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All religions/social movements working together?

• Subject: All religions/social movements working together?
• From: moi
• Date: Wed Jan 24 12:53:06 1996
• Message-Id: id715

Hello. Hare Krishna!



>     Could I make one suggestion? There are many different web

>sites like this on the internet. They are from different

>religions and/or social movements, but they have one thing in

>common: A vision of a world working together for the

>betterment of all.



Religion is generally about four things: dharma [performing so religious rituals,

etc] -- and why do people generally perform these religious rituals? It is for

artha - money [or something else to satisfy their senses.] They accept God exists

and is very powerful so they try to please God by asking for money, etc... This is

not bad either. At least they are pious, they believe in God. An atheist will

never approach God.



        catur-vidha bhajante mam janah sukrtino 'rjuna

        arto jijnasur artharthi jnani ca bharatasabha



"O best among the Bharats [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional

service unto Me -- the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he

who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute." (Bhagavad-gita 7.16)



So dharma [religion], then artha [money], then karma [sense gratification]. Most

religious people pray for something they want themselves... Ultimately everyone

becomes frustrated with material life and then searches for liberation [moksa] to

end the suffering. But it is sense gratification also as he wants to aviod his

personal suffering -- he is not really motivated by love for God, rather a disgust

of material life.



Mostly, although pious, these people are selfish. They are going to church,

praying to God, etc for their own benefit. So it is difficult for them to

cooperate with each other -- even within churches there are so many different

points of view and arguments. Because serving God is not the central point.

Everyone has himself, or his family in the center. So there is really no question

of cooperation at any level.



For cooperation everyone has to be working for the same goal. There may be so many

different activities, but the goal has to be one.



>     I think it's important that we recognise the value of

>each other's spiritual texts. Bhudda, Krishna, Jesus...

>Ultimately they are all saying the same thing. It would make



>sense for us to create one movement that allowed people to

>stick with their own beliefs and practices. Am I wrong?



No. You are not wrong. The Bible and the Koran say the same thing. Jesus was

speaking to fishermen in one time and place and Mohamad was speaking to Arabs in a

desert at another time. Because the audience is different a different presentation

is required. But it is the same subject matter. Just like a university professor

would have to give a different presentation to a first grade class than the one he

gives to his post-graduate students -- but the subject matter may be the same.

Krishna says:



            yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata

           abhutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjanyaham



"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of

Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion -- at that time I descend Myself."

(Bhagavad-gita 4.7)



So Krishna appears Himself in this world and He also sends His sons, or pure

devotees like Lord Jesus Christ to reestablish the religious principles. That's

the only difference between animal life and human life -- religious principles.

The animals are eating, sleeping, having sex and defending themselves. If we just

perform the same base activities, even though they may be done in a very

"advanced" way using modern science, etc, we are no better than the animals. The

form of life is meant for getting the answers to the real questions such as: "Who

am I?", "Why is there so much suffering in the world?", "What happens after

death?", etc...



>     I won't go on. I have some ideas for ways all the

>different organizations pushing for change could work together

>without sacrificing personal faiths. Are you interested.

>Please give me a responce anyway, just so i know you're there.



Yes I'm certainly here... but working together is a very difficult thing these

days, it seems... There has to be a common goal, that is the main point. People

have to be working for the same thing -- then it is possible even for those of

different faiths to cooperate.



What do you think?



Madhudvisa dasa

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