Hinduism and Ganesh, remover of obstacles

http://www.examiner.com/interfaith-spirituality-in-columbus/spirituality-and-who-is-lord-ganesh-hinduism-101

Continued from my examiner post . . .

While the Ganesh legend seems strange to Westerners within the Abrahamic religious context which objects vehemently to idolatry, there are many valid themes and elements we shouldn’t lose sight of: the importance of wisdom; triumph of good over evil, elimination of obstacles through faith and devotion, right thinking and action. What Ganesha symbolizes matters to us all.

Scholar Stephen Prothero explains further that ‘Devotion to Ganesha is not confined to India, or even Hindus, however. It extends to Buddhists and Jains and far beyond the borders of the Indian subcontinent. One of the first traditional Hindu temples built in the United States-the Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam in Flushing, New York-is dedicated to Ganesha -who is also known as Ganapati).’ P 132 [photo is by Madhav Pai from Mumbai India and shows an boys about to immerse an idol of Ganapati at Juhu Beach.]

Hinduism, claims Prothero is the least dogmatic of the great religions and the most diverse; one becomes Hindu by birth rather than conversion; thus it’s as much a people as a religion. ‘In the Western monotheisms, one is the holiest number, but Hindus worship many gods through many different paths (margas), disciplines (yogas), and philosophies (darshanas). . . . Some Hindus say that there is really just one god underlying these many manifestations. Others say that there are many gods but one is supreme. Still others say there are many gods and all are equal. Some Hindus even say there is no god whatsoever-that the gods are a by-product of our hyperactive imaginations. Hindus are also divided on just how the gods are present in the murtis (icons) bearing their names . . . some Hindus say that the divine resides in these images, whil others say that these images are symbols pointing beyond themselves to divinity.’ P134 God is Not One Christianity has had a flap over representations of God and holy ones in Orthodox icons; and Protestant vs. Catholic re.: statues, stained glass, sculptures and paintings- as has Islam in an even bigger way-a flat out No! to any representations of Allah.

In the Hindu tradition humans are trapped in the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth called samsara-a meandering journey. This is where reincarnation enters the picture. The ultimate goal is to escape it all and attain moksha or liberation. This is not the same picture of reward-punishment or salvation one might find in Islam or Christianity. There are several paths to attain liberation via three different yogas: karma yoga-action based (inspired by the Vedas); jnana yoga-wisdom based (inspired by the Upanishads) and bhaki yoga-devotion (based on love).

Perhaps the biggest incursion into Western thinking (and New Thought) is the elevation of the self as a revelation of, or unfolding of God, (a heretic thought for many Christians). “Hindus refer to the essence of the human being as Atman, which is typically translated as ‘self’ or ‘soul.’ The essence of divinity they refer to as Brahman. And the liberating wisdom of Hindus who walk this jnana path is as simple and complicated as this: The individual soul is divine. The essence of each of us is uncreated, deathless, and immortal. Atman and Brahman are one and the same. . . . it is not enough to believe . . . You must experience it. . . . Some believe that Atman and Brahman are identical-the essence of the human being is the same as the essence of God. Others claim that Brahman and Atman are different but indivisible.’ pp148-149 ibid

Whether one is a philosophical or devotional Hindu, if one moves beyond the legendary and mythic elements there are some important and thought provoking ideas that seem to resonate with the modern mindset, scientific understanding and context. Religious understanding isn't as clean cut as columns with belief A, B and C outlined in comparitive fashion because interpretation, experience, cross pollination of ideas and context vary in different times and places. Coming from a completely different cultural environment or a place of agnosticism, any of our religions and practices might seem mighty strange and contradictory in a 21st century setting. [And purely tongue-in-cheek, before the man in the red suit comes down the chimney, after the ghouls and goblins have extinguished our jack 'o lanterns, it seems to me elephants could wreak havoc with donkeys . . . we may see some of that in play come election time.]

Hindu teachings

http://www.examiner.com/interfaith-spirituality-in-columbus/spirituality-and-who-is-lord-krishna-101

continued from my examiner column . . .

In the TV sitcom, 'My Name is Earl', a simple country guy is seized with the thought that anything bad he did will come back to him as bad karma, so he is determined to live in a rightful way, and right any wrongs he committed, in however a bumbling foolish gullible way.

The idea of karma weaves its way through all Eastern religions- Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism with different approaches and thoughts on how it works and within differing sects of these religious bodies. Even in the Hebrew bible you find plenty of cause and effect thinking. What you sow, you reap, and God help you. (Usually that's the problem; they sin and God abandons them to their sin- the worst possible outcome because they have to deal with the effects over and over until they come to their senses and return to Him).

[photographic image of Native American: Henry F. Farny (1847-1916), 'Appeal to the Great Spirit']

The purpose of meditation and yogic training is to free oneself from attachments and learn to live in a conscious way. Swami Amar Jyoti explains, 'Life is a school and each lifetime is a class that allows us opportunities to learn our lessons and grow. . . . In each birth we finish certain karmas and incur others; that is the problem. Like in a business where you have some deficit and some surplus, it is the same with our karmas. We pay back karmas and we incur karmas. The goal is to balance our account. . . The Vedas have give a beautiful and practical example: if you close up a room so that it is completely dark and then bring a light after a thousand years, how long will it take for the darkness to vanish? Just the twinkling of an eye.' He continues that for this reason meditation, yoga, charity and selfless works, scriptural study are advised. Light of Consciousness Vol. 22 No 2 Summer 2010 p9

In Hindu thought the spirit does not die, but leaves the body upon death and continues in another form. One moves life to life. The Akashic record is the collective consciousness- a history of all peoples in all times. In Sikhism, one can be released from karmic debt through grace. Buddhist thought holds that there is no individual soul, that's an egoic illusion in a flow of experience. The goal is to practice non-attachment. There is a great deal more to the discussion and this is certainly quite a cursory treatment. For Muslims, there is a judgment with a place of torment and a place of paradise.

Christianity holds that you only go around once. What happens after you die is also a wide open topic within the religion. Some denominations believe in physical resurrection at the end of time; others believe in spiritual resurrection (which the former group feels is gnostic- an idea influenced by mystery cults of the near East); yet others believe the outcome completely unknown and speculative and prefer to remain agnostic- we have enough problems here, now. Catholics believe in an intermediate state-purgatory (school) as we are not ready to face the Lord. Some flatly deny there is anything else.

There is a lot of discussion on what 'salvation' entails and plenty of doctrine to bolster each explanation. In process philosophy the constant is change and ever changing life-substances, forms. Galaxies are constantly being born, the tiniest life-forms emerging and evolving- as we ourselves. Our physical selves are a small interdependent piece of a larger web of life and our individual consciousness is a part of the larger Consciousness. There are scientific explanations and rebuttals too. I read them all; its more wrong to be ignorant and close-minded to me.

The bigger question is, 'what is the purpose of it all?' The 'why are we here?' Seems to me you want to figure this one out while you're still living the life. I once innocently asked my mother where I came from around age 5. My parents nearly dropped their dinner forks and stammered and stumbled around, highly educated, loving parents of incredible background. Dad said, 'You tell her! You're a nurse!' She said, 'But you're her father, a professor; surely you can come up with something profound.' Finally, after many more such exchanges, mom said to me with a smile, 'Well honey, you're from Chicago.' There was a silence as they carefully studied my face. "Oh, okay! The kids at school were asking,' I said, matter of factly and ran off to play. Friends, the moral of the story is this: don't forget to play.

Ancestor worship

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14414-Columbus-Interfaith-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m8d10-Spirituality-and-what-is-Obon

continued from my examiner column

Tonight I will light a lantern because I wish to honor my people and it is a custom that makes me nostalgic thinking about August's past. Read more about the Japanese Buddhist Obon festival: http://www.2camels.com/obon.php

In thinking about ancestors and eternity the other day, I noticed the symbolism on the Egyptian cup and saucer in my guest room. It is from an Egyptian tomb painting and features Horus serving up a symbol to a Queen. The symbol is an ankh, which represents eternal life. In the background, smaller people- servants no doubt, are carrying provisions in to the tomb for her journey to the afterlife.

Now if you should see a biker with this tatoo on his bicep, you will know what it means. [photo from Nachbarnebenan, Wickimedia Commons] The Wikimedia site after offering many conflicting interpretations of what the symbol could mean says, 'The Ankh, also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read 'eternal life', a triliteral sign for the consonants ˁ-n-ḫ. Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest.'

From diverse authors Thich Nhat Hahn, the Buddhist Monk and the late John O'Donohue, one finds a reverential tone about those who have gone before. Whether one is meditating on the departed with Buddhist prayer flags overhead or standing on very green grass aside a Celtic cross, both speak appreciation for the contributions and say thank you to kindred ancestor spirits as their memories are called forth. I have dreamt of my father lately. In fact he returned to hug me in a dream in the midst of some recent turmoil. My husband said, 'Oh. Take it as a sign that everything will be okay. Not to worry.' Whether it's 'non-local communication' as some of the crowd dabbling in physics will explain, 'spirit visits' according to the New Age group, or a memory recalled by the subconscious to re-assure-as psychologists will infer; thinking of one's loved ones in a loving and appreciative light is good. Its healing.

One woman I visited in the hospital had not had a chance to say goodbye to her mother who died suddenly, and there was 'bad blood' between them. She had regrets. I urged her to write down her feelings and hold her mother in compassionate regard, even though it might be tinged with sadness. Read her the letter out loud and then, toss it in the fire, watching the smoke curl up into the air. Let it go. Don't carry regret or resentment like a monkey. Replace the memory and feeling with a positive one, a silly childhood moment you shared. Choose to focus on gratitude, uplifting qualities in the midst of realism, and understanding.

At our former home, there were pictures-photos, paintings, memorabilia in nearly every room. Because realtors advise removing personal touches, I packed them all away. My, how empty and lacking character the place was for me with-out this 'gallery of the ancestors', as I jokingly called it. Yet, it was freeing-a new canvas, a new time for us to make new memories. There is a time and a place for remembering- a special day, date, dream or sensory/visual cue- like a tropicana rose or a red cardinal which call to mind mom, or my grandmother. Let your heart fill with appreciation for what each person has brought into your life; what they have taught you- positive and negative. We are not truly individual, but interdependent. Recall simple one word or short phrase descriptions about that individual and offer it up, wrapped in love.

Holy Mother and the Divine Feminine

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14414-Columbus-Interfaith-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m8d5-Spirituality-and-the-Holy-Mother-of-God-101

continued from my examiner column . . .

There is a LOT more to be said about the Divine feminine, a separate topic and treatment altogether. In limiting our discussion to the doctrine concerning Mary, mother of Jesus we could still produce volumes upon volumes.

In A New Handbook of Christian Theology, [Eds. Musser and Price], contributor Thomas A. Idinopulos says, ‘The Orthodox church, unlike Roman Catholicism, accords no special dogmatic status to the Virgin Mary beyond the definition of theo-tokos, or ‘God-bearer.’ Mary’s origins are regarded as wholly human, and the Roman Catholic conception of her ‘sinlessness,’ expressed through the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, is rejected. Also rejected is the Catholic dogma of Mary’s ‘bodily assumption’ into heaven. . . . the Eastern church rejects the specific Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility.'

He goes on to explain how the Eastern church makes a distinction between ‘holy tradition’ and ‘church tradition', which is revisable with changing times.’ And yet, there is such a special devotion and status granted to Mary in mosaic, iconography and practice. We need 'Her'. In the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Yung Moon for example, the idea of the Holy Trinity includes Father, Mother and Son, all united by the Holy Spirit, as explained to me by a hospital chaplain, who had left the Methodist tradition to become a member, finding the inclusion to be more authentic and healing than the Christian doctrine of the Trinity with Mary- sort of attached, but outside. [photo from Dormition Church artwork in Jerusalem by Yoav Dothan]

‘The sometimes God-like status of Mary (always officially denied in Roman Catholicsm, of course) may be, as Simone de Beauvoir suggests, a remnant of the ancient image of the Mother Goddess, enchained and subordinated in Christianity, as the ‘Mother of God.’ . . . It should be said, of course, that the Marian tradition, no less than other traditions, has been affected by the androcentric bias of theology. . . . in the figure of Mary, Christians are given the redeeming image of God in female being, an image that is salvific for men as well as for women,’ according to Catherine Mowry LaCugna, a feminist theologian in the wonderful book, Freeing Theology: The Essentials of Theology in Feminist Perspective.

LaCugna explains that our theology must move beyond binding patriarchal language which shapes our thinking and our culture, ‘Human beings are created in the image of God, male and female. That creation entails limitations and possibilities for each. . . . Pope John Paul II puts the human body at the center of God’s revelation. ‘The body, in is masculinity and femininity, is called from the beginning to become the manifestation of the spirit,’ he asserts.’ pp152-153.
We are to be fully in-spirited human beings-in the fullness of all that we were created to be.

Author Merlin Stone takes the limitation of language, patriarchy and scripture a whole lot further from an archeologically documented standpoint in the story of the religion of the [Mother] Goddess. 'Known by many names-Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, among others- she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Beyond being worshipped for fertility, she was revered as the wise creator and the one source of universal order. Under her, women's roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures.' (from 'When God was a Woman')
Stone summarizes 'We have seen that the orders for the destruction of the religion of the Goddess were built into the very canons and laws of the male religions that replaced it. It is clear that the ancient reverence for the female deity did not simply cease to be but that its disappearance was gradually brought about . . . ' p196. Many believe the need for a female deity was subsumed into the figure of the Virgin Mary as de Beauvoir posited. The psychological need for wholeness (the other half of ourselves) did not leave us, but emerged in a different form but by the same token, societal pathology emerges when an important aspect of who and what we are is submerged or cut off.

Since Pope John Paul II, we’ve seen other ideas about Mary (and the role/status of women), with the popes that followed. It comes down to the emergence of feminist theology vs. traditional (and long standing tribal & cultural) doctrines & beliefs. LaCugna goes to the heart of the issue, which includes Protestant theology, Muslim, and other religions as well, ‘One prominent aspect of feminist theology is its critique of patriarchy, of the systematic valuing of men as different from and better than women. Patriarchy is the complex set of values and religious beliefs that runs through society’s laws, language, cultural practices, and psychological constructs. For instance, the refusal in a denomination to ordain women (still practiced by the majority of Christians) has to do with the belief that women cannot represent God because a woman’s value is not as high as a man’s.’ p 186 The Iranian stoning of a woman to death is one manifestation of pathology in the guise of a religious and social construct.

For feminist theologians the heart of a new theological vision is about what it is to be human, rather than male or female. (Not black, white, Greek, slave or free, not member of a caste, or social group, gay or lesbian- beyond a label, tribe, social standing, political group). As we move into the 21st century, the biggest issue for peoples everywhere on this planet is that we are not yet sufficiently and fully human, nor do we behave that way towards one another, valuing LIFE in all it’s manifestations, capability and glory.