Philosophy of Religion: Ramakrishna, Many Paths to the Same Summit
“God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries.  All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself.  Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion.”

I find this philosophy intriguing and i agree with it with the exception of the path of violence because i feel that no path paved with violence and death will ever lead to God. Then i feel that God lays out the path but man has misinterpreted or even distorted it.

Just some food for thought, I open to all opinions and would really love to hear them.[/i]

Viewing God as a human parent, if you have had the good fortune of seeing some good parents in action, you would find that they use diffierent strategies with each child!

Perhaps hence the different religions! Each child gets a different gift to remember the SAME parent by, and yet so differently!

Rohiniranjan



[quote="brittneyblr"]Philosophy of Religion: Ramakrishna, [i]Many Paths to the Same Summit[/i]
“God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries.  All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself.  Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion.”

I find this philosophy intriguing and i agree with it with the exception of the path of violence because i feel that no path paved with violence and death will ever lead to God. Then i feel that God lays out the path but man has misinterpreted or even distorted it.

Just some food for thought, I open to all opinions and would really love to hear them.[/i][/quote]

[quote="rohiniranjan"]Viewing God as a human parent, if you have had the good fortune of seeing some good parents in action, you would find that they use diffierent strategies with each child!

Perhaps hence the different religions! Each child gets a different gift to remember the SAME parent by, and yet so differently!

Rohiniranjan

*********************************
I had the *good* fortune of seeing this in action {in reverse} recently in a worldly setting in a family (one of my clients of Indian origin settled abroad)!

It was the mother's birthday. The younger one who is a leo and always very generous had it all planned out for days ahead, found some extra hours of work at the Chocolate shop he works in, and with the savings he bought his mother some gifts that were rather expensive and yet homely but very utilitarian that she has been wearing since her birthday!

Her eldest child, a cancer, always in debt and rather unplanned but spontaneous got her no gift but gave her a card with a very sentimental and grateful note talking about all the stuff she did for him and his brother and so on and added the note of assurance that he will now look after his parents! A very sweet note!

The mother, a sagittarius herself and very practical and THIS worldly enjoyed both gifts and actually when challenged by a family friend, "So what did your eldest gift you?", her response was immediate, "He gave me a gift of his emotions, his sentiments!"

Mothers are really hard to figure out or pin down when it comes to their children, is what I told my client who was wondering how his wife could see them both so equally while he could not -- given the background and history!

Even the down to earth, practical, worldly mothers who seem so non-spiritual and non-hairy fairy!

Maybe they imbibe from each different soul that they hold within for nine months and nourish and bring to this world, an automatic karmic reprise and gift for doing so! And that is what makes Mothers superior and in a position of advantage than any human father! Just those nine months of caring if they can manage to do that saadhna and tapasyaa! Not all can, sadly!

Rohiniranjan




[quote="brittneyblr"]Philosophy of Religion: Ramakrishna, [i]Many Paths to the Same Summit[/i]
“God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries.  All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself.  Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with wholehearted devotion.”

I find this philosophy intriguing and i agree with it with the exception of the path of violence because i feel that no path paved with violence and death will ever lead to God. Then i feel that God lays out the path but man has misinterpreted or even distorted it.

Just some food for thought, I open to all opinions and would really love to hear them.[/i][/quote][/quote]

Because the straight and narrow usually means a tight rope stretched across the river of superstition and few have had the time or need to join the circus and become tight-rope walkers <guffaw>

RR


[quote="stan"]...The many point to the the straight and narrow way and few there be that find it.[/b][/quote]