We are becoming “multi-religious”, at least what has been observed in Europe. Disappointed in Christianity, people try to create their “own” religion, a mix of all existing religions. For instance, about 30 percent of the Austrians may be classified as “religious composers”: They put together their world-view of various elements such as Christian positions, humanistic, naturalistic, and Far Eastern thought. This is how “Kathpress” reports out in the new long-term study of religion in the lives of Austrians 1970-2000 “. Interesting, isn’t it?
The idea of mixing religions is not unusual to me, the more so I see it absolutely natural, since I could never understand how one can accept only one religion, because they all have such beautiful and deep messages!.. However I am fascinated by the fact how rapidly the society is also growing in its world understanding and ultimately – in spiritual development.
As for me, being a realised person, I not only know that all religions are one and the same, but I actually feel it and “use” all of them in my daily life. Let me give you several simple examples (of cause it is all more complex and inter-connected, but it would take pages and pages to explain):
– If I happened to have a headache, I say the Christ Lord’ s prayer (“Our Father..”) and the headache is gone.
– If I address Ganesha (Hindu Deity with an elephant head and child’s body), I can easily manage children, and even all the adults around me start acting more innocently, it seems like a child gets awakened within them (since Ganesha is very powerful archetype of childhood and innocence).
– by saying “Allah Hu Akbar” my throat gets clear and the voice powerful, and I can easily feel the Oneness, the unity of all things
– by taking the name of Buddha my ego calms down and I get into a very meditative state
-by doing all that I yet claim I am not a believer, since I dont’ belive in God.
Now you can ask me why does it work ? Why addressing entities of various religions, we can have a direct impact on our body, mind and soul?
One says, the great incarnations, the “founding fathers” of religions have been not only powerful spiritual personalities, but also manifested archetypes in collective consciousness of humanity. When we address them, they awaken certain energies within us and it works miraculously.
Let me finish the thtought with a beautiful guote of a great soul:
“Among creeds and castes, and all wars and differences between nations, have arisen from narrowness and slowness of perception. Still, were a Buddhist to come to me saying, ‘Our Lord Buddha was the only teacher,’ I would answer, ‘Verily;’ and if a Hindu cried to me that Krishna is the ideal master I would say, ‘You speak rightly.’ And if a Christian should declare that Christ is the highest of all, I would reply, ‘Undoubtedly,’ for it is the nature of human beings to consider as best that which they can idealize best. But if anyone came to me saying, ‘I cannot believe in all this talk, for I can only recognize the same truth in each one of these,’ I would say, ‘You, my friend, are the one who really knows, for you have understood and unveiled the real secret of God’s Nature.’ A Sufi saint Hazrat Inayat Khan
LOVE, axinia (image by me)
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
Also bist Du Synkretistin?
Warum schreibst Du in Englisch?
ich wusste nicht, dass es so heißt “Synkretism” :), danke fürs Info..
und warum soll ich nicht auf English shreiben?
It is nothing but practicing Sahajayoga in daily life.You automatically become multi- religious.how interesting it is. Even It happens without your knowledge.It is mothers gift to mankind.one should understand logic behind it and should stop fighting related to religion counterary rigidness in religious practices is seems tobe increased in all countries and all religions and people feel proud of it.
thanks to sayadin I ahve just learned that this is called Syncretism.
“Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means “combining,” but see below for the origin of the word. This may involve attempts to merge and analogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.”
May be, but I don’ really care 🙂 Call it as you like, but this is the future of humanity. I am convinced that people who will not realise the Spiritual Unity and oneness of mankind, will be completely lost. Sonner or later.
Hello from Ukraine !
You write the interesting topic !
But, as for me, I seek answers, I wonder if you have them for me ?
http://marinademchuck.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/want-to-talk-religion-with-me/
Sincerely,
Marina.
Ukraine.
I see you have a international blog…
Most i need english for jokes in Call of Duty….
Russians,
Surrender,
we will be nice to you…
So I see all religious people are syncretists, in fact no two belivers belive the same. But the difference is the syncretist know what he do.
While all this sounds dreamy, idealistic and utopian, Axinia, such a thing is simply not possible 😐 Not because utopian ideals are not possible, but because we are dealing with religions here – trying to combine the contradictory, primitive, uncouth, rigid and regressive ideals of different religions is as good as trying to combine chalk, cheese, cotton, carbon, chloroform and camphor and attempting to chew it down 😀
This kind of “multi-religious religion” thing has been attempted before. A mediaeval tyrant from the uncouth Indian sub-continent had a grand idea of trying to combine the primitive, contradictory religions of his subjects and form a new religion. Needless to say, it turned out to be a super flop, and even history has almost forgotten this pathetic attempt at the impossible:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din-i-Ilahi
I hate to burst the bubble, Axinia 😦 All religions are NOT the same. They can NEVER be the same, at least not in the uncouth, primitive, regressive forms many of them existed in the past and exist at present. But if the so-called multi-religious religion were possible, how can it answer the following glaring differences between religions 😕
➡ How can a religion that declares all idol-worshippers to be infidels (Islam) ever be the same as a religion where millions of idols are worshipped, with more and more being added by the day (Hinduism) ???
➡ How can a religion that declares that all women are born of sinful wombs and are unvirtuous, deceitful liars (Hinduism) ever be the same as a religion that worships the woman who gave birth to the Son of God (Catholicism) ???
➡ How can religions that preach that all humans are equals in the eyes of God (Christianity, Buddhism etc.) ever be the same as a religion that preaches that all its non-adherents are cattle or goyim (Judaism) or a religion that declares that many of its own adherents are worse than cattle (Hinduism) ???
➡ How can a religion that preaches men are allowed to remarry upto four widows (Islam) ever be the same as a religion that asks for all widows to be ostracised and humiliated, if not burned to death on the funeral pyre of their husbands (Hinduism) ???
➡ How can a religion that declares that there is no God but its own God (Islam) ever be the same as a related religion that says God is One but comes in three forms (Christianity), not to speak of religions that are agnostic (tending towards being atheist) with respect to God (Buddhism, Jainism) or a religion that declares all its millions of Gods are Gods (Hinduism) ???
➡ How can a religion that declares Makkah to be the centre of the world and God’s preferred place (Islam) ever be the same as a religion that declares Jerusalem to be the true abode of God (Judaism) or a religion that says its Gods exist in several places but can also be found in an imaginary place in the Himalaya mountains (Hinduism) ???
Since you believe all religions are the same, is there any answer for these (and many other) questions that expose the shockingly contradictory, irreconciliable nature of religions, Axinia 😕
🙂
basicallly by saying all that, dear Raj, you mean I am an impossible person 🙂 Well, what can I do?
When did I ever say or even imply that you are an impossible person, dear Axinia 😕 Why do you misunderstand me 😦 😦
I meant to say it’s easy to declare that one chants the names of the Gods of different religions and claim to adhere to their tenets. That is the easy part and it can be done by anyone, even an undesirable like me.
The difficult or rather, the impossible part, is to prove that all religions are the same. They are clearly not the same and they cannot be the same, when each one of them is usually so diametrically opposed to the others in many ways. The questions I’ve asked constitute just a small sample of the violently contradicting nature and beliefs of these religions. Some of the religions are self-contradictory and don’t make sense at all even by themselves. When tried to syncretise with others that differ so much, one is faced with the impossible task.
Why don’t you or someone else who believes all religions are the same ever try to find answers to those simple questions, Axinia 😕 That’s because there are no answers for them that can be given by limiting oneself to the religious, even so-called multi-religious point of view. Religions are different and they cannot be the same by any stretch of the imagination!
🙂
Raj, I mean they are the same at the core of it. That is for sure. The make up is difference, but this is on the surface. I know you are not fond of my favourite Sufi saint, but please read his quote once again:
“Among creeds and castes, and all wars and differences between nations, have arisen from narrowness and slowness of perception.
Still, were a Buddhist to come to me saying, ‘Our Lord Buddha was the only teacher,’ I would answer, ‘Verily;’ and
if a Hindu cried to me that Krishna is the ideal master I would say, ‘You speak rightly.’
And if a Christian should declare that Christ is the highest of all, I would reply, ‘Undoubtedly,’ for it is the nature of human beings to consider as best that which they can idealize best.
But if anyone came to me saying, ‘I cannot believe in all this talk, for I can only recognize the same truth in each one of these,’ I would say, ‘You, my friend, are the one who really knows, for you have understood and unveiled the real secret of God’s Nature.’
The religions may look similar at the surface, but they are very, very different at the core, dear Axinia. They may have superficial similarities, but they have fundamental differences 🙂
Look at it from an alien’s point of view. Observing them from outer space, the alien would see groups of people believing in the tenets of their religions, going to places of worship and praying to their own gods. On the surface, it all looks similar – different groups of people in different places (sometimes the same place) behaving in a similar manner but they are followers of different religions.
However, one needs to get to the core of each religion to understand why there are so many unbridgeable differences. Despite looking similar at the surface, they are all shockingly different and completely contradict each other at their cores. Wars and differences have been caused not because of the narrowness of perception, but because of the wholesome differences between them – it’s only a natural phenomenon, once there are so many differences.
🙂
As far as the bubble-dwelling, but wise Sufi saint Hazrat Inayat Khan is concerned, it doesn’t really matter whether an undesirable like me is fond of him or not 😐
But I wonder what his own fellow religionists from the Wahabi school of Islam, the guardians of the two holiest shrines, would say of his beliefs. They wouldn’t approve of it as being in accordance with the tenets of his faith, to put it mildly 🙄
🙂
I think this kind of vision is possible and it is reality. I have friends which are muslims, buddhists and christs. The evident think is not what you belive. Evident is the question “Are you a asshole or not”. The first rule from witches is “Dont speak with bad spirits”, translated assholes.
So when a people has a good spirit he is a good friend. Then it is not evident which religion he has, bakaremaska, kono yarou…
Realy “religion” start’s when all “…-ism”es are finished 🙂
Om Jesus Akbar!
my smart husband!….:)
Then let us burn the witch…
Why are Austrians disappointed with Christianity, Axinia? Is it because of certain scandals, or is it because Austria has a “Church tax” for Catholics?
Church tax is compulsory in Austria and Catholics can be sued by the Church for not paying it. Anyone who wants to stop paying it has to declare in writing, at their local municipal council, that they are leaving the Church. They are then crossed off the Church registers and can no longer receive the sacraments. The tax amounts to about 1% of the income.
I empathise with Austrians who are leaving the Church. Contributions to religion must always be voluntary. A Church tax makes no sense, not if it amounts to 1% of one’s income. I believe this kind of tax had its origins in earlier times when the Catholic Church would have been the only charitable organisation extending a helping hand to those in need, so the money would have been the equivalent of donating to religion and charity at the same time. But times have changed and if this outdated practice is driving them away from the Church, they might have to reform it. There are many Churches around the world which do charitable deeds based solely on voluntary contributions and I see no need why the Austrian Catholic Church cannot do the same.
🙂
recently Austrians are dissapointed with Church because of increasing pedophiliy cases (you might have heard). The tax was not bothering many, as far as I know..
But this is not important, what the reason is. It is a general trend, ( i believe worldwide) that people start looking for more than the dogma of their home religion. People are becoming more and more open-minded!
It is a general trend, ( i believe worldwide) that people start looking for more than the dogma of their home religion. People are becoming more and more open-minded!
That may be true of only civilised societies and people, Axinia. That’s certainly not how the uncouth hordes of barbaric societies behave. For the hordes and hordes of uncouth beings that (over)populate the semi-civilised and uncivilised parts of the world, their primitive narrow minds can never think beyond the Stone Age, arse-licking mentality. That’s why the filthy uncouth countries and empires of the world are always involved in internal strife and external skirmishes. That’s because these uncouth countries don’t have the civilisational sophistication and the lowly hordes don’t have it in their pea-brains to behave as civilised people. They always look to impose their uncouth things and filthy way of life on others, so they cannot be compared to a civilised country, like say Switzerland, that has never experienced civil strife nor taken part in a war for the last century-and-a-half and some more. While many other civilised countries have been free of war and civil strife for the last few decades, it does not apply to the uncouth countries and their lowly hordes.
But these uncouth hordes of the lowly Third World and the crooks who control the First World are not going to let any kind of global peace be possible, believe me. If the signs are right, these creatures are going to drag the entire world into some serious destruction and devastation in a fairly short period of time. The signs are getting more and more obvious – all it is going to take is a single spark for all hell to break loose. I wonder what you think of it 😕
🙂
All that is needed is love.
This was one of my first lessons on the way. I feel it has some place in this discussion.
Enjoy – Dave
Four men- A Persian, a Turk, an Arab, and a Greek- were standing in a village street. They were traveling companions, making for some distant place; but at this moment they were arguing over the spending of a single piece of money which was all that they had among them.
“I want ANGUR,” said the Persian.
“I want UZUM,” said the Turk.
“I want INAB,” said the Arab.
“No!” said the Greek, “we should buy STAFIL.”
Another traveler passing, a linguist, said, “Give the coin to me. I undertake to satisfy the desires of all of you.”
At first they would not trust him. Ultimately they let him have the coin. He went to the shop of a fruit seller and bought four small bunches of grapes.
“This is my ANGUR,” said the Persian.
“But this is what i call UZUM,” said the Turk.
“You have brought me INAB,” said the Arab.
“No!” said the Greek, “this in my language is STAFIL.”
The grapes were shared out among them, and each realized that the disharmony had been due to his faulty understanding of the language of others.
“The travelers are the ordinary people of the world. The linguist is the Sufi. People know that they want something, because there is an inner need existing in them. They may give it different names, but it is the same thing. Those call it religion have different names for it, and even different ideas as to what it might be. Those who call it ambition try to find its scope in different ways. But it is only when a linguist appears, someone who knows what they really mean, that they can stop the struggling and get on with the eating of the Grapes”.
The Sufi speaks of wine, the product of the grape, and its secret potential, as his means of attaining “inebriation”. The grape is seen as the raw form of the wine. Grapes, then, mean ordinary religion; while wine is the real essence of the fruit. The travelers are therefore seen to be four ordinary people, different in religion. The Sufi shows them that the basis of their religions is in fact the same. He does not, however, offer them wine, the essence, which is the inner doctrine waiting to be produced and used in mysticism, a field far more developed than mere organized religion. That is a further stage. But the Sufi’s role as a servant of humanity is brought out by the fact that, although he is operating on a higher level, he helps the formal religionist as far as he can, by showing him the fundamental identity of religious faith. He might, of course, have gone on to a discussion of the merits of wine; but what the travelers wanted was grapes, and grapes they were given. When the wrangling over smaller issues subsides, according to the Sufi, the greater teaching may be imparted. Meanwhile, some sort of primary lesson has been given.
The basic urge toward mysticism is never, in the unaltered man, clear enough to be recognized for what it is.
Cher Dave,
Your story sounds beautiful, but like all bubble things, it chooses to ignore the truth about what religions actually say. Instead it merely says one person calls his religion Christianity, another calls his religion Islam, another calls his as Hinduism, yet another calls his as Shintoism, yet another calls his as Buddhism and so on, but they are all religions by different names. That’s what your story actually claims.
It completely ignores the what those individual religions SAY and MEAN. I wonder why you choose not to answer any of the questions I’ve asked Axinia about the fundamental differences between religions – since you claim they are all the same, but each has a different name.
Let me ask another question.
Consider these deeds by Jesus:
➡ On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. (Luke 13:10-17)
➡ Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her, ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed from that moment. (Matt 9:20-22)
Now consider what a filthy, sadistic, sub-human loafer called Manu who authored the disgusting, nauseating law book of Hinduism says about all women:
➡ Women are liars, corrupt, greedy, and unvirtuous. (Manu II 1)
➡ Sacrifices performed by women are inauspicious and not acceptable to god. They should therefore be avoided. (Manu IV. 206)
➡ When creating them, He allotted to women (a love of their) bed and (of) ornaments, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct. (Manu IX. 17)
➡ A woman shall not perform the daily sacrifices prescribed by the Vedas. Then according to IX.37 if she does it, she will go to hell. (Manu XI. 36)
Consider what Jesus Christ said about the treatment of widows:
➡ Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor
at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive great condemnation. (Mark 12:38-40)
➡ As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. (Luke 21:1-4)
Now consider what that uncouth lowlife sewer creature Manu prescribes for widows:
➡ At her pleasure let a widow enunciate her body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots and fruits, but let her not when her lord is deceased, even pronounce the name of another man. (Manu V. 157)
➡ But a widow, who from a wish to bear children, slights her deceased husband by marrying again, brings disgrace on herself here below, and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord (in heaven). (Manu V. 161)
Or this stinking, filthy quote:
➡ A virtuous woman is one who dies on the funeral pyre of her dead husband and avails the privilege of serving her husband in the other world. (Atharva Veda 18-3-1)
How on earth can you even imagine that Jesus Christ and that filthy loafer Manu are saying the same things here??? Do they strike you as being the same or even remotely similar?
I wonder why you choose not to answer these simple questions about fundamental, diametric, irreconciliable differences between religions, instead of merely claiming repeatedly that they are the same things but called by different names, when they are clearly NOT so 😕
🙂
Un Terrien extraterrestre
Hey Raj,
Lemme answer your questions:
As for why I didn’t answer the questions you have asked Axinia on religion, the answer is simple: you didn’t ask me directly. I didn’t know I was required to or supposed to answer questions on religion.
As for your other question, I have a basic example. Apple juice and orange juice are completely different though they are both aqueous (water based) solutions. No one will deny that (they are different) and we can write books on how different they are, pH wise, color, density, ion carrying capacity, etc.
You are an atheist and I am a rum-drinking-on-Friday-night kind of mystic. We are talking about religion at two different levels. On the level of the mystical which is beyond that of logic and reason and in the realm of the experiential I say both orange juice and apple juice are manifestations of the same thing. On the level of outward appearances aka the 5 senses they are different, especially in terms of price at the supermarket this week. I think I got ripped off. There is a funny saying that bread looks different to a man who hasn’t eaten in days than to one who has just eaten a buffet meal and can’t stand the sight of food, but it’s still bread nevertheless. When we look at religion, we see our state reflect in what we are looking at.
To me historically we have all traveled down the road of picking out and harping on differences and it doesn’t seem to have done much for us other than instigate violence. All the writings attributed to masters and saints are for a specific group of people who have already gone past outward differences, brought together by an experience. If you don’t have the experience and/or think it is really fictitious or possibly a self-induced state and try to understand it, I would imagine it would seem like we live in a bubble though living in the world working struggling to make ends meet and all that stuff.
The story may sound beautiful one level but on another it’s rather a guidebook or travel map through the spiritual state of seeking. It is also an exercise that opens the ‘mind’ to higher level of understanding similar to the quote I mentioned from the Sufi Saint Rabia that you asked about earlier this week.
Seeing the topic and reading your nice post, I came to the conclusion; that it is so cool to be a realized person… cause you are so free to choose the best of the best.
and thanks.
wow, what a point, pooyan! 🙂
Thanks!
I just thought of a question or two after reading this. I thought it may be useful to put it out there. If you are a God-realized person is there such a thing as a choice? If there is, “Who is the “I” that is deciding? Is there really a path (let alone the best one) to the source? Does a person with a boat already in the ocean need to concern himself to the best path to sea?
Sorry thats more than 2 questions.
Dave
Dear Dave, a good question.
I believe there are many paths, many more that we can even imagine. Some of them are shorter, some longer, some confusing…all sorfts of paths. It is a matter of choice and desire, as well as the readiness of the Soul to one or another way.
There is obviously no such a thing as “the best” path…but again, some paths are just more direct and shorter :)))
I was reading this a few minutes ago during my lunch break. I think it’s pertinent. It is from The Seeker After Truth by Idries Shah.
Dave-O
Q: There is a widespread tendency today for people to amalgamate beliefs, rituals from all spiritual sources. Sufis however seem to say that truth is one and forms vary and cannot be amalgamated. If all forms are only part of the ultimate truth, why cannot these forms be associated together?
A: Because the forms date from various needs and epochs and do not go together, any more than a wheel of a horse carriage will fit a motor-car.
Perhaps you have not heard the tale of Nasruddin when he was trying to build a house? His friends, all of whom had houses, and some of whom where carpenters, builders and so on, surrounded him. He was glad to have their advice. One after another and sometimes all together, they told him what to do. Nasruddin obediently followed the instructions of each one.
When the building was finished it looked nothing like a house. “That’s funny,” said Nasruddin, “after all I did what everyone told me to!”
Thank you Dave, that’s an intresting example.
However I belive we have to trust seekers more. When people rise above thir simple needs and start asking themselves why the world works this or that way, who am I, etc. – then we have to trust, that sooner or later all of them (us!) become the right answer. Seeking is in the nature of human beings, and this is natural that one trues one things after another, composes, created his/her own belief system. Sooner or later we will all acheive the Ultimate.
“If you want
special illumination,
look upon a human face:
see deeply,
within laughter,
the essence
of ultimate
truth…”
…..Nasreddin planted a flower garden, but when the flowers came up so did a great crop of dandelions among them. Wishing to eliminate the unwanted guests, Nasreddin consulted with gardeners near and far, but none of their solutions worked.
Finally, Nasreddin traveled to seek the wisdom of the royal gardener himself. But alas, Nasreddin had already tried all the methods the kind old man recommended to him for eradicating such troublesome weeds.
Silently they sat together for a good long time. At last, the royal gardener looked at Nasreddin and said, “Well, then, the only thing I can suggest is that you learn to love them.”
Mirel,
How are you ? I hope you are doing well. Do you know the tradition that once someone starts a nasruddin tale 7 in total should be told :-). im in the mood for some humor so here is number 3:
Nasruddin nearly fell into a pool one day. A man whom he knew slightly was nearby, and saved him. Every time he met Nasruddin after that he would remind him of the service which he had performed. When this had happened several times Nasruddin took him to the water, jumped in, and stood with his head just above water and shouted: “Now I am as wet as I would have been if you had not saved me! Leave me alone.”
Hi, Salut Dave.
I hope you’re now well rested ….en vacances en Inde?
our dear Nasr-ed-Din Hodja:)))
acting truly as a mirror of our foibles aiding self examination….generation after generation, considerable variations surely may exist in the way they are told through time and space.
(by the way, i believe there’s a small restaurant in Brooklyn called Nasreddin Hoja if it’s still operating!!!)
I would never ever break this tradition. Let’s go on with no 4^5:
Nombre 4 (one of my favourites)
One day Molla Nasreddin went to a banquet. As he was dressed rather shabbily, no one let him in. So he ran home, put on his best robe and returned. Immediately, the host came over, greeted him and ushered him to the head of an elaborate banquet table.
When the food was served, Nasreddin pushed his sleeves up to his plate and said, “Eat sleeves, eat! It’s obvious that you’re the real guest of honor today, not me!”
Nombre 5: Cleverest man in the world.
At the time of the Nasreddin Hodja, some clever and educated men were searching for an intelligent man, who could answer their three questions. They traveled through the whole world and then came to Aksehir Turkiye.
They asked:
Who is most intelligent man in this town?
Of course the people of the town brought the Hodja to the three men and they began to ask.
First question: Where is the central point of the world?
The Hodja’s donkey was with him. So he pointed to his donkey. Where the front legs of my donkey are, there is the middle point of the world. How can you prove that? asked one of the men.
If you don’t believe, you can measure it, the Hodja said. Measuring did not seem a good idea to them, so they went on to the next question.
How many stars are on the sky?
The Hodja replied without hesitation:
As many as the hairs on my donkey’s mane.
The three men laughed. If you don’t believe it, said the Hodja, you can count them.
The foreigners understood that they couldn’t get a correct reply and one of them asked:
Can you say how many hairs are in your donkey’s mane?
Oh, yes, said the Hodja. There are exactly the same number of hairs as you have in your beard. Now don’t tell me, that you don’t believe that because I can prove it by pulling one hair from your beard and one from the donkey’s mane. When we pull each hair out one after the other, you can see at the end that there are the same number of hairs.
The three men went back to their country and told everyone that the cleverest man in the world lived in Akshehir
Dear Dave…..the last 2 shots are all yours!
that was real fun and pleasure. truly appreciated
Dive in the ocean….;)
Mirel et Dave, mes chers amis,
If you don’t mind, let me also join in and contribute to the fun 🙂 When I was a kid, I used to read the tales of Nasiruddin Hodja in Tinkle comics. I’ve forgotten them now, but it would be foolish on my part to miss out on the fun you’re having 😉
Here is number 6 then:
Once Nasiruddin Hodja decided to stay in another village for some time. He reaches there and finds a landlord and rents out a small cottage from him. He then goes to the village headman in order to learn the rules and regulations of the village.
The headman turns Hodja away as he supposedly had some important work to do, but promises to visit him at his home at two o’clock in the afternoon. Hodja decides to go to the market and do some shopping. After buying some stuff, he decides to rest for a while under a tree. Being one who sleeps soundly, our friend wakes up to find that it already close to sunset. He remembers the appointment with the village headman and hurries home. There on the locked door, he finds the words STUPID OAF written with a piece of chalk.
Nasiruddin Hodja then goes to the village headman’s home. He apologises for forgetting the appointment, declaring that he remembered it only after noticing that the headman had signed his name on Hodja’s door!
😉
Swagat! ＼（＾ ＾）／ Hey look who’s there
Once upon a time a ‘Big Apple’ Sufi, a ‘ Muslim&Christian&Hindu&Buddist’ girl living in Istanbul and an ‘Alien’ from Madras telling Nasreddin stories and laughing……
we are a microcosmos of the greater macrocosmos, all connected))))
thank you both
true 🙂
BTW, I also loved Nasiruddin Hodja as a child!!
universal. makes me laugh my own & others ego conditionings bubbles off…..the world is a cosmic joke♣♥:)))
Mirel,
Merhaba! I didn’t know you were living in Istanbul. Next time I have a turkish coffee or ayran with some baklava, I will send some cheers your way. It’s always beautiful to see people come together in laughter.
Ask ile
Dave
Merhaba Dave ‘Hak Dostu’
after living in D.C, Vienna, Cologne, returned to Ist.
Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love, many say. A cup of coffee shared, will be remembered for 40 years:)))
‘Deli oldum adim Yunus
Ask oldu bana kilavuz’
take care, just 2 more fridays
it’s so enjoyable to read your cheerful comments here , thank you!
Merhaba Mirel
I finally was able to sneak away from piles and piles of work to thank you for your comment. I wasnt able to piece together what you said in turkish well but here are two things for you from Yunus 🙂 via NYC
Alıret yavlak ırakdır
Doğruluk key yarakdır
Ayrılık sarp firakdır
Hiç giden geri gelmez
Come, let us all be friends for once,
Let us make life easy on us,
Let us be lovers and loved ones,
The earth shall be left to no one.
That’s an open invitation for some coffee and kadayif. 🙂
When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you:joy!
hopefully, inshallah someday somewhere… Axinia, and who knows, even Raj would join the company….
Hey Mirel and Raj,
I needed that laugh! Two more fridays like this and I am free. I am almost there. Here is the seventh one 🙂
Dave
Mulla Nasruddin was totally drunk and he walked upto the police sargeant’s desk.
”Officer you did better lock me up” he said. ”I just hit my wife on the head with a beer bottle.”
”Did you kill her:” asked the officer.
”Don’t think so,” said Nasruddin. ”that’s why i want you to lock me up.”
My own beliefs are a mix of religions/ spirituality. Sometimes I use Jesus(I was raised christian) yet other times I address nature as a supreme being. Many people I know are also like this. interesting post. 🙂
I am SO confused how you can believe this. I studied and searched MANY religions. Some are very specific, making it logically impossible to pick and choose. Some were absolute written by the leaders of the given religion.
Of course you can think about it and pick and choose things that “sound good”, but you’re not a member or follower in that case.
Christian = ONLY one God, no others before me
Hindu = Many Gods, must observe many
They cannot mix, unless you’re just tasting little samples and not “eating” anything in particular. You cannot say “I ate a bowl of soup as my dinner” when you only had a spoonful. You can say “I tasted a spoonful”. What if the bowl has something in it, you didn’t know about? You only tasted the broth, you may dread the other ingredient.
At the top you said “I’m a Hindu”, so you are vegetarian? Reincarnated? Part of a caste? You believe some groups of people have NO value, they are only good for labor or slavery?
The Buddha started Buddhism by rejecting Hinduism, they don’t “go together”.
You’re not Jewish? Why not? How about Scientology, Voodoo, Satanist, Mormon, Zoroastrian?
Dear LD, the arguments you give a reasonable and understandable, however superficial. If you will really see at the depth, at the very essence of every religion, the core idea and pinciple of them is just the same: the union of the individual microcosm with the Divine Macrocosm (whatever you call it -God, Allh, Deitiy..makes no difference).
Have you studied Hinduism? If yes, then you will know that Hindus worship ONE GOD but with many faces/aspects, altimately it is all one and the same Cosmis Divine Being. I really see no differnce to any other religion here. The difference is only outside, on the surface, in the details. Essesncialy they are all one and the same.
Incarnations like Christ and Budda had started new movements because they have seen how people went to some ritualitstic extreems. I guess for divine beings it is stunning to see the human stupidity what we do with the Truth they try to enlighten us with.
And finally, i would not really call Voodo ir Satanisam a religion. Let’s stick to “official” religions., black magic aside.
I would not really call Voodo or Satanism a religion.
Why not, Axinia 😕 If you can call atheism as a religion, then why not Voodoism 😕 They are also religions, just like everything else. I would gladly and deservedly call them as religions and their followers as religious people, because they are indeed religions. It’s their faith, they have a right to pray to their “Gods” and spirits, classify themselves as religionists and practise their religion just as much as Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs etc. do. They don’t need “official” sanction from anybody or anything to practise their own religion!
black magic aside
I’m shocked, Axinia 😯 Why do you call them as “black magic” and not the religions they actually are 😕
How can those religions be defined as “black magic” 😕 And based on what ideas???
To many devout Muslims (and even Jews and Christians, for that matter), Hinduism would appear as nothing but “black magic”. The Abrahamic religions are monotheistic, worshipping a single, imagined, all-powerful “God” who CANNOT be worshipped in the form of an idol, let alone millions of different kinds of idols. Idol worship is prohibited and condemned on the same lines as “black magic” in the Abrahamic religions, some more so than others.
So shouldn’t Hinduism also be considered as “black magic” based on the original Abrahamic ideas and views 😕 If the idol-worshipping, animal and even human sacrificing 😯 practices of Hinduism can be classified as a religion and not as “black magic”, then why shouldn’t the same be applied to Voodoism 😕
Conversely, if Voodoism and Satanism appear as “black magic” based on the ideas and views of “official” religions, then why shouldn’t Hinduism also be considered as “black magic” based on the views of say, Islam, which clearly prescribes that Islam alone is the one and only “true faith” but that Judaism and Christianity can also be considered as somewhat accepted “official” faiths since their followers are “people of the Book” who theoretically worship the same “God” as the Muslims do???
🙂
Raj, the answer is very simple I think.
Although the humanity have been making lots of mistakes, generally there is such a thing as a “truth filter” and all things that are genuine and good, they are proven by time.
Religion that became a-mass (whatever the reson,and you and me, we know 100 and 1 reasons how it happend), have proven to ´have something universally beauitful, genuine at thier core.
And because of that other things like Voodoo or Satanism will never become that popular, becasue they are just against human nature. Too much of evil cannot be lived, otherwise the humanity will simply collapce.
Too much of evil…
It looks like you seem to have an idea of Voodooists that is shaped by the silly media portraying it as witch-doctors sticking pins into dolls 😯 It’s no different from the mediaeval Church portraying the few remaining practitioners of pre-Christian pagan religions as witches and sorcerers and burning them on the stake 😯 Or like the sections of the rabid controlled media portraying Islam as a religion of bearded towel-headed “terrorists” in the caves of Afghanistan and the deserts of Arabia shouting “Kill the infidels!” while stoning and beheading women for dressing “immodestly” 😯 Or the Hindoid hordes being portrayed as snake-charmers, loincloth-clad fakirs meditating on nail-beds and rope-trick performers who suddenly decide to gorily behead a child and offer the blood to one of their numerous “Gods” and “Godesses” in order to appease and curry favours with them 😯
While I’m not exactly fond of things such as pin-sticking and performing blood rituals 😮 I’m willing to see Voodooism in a different way – a traditional animistic religion that still has remnants of mediaeval, uncouth practices and primitive rituals, just like all the other pagan religions of the heathen hordes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_African_Vodun
What has the number of followers got to do with it 😕 In any case, the group of like religions under which Voodoo comes is estimated to have about 100 million followers, which is much more than Sikhism (23 million), Judaism (14 million), Baha’i (7 million) and Jainism (4.2 million). So shouldn’t Voodoo be considered a proper religion like all the others 😕
Any religion can suddenly become immensely popular within a few decades or centuries. Who would have predicted that a tiny sect of rebellious underground Judaeans who believed their Lord laid down His life for all on the Cross would become a mainstream religion with 2100 million believers today? Or who would have predicted that the religion of a few converted pagan tribes of Arabia would have 1500 million followers today 😕
On the topic of popularity, one cannot rule out Satanism or a similar future religion becoming very popular in the future. The “truth filter” you believe in is very shaky and barely works occassionally. Any evil can pass through it, especially with the hordes in a terribly dumbed down and brainwashed state. In fact, something similar is predicted to happen by some Abrahamic believers – the masses being enslaved by the religion of the anti-Christ (Satanism? Luciferism? The New One World Religion?) till “God” finally decides to abolish the evil 👿
…the humanity will simply collapse.
I don’t see it even existing among the savage, uncouth hordes. Only if it exists, can it collapse. Or has the collapse already occurred 😕 I’m waiting for 2012 then 😐 Come on, Israel and Iran, set off the fireworks that will bring on the “big events” and usher in the “transformation” 😉
🙂
Incarnations like Christ
Christ was an incarnation of nobody or nothing, Axinia 😐 Christ did NOT “incarnate” out of “previous births” of being a mosquito, worm, fish, lizard, frog, bird, dog, elephant or a even a human female. Christ was just born into this world as a human being just like you and me and everyone else.
To impose the belief of “incarnation” and “re-incarnation” on Christ or Moses or Mohammed from the Hindoid point of view is just the same as terming Hinduism and its practices as “black magic” from the Abrahamic point of view.
🙂
I would like to ask a few questions about to see if we can determine some real differences among religions.
First, do you have a picture in your mind of God? Is that mental picture important to your faith in God?
If other people have pictures of your God in their minds, are they likely to be the same as your picture? If not, which picture is right? Does that make everyone else wrong?
If other religions have the same picture of God does that make the religions essentially the same?
Does your God wear clothes? Does he have a change of clothes? Does he have hair and a beard? Does he ever comb his hair differently or shave his beard? Should God always look the same or should he change sometimes like humans do?
Can a religion be taken seriously if God has a huge wardrobe and wears many different hairstyles or even different faces? Can a religion be taken seriously if God doesn’t seem to know how to dress very well?
What about personality? What is God like? Where would he fall in the Myers Briggs Personality Types? Does he have multiple personalities?
Does your God have strong opinions? If the God of another religion has different strong opinions, whose opinions are right? Does that make the other religions wrong?
What is God’s job exactly? If the Gods of other religions have the same job, does that mean all religions are essentially the same? What does it mean if one God’s job performance is better than the rest?
Has your God offered you any deals? How to live, what your reward will be, etc? If another God offers a better deal does it make sense to move on?
If there is only one God, why does he seem different to different people? If there is only one God, are all people who see a different God just wasting their time? Is the one God OK with that or are people just too stupid and wasting God’s time?
If suddenly God decided to become impersonal, abstract, without any attributes, would that make religions all the same?
Would they be any fun?
本当にためになる話で、ありがとうございました。とても響きあいます。（そして、ドイツ語は読めませんので、英語でお書きになって助かりました。）
I really enjoyed different perceptions about Religion through comments .
Religion is a man made concept whereas God is a truth ,a universal energy flowing through the universe dynamically as Life .
Man made concept about religion coined centuries back are ought to be dead ideogies as they are stagnant and anything that is stagnant is lifeless .
Here I would like to quote a saying of ‘BUddha ‘
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
― Gautama Buddha
* Thanks Axinia for penning down your wonderful mindset thro this blog .i loved reading it 🙂