Letting go of one's former religion...

[Harinama]

If there is something that both Satguru Shivaya Subramuniyaswami and Srila Sridhar Maharaj have in common, it is that both require absolute letting go of our former religions or religious conceptions.

However, I am having such a difficult time. Especially having grown up Christian and having been forward in the interfaith movement, I feel terrible for parting with my personal Bible, Qur'an, Baha'i Scriptures, etc. They were what I familiarised myself with, and I've put my heart and soul into studying them with vigour and love.

But I also know that the Krishna conception of God is the sweetest, most variegated form of conception for me; it is full-fledged theism, and the culmination of surrender to the Lord.

This letting go has been a struggle with me for years upon the path of Vaishnavism, and continues to be so. Are there any ways to help alleviate those and to let go of such material attachments?

[Sahasranama]

Keep those books for reference, if you have read them thoroughly, you already know what's wrong with them. Just chant Hanuman Chalisa and ask him to send away these bhutas(Jahweh), pretas(Jesus) and pishacas(Mohammed).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqHiyRxykZw&feature=related

[Adhvagat]

For how long have you been practicing Hinduism? Are you already lacto-vegetarian?

Put paintings of devas over the whole house. If you know a brahmana you have affinity, have him make an agni hotra in your home.

I consider setting the spiritual mood of one's home quite important for the daily maintenance of a sattvic mindset.

[mohanty]

Don't feel like you have to "snap" ties with the old. Try to use the bhakti tradition lens to look at your old belief system. Doubtless you will have to discard some things, but on the whole you will perhaps be able to find some kind of a balance.

[Water]

Keep those books for reference, if you have read them thoroughly, you already know what's wrong with them. Just chant Hanuman Chalisa and ask him to send away these bhutas(Jahweh), pretas(Jesus) and pishacas(Mohammed).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqHiyRxykZw&feature=related

I really like this advice. :)

A friend shared a similar experience she had with her Universalist religion, a husband that was a Baptist and children that all chose their own paths.

The advice she received was in perfect parallel - she had chosen a Shaivite philosophy and asked Ganesha to help her affirm and accept herself as a Shaivite without judging her family.

She's quite happy now - I suppose it worked. :)

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Personally, I was raised nothing, so it may have been easier for me. Still there are formerly held views that do come up. I used to struggle with defeating the agnostic in me sometimes. Still occasionally I catch myself, and I've been officially Hindu for 31 years, unofficially for nearly 40.

The point is 'it takes a great deal of time' yet there is no rush. Its just a difficult difficult process, as all that early childhood programming left its mark, especially if it was constant 24-7, daily prayers, God in conversations in the car, being constantly reminded of Christ, etc. We all know that early childhood subconscious impressions are the strongest. To think we can just rid ourselves of that in two or three months or even years is just preposterous.

I've observed many former Christians who 'think' they have it out of their systems, yet their actions prove otherwise. A good example is karma. When something happens to them, they are very unable to see it as their own karma. And yet they claim to be Hindu? It really comes to the forefront at moments of stress.

Even the idea of being in a hurry is a Christian concept. In Hinduism there is no hurry. See the mala as 108 lifetimes, and each bead as one lifetime. Then maybe we'd be in less of a hurry.

Best wishes with it.

Aum Namasivaya

[Sahasranama]

I've observed many former Christians who 'think' they have it out of their systems, yet their actions prove otherwise. A good example is karma. When something happens to them, they are very unable to see it as their own karma. And yet they claim to be Hindu? It really comes to the forefront at moments of stress. I don't know that belief is also listed as catholic here (http://tinyurl.com/4g784na).

[Water]

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I don't know that belief is also listed as catholic here (http://tinyurl.com/4g784na).

+1 for Church of the Subgenius inclusion.
-1 for unfair Pastafarian exclusion.

[PARAM]

I've observed many former Christians who 'think' they have it out of their systems, yet their actions prove otherwise. A good example is karma. When something happens to them, they are very unable to see it as their own karma. And yet they claim to be Hindu? It really comes to the forefront at moments of stress.

But Karma is Hindu belief, Gita believes in Karma, Christians used it later.

[Harinama]

For how long have you been practicing Hinduism? Are you already lacto-vegetarian?

Put paintings of devas over the whole house. If you know a brahmana you have affinity, have him make an agni hotra in your home.

I consider setting the spiritual mood of one's home quite important for the daily maintenance of a sattvic mindset.

I've been a lacto-vegetarian for three years and counting (onions and garlic only eaten outside the home; otherwise, all food is offered), and also avoided alcohol, drugs, caffeine, and offered my food. (I've been a vegan for one year before that and a lacto-ovo for two years before that in my teenagehood.)

Thank you for the suggestions. I follow the teachings of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, so in our Gaudiya siddhanta, we do not have pictures of devatas at all, and images of Vishnu-tattva should only be on an altar. And although I have not taken diksha, and it is almost impossible for me to right now, I am chanting sixteen rounds of this Mahamantra a day.

[Harinama]

Keep those books for reference, if you have read them thoroughly, you already know what's wrong with them. Just chant Hanuman Chalisa and ask him to send away these bhutas(Jahweh), pretas(Jesus) and pishacas(Mohammed).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqHiyRxykZw&feature=related

Thank you so much for the beautiful singer and bhajan. :)

I do like listening to the Hare Krishna Mahamantra: http://www.vaisnava.com/audio/BhudevPrabhu-Mahamantra_I_HQ.mp3

There was a story that when our acharya and parama-parama guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was a child and was travelling with his father, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, to sacred places of pilgrimage in India, they were permitted to stay in a village.

Apparently there was an abandoned place where a bhuta was residing, and the village people did not want the magnanimous Thakur and his son to stay in that haunted home. Yet they chose to stay the night, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur spent the night chanting the Mahamantra.

The bhuta was gone. Not only did the bhuta disappear, but he was also liberated through dint of the faith of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur.

In this lesson, it is not the Mahamantra that saves, but the conception and the faith in the Lord that through the Mahamantra, that everything becomes spiritual chintamani, touchstone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

But if I have the books, I'll be tempted to collect and keep them (and read them)! ;)

[Eastern Mind]

But Karma is Hindu belief, Gita believes in Karma, Christians used it later.

Vannakkam Param: By former Christians, I was referring to Hindus who were formerly Christians, but converted to Hinduism. As far as I know Christians don't understand karma at all. Its not part of their theology as far as I know, but I know very very litttle about Christian theology. Nor am I willing to learn.

Aum Namasivaya

[Harinama]

Vannakkam: Personally, I was raised nothing, so it may have been easier for me. Still there are formerly held views that do come up. I used to struggle with defeating the agnostic in me sometimes. Still occasionally I catch myself, and I've been officially Hindu for 31 years, unofficially for nearly 40.

The point is 'it takes a great deal of time' yet there is no rush. Its just a difficult difficult process, as all that early childhood programming left its mark, especially if it was constant 24-7, daily prayers, God in conversations in the car, being constantly reminded of Christ, etc. We all know that early childhood subconscious impressions are the strongest. To think we can just rid ourselves of that in two or three months or even years is just preposterous.

I've observed many former Christians who 'think' they have it out of their systems, yet their actions prove otherwise. A good example is karma. When something happens to them, they are very unable to see it as their own karma. And yet they claim to be Hindu? It really comes to the forefront at moments of stress.

Even the idea of being in a hurry is a Christian concept. In Hinduism there is no hurry. See the mala as 108 lifetimes, and each bead as one lifetime. Then maybe we'd be in less of a hurry.

Best wishes with it.

Aum Namasivaya

Thank you for the relational story. I think it will take years for me to fully get it out of my system, and I only pray for the blessings of my Srila Gurudeva to make me a better Vaishnava in my next life. It is already difficult enough to be a shuddha bhakta (pure devotee) in one lifetime, let alone the humility to withstand several!

It generally starts with me defending a certain religion (Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Baha'i Faith, or Judaism), and then I will search through the appropriate Scriptures or source texts to show the good side over the bad ones. I have been so familiarised with the Bible, as well as the Baha'i Scriptures, and the Qur'an, that eventually my faith will vascillate and I will be unsure. Of course, this is my first doubting period, and I'm sure that there will be more in the future.

I grew up as a Catholic, where we would go to church on a Sunday, where the first man to name me and visit my impregnated mother, was not my father (who vacationed for six months after my birth even), but an Irish priest. My grandparents would take me to church if they visited, and growing up with my grandmother, she would go to mass every day, and pray the rosary every day... even upon the mentioning of Protestants, she firmly said that "They do not believe in Jesus Christ!! They do not believe in Mother Mary!!" Since the Spanish inquisition in the Philippines, my entire family has been Christian for four generations.

We also have Baptists, Pentecostals, and one Jehovah's Witness. :D

A picture Bible was the first book I read as a child. I grew up in my teenage years committed to Christ, followed the Charismatic movement (so I went into hypnotic trances and did glossolalia as if the Holy Spirit 'embodied me'), going to Bible study, rosary group, charismatic prayer group, choir, Sunday school, and Mass. Even my family expected me to become the first priest.

I know that instead of quoting the Bible, I should learn to quote Sanskrit and Bengali shlokas and their English renderings. Instead of thinking of Jesus, Baha'u'llah and Muhammad, I should be thinking of the great saints, Queen Kunti, Draupadi, Vedavyasa, Yamunacharya, and others. Instead of thinking that Filipinos are inherently Christian by culture, I must think that the Philippines, like every socio-ethnic group in the world, were once part of a vast global Vedic empire, the islands of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. called Jambudvipa.

I guess I just merely need to trudge on... and that there is no need to study any other Scripture, since the Vedic Scriptures are vast and a multitude. :D

[Harinama]

Vannakkam Param: By former Christians, I was referring to Hindus who were formerly Christians, but converted to Hinduism. As far as I know Christians don't understand karma at all. Its not part of their theology as far as I know, but I know very very litttle about Christian theology. Nor am I willing to learn.

Aum Namasivaya

My former ISKCON fanatical boyfriend and being surrounded by nothing but Vaishnava culture helped reinforce the concept of karma. Christian theology is very vague in this; sometimes it is the will of God, and sometimes it is Satan, and sometimes it is the self.

[Sahasranama]

I've observed many former Christians who 'think' they have it out of their systems, yet their actions prove otherwise. A good example is karma. When something happens to them, they are very unable to see it as their own karma. And yet they claim to be Hindu? It really comes to the forefront at moments of stress.

I don't know that belief is also listed as catholic here (http://tinyurl.com/4g784na).
Okay, this was a joke.

But on a serious note, in western culture there's an expression: karma is a bitch. I don't think this is a compassionate way of looking at it. We can't say someone isn't a Hindu, because not being on such an exalted level of a muni accepting everything that happens. Even after accepting your lot, action is still required. Also, in Hinduism karma is non-retributive as opposed to the Buddhist and Jain concept of karma.

[eriko]

I know this is a bit off-topic but what is the difference between Hindu, Jain and Buddhist outlook of Karma?

I am only aware of the Hindu one. Jain, I suupose they say something to do with some Karma particle theory and Buddhist?

[PARAM]

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Some Christians use the Word 'karma' but don't know anything about it. I know there is nothing in Christianity that describe it, all they say is their christian god's will, I can say then even Islamic jihad is their god's will.


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