Hinduism - a religion from India - a guide to the ultimate questions of philosophyThe major religion from India is Hinduism. The philosophy of Hinduism, the main religion from India, is such a vast subject that if an army of scholars were to study it for a lifetime, they would not be able to finish the job. But all agree that the main and earliest scriptures are the Vedas. There are 108 Vedas and they are supposedly the word of God – Brahma – who wrote the scriptures operating through the medium of Rishis. The Vedas seek to answer the ultimate questions of philosophy – Who am I, Where do I come from, Where am I going. But better than an intellectual understanding of the answers we would do well to seek an existential experience, which would reveal the answer from within us. The Ultimate is that of which we cannot speak – It is without attributes. It can only be understood through experience. Speaking of it is like trying to explain the taste of the sweetness of sugar to a person who has never tasted it. We would do well to taste the sugar – to know it through our experience instead of asking questions about it. In the early part of the 20th century, Paul Brunton, a journalist from England spent many
years in India, exploring the religion from India, meeting holy men, searching for and then finding a guru, and in meditation.
He published his experiences in a series of books now considered classics. His writings
reveal a modern, rational, scientific and skeptical bent of mind but he combined this with
an open-mindedness and an interest in the holy men and mystics that he met. The classic
book, which tells the story of his quest for a guru, is
A Search in Secret India
available at Amazon.
Paul Brunton was accepted as a disciple by Ramana Maharishi, the sage of Arunachala.
Ramana Maharishi had perfected a technique of meditation that goes into the question –
Who am I. Through this method, in the main, he achieved enlightenment. Ramana
Maharishi is one of the most venerated saints of Hindusim, the religion from India and further information on his life
and his teachings can be found at his website
www.ramana-maharishi.org
The 2 books by Paul Brunton that explain this technique of meditation are The Secret Path and The Quest for the Overself . The techniques are such as can be practiced by a layman, or a novice in meditation. They require no more than half an hour per day and are completely safe to practice. I myself am practicing this method of meditation. It is too early for me to report any favorable results as I have only recently taken up the practice. I liked what I read of Paul Brunton. Basically through the meditation practice we convince ourselves – through sustained reasoning – that we are not our mind and we are not our body. The insights and experiences thus obtained I will leave to Paul Brunton to describe as I cannot speak from experience. But I would urge everybody interested in Hindu philosophy and in meditation to read the books listed above. These techniques will quickly lead to achieving serenity of mind, calmness and to the biggest freedom of all – an attitude of indifference as to what the present and the future holds for us. We will no longer be tormented by past memories, hopes and fears but will be able to live serenely in the present. The main religion from India, Hinduism, is a very vast subject, but we are not scholars and do not need to study the scriptures in depth, unless we are so inclined. We only need some guidelines and meditation practices that will help us improve the quality of our lives and adequate information, for that purpose has been given on this page. Please also explore the following links which tell how the message of Hinduism philosophy is of vital importance in today's world.
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