Inter- Faiths Dialogue

The Absolute > The One

74 quote(s) | Page 1 / 3

W e know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth--as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"--yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

quote 4106 | The Bible
1 Corinthians 8.4-

J ust as light is diffused from a fire which is confined to one spot, so is this whole universe the diffused energy of the supreme Brahman. And as light shows a difference, greater or less, according to its nearness or distance from the fire, so is there a variation in the energy of the impersonal Brahman. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are his chief energies. The deities are inferior to them; the yakshas, etc. to the deities; men, cattle, wild animals, birds, and reptiles to the yakshas, etc.; and trees and plants are the lowest of all these energies....

Vishnu is the highest and most immediate of all the energies of Brahman, the embodied Brahman, formed of the whole Brahman. On him this entire universe is woven and interwoven: from him is the world, and the world is in him; and he is the whole universe. Vishnu, the Lord, consisting of what is perishable as well as what is imperishable, sustains everything, both Spirit and Matter, in the form of his ornaments and weapons.

quote 4105 | The Vishnu Purana
Vishnu Purana 1

G od said to Israel, "Because you have seen me in many likenesses, there are not therefore many gods. But it is ever the same God: I am the Lord your God." Rabbi Levi said, "God appeared to them like a mirror, in which many faces can be reflected; a thousand people look at it; it looks at all of them." So when God spoke to the Israelites, each one thought that God spoke individually to him.

quote 4104 | The Misdrashs
Pesikta Kahana 109b-110a

N ow there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

quote 4103 | The Bible
1 Corinthians 12.4-7

T hen Vidaghdha, son of Shakala, asked him, "How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?" Yajnavalkya, ascertaining the number through a group of mantras known as the Nivid, replied, "As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the gods: three hundred and three, and three thousand and three."
"Very good," said the son of Shakala, "and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Thirty-three."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Six."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Three."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Two."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"One and a half."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"One."

quote 4102 | The Upanishads
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.1

S ay, He is God, the One!
God, the eternally Besought of all!
He neither begets nor was begotten.
And there is none comparable unto Him.

quote 4098 | The Quran
Qur'an 112

H ear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

quote 4097 | The Torah
Deuteronomy 6.4

B rahman is Shakti; Shakti is Brahman. They are not two. These are only two aspects, male and female, of the same Reality-Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.

quote 3889 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 271

T he implication of the story is that Brahman and the Primal Energy at first appear to be two. But after attaining the knowledge of Brahman, one does not see the two. Then there is no differentiation; it is One, without a second, Advaita-non-duality.

quote 3888 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 242

N othing exists except the One. That One is the supreme Brahman. So long as He keeps the "I" in us, He reveals to us that -it is He who, as the Primal Energy, creates, preserves, and destroys the universe.

quote 3887 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 242

W hen I think of the Supreme Being as inactive neither creating nor preserving nor destroying-, I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active-creating, preserving, destroying-, I call Him Shakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. Iit is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one.

quote 3879 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 32

B rahman is the only Reality, ever pure, ever illumined, ever free, beyond the limits of time, space, and causation. Though apparently divided by names and forms through the inscrutable power of maya, that enchantress who makes the impossible possible, Brahman is really One and undivided.

quote 3876 | Ramakrishna
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 28

B e done with self and worship Hari; cast off worldly desire in mind and body.
Cherish goodwill towards every living creature; this, says Dadu, is the sum of religion.
He is the true saint who bears enmity to none;
There is but one Spirit, and he has no enemy.
I have made diligent quest: truly, there is no second.
In every man is the one Spirit, whether he be Hindu or Muslim.
Both brethren have alike hands and feet, both have ears;
Both brethren have eyes, be they Hindus or Muslims.
When you look in the mirror of ignorance, there appears to be two;
When error is dispelled and ignorance vanishes, there is no other?
To whom then will you bear enmity, when there is no other?
He from whose Being all sprang, the same One dwells in all.
In every man is the one Spirit; hold Him therefore in reverent respect.
Recognize that Spirit in yourself and others; it is the manifestation of the Lord.
Why give pain to any when the indwelling Rama is in every man?
0 revered Self, give peace and contentment; For there is none but Thee in all the three worlds.
When the soul perceives the Self, then are all souls brethren;
Give your heart to Him who is the Creator of all.
When a dog wanders into a palace of mirrors, it sees its own reflection everywhere, and begins barking.
See how the One has likewise become many, and angrily seeks to destroy itself.
All souls are brother-souls, the offspring of one Womb;
Consider this truth! Who, then, is the other, 0 foolish man?
All came in one likeness; it was the Lord who sent them;
They have all taken different names, and thus become separate.
Worship the divine Self, and bear hatred toward none;
In this worship you will find peace, in hatred only sorrow

quote 3861 | Dadu
Psalm 7, Pad 151; Orr, 1947, pp. 191-192

I f I say, "He is One," it is a lie; if I say, "He is two," I am guilty of slander.
Kabir knows Him as He is, but cannot express Him.
The devotee who can stay in that place where the Invisible and the manifest are one,
Like a lamp in the doorway, illumines both what is within and what is without.
As a piece of cloth is not different from the threads which comprise it,
So Brahman is not different from the world, and the world is not different from Brahman.
0 Kabir, there is no difference between the world, the Creator, and Brahman; Brahman is in all and all is in Brahman.
The fire is one, whether it bums in a lamp or a torch; so Brahman is all, and in Him exist all souls, God, and the world.
Unity is the essence of the teachings of all the saints;
Laugh at Kabir if you do not become perfect by living in accord with this truth!

quote 3858 | Kabir
Bijak, Shastri, 1941; pp. 42-43

D oes [the Muslim's God] Khuda, live only in the mosque?
Is [the Hindu's God] Ram, only in idols and holy grounds?
Have you searched and found Him there?
You imagine that Hari [Vishnu] is in the East, and Allah is in the West;
But search for Him only in the heart-that is where Ram and Karim both live.
Which, then, is false, the Quran or the Vedas? False is the man who does not see the Truth.
It is One; It is the same One in all. How can you imagine that It is two?
Says Kabir: 0 Lord, every man and every woman are Your own forms;
I am the simple child of Allah-Ram; He is my Guru, my Pir
Brother, where did your two gods come from? Ram, Allah; Keshav, Karim; Hari, Hazrat-so many names!
There may be many golden ornaments, but there is one gold; it has no two-ness in it.
Merely for the sake of exposition, we make of the One, two.

quote 3849 | Kabir
Bijak, Sabda 97&30

H ence, in Thee, who art Love, the lover -is not one thing and the loved another, and the bond between them a third, but they are one and the same-Thou, Thyself, my God. Since, then, in Thee the loved is one with the lover, and being loved [is one] with loving, this bond of coincidence is an essential bond. For there is nothing in Thee that is not Thy very Essence. (1)

I see, Lord, through Thine infinite mercy, that Thou art Infinity encompassing all things. Nothing exists outside Thee, and all things -in Thee are not other than Thee. (2)

quote 3836 | Nicholas of Cusa
(1) De visio Dei, XVII; Salter, 1960, p. 81-82 : (2) De visio Dei, XIV; Salter, 1960, p. 66

T hus the Essence is triune, and yet there are not three essences therein, since It is most simple. The plurality of these three is both plurality and unity, and their unity is both unity and plurality.

quote 3835 | Nicholas of Cusa
De visio Dei, XVII; Salter, 1960, p. 82

H e is God the Father whom we might also call "One" or "Unity," because He necessitates being out of what did not exist (through His omnipotence) ... This [omnipotent Power of His] is the Word, the Wisdom, the Son of the Father; and we may regard Him as co-equal to the One or Unity.

quote 3834 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; p. 113

S alutations to the Lord of all, who is concealed with-in the visible universe. It is He who causes this universe to appear, and it is He who causes it to vanish as well. When He is revealed, the universe disappears; when He is concealed, the universe shines forth. Yet He doesn't hide Himself, nor does He reveal Himself; He is always present before us at every moment. No matter how diverse and varied the universe appears, He remains unmoved, unchanged. And this is just as one would expect, since He is always one, without a second.

... It's that one pure Consciousness who becomes everything-from the gods above to the earth below. Objects may be regarded as high or low, but the ocean of Consciousness, ever-pure, is all that ever is. Though the shadows on the wall are ever changing, the wall itself remains steady and unmoved. Likewise, the forms of the universe take shape from Consciousness-the eternal, primordial One.

Sugar is only sugar, even though it may be made into many forms. Likewise, the ocean of Consciousness is always the same, though it becomes all the forms of the universe. Various articles of clothing are made from the same cotton cloth; likewise, the varied forms of the universe are creatively fashioned of the one Consciousness, which remains forever pure.

quote 3805 | Jnaneshwar
Changadev Pasashti, Abhayananda, 1989; pp. 237- 24

T hrough Her,
The absolute Void became the primal Person (Purusha);
And She derived Her existence from Her Lord.

Shiva formed His beloved Himself;
And without Her presence,
No Person exists.

Because of Her form,
God is seen in the world. Yet it was
He Who created Her form of Himself.

When He embraces Her,
It is His own bliss that Shiva enjoys.
He is the Enjoyer of everything,
But there is no enjoyment without Her.

She is His form,
But Her beauty comes from Him.
By their intermingling,
They are together enjoying this feast.

Shiva and Shakti are the same,
Like air and its motion,
Or gold and its lustre.

Fragrance cannot be separated from musk,
Nor heat from fire;
Neither can Shakti be separated from Shiva.

If night and day were to approach the Sun,
Both would disappear.
In the same way, the duality of Shiva and Shakti
Vanishes, when their essential unity is seen.

quote 3803 | Jnaneshwar
The union of Shiva and Shakti, Amritanubhav, #26to33, Abhayananda, 1989; pp 114-118

S ince He appears because of Her,
And She exists because of Her Lord,
The two cannot be distinguished at all.

quote 3802 | Jnaneshwar
The union of Shiva and Shakti, Amritanubhav, #21, Abhayananda, 1989; pp 114-118

W hen He awakes, the whole house disappears,
And nothing is left.

They became two for the purpose of diversity;
And both are seeking each other
For the purpose of becoming one.

Each is an object to the other;
And both are subjects to each other.
Only when together do they enjoy happiness.

quote 3801 | Jnaneshwar
The union of Shiva and Shakti, Amritanubhav, #13to15, Abhayananda, 1989; pp 114-118

T he lover, out of boundless love,
Has become the Beloved.
Both are made of the same substance
And share the same food.

Out of love for each other, they merge;
And again they separate for the pleasure of being two.

quote 3800 | Jnaneshwar
The union of Shiva and Shakti, Amritanubhav, #1&2, Abhayananda, 1989; pp 114-118

T he universe was not there; only I was. Adam wasn't them only I was. That light of unity was "I"; I am the Everlasting, and I am the prophet Elias. -The universe gets its light from me; Adam took his form from me; I am the All-Wise, the Knower, the Judge of all judges.

quote 3797 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Divan-i Shams; Winfield, 1898

O Thou Soul who art free of "we" and "I,"
0 Thou who art the subtle Essence of the souls of men and women,
When a man or woman unites with Thee, Thou art that One; when their individuality is obliterated, Thou alone art.
Thou didst contrive this "I" and this "we" only so that Thou mightest play the game of worship with Thyself,
So that all "Is" and "Thous" should become one Soul, immersed at last in the one Beloved.

quote 3796 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Mathnawi; Winfield, 1898

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