TDH #36
Nachiketas said, “That which thou seest,
which is neither virtue nor vice, neither cause nor effect,
neither past nor future (but beyond these), tell me That.”
Yama replied, “I will give you the Word all the scriptures glorify,
all spiritual disciplines express, to attain which aspirants lead
a life of sense-restraint and self-naughting. It is OM.”
Katha Upanishad - Part 2
Verse 14 translated by Swami Paramananda
Verse 15 translated by Eknath Easwaran
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How can the Infinite be bound by a finite word?
But then again, how do we conceive or speak of anything without giving it a name?
In Hinduism, the unnameable is pronounced “a-u-m”: the first letter the natural sound made by all when the throat is first opened, the last letter the sound made when the lips are closed, and the middle letter the sound made when moving from open to close. These sounds cover the field of possible articulate sound and therefore represent God in the auditory realm.
The Eknath Easwaran translation goes on to say:
This symbol of the Godhead is the highest.
Realizing it, one finds complete fulfillment of all one’s longings.
It is of the greatest support to all seekers.
Those in whose hearts OM reverberates
unceasingly are indeed blessed
and deeply loved as one who is the Self.
But Om, God, Allah, Yahweh, Tao: These are all names for the same great and unnameable Spirit (in my humble opinion). My belief is that all of mankind has been praying to, worshiping, and being guided by the same underlying force within the universe for all time, but our ego gets in the way with this “my God” vs “your god” little squabble.
Is it so far-fetched that the one Spirit may have revealed Itself to different people through different messengers in different ways with different names at different times?
Did you ever stop to consider that [Om/God/Allah/Yahweh/Tao] is playing all sides?
Perhaps the whole thing is some kind of test to see who’s willing to kill each other and who is willing to put their differences aside to live in harmony.
Maybe humans are nothing but chess pieces used as a means to achieve some almighty goal.
(Or, what if… God is really an Ancient Alien!?)
Your move.
which is neither virtue nor vice, neither cause nor effect,
neither past nor future (but beyond these), tell me That.”
Yama replied, “I will give you the Word all the scriptures glorify,
all spiritual disciplines express, to attain which aspirants lead
a life of sense-restraint and self-naughting. It is OM.”
Katha Upanishad - Part 2
Verse 14 translated by Swami Paramananda
Verse 15 translated by Eknath Easwaran
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How can the Infinite be bound by a finite word?
But then again, how do we conceive or speak of anything without giving it a name?
In Hinduism, the unnameable is pronounced “a-u-m”: the first letter the natural sound made by all when the throat is first opened, the last letter the sound made when the lips are closed, and the middle letter the sound made when moving from open to close. These sounds cover the field of possible articulate sound and therefore represent God in the auditory realm.
The Eknath Easwaran translation goes on to say:
This symbol of the Godhead is the highest.
Realizing it, one finds complete fulfillment of all one’s longings.
It is of the greatest support to all seekers.
Those in whose hearts OM reverberates
unceasingly are indeed blessed
and deeply loved as one who is the Self.
But Om, God, Allah, Yahweh, Tao: These are all names for the same great and unnameable Spirit (in my humble opinion). My belief is that all of mankind has been praying to, worshiping, and being guided by the same underlying force within the universe for all time, but our ego gets in the way with this “my God” vs “your god” little squabble.
Is it so far-fetched that the one Spirit may have revealed Itself to different people through different messengers in different ways with different names at different times?
Did you ever stop to consider that [Om/God/Allah/Yahweh/Tao] is playing all sides?
Perhaps the whole thing is some kind of test to see who’s willing to kill each other and who is willing to put their differences aside to live in harmony.
Maybe humans are nothing but chess pieces used as a means to achieve some almighty goal.
(Or, what if… God is really an Ancient Alien!?)
Your move.
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