<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+Feb 21 2007, 02:43 PM-->QUOTE(ramana @ Feb 21 2007, 02:43 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->The usual secular position is that it is an adoption of Jain and Buddhist practices.
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Ramana, 'who influenced whom' was once a mere academic trivia, which these non-practicing scholars enjoy turning into unnecessary conflicts. Those who practice any of the Indic faiths, realize the common values and ethos rooted in distant yore, binding all of these together, rather than divide.
To quote Acharya Rajneesh, who puts it very nicely comparing the popular religions:
...there are infantile religions which remain infantile. Judaism, Christian, Islam decide to remain immaturish. Fit for people who remain immatured. Fit for people whose faith can be governed by fear or greed, the childish motivations. Then they have all the apparatus to invoke great fear and great greed, Hell and heaven. These have remained meat-eater, and these have kept away from meditation, and these have remained 'public' religions. Faith of the mob, of the crowd. These faiths depend upon a crowd to invoke the faith of an individual. and last messiahs to deliver the promise, insisting on 'lastness'.
... then there are religions for grown ups. Bauddha, Jain, Hindu, and many countless branches, unnamed beautiful faiths, who have not cared to even name themselves. They are exact opposite. They have all encouraged avoiding meat. They have all encouraged meditation. They all motivate the individual to move away from the crowd into absolute aloneness. In fact all of them have employed as their goal, need to be absolutely single, absolutely alone and therefore absolutely complete. Bauddha call it Nirvana, Jain Kaivalya, Hindu Moksha. All the same goal. Roots are the same. Faith of an individual (guru) may motivate the faith of people around him, and not the other way round. No last messiahs ...one has to be ones own deliverance...
I will, when get a chance, quote some excerpts from Lankavatara Sutra, to highlight the mutual influence of Hindu-Bauddha-Jain heritage. Why insist on who influenced whom. What is important is the common roots.
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Ramana, 'who influenced whom' was once a mere academic trivia, which these non-practicing scholars enjoy turning into unnecessary conflicts. Those who practice any of the Indic faiths, realize the common values and ethos rooted in distant yore, binding all of these together, rather than divide.
To quote Acharya Rajneesh, who puts it very nicely comparing the popular religions:
...there are infantile religions which remain infantile. Judaism, Christian, Islam decide to remain immaturish. Fit for people who remain immatured. Fit for people whose faith can be governed by fear or greed, the childish motivations. Then they have all the apparatus to invoke great fear and great greed, Hell and heaven. These have remained meat-eater, and these have kept away from meditation, and these have remained 'public' religions. Faith of the mob, of the crowd. These faiths depend upon a crowd to invoke the faith of an individual. and last messiahs to deliver the promise, insisting on 'lastness'.
... then there are religions for grown ups. Bauddha, Jain, Hindu, and many countless branches, unnamed beautiful faiths, who have not cared to even name themselves. They are exact opposite. They have all encouraged avoiding meat. They have all encouraged meditation. They all motivate the individual to move away from the crowd into absolute aloneness. In fact all of them have employed as their goal, need to be absolutely single, absolutely alone and therefore absolutely complete. Bauddha call it Nirvana, Jain Kaivalya, Hindu Moksha. All the same goal. Roots are the same. Faith of an individual (guru) may motivate the faith of people around him, and not the other way round. No last messiahs ...one has to be ones own deliverance...
I will, when get a chance, quote some excerpts from Lankavatara Sutra, to highlight the mutual influence of Hindu-Bauddha-Jain heritage. Why insist on who influenced whom. What is important is the common roots.