Go into a synagogue, mosque or church, and say “I am God,” and you will be rebuked.

Blasphemer! Etc.

Go into a Hindu or Buddhist temple and say “I am God,” and you will be applauded.

By gum, you’ve got it!

The difference being that Western religions require revelation and/or a personal god, and Eastern religions adhere to the idea of divine unity.

In Hinduism, there is Brahman, and the universe is Brahman, and Brahman is conscious. We are part of an organism. The reward for divine reciprocity is life. Everything that exists has immense importance.

I matter. I am meaningful. I now have a reason to live for: the well-being of the whole. I am you. You are me. All is one. Seriously.

When you see yourself in all beings, and all beings in yourself, you lose all fear.

The feeling of being separate is a dead-end, a recipe for isolation.

What now, Danny?!

I’m kidding. “To each his own” is my overriding philosophy, unless your philosophy is harmful to the well-being and safety of others. Then you’re going down. Sucka.

I am eternal and temporal.

Atman is the eternal part of you, your soul, and jiva is your body, your temporal part.

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Hinduism and Judaism don’t export well to other cultures, mostly because these religions are so ingrained in the culture that it is difficult to separate the two.

Christianity and Buddhism export well because they are relatively separate from the culture in practice.

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I’m not feeling very well today. I feel dimwitted and disgusting, but it’s usually a passing phase. Perhaps I am getting sick again. My body isn’t operating at an optimum level.

(via snip-snap-beep.blogspot.com)