You'll find in India & throughout Asia down thru the
centuries to the present , a paramparai or descending
lineage of Sages ,Saints , Gurus and Teachers , that
you have not even made the slightest reference too or
aquaintance with, but I know you are aware...
These holy persons have lived some of the most austere lives , free
from "concerns" of material world that can be imagined .
It is for the old souls of this world that can practice
that stillness within themselves and learn from it
the secrets of their inner natures. The writings and wisdom
they shared can only be called --->exquisite & sublime.
We know this is true , for we have the writings and evidence
of these very spiritual fellows going as far
back as 4000 yrs.
It is noble to battle the flesh. But, alas, an exercise in vanity. The flesh always wins. That is the secret of our inner nature. Your muse has been kind to you today, though. I am very much reminded of Kashmir, by Led Zeppelin (see bottom).
See post on soul, before kashmir lyrics. Also, I think the idea of Saviour is also found in Buddhism. Please, tell me your reference. I have lived with a Hindu woman, and dated others, but never discussed the Hindu idea of a savior.
Gautama Buddha said:
"Now in those days, brethren, there shall arise in the world an Exalted One by
name Maitreya (the Kindly One) an Arhat, a Fully Enlightened One, endowed with
wisdom and righteousness, a Happy One, a World-knower, the Peerless Charioteer
of men to be tamed, a teacher of the devas [angels] and mankind, an Exalted
One, a Buddha like myself. He of His own abnormal powers shall realize and make
known the world, and the worlds of the devas, with their Maras, their Brahmas,
the host of recluses and brahmins, of devas and mankind alike, even as I do now.
He shall proclaim the norm, lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle, and
lovely in the end thereof. He shall make known the wholly perfect life of
righteousness in all its purity, both in the spirit and in the letter of it,
even as I do now. He shall lead an Order of Brethren numbering many thousands,
even as I do now lead an order of Brethren numbering many hundreds."
Onto Jesus. Well, the truth is revealed by the Counselor.
I have always lived with and dated many Korean women, mostly who were at one time in their lives Buddhists, but are now Christians. Hindu's, well, I try not to discuss it with them. It is way over my head, how to not have but one God, and still believe Jesus is God.
Re: PS: The truth is not to be known, without revelation. As to mere fantasy, have you seen the Chinese tv series on "Journey To The West", or read the book? Best fantasy series ever. But, I hope you will agree, that the quest of wisdom, the idea of the spirit, and the hope of immortal life are not trivial things, to be stowed away in the foot locker of forbidden taboos.
IINTRODUCTION Soul, in many religions and philosophies, the immaterial element that, together with the material body, constitutes the human individual. In general, the soul is conceived as an inner, vital, and spiritual principle, the source of all bodily functions and particularly of mental activities. Belief in some kind of soul that can exist apart from the body is found in all known cultures. In many contemporary nonliterate societies, human beings are said to have several souls-sometimes as many as seven-localized in different parts of the body and having diverse functions. Disease is frequently explained as "soul-loss," which can occur, for example, when witches steal the soul or evil spirits capture it.
IIEASTERN RELIGIONS In the East, belief in a human soul is central to several philosophical and religious systems. Thus, for instance, in early Hinduism the soul or self (atman) was considered the principle that controls all activities and defines one's self-identity and consciousness. The philosophical Hindu writings, the Upanishads, identify the atman with the divine (Brahman), adding an eternal dimension to the soul. Bound up with matter, the human soul is caught in the cycle of reincarnation until it achieves purification and knowledge and merges once again with ultimate reality (see Transmigration). Buddhism is unique in the history of religions because it teaches that the individual soul is an illusion produced by various psychological and physiological influences. Thus, it has no conception of a soul or self that can survive death.
IIIJUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY Early Judaism considered the human personality as a whole, without making a sharp distinction between body and soul. By the Middle Ages, however, the soul was defined in Judaism as the principle of life and was considered capable of surviving bodily decay. The Christian doctrine of the soul has been strongly influenced by the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle (see Christianity). Most Christians believe that each individual has an immortal soul and that the human personality as a whole, composed of soul and resurrected body, may, through faith, be granted God's presence in the afterlife (see Resurrection). The Neoplatonic theory of the soul as prisoner in a material body (see Neoplatonism) prevailed in Christian thought until the advent of the 13th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas, who accepted Aristotle's analysis of the soul and body as two conceptually distinguishable elements of a single substance.
IVISLAM The teachings of Islam on the soul resemble those of Judaism and Christianity. According to the Qur'an (Koran), God breathed the soul into the first human beings, and at death the souls of the faithful are brought near to God.
VSOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE The belief in the existence of souls may have important social consequences by reinforcing moral obligations and by serving as a guiding principle in life. The cultural significance of the belief in souls reflects the universality of the problems to which it is a response: the complex question of the human personality, the moral and spiritual experiences of life, and the perennial question of life after death.
See also Immortality.
Contributed By:
John A. Saliba
"Soul," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Kashmir (8:31)
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant & John Bonham)
Whoa, let the sun beat down upon my face
And stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been
T' sit with elders of the gentle race
This world has seldom seen
Th' talk of days for which they sit and wait
All will be revealed
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace
Whose sounds caress my ear
But not a word I heard could I relate
The story was quite clear
Whoa-hoh, whoa-wa-oh
Oooh, oh baby,
I been flyin' Lord, yeah, mama, there ain't no denyin'
Oh, oooh yes, I've been flying
Mama, mama, ain't no denyin', no denyin'
Oh, all I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand
As I scan this wasted land
Tryin' to find, tryin' to find where I beeeeeuhoaoh
Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace
Like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place
Yellow desert stream
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon
Will return again
Sure as the dust that floats b'hind you
When movin' through Kashmir
Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails
Across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face
'Long the straits of fear
Whaoh, whaoh
Whaoh-oh, oh
Ohhhh
Well, when I want, when I'm on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way, you stay-yeah
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, yes
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there
Oh, oh, come on, come on
Oh, let me take you there
Let me take you there
Whoo-ooh, yeah-yeah, whoo-ooh, yeah-yeah, let me take you |
