* VivekaJyoti *

To be a Hindu is: Love truth, look upon the world as Isvara. All forms of prayer are valid. You are responsible for your action, for your lot. You can change your destiny. You have a free will. God is not love, God is everything. He is in the form of order. He is not partial to anybody. God is not judgmental; so don’t make God, also, judgmental. Don’t say there will be judgment day and God will sit in judgment and send you to Hell. God is not judgmental. He doesn’t make judgment. You ask for it; you get it. You get it or you had it, both.

Atma nitya suddhah. This is one step further. You can invoke the Lord in any form, in any language. There is a big spectrum. Being a Hindu is all these. Finally, the Veda is a means of knowledge in the areas which I cannot objectify. Certain areas are very useful to me. Certain things that are told by the Veda are very useful to me. And the one thing is the main thing. That is, you are the whole; you are the reality. This is not going to be improved upon by anybody. This is final. You are the whole and you can’t become better than whole. Therefore, nobody is going to improve this. So, it has the last word. One who recognizes that is a Hindu. Even if you don’t recognize it, if you say everything is Isvara or everything is Isvara’s. That interpretation, also, we have got. Everything belongs to Isvara or everything is Isvara, both are there. I’m talking final. All this we will allow. All these are allowed because you can invoke Isvara in many ways. It’s okay; you’ll get some result. We accept that. Finally, if you want, you are the only reality. That makes you a Hindu. If you miss it in this life, you’ll get a chance again. Until you solve this problem, you’ll be reborn, don’t worry. So, that makes you a Hindu.

There are a lot of things. In fact, all these mean being a Hindu. But anything irrational is not acceptable. Anything above reason, you can believe if you are interested in it. If somebody says above reason it is, and if you are interested in it, you can believe in it, you can follow, because you cannot dismiss it. Like a heaven. You can’t dismiss it; you can’t prove it. It’s okay. But if somebody says that is the answer, it is irrational. We can dismiss it. That is not the answer. Any trip is not an answer. A trip is a trip. You can’t promote tourism and call it a religion.

-- Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
(Answering the ‘Satsang Question’ at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, PA)

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Labels: AVG, Dayananda Saraswati, Hindu, Satsang

# posted by swamijyoti @ Wednesday, April 09, 2008