Pick a Religion
- Thread starter Orleander
- Start date
in the vedas you don't find so much mention of "isms" but there are 4 general categories of theistic practitioners that can crop up in any circle - basically the terms examine one's motives for taking a "religion" (or dropping one to accept another)
Karmi - interested in material gain ("god give us our daily bread .... or else") - on a side point most "discussion" about religion is about these sorts, since they make up well over 90% of all "theists"
jnani - interested in one's salvation
yogi - interested in the acquisition of mystic perfections (and the fame and adoration that goes with it)
bhakta - interested in serving god with love (bereft of the other 3 desires)
You can take practically any religion you mention and find examples of these four
as it relates to the thread, changing the "rubber stamp" of one's religion doesn't amount to much of a change of anything unless one looks at the motives for change
Uh-huh. So, if you HAD to pick a DIFFERENT religion, what would it be?
Shiva is the primary deity in hinduism? Isn't Shiva the goddess of destruction referenced when Oppenheimer saw the first nuclear explosion?Shiva (Hindu):
I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
I think you missed the point - determining the many different religions doesn't amount to much difference at all if the only changes of faith people are undertaking is changing being a karmi in the guise of a christian as opposed to a karmi in the guise of a muslim/hindu/buddhist/etc or vice versa
when one arrives at the platform of being a bhakta (regardless of what "ist/ism/etc") then one is in a superior position since it supersedes the desires of the other 3 (karmi, jnani, yogi)
shiva is the guna avatar of tamas
(material nature is defined as being composed of 3 gunas - sattva (goodness - vishnu), rajas (passion - brahma) and tamas (ignorance - shiva)
BS 5.45: Just as milk is transformed into curd by the action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither same as, nor different from, its cause, viz., milk, so I adore the primeval Lord Govinda (Vishnu) of whom the state of Śambhu (Shiva) is a transformation for the performance of the work of destruction.
shiva is actually a god - shiva has expansions that deal specifically with the task of dissolving the universe, since its part of the job description of being the guna avatar of tamas
actually it was a quote from the bhagavad gita, from the part where krishna is exhibiting his universal form (the omnipresent form of god) to arjuna, thus displaying the potencies of all and everything (including Lord Shiva's potencies of destruction - much like how milk can display the properties of yoghurt, but yoghurt cannot display the properties of milk)
I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
BG 11.32: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people.
Thanks for the clarification. Although, I must confess, that was a bit confusing. To think, people say the holy trinity in Christianity is confusing!
I guess its my duty as an academic to render simple things incomprehensible
:runaway: :runaway:
I dont have one, so if I had to pick another non-theology, then my choices are atheism or atheism, so I'd choose atheism.
no change there then.
Yep. So if you HAD to pick a DIFFERENT theology, what would it be. Not sure yet? Still thinking about it? Need more time??
If I had to change religions, I might go Mormon. I find the whole story of the origin unlikely, but have been really impressed by Mormons I have met. They seem like good people, patriotic, hard working, and family oriented.
well, to say things more clearly, as long as one is operating out of the framework of karmi, jnani or yogi, there is every possibility of one "changing" one's religion (through the medium of unsatisfied desire) - but when one comes to the platform of being a bhakta, there is no scope for desiring this change since there is no scope for unsatisfied desire - hence becoming a bhakta is summum bonum of theistic practice (the end of the road, so to speak), and its what I would change to adopt