Book Review: The Harmony of All Religions

Bendee · #1 (**permalink**) 3rd November 2006, 02:53 AM

Book Review: The Harmony of All Religions

Mixed Media: Book Reviews, Website Reviews, Music Reviews

By James Bean

Copyright October 2006

The Harmony of All Religions

The Author: Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj

345 pages

Publisher: The Way of Sages
http://www.TheWayOfSages.com
( TheWayOfSages.com )

*JPG IMAGE of the Book Cover:
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ar/Harmony.jpg

Veena Howard translated the English edition of this book from India.
In the Editor's Note at the beginning she writes: "From this day
onward our whole world has changed. The "shock and awe" witnessed by
the destruction of the towers has sent shock waves through all the
established value systems. The feelings of fear and distrust have
numbed the hearts of people worldwide and have paralyzed the sense of
clear vision. But time of despair must be taken as an opportunity, an
opening to search for new horizons, to re-assess our values, and to
understand other cultures and religions. This is exactly what the
great sant, Maharishi Shri Santsevi Ji, has sought to accomplish by
his book, The Harmony of All Religions. Shri Santsevi Ji Maharaj has
been teaching the path of mysticism for many decades and believes in
the underlying principles of all prominent world religions."

One of the most impressive books I've ever read on comparative
religion and comparative mysticism is, The Harmony of All Religions,
taking this study to a whole new level. This newly translated book
contains chapters on the Vedic Tradition (Krishna, Gita,Hinduism,
bhakti, yoga), Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism/Essenes/Christianity,
Islam/Sufism, Sikhism, and the Way of Sages, also known as The Path
of the Masters. There is also a biography of the author, as well as
an editor's note, which affirms the need for a greater, more in-depth
understanding of the great world religions and mysticism in an age of
increased global travel and communication.

'Depth' is a word I find myself often using to describe the writings
of Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, who resides at the Maharishi Mehi Ashram in
Bhagalpur, Bihar District, India. His spiritual discourses on each of
the world religions are very scholarly, accurately and eloquently
communicating all these "gospels": beautiful and charming accounts of
the childhood of Jesus, the enlightenment of Guru Nanak hearing the
voice of the One God (Ek Ong Kaar Saat Naam) as he was bathing in the
river Bein, Siddhartha leaving the palace, Muhammad's experiences
with Allah in the cave of Ghar-e Hira, etc.... providing an in-depth
analysis of the sacred texts of these above-mentioned faith-
communities, brimming with quotes and footnotes, from not only the
well-known world scriptures but lesser-known sacred texts and
spiritual classics of the mystics and saints at the heart of these
traditions. The chapter on Lord Mahavira and Jainism for instance
breaks new ground in the study of a major world religion that has
received very little attention in the West. The same can really be
said for each of the chapters of this new book on inter-faith
studies. The author displays an intimate knowledge of the history,
terminology, esoteric writings, and meditation practices used by the
various schools of mystics within each of the world religions, often
pointing out the shared vision, the common goals and common threads
along the way, such as similar ethical principals of ahimsa or non-
violence in thought, word, and deed (like the Golden Rule), Dharma,
the Eight Limbs of Yoga, Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path,
chakras, subtle bodies, meditation techniques including the use of
mantras, mystical stages of transcendence, Sound-mysticism (Nada Yoga
or Yoga of Sound), Light-mysticism (Dristi Yoga or Yoga of Light),
the inward journey or ascension to other realms/heavens, jivan mukti
or moksha (salvation, liberation of the soul), self (atma) and God
(Paramatma) realisation.

The final paragraph of the book summarises the universalist spirit of
peace and harmony (as in the harmony of all religions) in the
following way: "In different times and different places Saints appear
and their followers name their religion according to the Sage or
Saint who propounded that tradition. The appearance of differences
can be attributed to time, place, and language. This gives rise to
various labels for the common views held by all religions. Likewise,
due to excessively zealous followers, these seeming differences are
often amplified. When all sectarianism and the temporal and
linguistic aspects are removed, the basic principles of all the
Saints are in accord and the voices of the Saints are in harmony."

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