Baha'i and Science

[loverofhumanity]

Baha’is believe the Holy Scriptures-of all the major Faiths are rays of the same Sun of Truth.

Baha’is believe there is only one religion of God which is renewed from time to time and age to age. As humanity evolves.a new Teacher appears with new teachings and laws suited to that age. These Teachers appear about every 500-1,000 years.

Had each Faith accepted the subsequent Teacher which was always prophesied, then to this day there would only be one religion. For example if all Buddhists accepted Christ and then all Christians accepted Muhammad then there would be no such thing as multiple Faiths. All would be one as intended.

But due to greed for power and wealth, religious leaders carved up their own fiefdoms and broke the Faith of God into thousands of pieces using their own interpretations to make their case for their own power.

Now Baha’u’llah has come to reunite these broken fragments of religion into one whole again as they should have been in the first place discarding man made laws and superstitions.

So all Holy Books are revered and accepted but the interpretations which allow them to claim to be separate Faiths is rejected by Baha’u’llah to be replaced by the reality that they are one.

One Truth cannot contradict another truth so all belong to one reality. That is why Baha’is believe in all the Educators as one School of the Divine God that has evolved through the ages.


‘This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future’. Baha’u’llah

 

[loverofhumanity]

Indeed, I've decided to give this a break for awhile, as before. It isn't really worth the bother. Best wishes, glad you learned something here.

Im always here waiting to welcome you with open arms! Lol.

 

[wandering peacefully]

I’ve made a few mistakes myself which were corrected and I’m most grateful for that..

Who doesn't make mistakes? That's what humans do. We can only try to learn and move forward from repeating the same ones again and maybe realize something new and beneficial.

 

[CG Didymus]

Baha’is believe the Holy Scriptures-of all the major Faiths are rays of the same Sun of Truth.

Baha’is believe there is only one religion of God which is renewed from time to time and age to age. As humanity evolves.a new Teacher appears with new teachings and laws suited to that age. These Teachers appear about every 500-1,000 years.

Had each Faith accepted the subsequent Teacher which was always prophesied, then to this day there would only be one religion. For example if all Buddhists accepted Christ and then all Christians accepted Muhammad then there would be no such thing as multiple Faiths. All would be one as intended.

What do Baha'is believe to be the Scriptures of Hinduism?

Hinduism has many avatars. Probably each one did bring some changes to what was believed prior to their coming, yet all is still part of Hinduism. However, in other lands and cultures they had different religions with different beliefs. But those religions are not part of the "progression". Why not?

There are problems with the progression just with the major religions. Hindus were not going to become Jews. Then after that, what were Hindus and Jews supposed to do? Switch to Buddhism and Zoroastrianism? Then all of them switch to Christianity?

Then there is the problem with Christianity. What about their beliefs is the truth that all the other people in the world were supposed to join them? The Christian truth is build off of Judaism. It doesn't tie in with any other religion. Then, what became of Christianity? The Catholic Church spread around the world. It got people from all the other religions to believe, but was it the truth? Then the Protestants. Did they teach the truth? But going back several hundreds of years. They all were supposed to become Moslems? All these religions practice and believe different things. They are not one. They do not believe in the same things.

And now the Baha'i Faith. All those beliefs that the other religions have are "corrected". Now all people of all the former religions are to give up on those old "traditions" that were never the real truth, and accept that the Baha'i Faith does teach the real truth. But, my same old question, when, according to what Baha'is say is true, did any of those other religions ever believe and practice the truth? And, what if the majority of the people of the world accept the Baha'i Faith. Then what? Will it be a perfect world? Or will there still be evil deeds being done, people still lying and cheating, people still killing and stealing? Will there be courts and prisons? Will there be administrative people working to maintain order that have a military and police force to enforce the laws? Will all people believe and follow the Baha'i laws equally. Or will some just go along with whatever they are told? If so, then how great is that world going to be?

 

[loverofhumanity]

What do Baha'is believe to be the Scriptures of Hinduism?

Hinduism has many avatars. Probably each one did bring some changes to what was believed prior to their coming, yet all is still part of Hinduism. However, in other lands and cultures they had different religions with different beliefs. But those religions are not part of the "progression". Why not?

There are problems with the progression just with the major religions. Hindus were not going to become Jews. Then after that, what were Hindus and Jews supposed to do? Switch to Buddhism and Zoroastrianism? Then all of them switch to Christianity?

Then there is the problem with Christianity. What about their beliefs is the truth that all the other people in the world were supposed to join them? The Christian truth is build off of Judaism. It doesn't tie in with any other religion. Then, what became of Christianity? The Catholic Church spread around the world. It got people from all the other religions to believe, but was it the truth? Then the Protestants. Did they teach the truth? But going back several hundreds of years. They all were supposed to become Moslems? All these religions practice and believe different things. They are not one. They do not believe in the same things.

And now the Baha'i Faith. All those beliefs that the other religions have are "corrected". Now all people of all the former religions are to give up on those old "traditions" that were never the real truth, and accept that the Baha'i Faith does teach the real truth. But, my same old question, when, according to what Baha'is say is true, did any of those other religions ever believe and practice the truth? And, what if the majority of the people of the world accept the Baha'i Faith. Then what? Will it be a perfect world? Or will there still be evil deeds being done, people still lying and cheating, people still killing and stealing? Will there be courts and prisons? Will there be administrative people working to maintain order that have a military and police force to enforce the laws? Will all people believe and follow the Baha'i laws equally. Or will some just go along with whatever they are told? If so, then how great is that world going to be?

We read from the Bhagavad -Gita in our Houses of Worship throughout the world each week.

The further we go back in time the more difficult it is to authenticate scriptures. But the ‘link’ that I believe joins the religions together is that their Holy Books all speak of a Great Holy One to appear in the future. No doubt that the Person Who fulfils this prophecy would have authority over all religions and be the sole Judge of what is man made and what is from God.

We Baha’is believe the Lord of all religions, the long awaited Promised One has come and so He has adjudicated which are the correct teachings of former religions and which are man made and so we turn to Him, Baha’u’llah, for guidance in these matters not our selves. Those teachings which divide us He has discarded and those which unite us and create love and universal friendship He has kept.

The Baha’i Faith is a huge step forward for humanity but there is no such thing as Utopia.

I imagine the world will be nothing like it is now. It will be a place of joy and happiness but not a Utopia. We will still require law and order and administration. But for example, Baha’u’llah said it would be a safe place for the most beautiful of women to travel all alone with exquisite jewels anywhere she pleases in perfect safety. An enormous difference to now. A paradise in comparison.

 

[CG Didymus]

We read from the Bhagavad -Gita in our Houses of Worship throughout the world each week.

The further we go back in time the more difficult it is to authenticate scriptures. But the ‘link’ that I believe joins the religions together is that their Holy Books all speak of a Great Holy One to appear in the future. No doubt that the Person Who fulfils this prophecy would have authority over all religions and be the sole Judge of what is man made and what is from God.

From what I remember... The Gita is part of a larger book. There's the Vedas and the Upanishads and I'm sure others. There is a long list of avatars. The "promised" return person is someone called Kalki. Where is he spoken of? What are the prophecies about him and when he is to return? Everything that I've ever seen is that it is several thousands of years. What does Hinduism say about Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Baha'u'llah and the religious beliefs those people brought?

And it's not that you and I should be answering these questions, but I think we should find out and learn about these things. So, I hope the Hindus here can fill us in on some of these things. And, from their answers, I'm sure there will be some discrepancies in what they believe and what the Baha'is believe. And then we can sort through them.

Just like the Baha'is believe Baha'u'llah has "corrected" the beliefs of Christians by saying that Jesus did not physically rise from the dead. It is not him physically that will return. That Ishmael, not Isaac, was the one taken to be sacrificed. And not that everyone is going to believe what the Baha'is say, but I think it's important to understand exactly what the Baha'is really do say about the beliefs and Scriptures of the other religions.

So what are the main Scriptures of Hinduism? Who were these avatars? How did each bring something new into Hinduism that wasn't there before? And, since some Hindus don't believe in them, then why not? And, if an avatar didn't bring the knowledge and beliefs to their form of Hinduism, who did? Who is Kalki and when is he supposed to return? What do Hindus believe about the prophets of the other religions?

 

[Vinayaka]

So what are the main Scriptures of Hinduism? Who were these avatars? How did each bring something new into Hinduism that wasn't there before? And, since some Hindus don't believe in them, then why not? And, if an avatar didn't bring the knowledge and beliefs to their form of Hinduism, who did? Who is Kalki and when is he supposed to return? What do Hindus believe about the prophets of the other religions?

Hindus will vary by school.

There are two categories of scripture: Smriti (remembered) and Sruti (revealed) Sruti (the Vedas, and in some schools, also the Agamas) Sruti also takes precedence over Smriti (the Gita falls into this category) more info here" Smriti - Wikipedia

There are 10 traditional avatars of Vishnu, Krishna is the 9th. Dashavatara - Wikipedia
Avatars are only relevant in Vaishnavism, the mainly dualistic school with Vishnu as the Supreme.

I don't believe in avatars because the concept makes no sense to me, and I was drawn to another school, namely Saiva Siddhanta.. Therefore, I'm a non-Vaishnavite but still a Hindu. Kalki is the last of the avatars in Vaishnavism, and will come at the end of the Kali Yuga which lasts 432 000 years. (I personally don't believe this either.)

For all sects, the Vedas were revealed to ancient rishis, called the Sapta Rishis. (Aup will know more)

As for other religions, Hinduism has no official stance as our main scriptures predate all of them. There can be nothing written in the Vedas about other religions as the Abrahamic religions didn't exist then. There were tribal religions, yes. There is nothing at all about prophets.

That said, modern Hindus are free to form their own opinions. Some like, some dislike, (usually based on historical atrocities commited by foreign forces trying to destroy Hinduism) others (I would say the majority) remain totally neutral.

The Bhagavad Gita is an advice discourse from Krishna to Arjuna within an epic, the Mahabharata, essentially a war story between two kingdoms. There is some debate as to when it started to become popular. Certainly folks like ISKCON have done a lot to popularise it. The entire scriptural set of Hinduism is incredibly vast, including all the books written by all the Gutus that ever existed. People looking into Hinduism often select that which makes sense to them personally and hence we have myself reading the Tiruvacagam, the Tirumanthiram, the works of my Guruji, and the Agamas and Vedas, most especially the Upanishads. Outsiders pick and choose out of confirmation bias. The heavy critics of Hinduism will choose the Laws of Manu, which contain some absolutely brutal stuff, and then suggest it's representative of mainstream Hinduism. Universalist folks will pick universalist texts. People looking for something to defend how much their religion aligns with Hinduism will pick that which aligns.

 

[loverofhumanity]

From what I remember... The Gita is part of a larger book. There's the Vedas and the Upanishads and I'm sure others. There is a long list of avatars. The "promised" return person is someone called Kalki. Where is he spoken of? What are the prophecies about him and when he is to return? Everything that I've ever seen is that it is several thousands of years. What does Hinduism say about Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Baha'u'llah and the religious beliefs those people brought?

And it's not that you and I should be answering these questions, but I think we should find out and learn about these things. So, I hope the Hindus here can fill us in on some of these things. And, from their answers, I'm sure there will be some discrepancies in what they believe and what the Baha'is believe. And then we can sort through them.

Just like the Baha'is believe Baha'u'llah has "corrected" the beliefs of Christians by saying that Jesus did not physically rise from the dead. It is not him physically that will return. That Ishmael, not Isaac, was the one taken to be sacrificed. And not that everyone is going to believe what the Baha'is say, but I think it's important to understand exactly what the Baha'is really do say about the beliefs and Scriptures of the other religions.

So what are the main Scriptures of Hinduism? Who were these avatars? How did each bring something new into Hinduism that wasn't there before? And, since some Hindus don't believe in them, then why not? And, if an avatar didn't bring the knowledge and beliefs to their form of Hinduism, who did? Who is Kalki and when is he supposed to return? What do Hindus believe about the prophets of the other religions?

A very good and in depth answer from @Vinayaka.

 

[Trailblazer]

I imagine the world will be nothing like it is now. It will be a place of joy and happiness but not a Utopia. We will still require law and order and administration. But for example, Baha’u’llah said it would be a safe place for the most beautiful of women to travel all alone with exquisite jewels anywhere she pleases in perfect safety. An enormous difference to now. A paradise in comparison.

It is difficult to imagine that humans could change and become a new race of men, but that is the vision we have as Baha'is, because we believe in Baha'u'llah.... It all hinges on belief in Baha'u'llah and His Covenant. That is what all our hope rests upon.

“At the heart of this system was what Bahá’u’lláh termed a “new Covenant” between God and humankind. The distinguishing feature of humanity’s coming of age is that, for the first time in its history, the entire human race is consciously involved, however dimly, in the awareness of its own oneness and of the earth as a single homeland. This awakening opens the way to a new relationship between God and humankind. As the peoples of the world embrace the spiritual authority inherent in the guidance of the Revelation of God for this age, Bahá’u’lláh said, they will find in themselves a moral empowerment which human effort alone has proven incapable of generating. “A new race of men” will emerge as the result of this relationship, and the work of building a global civilization will begin.” (Bahá’í International Community, 1992 May 29, Statement on Bahá’u’lláh, p. 26)

“In this age humanity has strayed far from the path of truth, and the call of Bahá’u’lláh to recognize Him as the viceregent of God on earth has fallen on deaf ears. But a careful study of His writings leads us to believe that His Revelation, being the culmination of past Revelations and one which has ushered in the Day of God Himself, will exert such a potent influence upon mankind as a whole that eventually all the peoples of the world will recognize His station of their own free will and embrace His cause of their own volition. And this in turn will bring about, in the distant future, the appearance of a new race of men whose noble character and spiritual virtues we, in this age, are unable to visualize.” (AdibTaherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh v 3, p. 3)

“With the establishment of the Most Great Peace and the spiritualization of the peoples of the world, man will become a noble being adorned with divine virtues and perfections. This is one of the fruits of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, promised by Him. The nobility of man and his spiritual development will lead him in the future to such a position that no individual could enjoy eating his food or resting at home while knowing that there was one person somewhere in the world without food or shelter. It is Bahá’u’lláh’s mission to create such a new race of men.” (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh v 3, p. 126)

New Race of Men | Bahá’í Quotes

 

[LWakefield]

Thank you.

The breath is a circle;

and from Black Elk Speaks:

Everything the Power of the World does
is done in a circle.
The sky is round,
and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball,
and so are all the stars.
The wind, in its greatest power,
whirls.
Birds
make their nests in circles,
for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun
comes forth
and goes down again in a circle.
The moon does the same,
and both are round.
Even the seasons
form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again
to where they were.
The life of a man
is a circle
from childhood to childhood,
and so it is
in everything where power moves.

https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Child-Hypothesis-Story-Self-ebook/dp/B07YMPWVK4/ref=sr_1_1? crid=1TOIFWAJRL8GD&keywords=the+dream+child+hypothesis&qid=1578282356&s=books&sprefi x=the+dream+child%2Caps%2C168&sr=1-1