<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+Sep 25 2007, 02:15 AM-->QUOTE(ramana @ Sep 25 2007, 02:15 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hinduism and Buddhism in Greek Philosophy
Article written in 1954!
[right][snapback]73511[/snapback][/right]
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Â Â Â Â Â Â Orphism and Hinduism have much in common. Just as
    the Brahmins kept the belief of the shamans or
    medicine men of the Vedas that man could become a
    god, but <b>attempted to achieve this union not by
    drinking the intoxi-
    cating soma but by abstinence and ascetic practices
    so Orpheus purified the old Dionysiac religion and
    substituted asceticism for drunkenness.</b>(32) The aim
    of Orphism seems to be the liberation of the soul from
    the chains of the body, and this is to be achieved by
    asceticism but man must pass through many lives
    before he achieves final freedom. This is very far,
    indeed, from genuine Greek religion of any
    period,(33) but almost exactly the predominant view
    of the Upani.sads. Even the metaphors in which this
    conception is clothed are the stock Hindu and
    Buddhist metaphors-the wheel of life in the Upani.sads
    appears as the "sorrowful weary wheel" of
    Orpheus.(34) <b>It has been remarked that the aim of
    Orphism, the realization by man of his identity with
    God,would have appeared blasphemous insolence to a
    sixth-century Athenian.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Article written in 1954!
[right][snapback]73511[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Â Â Â Â Â Â Orphism and Hinduism have much in common. Just as
    the Brahmins kept the belief of the shamans or
    medicine men of the Vedas that man could become a
    god, but <b>attempted to achieve this union not by
    drinking the intoxi-
    cating soma but by abstinence and ascetic practices
    so Orpheus purified the old Dionysiac religion and
    substituted asceticism for drunkenness.</b>(32) The aim
    of Orphism seems to be the liberation of the soul from
    the chains of the body, and this is to be achieved by
    asceticism but man must pass through many lives
    before he achieves final freedom. This is very far,
    indeed, from genuine Greek religion of any
    period,(33) but almost exactly the predominant view
    of the Upani.sads. Even the metaphors in which this
    conception is clothed are the stock Hindu and
    Buddhist metaphors-the wheel of life in the Upani.sads
    appears as the "sorrowful weary wheel" of
    Orpheus.(34) <b>It has been remarked that the aim of
    Orphism, the realization by man of his identity with
    God,would have appeared blasphemous insolence to a
    sixth-century Athenian.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->