Re: Cow Parade
Upanishads preach everyone to realize "You are THAT(god)".....to realize this, creating an image in mind won't help. Infact mind will be struck if it is done. Goal is to realize that your consciousness is equal to THAT infinite consciousness. Brihadaryanka upanishad does mention that there is only fun in infinite which has to be realized. ....at the same time, isa upanishad, though tells what i said here also tells even other things which would try give different picture.....the only logical explanation in support of idol worship which i found was this statement "A cats god is cat, a mans god is man" by swami vivekananda...majority of humans mind or cats mind thinks that god is like them only. whatever...required more discussion or even more has to do with a persons experiences/realizations rather than right away assuming whatever a scripture tells is true, and i am bored of discussing these things again and again.
I am in total agreement with you...or as they say in Hindi/Sanskrit -- "sadhu! sadhu!":)
However, It is necessary here to record the flexibility and frankness exhibited by the Upanishadic seers.
The knowledge of Brahman-Atman elucidated in these ancient texts is of course a declaration of the great sages who ‘saw it all’. But they never say it as a dogma. Nor are we supposed to receive them as dogmatic assertions.
The beauty of their teaching is that they ask us to enquire within ourselves and arrive at own conclusions, step by step, checking with the Upanishadic teachings at each step.
To help one in this search after truth they give their intermediate conclusions also. The final conclusion, according to them, is a realisable truth, which forms therefore an axiom – a single axiom from which the entire science of vedanta and metaphysics is built up by accepted forms of logic. This single axiom is enunciated in four different ways in the vedas.
These are the four grand pronouncements or Mahavakyas in conclusion:
Prajnam Brahma – Rgveda, aitareyopanishad
Aham Brahma Asmi – Yajurveda, Brahdranyaka Upanishad
Tat Tvam Asi – Samveda, Chandogya Upanishad
Ayam Atma Brahma – Atharva veda, Mandukya Upanishad,
meaning, respectively
*Absolute Consciousness is Brahman; *
*I am Brahman; *
*Thou art That; *
This Atman is brahman.
Each of these pronouncements is subjected to an intensive analysis by the commentators belonging to each school of philosophy.
However the differences in the interpretations by the different Acharyas should not matter in one’s daily life.
It is as if there exists a multidimensional Reality of which each individual perception has only an one-dimensional projection of the Reality before it, and, perhaps, each in a dimensional axis. You are free to choose that one which is appropriate to your taste, evolution, training and tradition
This is why I feel Hinduism is **ALSO* Great*