Zitat von Vedanta am 11. Juni 2017, 15:39 Uhr

„Hinduism“, 1^st Part
HH Shri Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji Maharaja

Vrindavan is a holy place, there are many old temples here. Unfortunately, many of them were demolished by the moguls when they were ruling at Delhi. Krishna is worshiped in His Deity form which you saw in the morning, that we also worshiped. We do not consider it as an idol or statue or anything like that, as you can read in the books „Darshana“ or „Hinduism“ by Knott. People from outside may think that this looks like a doll or a statue, an idol. But actually, there is a Divinity in that. There is a whole process of how Divinity enters into the Deity form and how He is invited to come there, and then you can reciprocate with that Deity. I sometimes give an example: Just like there is in quantum mechanics this wave-and-particle theory which everyone is familiar with. Light is a very interesting phenomena and it is difficult to figure out whether it is actually a wave or whether it is made of particles. They did this double-slit experiment some 75 years ago which shows that when you want to test light as a wave, then it behaves like a wave. And when you want to test is as a particle, it behaves like a particle. So it looks as if it knows what you want to do.

Double Slit Experiment

Scientists are completely bewildered by that.

They have come up with so many ideas and theories. But really speaking, how does it happen? Now they say it is both, it is a quant of energy and it has a small wave and it suddenly breaks down - all kinds of ideas have been given.

I am therefore giving this example, it sometimes depend on what you want to see. Similarly in regards to the Deity. If you want to consider the form of Krishna as a statue, then it is a statue. It won‘t do anything to you, it is just standing there. But on the other hand, if you want to see Him as God, as a living person, then He is a living person. Then He will reciprocate like that. In all depends what we call in Sanskrit „bhava“. There is no proper English word for it, but you may translate it like mood or sentiment. Many times, reality or truth at the very subtle level depends on your mood, on our concept, on your thought process. It is not something like frozen reality, this is a table, it has length and width, anybody can come and check it. No:

At the subtle level,
at the quantum level
things change.
Nothing is certain.

You cannot really pinpoint where the electron is at a particular time, you can only say it for a certain probability. That‘s why Heisenberg gave his principle of uncertainty. So things became a little hazy at that level, even in matter. And we propose that matter is not the only thing, but that there is something beyond matter which is consciousness. And consciousness is even more difficult to define and study. At present, neuroscience, the study of consciousness, is one of the biggest fields of research. A lot of research is going on but still, we they not sure about it, what it is. But we will study Bhagavad Gita where it is explained in a different way and you can experience that. What I am saying is that there is something which is beyond our normal day-to-day experience. That reality is also available to us but we have to become qualified for that. Like if I want to do experiments in quantum mechanics, I cannot just do this with my apparatus I have. I need some extra instrument. Similarly, if we want to know about consciousness, you cannot just study it with your impure consciousness.

Your consciousness needs to be purified
and then you can get into it.

That is the whole purpose of yoga or bhakti-yoga or any of these paths of spirituality. And then you will see that things which are spoken in Hinduism make sense. It is not possible, if you just see it from an external point of view and you may come from a Christian background, or Judaism or Islam - all these Abrahamitic religions - because they have their own concept, their own understanding, and Hinduism is completely different from that. It just doesn‘t match with them. Like you know what is a pant and you also know what is a skirt. But then you come to India and you see someone wearing a sari. So now where are you going to fit it? Because you only know either there is a skirt or there is a pant, that is your concept. What will you do to fit this sari in one of those two categories? You may say: „well it is a type of skirt“. But actually it is not a skirt, unlike a skirt it is just a flat piece of cloth which is put in a certain way. Also, it is tied like a dhoti. You see Krishna wearing a dhoti. That may look more like a pajama [laughing in the audience] but it is also just a piece of cloth. I am giving this example to show how you will understand something which is beyond the concept that I have. This can be understood only if I give up my old concept and try to get into that new concept itself, and then have an experience of it. Otherwise, if I remain standing at my own location and then try to gaze at it, then I will understand it in my own way but that is not going to be the real understanding of that thing. Because it just doesn‘t fit within my parameters.

Hinduism is something which developed in this part of the earth which was very isolated because India is surrounded by oceans on three sides and on the North is Himalaya which is almost impossible to cross or walk through it. So really speaking, it was a very isolated place where people would not come so much from Europe or America (which was not possible) and a sort of culture arose, developed and continued here for many millenia, not just one or two, but rather for a very long time.

They have discovered many old cities
which are 5,000 years old
with lots of arrangements in them like like roads,
sanitation systems, places to take bath, cooking facilities,
multi-story buildings …

and they have found many cities like this! Therefore, it is a very old civilization. Not much research has been done so far, there is hardly anything written about it. Many things you can actually look up in the Internet and see them. India was a kind of cocoon, things happened here and developed in their own way and there was not much interaction with the West. Of course, if you study history, there was interaction with Greek civilization. The Greek mythology has many things in common with Indian stories. So if you want to understand it and get into it, you have to become a little bit free in your mind and concept. You will have some of this experience when you go around here in Vrindavan, everyday we will be taking you around.