Category Archives: religion

There are many spiritual paths, which is the right?

religion, spirituality

When I experienced my spiritual awakening in 2015, I was confused what’s happening, why I am suddenly much different than others around me, why I have such different worldview, why I see and understand things which others don’t see and don’t understand… it was a shock at first. I felt like an alien. I felt I don’t belong to this society any more.

I started searching through blogs and videos about spiritual awakening and spirituality and I have found many resources, especially from esoteric space. I have found that many people undergo the same experiences of spiritual awakening I did. I have found that I am not alone in this. I have found that it’s normal, but rare. Most of the people did not experience spiritual awakening and they are still in the Matrix following ridiculous rules and unhealthy life style.

Searching for my path

There are many spiritual paths and everyone is attracted to those according to their level of consciousness. It’s enough for some people just to believe in something and consider it to be true. Which is nonsense of course, but they don’t understand it. They think their faith is the truth, which for rational people is unacceptable.

Buddhism is attractive for those who don’t want God in their life. It’s a purifying spiritual path, but for the soul it’s very empty, unsatisfying. Aim of Buddhists is to achieve nothingness, but it’s very impractical in this world, especially in this modern age.

I met a Hare Krishna monk in 2014, it was before my spiritual awakening and meeting with devotees of Lord Krishna triggered my spiritual awakening later. I lived as most of the people in this world – working, drinking alcohol, having casual sex with many girls, eating meat, playing computer games, just enjoying life as they call it.

When I read book books of Srila Prabhupada called “Scientific knowledge of the soul” and “Science of self realisation” I understood how bad eating meat is. I wanted to stop eating meat but I was not able. It took me a month or two to gradually enter into full vegetarian diet. After 6 months of being a vegetarian I experienced my spiritual awakening and my consciousness changed rapidly. I started to see what I didn’t see before – how much people are controlled by the government and false promises of better life and many of them still believe it even there is obviously no improvement of life conditions but only degradation and it’s getting worse and worse. How pharmaceutical industry is not about health but about money. How actually everything is about money and wealth and how everyone is controlled and tied up by it. That’s not attractive for someone who is searching for a deeper meaning of life.

When I started going to a Hare Krishna temple for Sunday programs, I learned more about Krishna consciousness and how beautiful it is not only by hearing, but by seeing how devotees live. They are vegetarian, they don’t hurt animals, they like cows, they have spiritual activities like mantra meditation, kirtan, lectures from Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam every day, not just on Sunday, they serve selflessly in the mission of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu… I was attracted by this life style very much. The more I learned about devotees and Krishna consciousness, the more I was attracted by it. And when I started practicing Hare Krishna maha-mantra japa meditation every day, my consciousness changed even more. After 1 year of Hare Krishna mantra meditation I stopped drinking alcohol. Not out of compulsion because I can’t but because I lost the taste for alcohol. I didn’t like how alcohol changes my consciousness when I am drunk and I was not happy when I was drunk. Normally people like to drink alcohol and get drunk because they feel more happy, more relaxed, but I was unhappy that it is not my actual state of consciousness and it’s something different that I cannot control. And moreover I had terrible hangover after getting drunk. So I decided to stop drinking and I don’t miss the hangover and changed state of consciousness when someone is drunk. Actually I feel more happier without alcohol! And I felt more unhappy when I was drunk.

When you start doing a genuine spiritual practice, you elevate your consciousness on a different level and you lose taste for something that is of a lower nature like drinking alcohol or taking other drugs, eating meat, having sex etc. Actually a genuine spiritual path is very good tool for curing addictions and solving life problems. It does not work immediately, but it can be cured and solved in a matter of time.

When you are searching for a spiritual path, you will be attracted to those which are very close to your state of your consciousness. That’s why people on different states of consciousness choose different spiritual paths like Christianity, Islam, esotericism, Buddhism, Hare Krishna etc. They are on different levels and they offer different explanations. When we study them in depth, then we can find the right path for us. We will naturally be attracted to our spiritual path but it does not mean that it is the ultimate path. It might be a temporary path for us until our consciousness changes. And when our consciousness changes, then we can understand more and more and we can switch to a different spiritual path which can lead us to the higher levels of consciousness. Or sometimes it happens that we don’t elevate our consciousness and we will fall down into lower consciousness in which we will want to enjoy sense objects and think it’s happiness.

One way or another, everyone will eventually find his path, but we should be very careful whether it’s a genuine path or not so genuine. Genuine spiritual path leads to a deeper understanding of oneself, God and our relationship with Him. It leads to compassion, love, understanding, tolerance and other godly traits which Krishna describes in the Bhagavad-Gita 16.1-3:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Fearlessness; purification of one’s existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from the passion for honor – these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

If our spiritual path does not lead to those divine qualities, we are on a wrong path for sure, which will not end up well eventually.

And another aspect of a genuine spiritual path is that it helps us to overcome material attachments and enlarges the urge for spiritual life.

So we can see if we are becoming a better person and if we have less and weaker material desires. Then we can see if we are on a right genuine spiritual path or on a wrong path.

Why do you think Hinduism is the best?

religion

I got a question “Why do I think Hinduism is the right religion“. There are so many gods, someone worships Ganesh, Lakshmi, others worship Lord Shiva or Vishnu, Hindus cremate bodies which pollutes environment, they cut trees for that etc. Such arguments against Hinduism. But are they justified?

First of all, cremation is not only in Hinduism. It’s in modern age also and in many other cultures in the world. It’s very practical, maybe more practical than to dig 2 metres grave for each body and store it under earth and occupy space. Once you burn the body, it’s gone. It does not occupy space, you do not need big cemeteries which will fall into oblivion after hundreds of years.

Understand what is Hinduism

Most of the people think that Hinduism is a religion. It’s a common understanding. But in fact Hinduism is not a religion itself, it’s a mix of different religions in India. When Britishers came to India, they saw so many different religions and spiritual teachings, they were so confused so they called it all “Hinduism”. There is no mention of word “Hinduism” in the vedic scriptures which are the base for all different religions in India.

https://www.quora.com/Was-Hinduism-created-by-the-British

So do I think Hinduism is the best? No, there are so many teachings and religions in Hinduism, some of them just worship demigods for a temporary material benefit, some of them want to achieve liberation by yogic spiritual practice and some of them teach love of God and how to enter kingdom of God by devotional service. So many different teachings.

Vedic literature is composed in such a way that everyone can take what he wants from it. Do you want temporary material benefit? – Worship demigods. Do you want to achieve mystic powers? – Practice yoga and tapasya – renunciation. Do you want to love God? – Practice bhakti yoga – yoga of love.

Bhagavad Gita – The song of God

Gita means song. Bhagavan means God – The Supreme. Bhagavad Gita is song of The Supreme – Krishna. There are people who consider Bhagavad Gita to be just a fictional book, not even religious. If it is so, why so many people become devotees of Lord Krishna and dedicate their lives to devotional service and it changes their lives very drastically?

If you study the Bhagavad Gita under the guidance of devotees who live and understand Bhagavad Gita, it will change your life. People who study and practice teachings of the Bhagavad Gita stop drinking alcohol, stop smoking, stop supporting killing animals for meat, give up bad habits and their character and life changes for the better. Which fictional book can do this?!

bhagavad-gita-en

Fight of religions

Followers of different religions often fight which religion is the best and which is true. I say the best religion is the one which changes one’s heart. People fight over philosophy and dogma which is true and which is false. What is the use of that if it does not change the heart for the better?

If a religion or spiritual teaching does not transform your heart, it’s useless. If the result of following a religion is pride and arrogance and putting others down, it does not help anyone and moreover it creates more havoc in the world.

People should see which religion is true through how it can change people’s heart. If we consider this criteria, Bhagavad Gita wins because the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita really change people’s heart and life. Even the biggest sinners can become big devotees thanks to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Many people have the experience themselves or they know others who have the experience.

Searching for the truth

We can fight which holy book is true, which is philosophically and historically more correct, it is important for finding the truth, but if the teachings of the holy book does not transform your heart, all the effort is useless.

Christianity

I was searching for the truth. Which holy book is really true and which religion is the best. Is it Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or what? When I see christians how they live, how they behave, when I read the Bible, it is not an inspiration for me. Something important is missing. Christianity has become something very different from what Jesus taught.

Islam

Then here is Islam – the second biggest religion in the world. Is it true? We can see how it changed people’s heart. Many people changed for the better when they started following Islam. But is it enough? Do they still have material desires? Do they become saints? Do they have love for every living being including animals? Most of the Moslims still eat meat and support animal killing. They call it halal but it is still killing and hurting animals. Moreover most of the meat which is presented as halal is not even halal.

Exposing the CORRUPTION in the Halal Industry (Full Documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ6nmjlqyus

Devotion to Lord Krishna

Devotees of Lord Krishna does not eat meat, they do not support animal killing. They try to develop love for everyone, including animals and therefore killing animals is not an act of loving compassionate persons.

Devotion to Lord Krishna transforms our heart in such a way that we do not want to support killing animals, we do not want to make our consciousness dirty by eating animal flesh. We can experience the shift in consciousness after we stop eating meat. That’s one shift.

Another shift of consciousness is when we start chanting Hare Krishna maha mantra regularly, every day:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ráma Hare Ráma
Ráma Ráma Hare Hare

it will change our consciousness and we do not have to believe something. We can experience shift in our consciousness – a shift towards more calm, compassionate and loving being.

The difference between Krishna consciousness and other religions based on faith is that Krishna consciousness is not based on faith – you have to believe this and that to be a Krishna devotee. No. First of all you have to practice Krishna consciousness and experience shift in your consciousness. Then you become a devotee, then you can understand Bhagavad Gita.

Searching for the truth

If we want to know the truth, we have to experience it. We cannot believe something as truth without knowing it is true. We can see food. How does it taste? Do we know? We can believe someone who claims that he tasted the food, but did he really taste it? How do we know? If we want to know the truth, it is not cheap that we just believe something as truth.