{"id":1723,"date":"2023-11-09T12:02:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T17:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1723"},"modified":"2023-11-09T12:02:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T17:02:29","slug":"truth-is-one-paths-are-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2023\/11\/09\/truth-is-one-paths-are-many\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth Is One, Paths Are Many"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent Saturday morning, our group, eighteen strong, journeyed from campus to Yogaville, otherwise known as Satchidananda Ashram. Our journey was not far\u2014a little more than an hour\u2019s drive from Lynchburg to the ashram. An ashram is a form of religious community that comes out of the South Asian dharmic traditions. It is a place of study and practice organized around the teachings of a particular guru\u2014Swami Satchidananda, in this instance. \u201cSwami\u201d is an honorific title meaning \u201cteacher.\u201d \u201cSatchidananda\u201d is his spiritual name, given to him by his guru (another word for teacher). His name, in fact, is a short phrase: <\/span>sat-chit-ananda<\/span><\/i>, which means \u201ctruth, consciousness, and bliss.\u201d According to Hindu philosophy, <\/span>sat<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>chit<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>ananda <\/span><\/i>are one. This essential oneness is Brahman, known as Supreme Consciousness and Absolute Reality. Individuals obtain liberation (<\/span>moksha<\/span><\/i>) when they realize that Brahman is all, Brahman is one. <\/span>Sat-chit-ananda<\/span><\/i> points to the blissful experience of living truth that characterizes self-realized persons. Thus we can understand Swami Satchidananda as a teacher of truth, consciousness, and bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Swami Satchidananda\u2019s favorite sayings\u2014\u201cTruth is One, Paths are Many\u201d\u2014is written on the gate we walked through on our way to LOTUS (Light of Truth Universal Shrine). LOTUS is sometimes described as a monument to interreligious understanding. Indeed, we had traveled to Yogaville because of our shared interest in religious and spiritual diversity. On the lower level of LOTUS is a series of displays about different religious and spiritual paths. In that place we shared meditation practice with members of the Yogaville community. Some members of our group lingered afterwards to read the descriptions of the various paths and examine the artifacts, such as a cross, a statue of Krishna, and a copy of the Qur\u2019an. It was a comparative religions class manifesting before our eyes in this sacred space.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yogaville in so many ways is an ideal location for engaging in first-person experiential meaning-making and truth-seeking <\/span>precisely because<\/span><\/i> of its commitment to diversity in its various forms. In fact, if this were a space of argument, I would argue that religious diversity necessarily entails all of the other forms of diversity, such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. I say this because hardened boundaries of exclusivity\u2014those borderlines where <\/span>we <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>they <\/span><\/i>stand in stark opposition\u2014can soften and become fluid in religiously plural situations. As Swami Satchidananda teaches, \u201cIn order to have a better world, a more peaceful world, we must learn to love, respect, and honor every human being. Celebrate and enjoy the diversity because you recognize the underlying unity.\u201d Love, respect, and honor\u2014or fostering a sense of belonging\u2014require leadership and cultivation. They are practices\u2014what we do, both individually and as members of a community\u2014rather than mere words that we say. Truth is one, paths are many. <\/span>Sat-chit-ananda<\/span><\/i>. Find your path and walk into bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent Saturday morning, our group, eighteen strong, journeyed from campus to Yogaville, otherwise known as Satchidananda Ashram. Our journey was not far\u2014a little more than an hour\u2019s drive from Lynchburg to the ashram. An ashram is a form …<\/p>\n

Truth Is One, Paths Are Many<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steve"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-rN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}