Author: The Green Lamp Project
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BLISS AND EMOTIONS
WE have seen that Ishvara is Thought, Power and Bliss, and man, as His child, has also these characteristics. When the Jivatma becomes wrapped in dense matter, the aspect of his nature which is Bliss, is ever going outwards in search of satisfaction, trying to realise itself by uniting itself with the outer world. The…
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VIRTUES AND THEIR FOUNDATION
WE have already seen that mutual sacrifice, another name for mutual service, is enjoined by the Sanatana Dharma, and it is easy to see that this is Right, since it promotes union. Thus the five daily sacrifices promote union between the sacrificer and Rishis, Devas, Pitris, Men and Animals. Another way in which the Sanatana…
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THE STANDARD OF ETHICS
WE have seen that the general standard by which actions should be judged at the present stage of evolution is Union, although many Jivas are not yet arrived at this stage. For the majority we can test each action by asking: Does it promote union? Does it promote separateness? If the answer to the first…
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RIGHT AND WRONG
THESE two words, Right and Wrong, are in the mouth of everybody, but it is not everybody who can tell us exactly what he means by right and wrong. Let us try to understand. We have seen that we have specially to do with three worlds, the Triloki, and we know that the Triloki is…
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THE FOUNDATION OF ETHICS AS GIVEN BY RELIGION
WE have already seen that the first proclamation of Religion is “The Self is One.” There are indeed many selves in appearance, but they are all portions or reflections of the One. Their separateness is temporary, their unity is eternal. Many pots may be dipped into a tank, but the water that fills each is…
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ETHICAL SCIENCE, WHAT IT IS
SCIENCE is a definitely arranged body of knowledge, of facts related to each other. A collection of facts does not make a science; the facts must be systematically arranged in their relations to each other, and the principles underlying these relations must be known, before the collection can be called a science. ETHICAL means that…
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THE FOUR CASTES
IN the long pilgrimage of the Jivatma through myriads of births, already referred to, there are four distinctly marked stages, called of old Varnas, or colours, and recognised in the social polity laid down by Manu as distinct social classes, or castes. These stages are universal, all Jivatmas passing through them; the peculiarity of the…
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THE FOUR ASHRAMAS
NATIONS have characteristics, just as have individuals, and among the characteristics of the Hindu nation in old days were order and balance. The Sanatana Pharma stamped these characteristics on the people, and thus shaped a very dignified type of man, evenly developed and well balanced. So much are these the characteristics of the true follower…
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WORSHIP
THE performance of the five daily sacrifices by man as an inter-dependent part of a universe, does not, however, completely satisfy the longings of the truly religious man. He longs to come into conscious relations with the Lord of the Universe, with Ishvara, with the great Life of which his own is a part. This…
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THE FIVE DAILY SACRIFICES
WE have seen that there exists a law of Yajna, of Sacrifice, and that man’s glory is to voluntarily work with it. We have now to see how the Sanatana Dharma trained its followers to this end. We may pass over, for the present, the numerous sacrifices of various kinds laid down in the sacred…
