The Drinking Trough
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Around The Drinking Trough
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| Believe? Is that something of value? |
"There are many around the drinking trough." [Gospel of Thomas, Logion 74]
Q. Are your religious views solely based on the mental/logical interpretations of the Bible?
A. No.
Q. What led you do believe (I assume with total conviction) that the Bible and its varied versions are the only Books which represent God's teachings?
A. I have no such belief.
Q. Why do you think it is valid to connect phrases from virtually any part of the Bible with others (including partial sentences) to prove a viewpoint?
A. I don't.
Q. Do you believe that all writings/books in the Bible chosen (chosen by many people and groups of people over many centuries) to be in the Old and New Testament were of equal quality - in terms of divine inspiration? How do explain the apparent differences in the God of Love in the New Testament with the God portrayed in the Old testament?
A. (a) Of course not. (b) The key is "apparent". Having one's own son maimed and killed so as to help sinning ones is hardly that much to boast of - and besides the plan failed.
Q. How do you explain the fact that concept of Reincarnation in the early Christian religion, including the Catholic Church, was supported by many learned and respected Church leaders (Origen comes to mind) until the 500s?
A. People believe a wide variety of things.
Q. How do you know when it is appropriate to employ a literal, symbolic/cryptic or figurative interpretation of a Bible verse/s? (Is there a totally logical system that makes it clear how to interpret the verses or does the choice of method of analysis require inspiration?)
A. (a) That is none of your business; it is "internal affairs". (b) Laswell's formula is a good help, though. A variant: "Who says what to whom along which channels, with what intent, with what effects?"
Q. Do you believe that in this day and age that people can receive direct Divine Inspiration and Guidance? (Do you consider your writings or any other Christian writers who you agree with your views - either directly or indirectly - Divinely Inspired?)
A. (a) I say some can. (b) That is none of your business either. One should stick to issues instead of groping for the private, internal origins of what comes out of the mind or head.
Silent afterthought
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| Try not to rub me the wrong way. |
The architect who asked these questions some years ago, was an SRF member at the time and thought that I was talking for Christianity. I am sincerely against it, and for very good reasons, I daresay. He also wrote disparagingly on a Yogananda discussion board about my output. But a few years later he wrote me and told he had read into the material here and checked some of the information - in particular about Yogananda's changes of kriya - and then left SRF. He did not say, like Sophia Loren, "I owe it all to spaghetti (talking about her curves)." After all, things like that happen.
Meeting Life Anew after SRF
Who Was He?
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) tells that when Jesus was born, he himself was there too, and three of his nearest gurus in the SRF line of gurus. They were were the wise men. Tradition has it that they were three, but the Bible does not give any number. Besides, they may not have been so very wise, since they did not understand what Herod was about till he had murdered many babies and children after the wise men helped him to track the birthplace of Jesus, it is written.
Who were in the stable besides the not too wise men? An ox, a donkey, Mary and Joseph, to choose among.
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| The bull is found. |
In works of Shyama Lahiri (aka Lahiri Baba, Lahiri Mahasaya, etc.), published by Sanskrit Classics in San Diego, Shyama Lahiri goes into his past lives, and never mentions he was one of the so-called wise men of the Bible.
These Herod informers may be called only so-so wise because they put the tyrant Herod on the track of Jesus. Herod became furious, and gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. There was weeping and great mourning. [See Matthew 2:1-119]
To be the shortsighted cause of massive child-slaughter is not really swell. Besides, these men were not led by a wandering star, for stars in the sky do not move as described in the gospel. Our sun is a medium star, for example. A star shines uniformly over the side of the earth that turns toward it, and burns it to cinders at a close range. The temperature on the surface of a star like our sun is some million centigrades. Soon after and along with the burning and scorching, the earth would have been clashed with and been swallowed, according to present-day knowledge.
Thus, the not too wise men were not led by a real star, and Yogananda could have been a reborn ox, donkey etc. But how likely is it? Besides, it could be worse to have been a vicious, murderous marauder, I figure. He told he had been so in a former life. [Psy 112]
As usual in dealing with the fantastic, ask for evidence to avoid being taken in and outsmarted from there on, by steps and degrees.
Sincerity
There are many sorts of religion. Here is a saying that speaks volumes: "I am a Millionaire. That's my religion." - George Bernard Shaw.
When it comes to science, we have the testimony of notables like Werner von Braun on it: "Basic research is what I am doing when I do not know what I am doing."
That "Luck is better than science (Proverb)," has to be taken into account too. All of the above shows that there is room for nuances.
Conform humility could be overrated
What people like to call humility is often the outward garb of social, strategical calculations. Where calls for humility smell of demands for conformity, those involved may not have progressed very much in life. Sincerity can work well, however, depending on where you are and those you are with, and so on. There is much to consider, such as:
"It matters not what religion an ill man is of."
"Twin fools, one doubts nothing, the other, everything."
These American proverbs may help in enlarging our horizons; there is that hope.
There is much to be said for faith too; mere guessing is not exactly it. And we could do well if we live up to, "Put no faith in tale bearers."
"Open your eyes to the facts," is fine too, if you can stand it.
One More Question
Q. Do you distrust your friends when they do something for which you can see no immediate rational explanation, or claim to have done something which you think unlikely?"
A. That would depend on what their claims were. See a story:
A particular claim
John Cremony was a famous Western figure. He told one story of a desperate flight from pursuing Indians.
"I had a fine horse and managed to keep far enough ahead so their arrows could not reach me. I picked 'em off until my last cartridge was gone. Then I headed up a canyon. It ended in a sheer wall. I was trapped like a rat with a dozen Apaches closing in on me. And me without as much as a penknife to defend myself."
"What happened, Colonel?" someone in his audience would invariably ask.
"Why, they killed me! Damn them, sir, they killed me!" [Of]
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Literature
Of: Fuller, Edmund. 2500 Anecdotes for All Occasions. New York: Wings, 1970.
Psy: Dasgupta, Sailendra. Paramhansa Swami Yogananda: Life-portrait and Reminiscences.
Portland: Yoga Niketan. 2006. Online pdf.
www.yoganiketan.net
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