The Upanishads are the spiritual gist, the culmination, of Vedanta, which again are the core of the Hindu spiritual thought.
You have rightly discerned that attempt to unify people, through tempering or moderating their emotional or animal urges, their selfish mental inclinations and their sense of power natural to their respective strengths or position. The Upanishads offer the pure, extremely rarefied knowledge for the spirit in quest of its own moorings or ' true home,' away from its sense of exile or banishment, a recurring thought among Western authors and philosophers. On Feb 9, 9:17 am, 1CellOfMany <[email protected]> wrote: > I have begun listening to a course from "The Teaching Company" called > "Religions of the Axial Age: An Approach to the World’s Religions". > The course begins with "the early Indo-European peoples, who migrated > [from Central Asia] to West and South Asia and decisively shaped the > religious outlook and practices of those regions." In the second > lecture, Dr. Muesse says that, based on what evidence we have about > these people, they started out with two classes in the society: The > priests, and the rest of the people, whom you could call the > producers. He goes on to describe the roll of the priesthood in that > society, the various gods that they worshiped, etc. > > What appears from his description is a society that is governed by the > leaders of religion. These leaders helped to regulate the society > morally, helped keep track of the seasons and, through rituals in > which the whole community participated, they helped to unify the > people. In other words, in that primitive culture, religion was the > civilizing influence, the social force that brought people together > and influenced them to work in harmony. > > To proceed from this point, I think that it is important that we make > some distinctions (not that we all need reminding, but for added > clarity): rather than always speaking of "religion" in a general way, > we should specify when we are specifically referring to a *religious > institution* (like a church or a denomination), what I call the > "source books" of the religion, specific leaders or interpreters of a > religion, and communities that practice the religion. > > On Feb 7, 10:10 pm, Vamadevananda <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > How many here have read the Upanishads ? ! > > > The two most positive aspects of religion are concepts of fraternity > > and brotherhood, in times when most of the world were barbarian, on > > one hand, and the practice of introspection or self - examination, on > > the other. > > > On Feb 8, 2:50 am, 1CellOfMany <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > There have been many discussions here where the negative results of > > > religion have been brought up as a side issue to another discussion. > > > I would like to start two parallel threads here, one about the good > > > that religions and religious people have done in and for the world, > > > and the other about the bad things that have come from, and been done > > > because of religion. > > > > In this thread, lets concentrate on discussing the positive > > > contributions of religion. The good acts, the positive results of > > > religious teaching, and the positive things that can be learned from > > > reading the "source books" of religion, such as the Bible, the > > > Upanishads, the Koran, and other writings that are considered "Holy" > > > by any religion. > > > > A historical time-line might also be useful, correlating the beginning > > > and growth of each religion to historical events and trends in the > > > places where the religion was spread. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
