74 - Reality is One | Swami Tattwamayananda

-7th chapter: verses 21, 22, 23, 24<br />-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on March 12, 2021.<br />-21st verse: “In whatsoever form a devotee seeks to worship God with unwavering shraddha, that shraddha is enough for him to reach his goal.”<br />-Shraddha is the highest qualification needed to reach our spiritual goal. Shraddha refers to a sense of sincerity, integrity and purity. It is the language of the heart.<br />-Vedanta doesn’t say that there is only one concept of God. It is the devotee’s heart that matters. Any good human being, such as one who follows the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path prescribed by Buddha – and who is endowed with shraddha, can realize the supreme truth.<br />-In the Parable of the Sower, the seeds fall on fertile ground as well as rocky surfaces and thorny bushes. The results depend on the quality of the soil where the seeds fall. Shraddha is like fertile soil. A person with shraddha surrenders to God and eventually connects with the highest spiritual reality.<br />-22nd verse: “Endowed with that kind of shraddha, he worships his deity and his desires are fulfilled. To whomever he worships, all that worship comes to Me, and all the results are granted by Me. I am the one Absolute Reality behind all gods and goddesses.”<br />-164th sukta of the first mandala of Rigveda Samhita says: “Reality is one; sages call it by various names.”. The full mantra is: इन्द्रं॑ मि॒त्रं वरु॑णम॒ग्निमा॑हु॒रथॊ॑ दि॒व्यः स सु॑प॒र्णॊ ग॒रुत्मा॑न् । ऎकं॒ सद्विप्रा॑ बहु॒धा व॑दन्त्य॒ग्निं य॒मं मा॑त॒रिश्वा॑नमाहुः ॥<br />-The different hymns in Rigveda begin with polytheistic ideas, but end with monotheistic conclusions. In Rigveda, there is an evolution of Hindu godhead from Pantheism (God is equated with the external world) to Panentheism (God is the spirit within the external world) to Polytheism (God is the divine power regulating nature) to monotheism (there is only one God) to monism (non-duality).<br />-As we evolve, our understanding of the Divine Reality becomes clearer. At t