Time for Truth
“Everyone assumes their own personal watch keeps the accurate time. There is, however, one correct timepiece in the universe – the Sun. Living beings should adjust their watches according to it.” — Sri Ramakrishna
From the lesson:
Sri Ramakrishna’s statement is not actually about time and watches, clocks or other timepieces. Just as people insist that their watch is correct, this world is full of people who think that their religion is the only true path to God.
The earliest known statement of true Universality comes from the Vedas, the Indian scriptures. It says, “Truth is One. Sages call it by various names.” This is a remarkable statement because the one who realized this was saying that even his or her own path to realization was only one among many ways to realize God, Atman-Brahman, Buddha Nature, the Heavenly Father, Allah and all other names and paths that people use.
At a time when the whole world seemed to have forgotten such a sublime truth and the followers of different religions were condemning, fighting, and even killing each other, Sri Ramakrishna revived it again from the depth of his own realizations based upon practicing the paths of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. From his own experience he knew without a doubt that anyone who sincerely seeks to realize God in any religion will succeed.
Swami Vivekananda broadcast this universal and healing truth throughout the United States, Europe, and India between 1893 and 1902. This was the start of the universal movement that we see gaining force today. Swamiji stated at the end of the Parliament of Religions held in the U.S. in 1893:
“If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: it has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: ‘Help and not fight,’ ‘Assimilation and not Destruction,’ ‘Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.'”
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We held good discussions on this teaching as the kids reflected on the following questions:
What is the purpose of religion?
Why are there so many kinds of religions?
Why do the followers of one religion think other religions are wrong?
How is it possible for all the different religions to be true? Do you agree with this idea?
What is faith? What is belief? Are they the same or different?
Is it possible to have 100% devotion to your own spiritual ideal (religion) and still have reverence for the spiritual ideals of others? How?
Our major creative project was connected to this lesson. First, the children learned a little about sundials.
The sun was actually incredibly hot during the day this year, and so all our plans for making various kinds of sundials didn’t quite manifest. But we did manage to create a beautiful pedestal for our retreat site in Foresthill. The children each selected a religious symbol and created it in mosaic on the pedestal. More mosaic tiles filled in the empty spaces, and the result was impressive. A sundial was placed on top and positioned to tell the time according to the sun. This became the gift of the Summer Retreat Kids of 2009 to the sangha. Our appreciation goes to Gregory Cooper and Anurag who supplied tile, glass, tools, grout, adhesive, sealer, and much needed instruction!
