave birth and then stoned to death afterward. So apparently killing the fetus along with the mother is OK in God’s eyes. Hmmm; strange religion I would say. Inspired by God? I strongly question that.  

       Well, enough of that. I just wanted to explain why it was not possible for me to take my new found belief in the divinity and oneness of all mankind back with me into one of the major institutional churches and work for the good of mankind from there. Even Jesus said in Matthew 9:7 “…neither do people put new wine into old wineskins.  If they do,

the wineskins will burst”.  So it simply was not feasible for me to work from within the confines of an institutional church.

       During my studies under a wide variety of Hindu and even Sikh Masters, I have not found any contradiction nor disparity between their teachings, and this is certainly what one would expect from self-realized Masters teaching Truth. I have found great freedom within Vedanta; not childish concepts of freedom. I most certainly am not free to harm creation or free to exploit others. No, along with freedom comes responsibility to try to touch others lives and to try to make the world a better place, not just pray for it to be better and leave the hard work of transformation to others. Yes, Vedanta or Sanatan Dharma, as it is also known, is a religion or philosophy which tends to physical and spiritual emancipation, but coupled with a healthy sense of that which is ethical and right.