[ad_1]
NEW YORK (RNS) — at sunday morning worship On Sunday (February 4), the priest preached, the choir sang pious hymns, and the congregation bowed their heads in communal prayer.
It was a typical Sunday for this loyal New Yorker. But the service took place not in a church, but in a spiritual home for believers of all names, from Christians to Hindus to self-styled “truth seekers.”
The Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center in New York was built for the revered Indian monk and guru who brought the interfaith teachings of Vedantic Hinduism to America, and is open to all faiths. It is a gathering place for followers of his philosophy, who accept it as an “effective means of faith.” believers in themselves to understand the truth. ”
___
This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.
___
“Swami Vivekananda redeemed religion for us,” Swami Yuktathmananda, a monk of the Ramakrishna order and currently the center’s spiritual director, said in a sermon. “He made religion a reality.”
Statues of Buddha, Mary, Jesus, and Hindu deities covered the walls of the center’s chapel. This chapel was founded by Swamini Kirananda in his 1933 as a ‘Vedanta Temple for Universal Worship’. At this special service on Vivekananda’s birthday according to the Hindu calendar, Yuktatmananda was giving a lecture on Vivekananda’s views on religion.
“His three most productive years were spent in the United States,” Yuktathmananda said of the sage’s time translating “the language of angels into the language of men” and sharing philosophy in English with the Western world.
“We are here as a result of his selfless efforts,” he added. “He has promised to be with us until the whole world knows that he is one with God.”
Vivekananda, who lived from 1863 to 1902, delivered dozens of speeches introducing Vedanta spirituality to American and European audiences at the end of the century. His speech to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893 famously addressed the audience as “sisters and brothers of America” and preached “universal tolerance” and the unity of humanity. It is widely remembered as
According to Vivekananda, for devotees of this spiritual sanctuary, the world’s religions are distinguished only by their rituals, doctrines, books, and doctrines, which are reduced to “secondary and inessential details.” It doesn’t work. For him, says Yuktatmananda, the essence of religion is to reveal one’s own innate divinity, whether through the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, or Lord Krishna.
Referring to Vivekananda’s teachings, the monk said, “Religion is an understanding that should not be dispersed but should be kept alive.” “It is built from concrete experience, not mechanical rituals or theological arguments.”
According to Vivekananda, true interreligious harmony is not just tolerance but acceptance, seeing both God and self in everyone. During World Interreligious Harmony Week, this evergreen message especially resonates with the Center’s long-time followers.
Keith Martinez was born in New York and raised as a Roman Catholic. As a college freshman in the 1980s, Martinez came across books introducing Eastern philosophical traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Martinez, a physics student at the time, was interested in “discovering truth,” and he remembers immediately thinking, “Oh my god, this makes so much sense.” .
“When you step back and learn about other religions, you think, ‘Oh, they’re trying to do the same thing,'” Martinez says. “I thought, ‘God really wants to meet everyone’s needs.’ That’s God’s way through different religions.”
Martinez said she knew this was the path for her just 10 minutes into the first sermon by then-leader Swami Adiswarananda at the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center. That’s what it means. He saw a man “speaking from spiritual experience,” he says, unlike any pastor or priest he had ever known.
“I believe that a true spiritual man, a true saint, will come and help,” Martinez said. “Then God gives him the right words to say. After all, we are all one, we are all brothers and sisters. I serve.”
Martinez, who currently serves as the center’s director and choir manager, played a key role in opening the Vivekananda Cottage in Thousand Island Park in upstate New York, where Swami Vivekananda spent seven weeks meditating. Ta.
Martinez credits his friend, mathematician Yogesh Bansal, with bringing him here about 30 years ago. The two are still good friends and attend church services together every Sunday.
Bansal, who is originally from India, said he was once praised by Swami Adiswarananda for bringing the most people from other faiths and cultures to the center. He said that for many people, especially those raised in other faith traditions, it is difficult to understand abstract concepts of spirituality, such as worshiping an “inner light” that shines within everyone. points out that it may be difficult.
“These are all ideas and concepts, but you have to feel in your heart, ‘Yes, Muhammad is also God,'” Bansal says. “How does that happen? It happens when you see God in yourself.
“What matters is how you feel inside and how your heart and mind rush toward God,” he added.
Diana Cooper, a retired nurse, discovered the center one day as she walked past it. A Catholic from her cradle, Cooper sought her further explorations, traveling through Jainism to reach the Vedanta tradition, which she called the “authentic” one. She’s been coming here for the past 20 years, and Cooper says she’s increasingly realized that “we are all souls.”
“There are other divine beings. It’s not just Ramakrishna, it’s not just Buddha, it’s not just Christ. Many come at different times,” she said. “This whole place is a religious unity.”
Cooper agreed with Bansal, saying where and when a person grew up has the biggest influence on their beliefs. But she says it’s up to us to eliminate the “us versus them” mentality between religious groups and start seeing each person’s journey as leading to the same God.
“No two people have exactly the same karma, so every path is going to be a little different,” she said. “Everyone has their own path. For me, this is it.”
For Mansi Mehta, the path to Vivekananda opened at the age of seven. Mehta, 36, a choir singer and humanitarian, says Swami’s words have been a “guiding force” behind her decisions for many years. . Teachings about the world, she says, remind us that there is always something bigger than ourselves.
“Whatever path we’re on, whether it’s an actual religion or our own path, at the end of the day we should reach the same goal,” she said. “There is no right or wrong in religion. It is just a belief and a feeling within us.”
The service ended with a prayer and greetings to “all the prophets of the past and future.” The choir then sang a song by George Harrison, a follower of Vivekananda, replacing the lyric “Hallelujah” in “My Sweet Lord” with the word “Ramakrishna.”
For Martinez, the spirituality he found through Vivekananda is the key to unlocking harmony around the world, especially as religious conflict and intolerance intensify.
“It’s always going to be personal,” he said. “Each person must make a change. As Michael Jackson says, it starts with the man in the mirror.”
[ad_2]
Source link
