Recently, I had the fortune to accompany Swami in a train journey from Narasaraopet to Vijayawada. A Christian father was our co-passenger. The conversation between Swami and the Christian father took place as given below.
Father: Those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ will be sent to the flames of liquid fire in hell. This is the declaration of our faith.
Swami: Does that mean that there is no salvation to all the generations of devotees who lived on this earth before the incarnation of Jesus Christ? If so, all those devotees were subjects of the partiality of God since they were deprived of the revelation that their successors had!
Father: God is impartial in this matter. He gave Jehovah to mankind for their salvation before the incarnation of Jesus.
Swami: Fine! That may be true, but devotees of this land (India) had no knowledge of either Jehovah or Jesus Christ prior to the arrival of Vasco da Gama. Vasco da Gama discovered India and only later on, did the Christian literature that speaks of Jehovah or Jesus come to India. All those innocents, who lived before the arrival of Vasco da Gama were deprived of the revelations of either Jehovah or Jesus Christ and were sent to the flames of the ‘liquid fire’ for no fault of theirs. Moreover, they did not even have the opportunity to take human rebirth birth later and reclaim salvation since the doctrine of the faith that you follow, has no place for the rebirth of the soul.
Does this mean that God intended to provide the revelation only to a handful of people in a small country and deny the opportunity to all those living in rest of the world? Why did God reveal Himself at a particular point of time, in a particular land and to a particular section alone? Does that not accuse God of partiality?
Father: No faith is free from such blame. Does your faith also not warn those who do not believe in your faith, of the same danger of hell? All mortals in other lands, who are not aware of the virtues of your faith, are also subjected to the same punishment in hell! Does this also not accuse God of partiality?
Swami: There are fanatic enthusiasts in every faith. Christian enthusiasts claim that non-believers in Jehovah or Jesus Christ shall be subjected to the flames of the liquid fire. Hindu enthusiasts claim that non-believers in Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva shall be subjected to punishment in hell. These enthusiasts further introduce ideas that salvation is possible only for devotees who follow that particular path, while others will go to hell. Followers of different sects criticize each other by such warnings.
All these enthusiasts fail to recognize the unity in all the world religions. All these ‘approaches’ to God, accuse Him of partiality. The only way to keep God free from blame is to understand His generosity correctly.
The same single God revealed Himself in different forms, in different places, in different times, to different people. He granted the same enlightenment [knowledge] to all in different languages. All those who are faithful to Him attain salvation upon receiving the enlightenment. Those who fail to accept it, are subjected to the liquid fire in hell. This approach towards God makes Him free from any blame of partiality. The God of all religions is one and the same. He may appear to be different due to differences in His approach to different people, in different times, in different forms and in different languages. He uplifts all with the same compassion.
The sea receives all the rivers in the same way, whether they are straight or curved. Devotion is important; not the religion or the path. If the straight river becomes proud and mocks at the curved river, God will see to it that the straight river will never reach Him. By His will, people will build a dam on that river to divert all the water!
Everyone needs to follow the path assigned in his faith to attain salvation. Every religion has different levels of spiritual enlightenment. One should move up to the higher level for achieving total enlightenment. Such enlightenment alone is the means of salvation. These levels of enlightenment in each religion are similar to the different levels in education such as school and college. Different religions are similar to different language mediums. The curriculum is same in all the language mediums. A pupil of a certain language medium should strive to reach higher levels of knowledge in the same medium of his choice. He is a pilgrim in pursuit of divinity. His medium is his opportunity. It is neither superior nor inferior to any other medium. He need not move on to another language medium to uplift himself. All the language mediums are different religions with different levels of knowledge.
A school student studying science in a particular medium (language) need not change his medium, because even if he changes, the syllabus will not be changed. He should strive to change his syllabus by raising his standard of knowledge i.e. he should graduate from the school level and reach the college level while remaining in the same language medium. The school and college levels exist in every medium. A school student does not become a college student just by changing the medium of his class. He becomes a college student only when the level of his knowledge rises. Similarly, a devotee of any religion should try to reach the higher spiritual level in his own religion. His spiritual level is not raised by changing his religion. Every religion has the lower and higher levels of spirituality meant for devotees of corresponding stages. Religion is the medium and spirituality is the curriculum or syllabus. This syllabus (spirituality) has different levels, such as school level, college level etc., present in the same medium (religion).
One should strive to reach the higher levels of knowledge that are present in his own faith. No one needs to move to another faith for getting a higher level of knowledge or for final salvation. All faiths lead to the same destination. In any path, you will have to proceed vertically to reach the goal. At any point, if you travel horizontally to another path, you will still remain at the same level, which is a waste. The realization of this truth alone ensures harmony among different faiths in the world. Failure to recognize the truth will not make anyone enlightened.
[When Swami concluded in this way, the Christian father stood up, touched his heart, traced a cross over it and said the following words.]
Father: We believe that Jesus will be born again. Yes. Jesus is born again now. Nobody else can explain like this. I am fully convinced”.
[When we returned to our house, Swami said the following to me.]
Swami: See, the Christian father did not rigidly limit his mind with conservatism. Every religion contains good and broadminded devotees. My effort in the propagation of this knowledge is for such devotees, who are present in every religion in this world.
How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Moderator: Moderators
Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #2Because there is only One God. And it is the One God that determines the way to a right relation to Him.
Your dialogue, which is only your story, is filled with errors. In other words, how do I know you didn't make this up, which you probably did, to provide for you a platform to speak?
In your 'story' the Christian said God is impartial in this matter of salvation. That is not true. God in the Bible is never impartial. He is the One God and He provides the one way.
Rip
Your dialogue, which is only your story, is filled with errors. In other words, how do I know you didn't make this up, which you probably did, to provide for you a platform to speak?
In your 'story' the Christian said God is impartial in this matter of salvation. That is not true. God in the Bible is never impartial. He is the One God and He provides the one way.
Rip
Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #3Jesus says that one can reach His Father through Him only. This means that one can reach God Datta (the Father in Heaven) only through the Human Incarnation. Human Incarnation is the gate created by God for the sake of humanity on earth. Energetic Incarnation is the gate created by God for the energetic beings living in upper worlds. Some human beings try to reach through the gate of an energetic incarnation or through the gate of a past Human Incarnation. Only the contemporary Human Incarnation is the proper gate for humanity. But, everybody avoids this gate due to ego and jealousy towards a co-alive human being. This is the inner meaning of this hymn.RIP wrote: ↑Fri Nov 04, 2022 7:17 pm Because there is only One God. And it is the One God that determines the way to a right relation to Him.
Your dialogue, which is only your story, is filled with errors. In other words, how do I know you didn't make this up, which you probably did, to provide for you a platform to speak?
In your 'story' the Christian said God is impartial in this matter of salvation. That is not true. God in the Bible is never impartial. He is the One God and He provides the one way.
Rip
Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #4[Replying to sridatta in post #3]
What Jesus said is found in (John 14:6) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
This is sufficient to answer your question in the opening post. The Bible declares Jesus is the only way.
Your attempt to interpret this through your religion is empty. Strange isn't it how other religions feel the need to somehow identify Jesus with them.
Rip
What Jesus said is found in (John 14:6) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
This is sufficient to answer your question in the opening post. The Bible declares Jesus is the only way.
Your attempt to interpret this through your religion is empty. Strange isn't it how other religions feel the need to somehow identify Jesus with them.
Rip
Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #5Lord Datta means God given to the world in human form for the upliftment of humanity and hence, He is the highest as far as humanity is concerned from the point of convenience in worship. He is the only means of reaching/serving/pleasing the Lord. Lord Jesus stressed the same when He told ‘I am the only way’ and Lord Krishna said it through ‘Vasudevah Sarvamiti…’ in the Gita. Such, Lord in human form is called the human incarnation.RIP wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:02 am [Replying to sridatta in post #3]
What Jesus said is found in (John 14:6) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
This is sufficient to answer your question in the opening post. The Bible declares Jesus is the only way.
Your attempt to interpret this through your religion is empty. Strange isn't it how other religions feel the need to somehow identify Jesus with them.
Rip
The ‘I’ in the above statement of Jesus refers to the human incarnation of Lord only, who comes in every generation otherwise, He becomes partial for a generation of people, place and time. The scriptures of both Christianity & Hinduism i.e., Bible and Gita support the human incarnation concept through the statements ‘God-in-flesh and Manushim Tanumaasritam…’ respectively. Even in Islam also, Mohammed is treated as a Prophet, which definitely means, He is above normal human beings because all the human beings are not treated as Prophets.
The worship of such contemporary human incarnation/Prophet gives the highest fruit as in the case of Hanuman (attained the post of future creator), who worshipped Lord Rama and Gopikas (attained Goloka), who worshipped Lord Krishna.
Likewise, the disciples of Mahavir, Jesus, Mohammed Prophet, Buddha, Shankara, Rama Krishna Paramahamsa and Shirdi Sai worshipped the respective human incarnation only as Lord. Worship means not mere words and feelings, but by participating in His mission through service, which consists of donating money & physical service. His mission is only to spread the divine knowledge and devotion in this world and to uplift everybody.
Human birth, urge for salvation and to come in contact with the human incarnation are the three real fortunes and the importance increases from left to right in the order (Manushyatvam, Mumukshatvam, Mahapurasha Samsrayah Durlabham—Shankara).
Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #6[Replying to sridatta in post #5]
As I said, your 'lord datta' needs Jesus. Jesus doesn't need your 'lord datta'.
Rip
As I said, your 'lord datta' needs Jesus. Jesus doesn't need your 'lord datta'.
Rip
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Re: How can only one religoin can claim that their religion is the only true path?
Post #7Jesus can be the only way, but it does not mean that people who have not heard of him have no chance. By what the Bible tells, eternal life is for righteous.RIP wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:02 am [Replying to sridatta in post #3]
What Jesus said is found in (John 14:6) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
This is sufficient to answer your question in the opening post. The Bible declares Jesus is the only way.
...
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matt. 25:46
And person can be counted righteous, even if he has not heard of Jesus, by this:
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn't the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:12-16
