The essence of all the religions is one and the same

The essence of all the religions is one and the same since the Universal God gives it. The religions are different from each other because the religious leaders who are the human beings create the material that surrounds the essence. The skeleton is one and the same and there is no difference in the skeletons of the human beings.

The difference lies only in the external materials covering the skeletons, which are flesh, skin etc., in these external materials differences arose due to deficiencies. Suppose there are two students. One is weak in physics and the other is weak in chemistry. Each student mocks the other for the deficiency. Therefore, the deficiency is the root of difference and quarrels in the religions. The reason for the deficiency is the human brain that developed the external body of the spiritual knowledge. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is the skeleton and the religion is its body. The deficiency in a religion can be removed by taking the merits of the other religions. Every religion has deficiency and the rectification of that deficiency should be from other religion without any ego and jealousy. Do not think that you are without defects. Do not think that your parents have no defects. Do not think that your teachers and preachers do not have defects. Therefore, observe others and take the merits from anybody without prejudice.

The blind thinking that your nation, your state, your district, your town or village, your caste, your family, your parents, etc., is the best or highest should be eradicated from your brain. Always base your self on your analysis and commonsense that is observed from the examples in the world. Your elders might have polluted the scriptures but this world is the best scripture written by God. This world-scripture is Universal without any color of any religion. You can develop the entire spiritual knowledge by observing this world and the scientific knowledge existing in the various examples or items of the world. Any human being cannot pollute these. You must be scientific and analytical in your belief. The ignorant and clever religious elders always exploit blind belief.

The religions are the same because they are expressions of the essence, they appear differently at different times to the same people depending on the thought streams they entertain.
Similar are the thoughts of God and who we are. They evolve and change outside of the pure stillness of the One.
Every time you define God and Gods expression it's like passing gas. It lingers according to its intensity and conviction and then quickly fades until you fart again.
The difficult part is extending yourself through the ego into a continuous fart to express the idea continually. It takes a great amount of energy and eventually you would exhaust yourself.

When God spoke to Moses after his 40 year deliberation upon what to call him God said, "I am becoming"

All religions are the same. They are farts in the wind. They change in intensity and they evolve/dissipate with the illusions of time.

I nearly wet my pants when I read this. A bit slow thinking was he, Moses? And after all that thinking God spoils it by giving the answer! And what an answer - well worth waiting for. No, I've just noticed, I did wet my pants!

God, is in incontinence too..

Nice metaphor. Have flatulence, Joesus?

Someone once said that science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind. Religion and science are reciprocal; it doesn't do well to have one without the other. Religion without scientific understanding is ill-informed and has meager expressive capabilities. Hence many people say ALL is ONE but have little else worth saying since that taxes the limits of their expressive capabilities. Scientific understanding without religion (or more properly, religious experience) is hopelessly myopic and superficial.

Every one does at some time or another.

It's all well and good making all of these points, but non of them are supported with reasons. They are typically religion based, i.e. unsubstantiated, unproven and/or just not true. This is particularly the case when you look at science and religion in a relative way with respect to understanding or knowledge. But then again, religions do not need proof, as they revere the "blind sheep" approach (no need to see any evidence, no need to use reasoning, no need to question the ridiculous, no need to think). It's easy to avoid the complicated questions and answers, rather than get one's hands dirty. "God did it", therefore all of the questions are answered. It must be very comfortable being simple-minded.

There being no reasons to substantiate God, over 90% of humanity still believes in one kind or another.
Due to the experiences that cannot be explained by methods built around that which is maintained as reasonable, there exists the mystery of spirituality in the mind.
The heart, often moved by that which is beyond reason, still tempts us beyond our reasoning and we more than often follow, even though reason suggests we ask why and substantiate our actions with some sense of similarity to conformity and majority of thought.
Thing is, as often as we establish conformity of reason and rule, we break the rules and change our reason.

History establishes the fact of change in reason and the science of religion endures regardless of the changes in its appearance and its rules.

There is a saying those who know, know nothing and those who say nothing know more than they let on.
Basically the strongest opponents to spirituality are the weakest when it comes to inner strength and peace of mind because they have to protect the rule, any rule, in order to maintain reason and a sense of identity.

I'd say one does not need a reason to establish their own experience unless they are so unsure of it they wish to gain permission from an outside authority that they indeed have had one.

The simplicity of no rules is not always comfortable. Nor is hiding behind the majority of well established rules when the rules change.

Hey Hey, I am not pro religious dogma, nor am I pro science dogma. Religion at its most basic experiences and recognizes the mystery of all things. What I have found in many individuals devoted to science is it lulls them into a false sense of security, largely attributed to the false belief that everything is understood by science and everything makes sense, and leads them to accept 'scientific dogma' as final truth or close to final truth. This is little different from blind followers of religious faith. There is such a thing as blind followers of science, you know; they are the ones who accept science dogma as final truth or close to final truth, without recognizing and experiencing the mystery behind all things. The reciprocity between science and religion involves the reason of science combined with the recognition and experience of the mystery behind all things. It is definitely not an attempt to scientifically justify religious dogma, since to be complacent with any dogma as final truth, whether it be scientific dogma or religious dogma, is ridiculous and foolish. This dangerous complacency induced by religious and scientific dogma is one of the most dangerous defects of the human race.

Yes and for this very reason you can't debate religion. Every argument/talk about religions, creationism vs. evolution, the existence of god, always ends up with the religious person stating, "Well, that's what I believe."

Okay, great. I am facts and rational individual, personally.

On a lighter note, I suppose the 'holy wars' in the name of religion and god over in the Middle East is made out the same scaffolding that Christianity is? We're all doomed, then!

Whenever someone uses God for an excuse to kill innocent people it's not necessarily contagious.
Christianity has been twisted over the years but it was built from a firm foundation in Unity of creation with a common source.
The middle eastern turmoil is a war initiated not from unity but from the premise that there is an evil destroying the ability to perceive unity and live in peace. That evil being anything that can be blamed for a bad mood.

You don't have to be religious to be an idiot or a fanatic, tho some like to stereotype everything from their own state of ignorance.

Today the development of science is terrible, which is the faculty of logic and analysis. Today the heart is reduced and the brain is expanded. The old generations were having a broad heart and less brain. The heart can be inspired by appeals but the brain will not be satisfied by appeals. If you appeal “All the human beings are one and the same internally and externally. God is one only. Do not quarrel with each other and be united as one family”, the effect of such appeal is temporary only. When the devotee returns back, the emotion is subsided by next day itself.

The reason is that his or her intellectual facility (Buddhi) is not satisfied. You have not given the logical analysis of such concepts. You have worked at the level of mind only and not at the level of intelligence. Mind is the steering rod and the intelligence is the driver. Mind is in the hands of intelligence. Due to this reason only, the Lord started Gita with the concept of knowledge and analysis (Buddhi Yoga). The driving knowledge of the driver is more important than the driver. The correct driving depends on the correct driving knowledge imparted on him by the teacher of the driving school, who is the Satguru.

In the case of Arjuna, the teacher of the driving school himself became the driver! You cannot imagine the fortune of Arjuna. When God Himself became the driver, He is called as Satguru. The word Sat is used to mean God. Guru means guide.

The correlation of the scriptures of various religions was done in a detailed way by several prophets who aimed at the world peace. Even I have done this correlation in major topics like human rebirth, concept of human incarnation etc. The effect of such correlation is not much because the devotees of various religions are neither influenced by the unity of the scriptures nor by the unity of human beings having the same bodies of matter and energy externally and the internal souls made of the same pure awareness.

Scriptures are the concepts given by various forms of God. Devotees feel that these forms of God are totally different from each other. Unless you bring the correlation of the various forms of God belonging to different religions, the problem is not solved in the root. You have to come from top to bottom in the solution for difference. The correlation of unity in the scriptures and in the human beings is an attempt of solving the problem from bottom to top. If you can prove the unity of the forms of God and establish the concept of single God in various religions, the scriptures have to be correlated forcibly because one God cannot speak contradicting concepts in various religions.

Like this if you come from the top for the solution, there is always a tremendous binding force acting on the heads of devotees to correlate the scriptures. Even if some little variations exist in the scriptures, they have to be unified by force in the light of unity of God, who is the single speaker of various scriptures.

That was wonderful.

[quote name='lucid_dream' date='Apr 22, 2007, 08:31 PM' post='78393']What I have found in many individuals devoted to science is it lulls them into a false sense of security, largely attributed to the false belief that everything is understood by science and everything makes sense, and leads them to accept 'scientific dogma' as final truth or close to final truth. This is little different from blind followers of religious faith. There is such a thing as blind followers of science, you know; they are the ones who accept science dogma as final truth or close to final truth, without recognizing and experiencing the mystery behind all things. /quote]What does "many" mean? I'm sure that you're not suggesting that all or even most scientists are unintelligent enough not to be open to new ideas and explanations. All I know is, that if there is a god, then there are also fairies at the bottom of my garden, or there is any imaginable detraction that I care to have the faith to believe in. And if science is wrong, so must be treatments for disease (that work) and microscopes and telescopes to independently and evidentially visualize the structure of the world and universe. I also know that I will keep an eye on any modifications of the data so that I can refine my interpretation of the universe, as any true scientist will.

But .... hang on, let's look out there in the world. Jews are banning women to the back of the bus, Christian priests have been known to be child abusing for years under the protection of bishops, Romans preyed before the gladiatorial blood baths, Bush and Blair didn't turn the other cheek very far ........... I wonder what I could get away with in the name of the fairies? Must go, I have been ordered by the Lord of the Rings to whip a few hobbits.

Emotional.
Emotions often lead rationality away from balance.

Oh, and just cause you can't see the fairies don't mean they don't exist..

Most scientists are trained to be critical and open to new ideas. In spite of this, many also follow their own agendas and are swayed by their own biases and expectations. Also, the problem with being open to new ideas is that this often does not include paradigm shifts, or changes in the fundamental ideas or accepted wisdom of science. These fundamental ideas are commonly taken as assumptions by working scientists who never think to question the validity of the numerous tacit assumptions they bring into any analysis or interpretation of observations.

When the energy, which is another form of matter, only does a special function, that special function or special mechanism or special technology is called as life. Thus, life is the special work of energy. The scientist is unable to make the energy to do this special work. The scientist is unable to know this special mechanism. Thus life is a special know-how or the knowedge of special technology. Since knowledge is power, the life can be called as special power.

Let me give you an example. A cook prepared a curry. With the same materials another cook prepared the same curry but with additional taste. This special taste is the life. The taste is not the extra material, which is hidden in the hand of second cook. The taste is only a special knowledge or talent of the second cook. The first cook is scientist and the second cook is God. God does not reveal this one special technology to human beings because the human being always wants to become God due to his inherent egoism and jealousy. Thus God saved the human being from its fall. One should constantly remember this point and constantly surrender to God.

The soul in the physical body is only a bundle of qualities and is just a computer chip. This chip is leaving the body in death. Even if you prepare that chip and introduce into the dead body with association of the required energy, the dead body can become only Robot. The difference between the human being and the Robot is this life only. The body of human being is made of living cells. Any cell can be used for cloaning. But any part of Robot is non-living and cannot be used for cloaning. The dead cells of dead body cannot be transformed into living cells, which can alone make the dead person, a living person. The reason is that the mechanism of a living cell cannot be introduced into the dead cell since the scientist is ignorant of it. Therefore, life is a special work of the ordinary inert electro magnetic energy. The energy is inert and since work is also a form of energy, the work is also inert. Special work is also a work. Therefore, life is also inert.

The word inert means that it is not independent and is under the control of a controller. When the controller is completely independent, you can call that controller only as life. That independent controller is God. The life is inert with reference to God. Before the life other items of creation are inert since life controls them. The life is called as ‘Para Prakriti’ in Gita, which means that the life is supreme item of the creation. But the creator is more supreme than life and thus most supreme controller. This special working substance is only the inert energy, which is in the hand of the scientist also. This energy is also a form of the matter. When the food is taken, it is converted into this energy. Thus it is not a special energy.

Life is only a special work of the same inert energy, which is produced by the conversion of matter or food. Veda also says the same (Annaat Purushah). This special mechanism cannot be known by searching the matter and energy present in a living cell. The taste cannot be found out by searching the materials used for cooking that curry. It is only in the form of knowledge, which should be revealed by the talented cook. When God came in human body as human incarnation, He demonstrated His special knowledge of life by raising a dead body.

I take the parts that i feel are right out of all religions, mix them with what i already know and put them together to make mine. Energy and its many forms mostly ;-)

The first form of creation is energy. All the other items are the modifications of that energy only. All the modifications may perish but energy remains eternal due to the will of God. It is like the reel of the film containing the whole picture after the dissolution of the world. No fool will destroy the reel at the end of the show. Therefore the reel is eternal. But its eternality is based on the will of God. If God wishes, even the energy disappears. The reel is not destroyed but can be destroyed. Such eternal finest form of energy is called as Mahat by Veda and is called as Mahat-Brahma by Gita (Mamayonih Mahat-Brahma). The Shastras say that Mahat itself means Brahman (Mahat Brahma iti proktam). When the will of God is withdrawn, this entire world along with the souls and their corresponding attributes become a static impression on the inert energy and is retained in the state of Avyaktam.

In this state both good and bad attributes or feelings are static and inert and therefore become equal. A good deed painted as a picture on a paper is equal to a bad deed painted on a paper. There is no difference between good and bad in this state. This is the equilibrium state of the good (Sattvam) and bad (Rajas and Tamas) qualities before and after the creation. This is the meaning of the equilibrium state of the three qualities as mentioned in the Sankhya philosophy. If the qualities are associated with awareness, certainly a bad feeling or a bad action cannot be equal to a good feeling or a good action. The equilibrium state certainly means the state of the good and bad qualities as inert impressions in the basic phase of inert energy. Such a state results in the deep sleep. This finest primary energy is called as Mula Maya or Mahat-Brahma or Karya-Brahma or Hiranya-Garbha.

lol

I was born and raised as a Methodist, my Grandfather is a minister, and I spent 3 years at a religious boarding school, and yet i still just cannot accept and bow to one particular religion; they are all too similar to one another. Supreme being, messengers, prophets, saints... All religions (all those still practiced on at least a minute scale) have facets of these things, and so I just think it is a matter of time and place: whatever religion reaches a person first, and offers them what they want, is what they will believe in. I think that if religions were not so similar in their practices and beliefs, then it would be way easier to figure which one, if any, was correct. I dont think religion for my generation, in this part of the world at least, holds much stock at all. Myself and most of the people I have debated over these sort of things with all do this too; we rip apart conventional organized religions, combine them with science and philosophy, and end up with something that is entirely heretical and perfectly understandable, and yet when looked at from a christian point of view, we should all burn in Hell.

Why doesn't everybody stop arguing about the existence of one god or another and get out into the world to help, in any way they can, to bring about peace, security and prosperity and better health for ALL peoples?

Surely, is this not what any god who supposedly created mankind and everything else, would want?

I don't believe in any god but am sure that if everyone would strive to achieve the objectives listed above we would have generated what any existant god is presently failing to do!