RonPrice
What Is The View of Devotees of the Baha'i Faith and its Founder Baha'u'llah?
Paramahansa Yogananda
What Is The View of Devotees of the Baha'i Faith and its Founder Baha'u'llah?
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replied to: RonPrice
PYislove
Replied to: What Is The View of Devotees of the Baha'i Faith and...
replied to: RonPrice
Although I've not seen anything really new spiritually in the Baha'i faith writings. There are good things there for Muslims.
Bahai Members are putting a lot of emphasis on oneness of nations and one religion.
The one religion to remain they imagine is to be their own religion. It is not happening ever!
It seems at one they point ran into a problem with the government of Iran, that was after a failed attempt at revolution. Baha'i faith is born out of Islam essentially. Now they are wondering
why the government of Iran persecutes them. They have a violent track record in Iran!
They make a planned effort to locate groups in every country in the world, and have a quite an easy going way of proselytizing. In Israel they are not allowed to speak of their faith to anyone in that country as part of the deal to have their headquarters allowed there.
I feel that their founder Baha'ullah is another regular mystic claiming to be the ultimate prophet for the age. This claim is also based upon a great misunderstanding of how progressive revelation really works, and the vain repetition of many overused prophecies.
Alas, there have been a number of major prophets since Baha'ullah and this goes on and on in world history. Only you can assess the validity of their claimes.
The prophets successor dissed Reincarnation, a great and sad error. Here is a note on the issue.
LOOK up the Bahai book "Some Answered Questions."
In that book Abdul Baha [the founders son and early 20th century leader of Bahai faith] does a poohoo and negates any value of the law of reincarnation. He calls it a false imagining. This may be one of those cases of one who is not very fluent in the subject declares everyone else misunderstands it!
He was raised in a culture that never talked about the subject of reincarnation openly.
But let’s put his situation in context and perspective……………………
In about circa 1910?. He was raised in a culture that really knew little to nothing about the subject.
A subject that Muslims say very little about, and have researched even less. Even though Reincarnation is clearly and positively talked about in a few verses of the Koran, and is clearly difined
in the holy books of many major faiths. The Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism is very very clear on it.
Also, it was not until the latter part of the 20th century that tons of evidence got published as evidence of reincarnation. [This is really just the beginning of scientific evidence yet to come.]
Also, Abdul Baha was in a difficult position. It became painfully evident that the Muslim world, the birthplace of Bahai, was not at all interested in the new faith. This left the western world wide open for growth at that time when few westerners believed in the sacred natural laws of reincarnation and Karma. Christians have been falsely programmed by the church for centuries. This all began with the Roman emperor Justinian who planned and wrote and anathema against Reincarnation into law.
In those days the church had little choice but to obey the Roman laws. The Church chose the one lifetime theme to avoid the return of Christian prosecutions.
So the West appeared at that time [early 20th century]to be the best area to spread the new faith. Speaking against Reincarnation no doubt seemed to Abdul Bahah a good sales intro to future growth of the Bahai Faith in the naïve wild West. That was then and this is now! How things changed!
Life is full of surprises! As it is now playing out, the Western world in and since the 20th century is simply in love with the truths of Karma and Reincarnation. It turned out to be a bad call by Abdul Baha. As nearing the end of the 20th century and till today in this 21st century, about 50% of Westerners now believe in the natural laws of Reincarnation and Karma. And that percentage is still increasing every year! Any Bahais interested in getting on board with the teachings of the great ones?
So, it is sad that AB decided to negate this great spiritual truth at the wrong time - the future was not what he imagined it would be. Most of the world’s historical great prophets and saints of all lands have spoken positively on the subject of Reincarnation, although they avoided making a big deal out of it.
I must admit that they caution us not to make too big a deal about it, just to understand through it why we should be kind and loving to one another - re the golden rule!
If you have seen Paramahansa" Yogananda's spiritual classic, the "Autobiography of a Yogi," [read the Self-Realization Fellowship Publishers editions only, all others including Kindle 1946 editions, are out of date and incomplete]. Only SRF editions are true to Yogananda’s final visions and teachings.
On the very first page, the author mentions being fully conscious while being reborn as Mukunda Ghosh in India in this lifetime in the year 1993. He says, ”My far reaching memories are not unique. Many Yogis are known to have retained their self-consciousness without interruption by the dramatic transition to and from “life” and “death.”[Page 3, AoY SRF Publishers LA USA ©
In His various other writings Yogananda gives considerable evidence and great clarity about the subject of Karma Reincarnation. Even showing exercises that will test the teaching of Reincarnation.
The clearest teaching about how to overcome the cycles of rebirth are set out in the Bhagavad Gita of hinduism.
Peace and love in the name of all the Great Ones.
Although I've not seen anything really new spiritually in the Baha'i faith writings. There are good things there for Muslims.
Bahai Members are putting a lot of emphasis on oneness of nations and one religion.
The one religion to remain they imagine is to be their own religion. It is not happening ever!
It seems at one they point ran into a problem with the government of Iran, that was after a failed attempt at revolution. Baha'i faith is born out of Islam essentially. Now they are wondering
why the government of Iran persecutes them. They have a violent track record in Iran!
They make a planned effort to locate groups in every country in the world, and have a quite an easy going way of proselytizing. In Israel they are not allowed to speak of their faith to anyone in that country as part of the deal to have their headquarters allowed there.
I feel that their founder Baha'ullah is another regular mystic claiming to be the ultimate prophet for the age. This claim is also based upon a great misunderstanding of how progressive revelation really works, and the vain repetition of many overused prophecies.
Alas, there have been a number of major prophets since Baha'ullah and this goes on and on in world history. Only you can assess the validity of their claimes.
The prophets successor dissed Reincarnation, a great and sad error. Here is a note on the issue.
LOOK up the Bahai book "Some Answered Questions."
In that book Abdul Baha [the founders son and early 20th century leader of Bahai faith] does a poohoo and negates any value of the law of reincarnation. He calls it a false imagining. This may be one of those cases of one who is not very fluent in the subject declares everyone else misunderstands it!
He was raised in a culture that never talked about the subject of reincarnation openly.
But let’s put his situation in context and perspective……………………
In about circa 1910?. He was raised in a culture that really knew little to nothing about the subject.
A subject that Muslims say very little about, and have researched even less. Even though Reincarnation is clearly and positively talked about in a few verses of the Koran, and is clearly difined
in the holy books of many major faiths. The Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism is very very clear on it.
Also, it was not until the latter part of the 20th century that tons of evidence got published as evidence of reincarnation. [This is really just the beginning of scientific evidence yet to come.]
Also, Abdul Baha was in a difficult position. It became painfully evident that the Muslim world, the birthplace of Bahai, was not at all interested in the new faith. This left the western world wide open for growth at that time when few westerners believed in the sacred natural laws of reincarnation and Karma. Christians have been falsely programmed by the church for centuries. This all began with the Roman emperor Justinian who planned and wrote and anathema against Reincarnation into law.
In those days the church had little choice but to obey the Roman laws. The Church chose the one lifetime theme to avoid the return of Christian prosecutions.
So the West appeared at that time [early 20th century]to be the best area to spread the new faith. Speaking against Reincarnation no doubt seemed to Abdul Bahah a good sales intro to future growth of the Bahai Faith in the naïve wild West. That was then and this is now! How things changed!
Life is full of surprises! As it is now playing out, the Western world in and since the 20th century is simply in love with the truths of Karma and Reincarnation. It turned out to be a bad call by Abdul Baha. As nearing the end of the 20th century and till today in this 21st century, about 50% of Westerners now believe in the natural laws of Reincarnation and Karma. And that percentage is still increasing every year! Any Bahais interested in getting on board with the teachings of the great ones?
So, it is sad that AB decided to negate this great spiritual truth at the wrong time - the future was not what he imagined it would be. Most of the world’s historical great prophets and saints of all lands have spoken positively on the subject of Reincarnation, although they avoided making a big deal out of it.
I must admit that they caution us not to make too big a deal about it, just to understand through it why we should be kind and loving to one another - re the golden rule!
If you have seen Paramahansa" Yogananda's spiritual classic, the "Autobiography of a Yogi," [read the Self-Realization Fellowship Publishers editions only, all others including Kindle 1946 editions, are out of date and incomplete]. Only SRF editions are true to Yogananda’s final visions and teachings.
On the very first page, the author mentions being fully conscious while being reborn as Mukunda Ghosh in India in this lifetime in the year 1993. He says, ”My far reaching memories are not unique. Many Yogis are known to have retained their self-consciousness without interruption by the dramatic transition to and from “life” and “death.”[Page 3, AoY SRF Publishers LA USA ©
In His various other writings Yogananda gives considerable evidence and great clarity about the subject of Karma Reincarnation. Even showing exercises that will test the teaching of Reincarnation.
The clearest teaching about how to overcome the cycles of rebirth are set out in the Bhagavad Gita of hinduism.
Peace and love in the name of all the Great Ones.
replied to: PYislove
RonPrice
Replied to: replied to: RonPrice
Although I've not seen anything really new...
My understanding of the second coming in Hinduism is found it Wikpedia as follows:
In modern times some traditional Indian religious leaders have since moved to embrace Jesus as an Avatar, or incarnation, of God.[49] In light of this, the Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi, scribed an extensive commentary on the Gospels published in the two-volume set The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. In the tradition of the Gnostic Gospels, the book offers a mystical interpretation of the Second Coming in which it is understood to be an inner experience, something that takes place within the individual heart.
Stating that "Paramahansa Yogananda was sent to the West by Jesus Christ himself" with the said intent to "restore the original Christian teachings among his followers", in Revelations of Christ Swami Kriyananda, Yogananda's disciple and Ex-minister of the Self-Realization Fellowship, provides a distilled commentary on the life and teachings of Christ, all of which is meant to serve as an anticipatory primer to Yogananda's more philosophically nuanced treatment in The Second Coming of Christ. Turning directly to The Bible, Kriyananda argues for a more scripturally mature Christianity in which The Second Coming is treated not in terms of a profane materialism - one which favors a literal, physical and subsequently anti-spiritual resurrection - but rather unfolds in accordance with the more spiritual aspirations of The Book of Luke; for "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Thus this view of Hinduism as an Eastern extension of the Christian Gospel, however, is neither unique to Yogananda or his disciple, Swami Kriyananda. Similarly, Srila Prabhupada, author of Bhagavad Gita As It Is and founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, has propounded the same pluralistic, nonsecular view: that "'Christ' is another way of saying Krsta and Krsta is another way of pronouncing Krishna, the name of God."
Stating that "A son may call his father 'Father', but the father also has a specific name. Similarly, God is the general name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose specific name is Krishna", "Therefore", he writes, "whether you call God 'Christ', 'Krsta', or 'Krishna', ultimately you are addressing the same Supreme Personality of Godhead."
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Hinduism is recognized in the Bahá'í Faith as one of nine known religions and its scriptures are regarded as predicting the coming of Bahá'u'lláh (Kalki avatar). Krishna is included in the succession of Manifestations of God. The authenticity of the Hindu scriptures is seen as uncertain. For more on this subject go to this link at Wikipedia under the heading: Hinduism and the Baha'i Faith:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith_and_Hinduism
In modern times some traditional Indian religious leaders have since moved to embrace Jesus as an Avatar, or incarnation, of God.[49] In light of this, the Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi, scribed an extensive commentary on the Gospels published in the two-volume set The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You. In the tradition of the Gnostic Gospels, the book offers a mystical interpretation of the Second Coming in which it is understood to be an inner experience, something that takes place within the individual heart.
Stating that "Paramahansa Yogananda was sent to the West by Jesus Christ himself" with the said intent to "restore the original Christian teachings among his followers", in Revelations of Christ Swami Kriyananda, Yogananda's disciple and Ex-minister of the Self-Realization Fellowship, provides a distilled commentary on the life and teachings of Christ, all of which is meant to serve as an anticipatory primer to Yogananda's more philosophically nuanced treatment in The Second Coming of Christ. Turning directly to The Bible, Kriyananda argues for a more scripturally mature Christianity in which The Second Coming is treated not in terms of a profane materialism - one which favors a literal, physical and subsequently anti-spiritual resurrection - but rather unfolds in accordance with the more spiritual aspirations of The Book of Luke; for "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Thus this view of Hinduism as an Eastern extension of the Christian Gospel, however, is neither unique to Yogananda or his disciple, Swami Kriyananda. Similarly, Srila Prabhupada, author of Bhagavad Gita As It Is and founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, has propounded the same pluralistic, nonsecular view: that "'Christ' is another way of saying Krsta and Krsta is another way of pronouncing Krishna, the name of God."
Stating that "A son may call his father 'Father', but the father also has a specific name. Similarly, God is the general name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose specific name is Krishna", "Therefore", he writes, "whether you call God 'Christ', 'Krsta', or 'Krishna', ultimately you are addressing the same Supreme Personality of Godhead."
-------------------------------
Hinduism is recognized in the Bahá'í Faith as one of nine known religions and its scriptures are regarded as predicting the coming of Bahá'u'lláh (Kalki avatar). Krishna is included in the succession of Manifestations of God. The authenticity of the Hindu scriptures is seen as uncertain. For more on this subject go to this link at Wikipedia under the heading: Hinduism and the Baha'i Faith:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith_and_Hinduism