Seeing God in everything

[Caimanson]

I was just reading the thread Do all Hindus agree with idol worship? and this theme caught my attention:

Originally Posted by Agnideva

According to Agamic philosophy, the stepwise progression to spirituality begins with service (charya), then moves on to kriya (ritual), followed by yoga, and then leading to jnana. Each successive step is supposed to be built on the previous.

According to Agamic philosophy, the ritual will not cultivate you completely, but aids in that cultivation. The idea is that if God is everywhere and in everything, we must first learn to see Him through the images, before we can experience that omnipresence.

If, however, one feels that it is not important, one need not practice any rituals at all. One has that spiritual freedom in Hinduism also, as you know already. The worst thing one can do is to practice something without belief in it, there’s absolutely no merit in that I think.

I don't know how to phrase this accurately, but my question roughly is about how to see God (or whatever you want to call it) in everything.
Rightly or wrongly I have this prejudice about rituals or prescribed disciplines, unless they are spontaneous. So my question is more about what kind of mindset one should look for in very general terms, and what practical things may help.

Please keep in mind that I don't know anything about Hinduism and I am rather interested in Taoism at the moment, so it is more of a general question.

(hope I make sense!)

[Agnideva]

Originally Posted by Caimanson

I don't know how to phrase this accurately, but my question roughly is about how to see God (or whatever you want to call it) in everything. Rightly or wrongly I have this prejudice about rituals or prescribed disciplines, unless they are spontaneous. So my question is more about what kind of mindset one should look for in very general terms, and what practical things may help. Please keep in mind that I don't know anything about Hinduism and I am rather interested in Taoism at the moment, so it is more of a general question. (hope I make sense!)

Namaste Caimanson,

In Hinduism, the teaching that the Divine presence is everywhere and in everything is a very important belief, and shared by all branches. I am not sure if the word “seeing” is the best term for use although we use it quite often. Experiencing is probably a more appropriate term. In Hinduism it is taught that this realization comes gradually, and is called a spiritual awakening or the opening of the third eye. In Agamic/Tantric Hinduism, the spiritual awakening is associated with the rising of consciousness to the sixth chakra called the ājña chakra, which itself is associated with forgiveness, compassion, and breaking through misidentifications.

It is not just ritualistic worship or prescribed disciplines that are important to come to that realization. To begin to cultivate that kind of mindset, one is told to consider all beings as divine beings, treat all with respect, practice kindness and sympathy toward others, not to unnecessarily harm humans, plants and animals, develop compassion, help those in need, show remorse, be honest, etc. Many of these are actually part of the first two steps of the yoga path called the yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances). You can find a list of the yamas and niyamas here.

You may also find the first part of this article helpful.

In addition, there is a how to see God everywhere and in everything thread in the Hare Krishna forum, which you may find useful.

I hope I’ve answered your question .

AUM Shanti,
A.