owl of Minerva wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:16 pmOrthodoxy and dogma, and proprietary hostage taking of the supposedly one God is a area that most rational people would rather stay clear of, because it is a quagmire.
Yet one could say that rational, responsible people
have to enter into the consideration of the issue, and they have to make incisive decisions. It is a question of clear seeing and sound use of reason.
The actual 'religion of Krishna' (if Vaishnavism is taken as an example) is a religion that revolves around the literal worship of
murtis (dollies effectively) of Krishna and Radha: dressing them up, feeding them elaborate foods which become 'prashadam' (blessed food), and rituals of worship that begin at the break of day and extend to the final hours of the night. It is idolotry compunded I am afraid to say. It has its beauty nonetheless. It has its spiritual and philosophical depth too. Aldous Huxley extolled the Bhagavad Gita with some good reasoning. Still, it is all based on notions of 'offerings' and 'sacrifices'. All of the religions of India, of those I am aware of, involve ritualism of this sort.
Sri Aurobindo has taken it to an advanced intellectual level however, that much must be said.
The religion of Christianity, and Christian thought, has so far superseded Vedic thought in India as to be incomparable in reach and scope. See for example
The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. It is arranged like an encyclopedia with entires under different categories.
From the comments:
- "A couple of things I have loved about this 'book' (an insufficient word, more accurate would be to describe it as a reference tool, a library of human ideas and thought). Foremost is its sheer comprehensiveness, every subject and topic of Christian thought is covered by an expert in the field and with an accompanying further reading section. In addition are subjects dealing with other religions and Christianity's theological relationship with them (a paucity in today's world which often competes with a comparison with culture and history)."
- "From this expertise therefore emerges the most erudite and enlightening of commentary - another of its strengths. From this authoritativeness is an indispensible guide for any Christian living in the modern world. He who seeks to understand the place of Christianity in the modern world, where it has come from and hints of where it is going. I myself gained solace from the issues of faith which have been previously discussed and treated by eminent theologians from centuries past."
Christian thought, though it is accurate and fair to say few today seem to understand this, is extremely wide-reaching, totally relevant to concerns and issue of the day, and utterly fundamental to ourselves, our life, our culture and civilization. I will agree that Vedic thought is very very interesting, and touches on very interesting ideas & concepts (the Bhagavad Gita is a relevant and important document, to say the very least) but the scope and breadth of Christian thought -- the application of ideas, the ethical breadth -- pales that of the thought that informs East-Indian categories.
This is not a question of cultural chauvinism, though some might paint it like this. I would assert that were you ever to examine the book I referenced you would yourself see what I mean.
The 'revelation' out of which Christianity arose is factually and really of another category. I am uncertain why it is like this, or how it turned out like this, yet I do believe that if the question were examined with openness that what I propose here would be the proper conclusion (it is what I have come to obviously).
If this is so the *source* must be considered.
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