One God, Many Paths

muhammad_isa said:
In the OT..
Exodus 20:3: You shall have no other gods before Me.

In the NT..
Matthew 22:37: Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandmen.
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Hindus too are 'ahl-e-kitab', muhammad_isa. Messengers came to us too 3,000 years ago and kept coming later also. Half the Hindus will agree that God is one. Even RigVeda says that:

"eka evāgnir bahudhā samiddha ekaḥ sūryo viśvam anu prabhūtaḥ;
ekaivoṣāḥ sarvam idaṃ vi bhāty ekaṃ vā idaṃ vi babhūva sarvam."
“Agni is one, though kindled in various ways; one is the Sun, pre-eminent over all;
one Dawn illuminesthis all; one is that which has become this all.”
Seer: Medhya Kāṇva

Rig Veda 8.58.2 [English translation]

Rig Veda 8.58.2: “Agni is one, though kindled in various ways; one is the Sun, pre- eminent over all; one Dawn illuminesthis all; one is that which ha...
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"indram mitraṃ varuṇam agnim āhur atho divyaḥ sa suparṇo garutmān;
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanty agniṃ yamam mātariśvānam āhuḥ."
“They have styled (him, the Sun), Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is the celestial, well-winged Garutmat,
for learned priests call one by many names as they speak of Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan.”
Seer: Dīrghatamas Aucathya

Rig Veda 1.164.46 [English translation]

Rig Veda 1.164.46: “They have styled (him, the Sun), Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is the celestial, well-winged Garutmat, for learned priests ca...
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Call him by any name, half the Hindus will understand what is being talked about.
That is why Gandhi's prayer "Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de bhagawan"
(Ishwar and Allah are your names, may God give wisdom to all."
 
Longfellow said:
All of the O.T. passages that people think of as monotheistic are not saying how many of Him there are. They are saying that all other gods are not real, and not to worship them.
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Exactly .. not to worship idols.
Idols can be in more than one form .. statues .. people .. isms..

Longfellow said:
In my understanding it's vanity to think that we can know anything at all about God, including how many of Him there are, or even whether or not He exists.
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That's something else .. you speak about the attributes of G-d .. different creeds hold different
opinions.
However, one needs to realiize that the whole point of the first commandment is about authority.
If a person claims attributes that divert authority away from Him (His guidance), then the
commandments become invalid .. the authority lost.

G-d is not in need of our worship .. it is mankind who are in need.
 
Aupmanyav said:
Call him by any name, half the Hindus will understand what is being talked about.
That is why Gandhi's prayer "Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de bhagawan"
(Ishwar and Allah are your names, may God give wisdom to all."
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Yes .. the concept of G-d can be understood by all.
i.e. Creator and Sustainer of the universe

Those who believe/acknowledge the existence of the One should seek knowledge
with sincerity .. and they will find .. even if they must travel to a far away land. :)
 
muhammad_isa said:
Exactly .. not to worship idols.
Idols can be in more than one form .. statues .. people .. isms..

If a person claims attributes that divert authority away from Him (His guidance), then the
commandments become invalid .. the authority lost.

G-d is not in need of our worship .. it is mankind who are in need.
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If the many are God only, then what is the harm in worshiping idols? One is worshiping God only.
God (if you believe so) is not a dictator. He does not need authority and does never loose what he has.
Qur'an says 'Allah knows all', then what is the need to worship him. We should just do our duty.
 
Aupmanyav said:
God (if you believe so) is not a dictator. He does not need authority and does never loose what he has.
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That is correct .. G-d has no needs.
It is mankind who have needs .. are in need of guidance .. and the first commandment
(or kalima in Islam) is very important, because that guidance is lost if we ascribe partners
to G-d.

Aupmanyav said:
Qur'an says 'Allah knows all', then what is the need to worship him.
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The remembrance of G-d protects us from wandering off the path of righteousness.
 
Aupmanyav said:
We should just do our duty.
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I've wondered sometimes why you call yourself a Hindu. That helps answer the question. I'm thinking that maybe my philosophy of life could be summed up that way. But "worship God" can just be a different way of saying that, a different kind of metaphor.

Later. Yes, I think that my philosophy could be summed up as doing my duty. I would say duty to God, but that's purely metaphorical, and maybe not actually different from what you mean by it. I'm wondering if this could be an interesting topic of conversation between us. Where do you think that your ideas have come from, about what your duty is?
 
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Longfellow said:
In my understanding of the Bible, the God of Abraham has no number. He is not one, or three, or many or none. He has no number, not even zero. Monotheism might be popular in Abrahamic religions, but I don't see it in the Bible.
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Which Bible, or at least which version of Hebrew scripture?
 
RabbiO said:
Which Bible, or at least which version of Hebrew scripture?
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Caught me red-handed! It's going too far to call that my understanding of the Bible. It's only that looking at the passages that I've seen used as reasons for calling Judaism "monotheistic," I don't see them saying that there is only one of Him. I only see them saying that there are no others besides Him. My idea that He has no number is because He is above all attributes, and number is an attribute.
 
muhammad_isa said:
because that guidance is lost if we ascribe partners to G-d.
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For many Hindus, the many Gods they worship are him only. They are not ascribing partners. They are just worshiping different forms as suited to their individual psyche.

A famous example of that is when Saint Tulsi Das visited a Krishna temple. Now, Tulsi Das was a Rama Devotee, so he said:
"Kaha Kahun Chhavi Aaj Ki Bhale Bane Ho Nath, Tulsi Mastak Tab Nave Jab Dhanush Baan Lo Hath"
(What can I say about your form today, you are looking so handsome; but Tulsi will bow his head only if you take bow and arrows in your hand). It is said that the idol took bow and arrows in its hands.
Lord Krishna holds a flute in his hands, while Lord Rama is depicted with a bow and arrows in his hands. Both are forms of Lord Vishnu.
 
Aupmanyav said:
For many Hindus, the many Gods they worship are him only. They are not ascribing partners. They are just worshiping different forms as suited to their individual psyche.

A famous example of that is when Saint Tulsi Das visited a Krishna temple. Now, Tulsi Das was a Rama Devotee, so he said:
"Kaha Kahun Chhavi Aaj Ki Bhale Bane Ho Nath, Tulsi Mastak Tab Nave Jab Dhanush Baan Lo Hath"
(What can I say about your form today, you are looking so handsome; but Tulsi will bow his head only if you take bow and arrows in your hand). It is said that the idol took bow and arrows in its hands.
Lord Krishna holds a flute in his hands, while Lord Rama is depicted with a bow and arrows in his hands. Both are forms of Lord Vishnu.
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Wow, I'm seeing more and more how you can call yourself a Hindu. You know the metaphors and use them as well as anyone who takes them literally, maybe even better.
 
Longfellow said:
Where do you think that your ideas have come from, about what your duty is?
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From Hinduism, from 'Dharma', the rock-base of Hinduism. It is so in other Indian religions too. I term 'Dharma' (duty) as the Least Common Factor of multi-faceted Indian religions. Transgress your duty and you are against all Indian religions. :D

My duty is what my elders, my society and my nation wants me to do.
 
Aupmanyav said:
From Hinduism, from 'Dharma', the rock-base of Hinduism. It is so in other Indian religions too. I term 'Dharma' (duty) as the Least Common Factor of multi-faceted Indian religions. Transgress your duty and you are against all Indian religions. :D

My duty is what my elders, my society and my nation wants me to do.
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I'm liking this more and more. I'm very sorry that I never saw this in you before.
 
muhammad_isa said:
Do they think of the ten commandments, when thinking of their gods?
What guidance do these gods (that they see as the One G-d) give them?
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We do not know or need ten commandments. Our commandments come from elders, society and the law of the nation.
What guidance is required when our duty is clearly mentioned and we have been following it since ages?
(Sanatan Dharma - eternal religion).
 
One God, one way to get to Him(we look at the different ways and choose which path to follow, we might try a few but not all the paths........If you are in an unfamiliar place will you find what you are looking for on your own or would it be better to use a map. The chances of a person reaching their destination without a map(or gps) to guide him is next to nothing. You can walk right past it and not even know you did.
Maybe a very long time ago, all roads(the few) did lead to Rome, but not today. 😌

Jesus said...John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Only one way......

How many other spiritual leaders have actually made the same claim?.......That the only way to God is through their teachings?........ Plz name some.... and if possible, if you have scripture it would be awesome. tx
If there are many ways to God, why bother with all the spiritual ideology in the first place? Not everybody wants to be a good person.. Is Hitler going to be with God and hang out with the Jews for an eternity and maybe with those who believe there are many ways to God as well, since he believed the way he took will lead him to God? If we are all sinners and do bad deeds, how can we judge Hitler.... I am sure he did many good deeds in his life as well...

So no matter path we choose, we will find what we are looking for...🫣 I am not comfortable with that idea, because in this reality it is unsuccessful 99.9% of the time, why would it be otherwise in the spiritual realm?

Have a wonderful weekend.
 
Aupmanyav said:
We do not know or need ten commandments. Our commandments come from elders, society and the law of the nation.
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Does the world(humans) dictate what is right and wrong(Hitler had some strong ideas as well and many of his followers accepted it to be good)? thats ok with you?
 
Aupmanyav said:
We do not know or need ten commandments. Our commandments come from elders, society and the law of the nation.
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OK .. and where did they get their commandments?
..or maybe you are claiming that you do not need any guidance .. you are satisified with
what you've got .. what these people tell you.
 
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