https://recorder.google.com/f9642204-5550-4f70-83b1-bde3fe4ef617
Transcript
00:01
I think that unitary and universalism is good. And, A kind of aligns with some of my own ideas that I’ve been exposed to from yoga. And in yoga, we have, uh, you know, uh, Hinduism, which is kind of, uh, where a lot of the yoga tradition comes from, Uh has a lot, a lot of different denominations in Hinduism different emphasis and and everything.
00:26
And one of them that I like is called vaishinavism, Which, Translates into something like the worship of Lord Vishnu. And um, Anyway, what’s interesting about that with with vice navism, is that It’s all about bhaki. And bhakti is uh sort of what I would call a non-western concept meaning that there’s really no word in English that you could translate bhakti into.
00:54
But you could sort of Describe in multiple words. Multiple ideas, whatever. Uh, probably sort of approximately what box you sort of means. And I think one way we could start with it is just say that that it means love. So the idea of it I think, is that Um, it has an emphasis on surrender.
01:18
And Devotion. Meaning that the love of God actually, when you really get into it is is the greatest of all things but but not only that is some theoretical concept. Excuse me. But um, actually Um, It’s, it’s kind of, it’s, it’s true on a day-to-day basis and what that type of spirituality means so Bhakti.
01:42
Uh, tradition especially invitish navism Is um, Is a tradition where day-to-day living. Means that you are placing your faith in God. And the love of God, the reality of God. To be able to help you. But, you know, to provide for you to keep you safe. And that’s why.
02:05
Those type of religions like Hinduism one of them comes from India is called the Dharmic religions. And um so in India you have, you know, you have Hinduism seek ism Buddhism. You know, Jainism. And, What, what unites those is called the Dharmic. Religions meaning Dharmic in the sense of saying, they come from India, but more specifically, especially in Hinduism What the word Dharma means and again as a non-western concept.
02:35
But just if you look to the Sanskrit Roots of it, Uh, it comes from a word. In Sanskrit, that means something like to maintain or to sustain or to hold. So in other words, the nature of God is to sustain you to provide for you. And that’s why like in Hinduism, we use the word Santana.
02:59
Uh Dharma, I think I said that right, which means the Eternal truth or the Eternal Dharma, which means the Eternal reality, the Eternal truth is that, you know, God loves you and will take care of you. And the nice thing about that, it goes along with unit you unitary and Universalism is, um, Is that you know, vaishnavism would would sort of more or less be okay with any religious path because the idea would be that like however you know you have some way to get to God.
03:31
Reality of God. Then that’s fine. And that’s your particular way. But not only that Uh but vice navism itself has its own particular way. It is its own particular way and again it’s Reliance upon the benevolence and mercy of God to provide for the well-being and day-to-day needs Of humans.
03:55
So what’s what’s interesting about that is that, you know, we live in a Free Will Universe And, uh, not only that, but like, we’re like subjected to what other people do. You know, and so we lived in societies and stuff. But um, But even with that being said, Uh, you’re sort of your best bet is to is Sort of put your faith in God.
04:20
And that’s definitely what vice navism advocates for. So I think that goes along well with Unitarian universalism, which is sort of a modern day thing compared to Hinduism, which is, you know, very ancient obviously is evolved over the years but in general comes from an oral tradition that predates written history.
04:39
And uh, so by that, by that uh, you know uh, standard or whatever. Uh United States itself is sort of a little, you know, kind of a new new thing. And uh basically what it is is that you know some of those original guys like throw and um Uh, Emerson.
04:57
Through those guys, they call them the transcendentalists. And uh, Basically, what happened was, you know, that they, they, you know, they were exposed to the body and some of these ideas and it made a big impression on them, you know, they were involved with the Divinity School at Harvard And uh you know throw got to the point where he like goes off and lives in the woods for a while and specifically so he can wake up every morning and read the bygabodita and there’s a great quote from him.
05:25
Uh, where he says something like, you know, compared to this, our entire civilization, seems puny used the word puny, and then significant. And that’s why it’s interesting because Hinduism is so all over the place in the sense that there’s so much to it. But normally a lot of times what I’ve read that, I like they say, if anything defines, what it means to be a Hindu is to buy about Gita.
05:50
Is only like 800 verses Church Sanskrit. Um, Versus uh, called slokas. And they’re so packed with beaning, but what makes that such a important text or maybe the most important text is, you know, is that what it’s about, is the relationship between God and the individual human being? And you know, I’m going to talk a lot more about the about the Gita.
06:18
You know, obviously it’s a lifetime worth of study. But just in general, I would say That the reason that that book is so Universal is because we make a joke about it and say like a thousand years from now on a different planet. The body detail will be still be the Supreme knowledge because it’s universally applicable and basically what it’s about again, a lot of different types of of stuff, but with yogas, but, but basically what it boils down to, in my, you know, interpretation is that, you know, you you your job is not to administer the whole universe.
06:55
Your job is not to understand everything. Nobody would expect you to do that. Your job is to do your job, to be yourself, to do your duty and specifically says in there. Something like it’s better to do. Your own duty imperfectly than to perfectly do the duty of another.
07:12
So in other words you need to do your what you know you need to do and you need to do it authentically with no expectation of a certain outcome or reward and you need to do that and give as an offering as your personal offering unto God. And then That’s, that’s just a day-to-day reality of it.
07:31
And when I was in India, when I first encountered, I never even heard of those ideas, but I just saw this old woman sweep in the street. I’ll never forget that she’s sweeping the street. It’s full of dirt, there’s nothing to, you know, as a matter how much you sweep it.
07:44
It’s all gonna get dirty again. She’s out there early in the morning, sweeping it, and it made such an impression on me, how she was doing it because she didn’t know she was being watched. I was, you know what? The window early in the morning watching this, and I said something to somebody, I’m like, oh, Indians are such hard workers or whatever.
08:01
And the guy looked at me like I was crazy, Andy, he’s like Ben, that’s how that’s how they, that’s how she worships Krishna. That’s how she worships God and it made such an impression on me. And then I started really noticing like the way that you know where I was like the way that this other guy was serving the tea.
08:19
You know, he his heart and soul is just, it’s just so authentic, and Goes through the whole thing but it ends real quickly. Sort of like it comes to a dramatic clothes and basically it’s all summarizing the very last verse and Krishna says to our Juna, something like abandon all varieties of religious activity and simply surrender unto me.
08:42
And I will deliver you from all sinful reaction do not fear. And what’s interesting about that is like you’ll hear different people, different Indian dialects and stuff, use the word Arjun Or they would sometimes say Arjuna And just, you know, with different Regional dialects. But also what’s interesting about that is a lot of times the the prefix a, I mean the suffix a on the end of words indicates that they’re plural like you could talk about one Avatar or multiple you know, 10 avatara avatarra Dash avatara.
09:14
So they are the word Arjuna is as one specific guy and so, but he’s like you know, you could look at it like he’s one specific guy, what’s interesting in a certain interpretation you could look at his name like its plural in the sense that he represents everybody. Any given human being.
09:30
And not only that, but in the Bhagavadida Krishna, you know, Arjuna is asking Krishna at some point who are you Christian goes through all this you know he’s the best of the best of the best of all things he says among humans. I am Arjuna In other words, I am all people.
09:44
So the idea of it is is you know, it goes through and it’s on such a such a profound deep level, but the bhagavad-gita is a story of Krishna, taking somebody from complete spiritual despair at day-to-day existence to complete Supreme Enlightenment, and how to find Union with with God.
10:02
And it’s, you know, such an awesome text and it’s neat because like something like Unitarian universalism, you know, has its roots. I don’t know, the whole history of it, but in general, has its roots, you know, in New England with with transcendentalism and Protestantism and it sort of like, you know, we don’t have to necessarily be Hindu But I like I like our church because it’s pretty non-denominational and has a focus on helping each other and just looking for the good in the world and and focusing on the love of God, which what goes along so well with you know, a lot of yogic philosophy like having you know, bhakti So, That’s my take on the relationship between between, um, Universe, you know, Unitarian and diversem and some more ancient Traditions.