Midweek Faith Lift
November 29, 2023
Unity, Hinduism & Quantum Leap II
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Reflection
November 17, 2023
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station accidentally lost a tool bag during a recent spacewalk. The bag is now floating through the abyss, orbiting Earth ahead of the ISS. Officials say it will eventually disintegrate but, for the next few months, it can potentially be spotted from Earth by someone with a good pair of binoculars and a steady hand.
“The Universe is a field of energy and matter in a constant state of flux. Nothing is ever lost. We are all part of one big energy system expressing and experiencing itself.”
- Russell Anthony Gibbs, The Principle of Oneness: A Practical Guide to Experiencing the Profound Unity of Everything
Affirmative prayer: Oneness is my great reality, the eternal truth of this life. I give thanks to be at home in a cosmic energy system where nothing is lost. Always, I am nestled in the arms of the Divine. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.
This is a wonderful story and prayer as we resume our study of Unity and Hinduism. When we left off, several weeks ago, we had explored the Hindu spiritual path that expresses God as “I am That!” which is similar to the “I am that I am” of the Hebrew and Christian traditions. We are also “That” in essence as we endeavor to understand, express and live into our true Christ nature. The next part of our exploration for today is to delve into how one practices Hindu spirituality and discern how it is similar to Unity.
Within Hinduism, there are several systems that explore the nature of body-mind and its relation to Spirit. Unlike in the west, there is no spiritual or psychological split between the body and the mind. We in the west are familiar with the holistic health practices of Ayruvedic medicine that incorporate body, mind and spirit in the healthy living and healing process. The body was never viewed as separate from the mind, emotions and spirit in the Hindu perspective, so all must be taken into account for the full health of the individual. Many Unity people embrace the healing practices of Ayruvedic medicine, which is fully in alignment with the healing experience of Myrtle Fillmore.
There are three gunas, which are present in some degree in all people. These qualities are sattva, goodness, purity and harmony; rajas, passion, activity and confusion; and tamas, darkness, destruction and chaos. The interplay of these forces determine the personality and psychological makeup of a person. These gunas are also present in the way the Universe unfolds and determine much of the philosophical perspectives in all the versions of Hindu spirituality. Balancing these three gunas is a dynamic and constant energy in the Universe and each person.
There are also the doshas, or three substances present in a persons body: wind (vata), bile (pitta) and phlegm (kapha), which also determine one’s personality and well-being. When you pause and realize that Hinduism is 2500 years old or older, it makes sense that these are what people observed in the human condition. The ultimate goal of the practice of Hinduism in whatever form is moksha, or freedom. We live with a veil of maya or illusion that keeps us stuck in our human experience in a sense of separation from the One. That is not unlike our Unity teachings and sounds very familiar, even as the Sanskrit words are unfamiliar.
There are many practices, paths, disciplines to achieve liberation, which are often referred to as the paths of yoga, which literally means, “yoking with or union with the Divine.” There are 4 main paths of Yoga described on p. 73 of Unity and World Religions:
Karma yoga, which emphasizes consecrated action and service; Bhakti yoga focuses on loving devotion to God. There is Jnana yoga, a path of knowledge involving intellectual discipline, intuition and study. And finally, Raja yoga, is a systematic path that includes a step-by-step unfoldment based on body postures, breath, detachment, concentration, meditation and deep contemplation.
In the west, we are most familiar with Hatha yoga, which is a form of Raja yoga. The contemplation of this form of yoga is called Samadhi, which is a form of absorption into the One and closely aligned with liberation or moksha. The Yoga Sutras of the Patanjani have 8 limbs of Raja yoga, which include the yama and nyama, practices to be nurtured and those to be avoided. There is practice with the breath and life energy, pranayma, the physical postures, asanas, hand gestures, mudras, and finally, meditation, dharana, concentration, dhyana, meditation and the deep contemplation or absorption into Oneness, Samadhi. These are very much like the levels of concentration, meditation and realization that Charles Fillmore identified in the prayer practice of meditation in Unity.
We in the west often miss the point of Hatha yoga as a spiritual practice and treat it as purely a physical workout, which completely misses the point, an unfortunate consequence of our tendency toward cultural appropriation without true understanding. The practice of yoga is a spiritual practice and the intention is to follow the practice to deepen your experience of the Divine and dissolve the sense of separation from the Divine and each other. Yoga is done in community, the kula, with a teacher, guru who provides instruction, guidance and support to all on this shared spiritual journey.
There is a spiritual concept from the Upanishads that was especially emphasized by Adi Shankara, a teacher of Advaita. This concept is Satchidananda and it represents the three fundamental truths of Brahman, or God. It means truth, consciousness and bliss, or being, awareness and bliss. As Rev. Paul notes, this concept aligns very well with the metaphysical understanding of God as Trinity in Unity as Mind, Idea, Expression or the creative process in action. Mind is truth or Beingness, Idea is consciousness and the expression of these is joy or bliss. Satchidananda is not just God, but the way God works in and through our lives. It is fully in alignment with the practical Christianity of Unity, for sure!
One of the main tenets of Hinduism is that of the law of Karma which aligns very well with our third Unity principle, or the law of mind action. Essentially in all iterations of Hinduism, it means we reap what we sow, or what goes around comes around. We have many lives and we carry karma or essentially “energy” from those lives into this one. This continuing cycle is the wheel of samsara or suffering. Our desire is to escape this cycle through focused thought and intention so as not to create more suffering. We can use this process to either free ourselves or enslave ourselves as to the thoughts and choices we make! Sounds like Unity to me!
The desire or intention in the Hindu path is to choose wisely in accordance with the dharma spiritual truth, which shows the spiritual law and right way of order, duty and living. This is essentially an articulation of the concept of Divine Order, which undergirds not only the Universe, but the order in which one lives in justice, fairness and compassion, caring for all in the community. It is akin to righteousness or uprightness in Judaism and Christianity. Fulfilling one’s dharma is the ultimate outworking of the law of mind action and each one does that in harmony with their inner truth. The way that the Upanishads put it is thus:
*Those who know the Self become the Self
*You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
And finally a word about the chakras, or energy centers of the body. There are seven main energy centers through the body beginning at the base of the spine, the generative chakra, the elimination chakra, the solar plexus, or wisdom chakra, the heart chakra, the throat chakra or power center, the third eye or intuition chakra and the lotus or crown chakra. Charles Fillmore paired these with the twelve spiritual Powers which then integrates body, mind and spirit. Thereby, each of our 12 Powers is anchored in the body as we seek to embody the energy of the Christ. Unity and the principles of the Hindu tradition are deeply entwined.
Finally there are many rituals and chants frequently used in Hindu worship, which again, seek to make visible the energy of the divine that is invisible. These are rituals, which are part of our human experience such as the use of prayer beads in Hindu prayer, or the chanting of mantras to take one’s mind away from troublesome thoughts. One of the most powerful chants in the Hindu tradition is that of Ohm, which is more accurately spelled aum. It consists of three sounds, a which represents creation, u which represents preservation and m which represents destruction. It is the energy of the Universe in motion.
Let us close with the Gayatri Mantra that has been chanted for several thousand years. Just like that tool bag that was lost from the International Space Station, the vibration of this Mantra has been absorbed into the Universe for thousands of years and thousands of years to come:
Om, on the physical, mental and spiritual realms
Let us meditate on the light of the sun
Which represents God,
and may our thoughts be inspired by that divine light.
And so it is and so we let it be….Amen.
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb