Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev about Eastern religions: “There is something that is beyond the horizons of the Orthodox Church. The Vedas and Christianity: a comparison of two spiritual traditions As for the Vedas, they are literally replete with statements about the difference between the soul and the body

It is generally accepted that the word “religion” comes from the Latin word re-ligio (reunion, connection), which means reunification with God, whose image is formed in the depths of our soul. However, the most rooted definition of religion in our practice is “a worldview and attitude, as well as corresponding behavior, based on belief in the existence of God or many Gods.” This very common interpretation includes a key word that defines its essence - FAITH. Thus, “faith” in the modern sense is a statement based on the authority of the church about the existence of a supernatural, powerful, kind, merciful and merciless SOMETHING, whom (or something) must be feared and obeyed in order to avoid severe punishment. And in our real life, it turns out - to follow the subjective opinion of people - clergy, who appropriated, privatized the right to interpret the activities and will of this unknown SOMETHING.

Our ancient Russian culture (it’s hard to call it a religion in the modern sense of the word) was based on knowledge. In Old Russian, knowledge is VEDA, therefore our original Russian culture, without any doubt, can be called Vedic. Vedic culture is currently known as a system of religious beliefs of the ancient peoples living on the Hindustan Peninsula. But we must always remember who brought the Vedas to the territory of modern India. This was one of the tribal unions of the Russian-Aryans, which about 4 thousand years ago moved from the territory of Russia to the above-mentioned peninsula, conquered the local Negroid population - the Dravidians, and brought them perfect knowledge, culture, art, social order and much more. It was our Russian Vedas that gave impetus to the development of all modern religions and philosophical movements of the East: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. All of them, one way or another, stem from the Vedas and represent a somewhat distorted and simplified version of the ancient teachings, adapted by local sages to the needs of the time and the capabilities of the population to whom it is addressed.

The Indians themselves acknowledge the emergence of the Vedic tradition as a result of the cultural influence of the Aryans. Some of the Indian researchers also believe that their ancestral home is located in Russia, in the Arctic region. However, this is not entirely true, since Russia is the ancestral home not of the Indians themselves, but of their white, blue-eyed, blond-haired teachers. Unfortunately, the white population, who came to Dravidia in ancient times, had long since assimilated with the local residents. But now, thousands of years later, we have a unique opportunity to study our own ancient culture through the prism of past times, someone else’s unknown mentality and someone else’s language... That’s why our compatriots have such an interest in various Eastern cultures, religion, philosophy.

What does it mean to be a follower of the Russian Vedic tradition? This is to study the foundations of the world order, laid down in ancient Russian culture, and to master methods of using natural Universal laws and principles, their manifestation and action in our world for the benefit of the surrounding world. Since these laws are unshakable, universal, and apply not only on our planet, but also in any “corner” of the Universe, then all natural cults, one way or another, should be similar to each other, like two peas in a pod. Of course, they have their own characteristics, since they are “voiced” on different languages and are widespread among peoples who have different degrees of development and, accordingly, different degrees of understanding of knowledge (Vedas).

Conventionally, we can distinguish between natural religions (traditions) and artificial ones (“man-made”). All modern so-called “mass religions” were written, created by people, “sages” of antiquity, prophets, i.e. “man-made” or rather, “brain-made”. Anyone who carefully studied the history of religions could not pay attention to the fact that these teachings did not represent an immutable creation. At the dawn of its formation, Christianity was repeatedly subjected to reform: books were rewritten, fundamental postulates were clarified, a couple of dozen gospels were removed from “circulation,” ancient manuscripts were burned or hidden in the Vatican vaults.

For example, Christianity in Russia in the 17th century was subject to reform, which led to the destruction of a huge number of ordinary Russian people - believers of the old sense (Old Believers). The church was also reformed during Soviet times. And now, in pseudo-democratic times, some figures are trying to turn the Church into a kind of Closed Joint-Stock Company carrying out profit-making activities by exploiting needs normal person in communication and interaction with God.

As for the Russian tradition, it is absolutely impossible to imagine our Vedas, that is, Knowledge about Nature, subjected to reform. Any ignorance of the true knowledge received by our ancestors directly from God leads to negative consequences. What will happen, for example, to a person if he, having climbed a tall tree, begins to saw the branch underneath him, “not giving a damn” about the laws of gravity? That's right, it will finish and collapse down. This is exactly how humanity falls into a bottomless abyss, having lost contact with the Vedas.

The words “VEDA”, “VEDAT” are original Russian words, understandable to all of us without any translation and mean “KNOWLEDGE”, “KNOW”. Russian Vedic culture was a perfect regulator of social relations and a natural scientific basis for human life in interaction with nature, for his free spiritual and physical development.

It seems that it is necessary to distinguish between the concept of “Vedic culture of the Russian people” and “paganism”. Our culture has always been Vedic (i.e., a culture of knowledge), and by paganism our ancestors understood those areas of human knowledge where ancient wisdom has been lost or distorted. Paganism is a folk faith, the faith of simple, poorly educated people. The word comes from the ancient Russian “pagans” - people, people... There was a gradual profanation of the great ancient teaching as the bearers of the ancient Vedic tradition in Rus' were physically destroyed and ideological enslavement by foreign religious cults.

What is the name of our ancient Vedic tradition? The original religion of our ancestors can be called ORTHODOXY. “Orthodoxy”, but not “Orthodox Christianity”. Somewhere in the dictionaries it was written that our ancient word “Orthodox” comes from the Greek “orthodox”. But it's not right! The ancient Roman and Greek civilizations (and many others) are fragments of the once united world of white people, united common culture, language, history, ancestors... Therefore, it is unscientific and unethical to categorically establish priorities for the origin of concepts and words. However, it is safe to say that most terms, including those of Roman and Greek origin, are easily interpreted and translated from the perspective of the RUSSIAN language. This says a lot! "Orthodoxy" is simply a translation of the word "Orthodoxy" (from Greek ὀρθοδοξία: Greek ὀρθός ("straight", "correct") +δόξα ("opinion", "glory"))

Our ancient pre-Christian word “ORTHODOXY” was formed from two Russian words Prav and GLORY.

RIGHT is the highest cosmic Law, according to which the interaction of all elements of the manifested and unmanifested Universe occurs. The essence of this divine Law in modern scientific interpretation can be expressed as “The Law of ensuring the sustainable development of the System (Universe) to achieve effective interaction of its elements based on the principle of emergence.”

It should be noted that modern science has long been using in its practice knowledge that was the everyday toolkit for Russian Vedic Magi thousands of years ago. And in order to quickly assimilate the sacred knowledge of our ancestors and try to look at the world through the eyes of the ancient Russian Magi, it is recommended to turn to such disciplines as “systems theory”, “information theory”, “synergetics”, “tectology”, “control theory”, etc. . Over time, they will become the basis on which a breakthrough will occur in all fundamental directions of modern science and a return to the ancient Vedic (natural) worldview will occur, but, apparently, in a modern form.

From this term meaning the fundamental and all-encompassing law of universal existence. - “RIGHT” came from the well-known concepts “RIGHT”, “TRUTH”, “RIGHT”, “RULE”, “justice”, “RULE”, “RIGHT”, “GOVERNMENT” and many others.

It should be noted that in the related Russian language of the Vedic Aryans, Sanskrit, there are a number of words derived from the root “PRAV”. Even today they provide an opportunity to expand our understanding of some sacred concepts and terms of our Ancestors. For example, in ancient Sanskrit: prava - soaring in the sky; pravata - breath, spirit, breath; pravarosa - rain (literally: "dew of the Rule"). A monument of ancient Russian literature - Velesova's book calls rain “living water”, which is sent to people by the Gods of Rule.

In the ancient Indian treatise "Rigveda", the concept of Rule as a universal law of development of the Universe is conveyed by the word R "ta (Rita, Rota) as a kind of cosmic pattern, according to which disordered chaos turns into an ordered harmonized cosmos (Slavic - Lad). This Lad (order) provides the conditions for the existence of the Universe, its circulation, the life of humanity, its morality.Russian Rule, just like the Aryan Rita (some peoples related to us used the term “Arta” (“Orta”) with the same meaning), determines the ritual , ritual harmony on Earth. That is, it provides not only the physical, but also the moral (spiritual) and everyday side of human life in general.

Thus, this Comprehensive Law (Law of Rule) applies to systems of various levels, origins, and states. It is equally true for the Universe, as a single supersystem, for the system of planets in our solar system, the biosphere of planet Earth, for the human body as a biological system and for society as a social system.

Our Russian Rule, among other things, reveals the innermost and deepest meaning of the cult of the Ancestors. According to ancient teaching, our ancestors, after earthly life in Yavi, go to “Luki Svarogya” (Meadows of Svarog), where “they will stay for some time to receive a new body.” The stay of our great Ancestors on the Bows of Svarozh brings them closer to our Gods. Therefore, there was a deep belief that our Ancestors help us along with the Gods, maintaining a continuous connection with us. Judge for yourself: the words GREAT-grandfather, GREAT-grandfather, GREAT-grandfather, etc. - after all, they all have the same Slavic root as PRAV. The basis of the spiritual life of our people is the energy and information connection with our ancestors who went to Prav.
The second word – “SLAVIT” – is understandable to any normal Russian person without any dictionary. And this word, for a better understanding of its meaning, can be divided into two parts: the preposition “S” and “LOV”. In Old Russian LAV, and in English LOVE, means the same thing - LOVE. Thus, TO PRAISE means “to treat with the greatest and sincere feeling of love,” “to love.”

Our related white peoples have preserved many words of ancient origin better than we have, and in order to understand the meaning of some terms, it makes sense to turn to related Indo-European languages.

GLORY is a very ancient concept that is directly related to the self-name of the great people - the Slavs. Back in the 4th century. the writer Agathangel, secretary of King Terdat, wrote about the ancient Russian Goddess Glory as “the great queen and mistress, the Glory of the people, supporting the life of the people, the Mother of all virtues, the Mother Goddess, the Golden Mother.” He also described her temple, which has countless treasures. Image The goddess (her statue) was made by skilled craftsmen from pure gold. The holiday of the Goddess of Glory, which was celebrated in the spring, was most fully preserved among the Serbs close to us in spirit and faith. It should be noted that the cult of the Russian Goddess of Love Lada is almost identical to the cult of the Great Goddess of Glory.

So, our ancient culture, with a fair degree of confidence, can be defined as “Glorification of the divine law of RIGHT.” And our great ancestors, bearers of this wonderful culture, were called ORTHODOX or SLAVS, i.e. THOSE “WHICH GLORY THE GODS” and who are “GLORIOUS IN THEIR GREAT DEEDS AND PURE THOUGHTS.” It should be noted here that initially Slavs were a religious-cultural rather than an ethnic term. Slavs began to be called those tribes that, after the gradual displacement of our ancient culture by foreign, overseas ideologies, as well as the Christianization of the majority of the European population, for a long time remained committed to the ancient Russian tradition, that is, they continued to glorify the Prav, the great Russian Gods and bring love to people.

On ancient Rus' Most of all, the Creator of the Universe himself was revered - the God of the Family, which is why our culture is sometimes called in our time GENODOLOGY or FAMILY LOVE. The name SVETOSLAVIE is widely known...

It must be emphasized that there can be any number of modern names that reflect the essence of this multifaceted phenomenon, like ancient Russian culture. The Russians themselves lived according to the Vedas for millions of years and did not name their way of life in any way. The Vedas - global information about the world order, were the basis on which all everyday life proceeds, everyday chores and sacred holidays, rites, rituals, the birth and upbringing of children, Physical Culture and medicine, agricultural work and crafts.

In other words, the Russian Vedas are everything that now should be a natural and necessary set of knowledge for us, allowing us to simply live, navigating the complex world of things and phenomena.

Illustrations:
“Tales of the Russian Forest” Klimenko Andrey
“Svarog the Progenitor” Klimenko Andrey
"Perun" Klimenko Andrey
“The Birth of a Warrior” Olshansky Boris
(First Museum of Slavic Mythology, Tomsk,

V. Yu. Pitanov

Currently, there are many sects that speculate on the authority of the Vedas. Even the so-called “Russian Vedas” appeared. Therefore, it makes sense to briefly talk about what the Vedas are in reality.

The Vedas (lit. Knowledge) are the most ancient sacred Indian scriptures, which were formed in the territory of North-West India during the period of the late 2nd - early 1st millennium BC. All the Vedas are written in Sanskrit, very little has been translated into Russian. There are no Vedas originally written in Russian and never have been. At least, such texts are unknown to science.

The Vedas are divided into four parts: Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Artharvaveda.

Rigveda - “book of hymns” - consists of 1028 hymns, developed during the era of the resettlement of Aryan tribes in northwestern India approximately in the 15th-10th centuries BC. This Veda consists of hymns that praise and describe the exploits and greatness of deities ancient Aryans.

Samaveda - “book of chants”, 1810 verses. The text of this Veda is almost entirely borrowed from the Rig Veda. The texts are arranged in accordance with the sequence of their performance by the singers at the service.

Yajurveda - "book of sacrificial sayings." This Veda consists of sayings and prayers, which are attributed magical meaning, and are accompanied by sacrifices performed by the priests.

Artharvaveda - "book of spells". It consists of spells that are used mainly not in general tribal rituals, but in home religious rituals. This Veda consists of twenty books, depending on the edition of the Artharva Veda, the number of verses ranges from 6000 to 6500 verses.

The Vedas are attributed divine origin. It is believed that the Vedas were transmitted to people by the gods through sages (rishis), who acquired them through inner insight. The Vedas in abstract poetic form tell about the creation of the world, relationships with the gods, etc. All subsequent philosophical works of orthodox Hindu schools are, to one degree or another, commentaries on the Vedas. It is believed that the Vedas are infallible and tell about the entire universe. They are extremely allegorical and therefore practically incomprehensible without commentary, and I want to draw the attention of my readers to this. In fact, even in India there have never been people who lived according to the Vedas, but there were people who based their spiritual life on certain interpretations of the Vedas. In order for my readers to get a better idea of the form of presentation of material in the Vedas, I will give a small fragment from the Rig Veda (the first mandala, the very beginning).

Now imagine many tens of thousands of highly allegorical verses - what a field opens up for various philosophical speculations on the meaning of the Vedas!

The Vedas in orthodox Hinduism are the highest authority and contain the immutable truth for a Hindu. Essentially, the Vedas are something that everyone in India respects, but few read.

It should be noted that in modern India no one follows the Vedas. As the famous Indologist Dandekar R.N. writes. in his article “From the Vedas to Hinduism”: “the ideals proclaimed in the Vedas have long ceased to be exclusive driving force Indian way of life and thoughts." One of the reasons for this is, continues Dandekar, "that the Vedas, as is known, are collections of essentially heterogeneous and sometimes internally contradictory texts... the Vedas allow for many interpretations, none of which It cannot be said that it is absolutely authoritative."

In Hinduism there are two large classes of literature - the so-called. "shruti" and "smriti". Shruti, literally translated from Sanskrit, means “heard”, these are revelations that are considered by Hindus to be eternal and not created, but only “seen” by sages. The Vedas in particular refer to shruti. The Vedas are not one book; It's more like a whole library. As for smriti, in Sanskrit this word is translated as “memory”. The basis of smriti was considered to be tradition, the opinion of other sages who gave their interpretation of the letter and spirit of the sacred Knowledge of the Veda. Accordingly, the smriti had less authority than the Veda itself. In particular, the Mahabharata refers to smriti. We can say that the shruti or Vedas are the Eternal Revelation for a Hindu, and the smriti is a set of interpretations that reveal the meaning of this Eternal Revelation.

So, if you meet a group of people who claim to follow the Vedas, ask them: do your interlocutors know Sanskrit, and if not, then why do they think that the meaning of the Vedas is conveyed correctly by their guru? If in a religious group you meet, only the guru knows Sanskrit, and among his followers a refusal to acquire given knowledge, isn’t this a reason to think, why would this be so? If the guru doesn’t know Sanskrit, then you don’t have to waste your time communicating with these “experts” on the Vedas. Without knowing Sanskrit, one cannot know the Vedas, or rather, one cannot be an expert on them, and a real guru in Hinduism cannot but be an expert, otherwise what kind of guru is he?

Further, do not forget that even in India there are no people who follow the Vedas specifically, but there are those who follow commentaries (interpretations) on the Vedas. Ask your interlocutors a question: do you follow the Vedas or certain semantic interpretations of the Vedas? If they tell you that it is the Vedas, ask why you are being offered to get acquainted with the Vedas not from the original source, but from books that comment on (retell) them. Do your interlocutors really not see the difference between the original source and its interpretation? But even any translation of a text into another language is already its interpretation; there is no point in even talking about different interpretations. They may well tell you that the original source is complex, its language is inaccessible to you, and for your own good you are given a retelling of it in a simplified form, but even if this is so, it means that you are still being introduced to the opinion of this or that guru about the content of the Vedas. Any best retelling is still just an interpretation of the text, an expression of its meaning, as this particular guru understood it. Any retelling cannot but introduce distortions into the meaning of the original text, and the extent of this distortion is still a big question. Make a note of this both for yourself and for your interlocutors. At the same time, note for yourself whether your interlocutors see the difference between the original text and its interpretation. If they don’t realize this difference, this is another reason for you to think about whether it’s worth continuing to communicate with them. In any case, remember, the Vedas as they are are just a Sanskrit text; even a Russian translation of the Vedas made by professional scholars is already its interpretation, and it is impossible to completely avoid distortion of the text. This is the nature of any translation.

Ask your interlocutors why there are many schools of interpretation of the Vedas in India? Often these schools teach mutually exclusive things. It is easy to verify this, for example, by reading Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s book “Indian Philosophy”. Are they all true, and if not, then why should you believe the interpretation of the Vedas by the gurus of your interlocutors?

Ask your interlocutors if there are people who believe that they follow the Vedas, but do not recognize their religious group as true? If so, why? For example, Ramakrishna's disciple Swami Vivekanada stated: "To date, the Vedas remain the pinnacle achievement of all human experience, speculation, analysis, embodied in books selected and polished over centuries." At the same time, he denied that God is a Person and believed that God is Brahman, i.e. He is Impersonal, and only the one who knows Brahman truly knows God! The followers of Swami Prabhupada also recognize the authority of the Vedas, but they believe that God is a Person, and consider everyone who disagrees with this statement to be impersonalists who have not matured to understand God as a Person. Prabhupada wrote about the impersonalists, commenting on the first chapter of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is: “...having realized the impersonal Brahman, they did not achieve the highest transcendental happiness and therefore were forced to descend to the material platform and again engage in worldly activities.” As we can see, relying on the Vedas, one can hold diametrically different points of view on God! Which is not surprising: the Vedas are so allegorical that they completely allow this to be done. There are no objective criteria by which one could say that one school of interpretation of the Vedas in Hinduism is more true than another.

There is no particular point in writing anything about the so-called “Russian Vedas”, since they do not exist. Anyone who would dispute this statement would be advised to cite the original texts of the Russian Vedas, which could be dated with the surviving Sanskrit manuscripts of the real Vedas. If ancient Sanskrit manuscripts of the Vedas have survived, why are there no ancient manuscripts of the “Russian Vedas”? A few words about why the Vedas, or more precisely, an appeal to the authority of the Vedas, are popular among modern self-proclaimed gurus. The Vedas have the image of something terribly spiritual and mysterious. Few people know what the Vedas are, so you can talk all sorts of nonsense, declaring it Vedic knowledge, without fear of being exposed. Moreover, there are not many people in the country who know and are able to tell what the real Vedas are, but there are more than enough gullible, religiously ignorant people.

Another good sign that the religious group you meet on your way has nothing to do with the Vedas is if they begin to claim that the Vedas are the same as the Bible, only in Sanskrit, that the Vedas do not contradict the Bible in any way, but on the contrary, they complement each other. Such statements are not true. Compare the Christian view of the world with Indian philosophy, which is not difficult to do by reading Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's book "Indian Philosophy" or any other book that objectively reveals Indian philosophy, and you will see how far they are from each other. Hinduism is pantheistic, Christianity is monotheistic; Hinduism proclaims the idea of reincarnation, Christianity claims that we live only once; Hinduism affirms the idea of karma, Christianity teaches about the Providence of God, etc. Besides, if there is no difference between the Vedas and the Bible, wouldn't it be easier to follow the Bible rather than the Vedas? After all, even from a purely technical point of view, it is easier to get acquainted with the Bible than with the texts of the Vedas. The Bible has been completely translated into Russian, but the Vedas are still very far from this. And if you do not plan to study Sanskrit, then I am afraid you will never read them completely.

If you are interested in the Vedas, why not start learning about them with academic translations by scholars? Of course, only a small part of them has been translated into Russian, but this part will give you a general idea of the Vedas. The better you know the subject that interests you, the less chance there will be for any religious demagogues to deceive you, passing off their own fantasies as Vedic knowledge.

In conclusion, I would just like to advise my readers not to be gullible and not to forget the old saying: “all that glitters is not gold.” There are now many who want to hide behind the authority of the Vedas, but it is worth learning to distinguish between a person who really has every right to say: I know the Vedas (in Russia, this right is mainly among orientalists specializing in this topic) - from charlatans who only hide behind the ancient Indian Vedas to raise his authority in recruiting people into his sect.

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The word “Orthodoxy” means “correct glorification”, that is the right way serving God. Serving anything or anyone else is called sin. It is simply amazing how exactly this fits into the Vaishnava worldview. Jesus Christ taught that the main thing is to love God with all your heart: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength”(Mark 12:29-30). “This is the first and greatest commandment”(Matt. 22:38).

It is to achieve this (what is called prema-bhakti - loving devotional service) that the Vaishnava tradition exists. The latter is represented by several directions, each of which is based on the chain of disciplic succession, parampara. Just as the apostles, at the direction of Jesus, founded churches in different countries, so the paramparas, coming from a single source (from God), preserve (despite their plurality) the truth in an undistorted form.

The Gospel of John (14:6) contains the words of Jesus: “I am the way and the truth and the life; and no one comes to the Father except through Me", and further (14, 7): “If you knew Me, you would also know My Father; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The Vedas indicate that all the forms in which God manifests Himself (Vishnu, Narayana, Jagannatha, etc.) are non-different from Him, but reflect His different qualities. Jesus is the incarnation of God, what qualities are inherent in him? Jesus (Yeshua) means "Jehovah's help, Savior." The name Jehovah means “existent.” The essence of salvation is expressed by Jesus himself: “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...” In fact, Jesus is the personification of prema-bhakti, which was preached and presented by Lord Caitanya in Bengal about 500 years ago. By the way, in both the Vaishnava and Christian traditions there is one God, and in the Vedas gods are called the highest beings, demigods (angels).

In Bhagavad-gita (“Song of God”, B. g. 7, 18) the Almighty, Krishna says: “All these bhaktas [devotees of God] are undoubtedly noble souls, but he who knows Me has already attained Me. By serving Me with transcendental love, he comes to Me.” In Chapter 9 (verse 33) God calls: “... devote yourself to My service with love and devotion.”

Thus, both traditions affirm that only devoted loving service to God is the path to Him. As for the external, ritual part of worship, Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of lack of spirituality, of blindly following traditions and ancient laws (see, for example, Matthew 23), He called on His disciples: “Whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; do not act according to their deeds.”

In India there is a movement called smarta, smarta-brahmanism, which places excessive emphasis on the ritual part of worship. In the Vaishnava tradition, this is considered a meaningless activity, since only by focusing your thoughts and feelings on Krishna (God), you can, by the grace of a spiritual mentor (teacher, guru), reach Vaikuntha - the Kingdom of God: “Try to find out the truth by turning to spiritual teacher. Question him humbly and serve him. Self-realized [self-realized] souls are able to give you knowledge, for they see the truth.”(B. g. 4, 34).

The true essence of religious rituals is seen in both traditions as the development of this purest love for God through self-awareness and self-improvement. Both in Christian and Vedic faiths (the latter include various movements of Hinduism: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, impersonalism) the “victory of the spirit over the flesh,” that is, the performance of asceticism, is strongly recommended. It was asceticism, including the fight against pride, that constituted one of the aspects of the spiritual practice of the elders, who transformed their body into a sublime and beautiful Temple.

When Jesus Christ spoke about the destruction of the temple and its reconstruction in three days, he meant his own body. “...behold, the kingdom of God is within us”(Luke 17:21). According to Vedic philosophy, the Lord Himself is present in the heart of every living being in the form of a supersoul (paramatma), thus, every body is a Temple of God. There is even a tradition of bowing to other people. It is characteristic that showing respect (worship) is carried out by lowering one’s forehead: these are bows, touching the forehead to a sacred object, to the floor, to the ground - almost the same in all faiths. But worship along with austerities are not the only elements of spiritual practice.

Knowledge and ignorance

To a certain extent, spiritual development is facilitated by knowledge. It is clear that knowledge about the preparation of wines, drugs and explosives, about obtaining material pleasures, about a secular career and the like do not contribute to spiritual practice. In addition to empirical (experiential) worldly knowledge, there is also transcendental (ordinarily incomprehensible) knowledge obtained from saints or from the sacred scriptures. This knowledge forms the basis of religious philosophies and worldviews.

Thus, the article by Yu. V. Krestnikov speaks of “the creator of everything visible and invisible, forming a stepped hierarchy.” It is in the form of a hierarchy that the Vedas describe the world. The pinnacle is God and His spiritual world, the highest living beings (Brahma and all demigods except Shiva) live on the heavenly levels (planets) of the material worlds created by the manifestation of God in the form of Vishnu. The Earth is located in the plane of the ecliptic (the orbit of the sun, which corresponds to the so-called “flat Earth”), below this level there are hellish, or demonic, planets. The concept of hell and heaven is found among Jews, Muslims, Christians and Vedic religions.

Simply by cultivating knowledge, as both the Bhagavad Gita and the Old Testament teach, it is impossible to comprehend God, for He is transcendental, that is, unknowable by ordinary experience. It is believed that perception and understanding are closed from man, which is why everyone “must have a leader, whose constant help and constant presence will facilitate and ensure his correct ascent up the ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is exactly what is stated in Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 4, 34): “Try to know the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Question him humbly and serve him...”

In Vedic sources, everything emanating from God and from the saints is called nectarean, therefore the expression “spiritual honey” of St. Athanasius the Great is perceived quite “Vedically”. It is in the spiritual world, also called the Kingdom of God, that those who profess both the Vedas and the Gospel seek pleasure and freedom. In the Vedas, the material world is in a certain sense understood as a “prison”, and a person in the material world is considered to be entangled in the gunas, that is, threads, ropes, goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). Why does the soul end up in this world full of suffering, in which birth, illness, old age and death rule the roost? For forgetting God, for leaving Him. But this is not just a formal punishment. God is so merciful that He allows disobedience to Him. This is where free will manifests itself. I wanted to become a creator “like a bozi” - please! But just as it is impossible for a creative person to engage in routine, so it is painful for an immortal soul to live in this “artificial” material world. God hints unobtrusively: “You are going the wrong way, My child! »

Thus, life in this world is considered slavery. A person is more or less a slave to his feelings and delusions. All this encourages him to move further and further away from God, that is, to worsen his sin. Feelings increasingly obscure “spiritual vision,” forcing a person to act in ignorance of “carnal human arbitrariness for the sake of” and forget about “true freedom - freedom from sin.” This is exactly how Krestnikov ends the paragraph about the path of senile care.

Liberation

How do you see the way out of this labyrinth? Can you find your way back yourself? As was already said above - no, you can’t do it yourself, but how can you? In Krestnikov’s article, monasticism is called “the highest goal that allows one to overcome earthly wanderings.” The Vedas also recommend the path of renunciation of the world. As in the Orthodox tradition, independent attempts to leave the “prison material world"are considered meaningless and even dangerous in the Vedas. Illusion is what blinds us. Only continuity, obedience, discipleship, fulfillment of the Commandments of God and the Sacraments make it possible to know the Kingdom of God.

As the author writes: “An elder is one of the senior monks who has gone through the difficult path of self-denial and has taken young monks and laity under his spiritual guidance.” In the Vedic Vaishnava tradition (as well as among the impersonalists), one who, having reached a high spiritual level, renounces everything material, leaving home, family, bank accounts, etc. for the sake of further spiritual advancement, is called a sannyasi. It is such people who usually become gurus to teach others.

The process of choosing a teacher (guru) is thorny, but outwardly it is determined by the will of the future student. A religious person will see God’s providence in this, since meetings with the Teacher are never accidental, as, indeed, are all events in this world. The teacher is free to accept or not accept a student. All this in some sense resembles marriage. Indeed, the student and the teacher are bound by love and mutual responsibility to each other and to God until the end of their days. Their relationship is no less deep and purely personal, like the relationship of spouses. As can be seen from the descriptions given by the author:

“In the monastery, the elder usually did not hold any position; he is a spiritual leader and advisor. His disciples were grouped around him in the monastery, and he humbly and responsibly took upon himself this difficult responsibility. The student himself chose the elder he wanted. And it often happened that a person who wanted to talk with the elder about only one issue remained under his leadership for the rest of his life and even took monasticism.”

Humility

The third verse of the Siksastaka, the only short work (ashtaka means eight verses) left by Lord Caitanya, who revived the Vaishnava tradition about 500 years ago, says:

Trinad Api Sunichena

taror api sahishnuna

amanina manadena

kirtaniyah sada harih

(Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas, BBT, 1974, p. 33). The translation and commentary for this verse is:

“The holy names of the Lord should be chanted in a humble state of mind, considering oneself lower than the straw lying on the street. One must become more patient than a tree, completely free oneself from the sense of false prestige and always be ready to show respect to others. Only in such a state of mind can one chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”

Vaishnava etiquette requires not only humility and respectful attitude towards others. Insult (aparadha) entails the impossibility of spiritual development, which is considered the most terrible thing, therefore Vaishnavas try with all their might not to offend each other, even accidentally, otherwise they offer their humble obeisances.

As can be seen from Krestnikov’s article: “The younger brethren tried in every possible way to humble themselves not only before their elders, but also before their equals, afraid even to offend another with a glance, and at the slightest reason they immediately asked each other for forgiveness.”

Perhaps comments are unnecessary. Where goodness prevails, people behave accordingly. In the lectures on Ayurveda by Oleg Gennadievich Torsunov (Audarya Dhama Das), it is said that you should adhere to a “constantly guilty” position, roughly speaking, apologize if your foot is stepped on, because everyone deserves what they get. This should not be misunderstood, that there is no need to help and intercede. It's about everyone's personal state of mind.

Spiritual revival It is not only humility, prayers and fasting that determine a person’s spiritual growth. The Vedas strongly recommend adherence to sadhana - a certain lifestyle that includes the notorious daily routine. The best time to get up is considered to be 3-4 o'clock in the morning, from which time you should devote several hours to spiritual practice, since this is the time of sattva guna, that is, goodness. In Krestnikov’s article we read: “The Elder’s Day turned out like this. To listen to the morning rule, at first he got up at 4 o’clock in the morning, rang the bell, to which the cell attendants came and read the morning prayers, 12 selected psalms and the First Hour, after which he remained alone in mental prayer.” By the way, among other prayers and mantras (prayers and hymns that purify consciousness and have other spiritual and/or material properties), there are “secret” ones - gayatri, which are never pronounced out loud. They are not given to ordinary parishioners, but only to brahmanas (priests). Of course, Gayatri in itself is not a mental prayer, since one usually does not do anything else while reciting it, but it can be one.

The author gives a wonderful quote about St. Ambrose of Optina: “He only needed the soul of a person, which was so dear to him that, forgetting himself, he tried with all his might to save it...” I would like to continue it with another quote, but from the Bhagavad Gita: “ Humble sages, thanks to true knowledge, see with one eye the learned Brahmana, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the dog-eater (untouchable)"(B. g. 5, 18). Srila Prabhupada's commentary on this verse states: " A person in Krishna consciousness makes no distinction between species of living beings and castes [social classes]....” This does not mean that the animals to whom the Vedas deny free will are equal to man, the only form of life in which the soul can return to the Kingdom of God, but only that the soul and God reside in the heart of every living being.

The author writes about the difficult process of spiritual revival in modern Russia. On the restoration of churches and monasteries. But the main thing is that “we are all left with a great spiritual heritage, of which we must be worthy.” Let us read once again the wonderful Prayer of the Optina Elders and repeat in a humble mood: “Abandon all dharmas (religious duties) and take refuge in Me alone.”(B. g. 18, 66).

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All the ascetic activities of Sergius of Radonezh were aimed at preserving the spirituality of Rus', as opposed to the ideological Western reform of subordinating Russian lands to a slave complex of economic and spiritual dependence. Russian Vedism began to be destroyed from traditions. Most traditions survived only because there was nothing to replace them. For the Christian religion, enlightenment is a sacrilege, since it devalues the only thing important to it - dogma or the external. There is a test of faith with nonsense or the replacement of sacred rituals with a set of ritual actions devoid of understandable meaning: religion becomes higher than faith. If what is accessible to human understanding is not suitable for the sacred, then knowledge is no longer suitable. Thus, the living is replaced by the dead, the versatility of tradition by dogma and unambiguity, from which we get a way of life, a routine, an image of meaninglessness, a belief in a miracle that cannot be explained with the help of reason, which is characteristic of the lost civilization of the Atlanteans and the Greek traditions of Byzantium. Routine turned out to be much more viable than spirit. But routine does not resurrect if it has already died. Resurrects the spirit. Thanks to such ascetics as Sergius of Radonezh, the spirit of the great people was preserved in Russian traditions, the “golden chain” of the spiritual heritage of philosophical understanding of the surrounding world, passed from teacher to student, and leading along the path of evolution to the cosmic heights of human knowledge of existence, was preserved. A historical feature of Russian Orthodoxy was its isolation not only from Mohammedanism, but also from Latinism, and as a result of which Russian people saw almost no difference between the two.

Around the Church of St. Sergius, spiritually reborn Rus' began to unite. Now both the Vedic teaching and Christians found mutual language. He managed to combine the seemingly incompatible, uniting the two warring religions in Rus' and thereby ending the protracted civil strife and wars that claimed more than half the population of the then Rus'. At its core, the teaching of Sergius is the same deep cosmogonic teaching as the ancient Hyperborean faith of our ancestors. Under him, believers considered themselves, as before, the grandchildren of God. He was able to show that the true teaching of Christ has nothing in common with orthodox Christianity, where churches and dissidents are burned. All the main Christian holidays of Rus' are a legacy of the ascetic activity of the Radonezh abbot, which forced the unification of both religions into one harmonious whole and saved Rus' in the face of a new Horde invasion. It is not for nothing that he is often called “the protector of the Russian land.”

Etc. Sergius was born on October 8, 1314 in the Radonezh inheritance, near present-day Sergiev Posad, Moscow region. His parents, boyar Kirill and Martha, named him Bartholomew at baptism. After the burial of his parents and tonsure as a monk, all his activities from the age of 23 were aimed at the spiritual revival and enlightenment of Rus', preserving, strengthening and expanding the boundaries of the spiritual world through the reconciliation of two ideologies into a single alloy, allowing to have in its political basis not slave labor, but the free labor of a craftsman and the valor of a warrior defending his homeland.

Thus, in Muscovite Rus', thanks to the church reform of Sergius, the feudal social structure was consolidated, which gave enormous advantages in the economic and political structure of the state compared to the slaveholding imposed by the West. Rus' in a short time became capable of defending its independence, and Western orthodoxies and eastern sultans began to reckon with it. New monasteries were built throughout Rus', where monks practiced agriculture, medicine and martial arts. In cities, new ones were built, no longer similar to Byzantine ones, but copying ancient Vedic temples and churches.

The Christianization of Rus' under Sergius took place through outposts of faith - Orthodox monasteries, at the head of which he placed reliable people who supported the purity of the faith without hypocrisy, hypocrisy and selfish aspirations. The network of monasteries was unified and communicated with each other. The system of monasteries bordered the fortifications of cities such as Moscow, Mozhaisk, Kolomna and was created in the same order as the border lands. Sergius’s intra-church reforms contributed to the economic and political independence of Orthodox monasteries, which began to play a vital role in political system North-Eastern Rus'.

The basis of his activities was the rewriting of books, the dissemination of ancient knowledge about faith, the establishment of libraries, the preservation of the rituals of the solar cult, despite the Jewish names of the gods. It was important to preserve the “golden chain” of continuity of spiritual self-improvement, the opportunity to move along the path of the ancestors of the Vedas given by the gods, becoming people of knowledge, and not cult ministers dependent on the authorities. It was important not to lose the accumulated experience of many centuries of spiritual traditions that allowed the soul to evolve to divine heights.

It was not for nothing that Khan Tokhtomysh’s raid on Moscow in 1382, when Prince Dmitry was not in the capital, pursued one single goal - to burn the princely library, which was collected by Ave. Sergius himself. Tokhtomysh carried out a direct order, but this was a small part of a large plan to destroy Vedicism in Rus'.

At each monastery, through his efforts, the rewriting of ancient books and book depositories were organized, where ancient services, initiation rituals, and historically significant events “where the Russian land came from” were described. Who are the Rus or Sura, if read from right to left, the history of their appearance on planet Earth. The split into Rusov-Uranian (Uranus is the spirit, the masculine principle personifying the sky) and Antov (an-net) - the rulers of the earth who denied the power of the sky or the cosmic principle. Then the paths of evolution diverged and wars began. People began to degrade, primates appeared. The confrontation led to a world war or a global flood, with all the ensuing consequences: glaciation, man-made deserts, and the collapse of civilization. The planet was depopulated, but evolution resumed. The Spirit did not lose itself in the difficult struggle. Sergius preached the ascent to the Spirit, the return to the cradle of the Cosmos, the fulfillment of the laws of the Rule and the Universal order. But while people were arguing and fighting, a third force intervened and managed to temporarily seize world domination - the power of Zion, which replaced the spiritual path with acquisitiveness. The Christianization of Rus' at that time carried with it the danger of a unipolar world, which ultimately led most peoples to stagnation and spiritual degradation, throwing the world back in its development for more than 500 years into the darkness of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, when simple literacy was considered a crime.

For Sergius, each hermit monk worked for himself and the good of the community, providing himself with everything necessary, being an independent worker who took full responsibility for his life and spiritual development. No one was given privileges, no one had the right to live at the expense of others or at the expense of the community. The free labor of everyone for the benefit of everyone made people equal and naturally eliminated those who were not ready for the difficulties of monastic life and spiritual service. The consumption of wine was prohibited in monasteries and monastic hostels. But moral qualities were supported and encouraged: honesty, truthfulness, incorruptibility, courage, love of country, hard work. Thus, the institution of self-discipline and the moral stages of spiritual evolution were preserved.

In his teaching, Sergius always relied on Christ. He expanded the idea of Christ, showed his teaching as multifaceted and did it very convincingly. He managed to put the ancient Vedic worldview into a Christian form. And only the initiates understood that the head of the gods Rod became the “heavenly father”, Dazhbog - the son of Rod became the son of God Jesus Christ, and Lada the goddess of love and harmony took the form of the Virgin Mary, etc. The Vedic functions of the ancient Aryan (Orian) gods were extrapolated by Sergius of Radonezh to the names of archangels, angels and saints of the Christian pantheon. This is not difficult for a truly Russian person to realize if we remember that all the main words and the most important concepts and now they are based on the root of the clan: people, parents, relatives, city, garden, etc., and we all live under the Clan or in Nature.

Around the Church of St. Radonezh, the spiritually revived Rus' began to unite. Now both Vedic and Christians found a common language, and the Catholic West was looked at as a breeding ground for discord and evil, which perverted the true teachings of Christ.

Orthodox priests, together with the surviving wise men, taught people literacy and philosophy. The Church of S. Radonezh very soon crossed the borders of the Moscow principality and began to spread throughout southern and northwestern Rus'. The spirituality of the Russian state consisted of the interaction of two large religious movements. For the West, it seems like orthodox Christianity, taking into account local characteristics, for its people - the cosmogonic Vedic ancient teaching.

All major Christian holidays in Rus' are a legacy of the times of the asceticism of St. Sergius. They were not imposed on the people, but, on the contrary, were preserved for them. Albeit in a different form, but their essence remains the same. Sergius of Radonezh, translating all the ancient Vedic knowledge into Christian terms, created a secret Orthodox mystical teaching, which the entire Russian clergy began to teach. Thus, in Rus' the once powerful Orthodox shield was revived against any occult-religious influences from outside trying to influence the soul of the Russian people.

Over time, there were plans to dissociate the Russian Orthodox Church from the spiritually decaying Byzantine Church, whose days were already numbered.

Orthodox Christianity of St. Sergius made it possible to preserve traditional self-government, the institution of sorcery, and even wedding rituals.

The unity of Russian lands around Moscow was a consequence of the spiritual unity of people professing seemingly two different religions. He was able to show that the true teaching of Christ has nothing in common with Western Christianity, that Jesus never taught to destroy temples, organize crusades and burn heretics at the stake, and that there is no reason for religious strife within the country.

Sergius transferred Russian Christianity from the egregor of destruction to the egregor of creation and with his asceticism saved for many generations the true and lofty teaching that Jesus brought to Judea.

Sergius essentially called for using only what nature itself provided without violence against it. You cannot take something that is unripe or wormy, like that fruit of good and evil for which people were not ready. The Sergius Keliot Charter gave everyone the opportunity to work on their own patrimony, to ennoble the land, to learn to share everything that they have and at the same time to defend their work and land together. It was possible to retire in the cell. Everyone built a world for themselves, but it was common to everyone. No offense was punished; everyone acted as his conscience dictated. He himself had to voluntarily decide for himself to obey the rules of the Keliot community, who believed in the divine power of the laws of the Rule, or to follow a different path. In other words, work for the glory of peace and goodness, without demanding anything in return. Each monk learned to be responsible for his life, food, health, destiny, feelings and thoughts.

Etc. Sergius gave the path of silent solitude, that is, the path of a constant internal meditative state. For him, Christian salvation is asceticism and self-knowledge of the inner nature of man according to the teaching of Christ that “the kingdom of God is within us.” The path that was once characteristic of the Magi of ancient Rus'. Later, St. Sergius and his followers were called “the great silent ones.” Sergius did not try to emphasize his importance; he walked everywhere. He was able to travel seventy kilometers to Moscow within one day.

The Battle of Kulikovo Field played a major role in the unity of the Russian people. Moscow Prince Dmitry listened in everything to his spiritual mentor St. Sergius, with whom he wanted to dissociate the Orthodox Church from the Byzantine Church. Place over it your own Moscow patriarch, who is close in spirit to the reformers, and thereby unite all the Russian lands into a single whole.

In response, the West organized a new Tatar-Mongol invasion led by Khan Mamai, who was hostile to everything Christian. It was necessary to force Mamai to move his troops to Rus', and above all to Moscow, in order to put an end to the reforms of Prince Dmitry and the educational activities of St. Sergius.

Mamai was convinced that Rus' was easy prey, that Moscow had no regular army except mercenaries, and that the war would strengthen the influence of the Golden Horde and Islam so much that he, as a khan and commander, could compete with Tamerlane himself. They promised help with money and weapons and even military personnel.

Far-reaching plans were directed not only against Moscow, but also the Novgorod Republic, later with the help of the Livonian knights and the same Mongol-Tatars. It was not for nothing that the western Russian border either moved to the west or retreated to the east, but remained fortified in any position. The only historical analogue can be called the Great Wall of China. For them, we have always been barbarians, from the word varra - wall.

Mamai's army marched from the Volga to the Don, sweeping away everything in its path. For the Vedic population of the Cossacks, the adoption of Mohammedanism by the Golden Horde meant imminent death. The inhabitants of the Don region, the descendants of the Scythian-Sarmatians, lived independently under any conquerors. Even Tamerlane was unable to conquer born warriors. But Mamai also took aim at their independence.

The Cossacks did not see much difference between the teachings of Sergius in comparison with the ancient Vedic religion. Moreover, Orthodox Christianity made it possible to preserve the traditional Don self-government and the institution of sorcery, and Vedic rituals. Their Cossack circle was a kind of analogue of the veche.

The Russian army was not a regular army, but rather a zemstvo militia, except for the prince’s small squad. They were waiting for the promised help from the Russian-Lithuanian principality. But for some reason Jagiello was late or the Catholics did not want to help their Orthodox brothers in faith. He camped not far behind the Muscovites. The numerical superiority was clearly on Mamai's side. Despite the bravery and courage of Prince Dmitry’s army, defeat from the Tatars was inevitable if the Orthodox Cossacks had not unexpectedly entered the battle. A corps of ten thousand Cossacks, led by Ataman Tmar, appeared on the banks of the Don when the battle was in full swing. The Cossacks, having crossed the Don, immediately rushed to Mamai’s last reserve at his camp, and Bobrok, the prince’s commander, at that time sent a reserve regiment to the right wing of the Tatars. Bobrok saw how the fresh forces of Mamai entered into battle with someone and, drowning out the roar of the carnage, a polyphonic choir was heard. The As-Saks or Cossacks of the Don, attacking Mamai’s personal tumen, sang a hymn to Perun. A few minutes later the entire Russian army took up the hymn to the ancient Russian god of victory. Over the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380, the anthem of Russian victory sounded, silent for more than two centuries.

The features of the saint were later briefly listed in one of the letters of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in mid. 17th century: “a wonderful champion of the enemy against us and those who desecrate the Russian reign.” Therefore, it is no coincidence that regular pilgrimage to the Trinity Monastery on the holiday of the Trinity and on the day of memory of Sergius of Radonezh became part of the royal ritual. True, this did not prevent the tsar from carrying out the Nikonian reform, which led to a deep split within the Russian Orthodox Church, the prohibition and destruction of church books left as a legacy by St. Sergius and his associates. These reforms were called “correction of church books according to the Greek model.” The main thing was that church democracy was replaced by a strict vertical of power, at the head of which was the patriarch, and in fact the tsar. Western Christian puppeteers took full revenge, instituting the Holy Inquisition in Rus' according to their own model. The split caused irreparable damage to the cause of St. Sergius and all of Russia. Aggravated by Peter's reforms, it turned into a chasm that lay between the people and the authorities and became the cause of many subsequent riots.

But despite the constant attempts of the militant Latin religion to subjugate Moscow to its power, Rus' remained inaccessible to the goals of the West. There were times when Latin patriarchs sat in Jerusalem and Constantinople. But throughout history they never reached Moscow. Although they managed to drive the Vedic worldview of Rus' deep underground, impose Western-style Christianity on Russia and bring civilization to the common denominator of globalization. But it is obvious that the fear of the “pagan” Christianity of St. Sergius is still alive in Rome and in the minds of Western and overseas rulers.

Etc. Sergius was never a secular politician and did not have significant clergy. But he was, in fact, the spiritual leader of a resurgent power, to whom not only the people, but also those in power listened. His merits as a political and spiritual figure cannot be overestimated. If not for his wise, far-sighted foreign and domestic policies, Rus' would have found itself in an iron grip crusades German and Baltic knights, steppe inhabitants - proteges of Tamerlane and the Horde, and, finally, could become a hostage to the internal strife of the appanage princes. Soon after his death in 1447, the Monk Sergius of Radonezh was canonized and canonized, and later was revered as the heavenly patron and intercessor of the Moscow sovereigns. And it was not without reason that the Grand Duke’s and Tsar’s children were baptized in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

The “Trinity” icon by A. Rublev, created in the Sergius Monastery and unanimously recognized as one of the greatest monuments of Russian culture, was painted “in memory and praise” of Sergius. This work of ancient Russian painting, full of peace, silence and tranquility, harmoniously reveals the most important Christian symbols of the trinity of images of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. The icon most fully characterizes the spiritual heritage of St. Sergius, where God the Father is the creator of the material world, and God the Son is the guardian of the diversity of the world revealed to people. The central place is occupied by the sacrificial cup and its consecration by the Holy Spirit, the embodied image of the spiritual world, which is not subject to the destructive inexorability of time. The Rublev icon, in its own way, became the artistic embodiment of the theological and religious-philosophical views of St. Sergius. Already during his lifetime, St. Sergius of Radonezh was seen as the collective image of a united Rus' embodied in a real person, which the Russian people so longed for in the 13th-14th centuries, and which gave rise to a scale of Orthodox asceticism unparalleled in history that occurred in the 14th-15th centuries.

Vedas and Christianity

A series of articles have already appeared on Krishna consciousness, that is, Vaishnavism, and Christianity. In this regard, this article will not contain a detailed analysis of the problem of comparing confessions. Moreover, such a goal was not set also because Krestnikov’s article, written as a poem, itself evokes a certain style of perception of two spiritual movements. The reader is invited to see clear parallels not in general in the Christian and Vaishnava traditions, but precisely in this story about a unique phenomenon - eldership.

Love and devotion

The word “Orthodoxy” means “correct glorification,” that is, the correct way of serving God. Serving anything or anyone else is called sin. It is simply amazing how exactly this fits into the Vaishnava worldview. Jesus Christ taught that the main thing is to love God with all your heart: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength”(Mark 12:29-30). “This is the first and greatest commandment”(Matt. 22:38).

It is to achieve this (what is called prema-bhakti - loving devotional service) that the Vaishnava tradition exists. The latter is represented by several directions, each of which is based on the chain of disciplic succession, parampara. Just as the apostles, on the instructions of Jesus, founded churches in different countries, so the paramparas, following from a single source (from God), preserve (despite their plurality) the truth in an undistorted form.

The Gospel of John (14:6) contains the words of Jesus: “I am the way and the truth and the life; and no one comes to the Father except through Me.”, and further (14, 7): “If you knew Me, you would also know My Father; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The Vedas indicate that all the forms in which God manifests Himself (Vishnu, Narayana, Jagannatha, etc.) are non-different from Him, but reflect His different qualities. Jesus is the incarnation of God, what qualities are inherent in him? Jesus (Yeshua) means "Jehovah's help, Savior." The name Jehovah means “existent.” The essence of salvation is expressed by Jesus himself: “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...” In fact, Jesus is the personification of prema-bhakti, which was preached and presented by Lord Caitanya in Bengal about 500 years ago. By the way, in both the Vaishnava and Christian traditions there is one God, and in the Vedas gods are called the highest beings, demigods (angels).

In Bhagavad-gita (“Song of God”, B. g. 7, 18) the Almighty, Krishna says: “All these bhaktas [devotees of God] are undoubtedly noble souls, but he who knows Me has already attained Me. By serving Me with transcendental love, he comes to Me.” In Chapter 9 (verse 33) God calls: “... devote yourself to My service with love and devotion.”

Thus, both traditions affirm that only devoted loving service to God is the path to Him. As for the external, ritual part of worship, Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of lack of spirituality, of blindly following traditions and ancient laws (see, for example, Matthew 23), He called on His disciples: “Whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; do not act according to their deeds.”

In India there is a movement called smarta, smarta-brahmanism, which places excessive emphasis on the ritual part of worship. In the Vaishnava tradition, this is considered a meaningless activity, since only by focusing your thoughts and feelings on Krishna (God), you can, by the grace of a spiritual mentor (teacher, guru), reach Vaikuntha - the Kingdom of God: “Try to know the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Question him humbly and serve him. Self-realized [self-realized] souls are able to give you knowledge, for they see the truth.” (B. g. 4, 34).

When Jesus Christ spoke about the destruction of the temple and its reconstruction in three days, he meant his own body. “...behold, the kingdom of God is within us” (Luke 17:21). According to Vedic philosophy, the Lord Himself is present in the heart of every living being in the form of a supersoul (paramatma), thus, every body is a Temple of God. There is even a tradition of bowing to other people. It is characteristic that showing respect (worship) is carried out by lowering one’s forehead: these are bows, touching the forehead to a sacred object, to the floor, to the ground - almost the same in all faiths. But worship along with austerities are not the only elements of spiritual practice.

Knowledge and ignorance

Simply by cultivating knowledge, as both the Bhagavad Gita and the Old Testament teach, it is impossible to comprehend God, for He is transcendental, that is, unknowable by ordinary experience. It is believed that perception and understanding are closed from man, which is why everyone “must have a leader, whose constant help and constant presence will facilitate and ensure his correct ascent up the ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is exactly what is stated in Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 4, 34): “Try to know the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Question him humbly and serve him...”

Liberation

How do you see the way out of this labyrinth? Can you find your way back yourself? As was already said above - no, you can’t do it yourself, but how can you? In Krestnikov’s article, monasticism is called “the highest goal that allows one to overcome earthly wanderings.” The Vedas also recommend the path of renunciation of the world. As in the Orthodox tradition, independent attempts to leave the “prison of the material world” are considered pointless and even dangerous in the Vedas. Illusion is what blinds us. Only continuity, obedience, discipleship, fulfillment of the Commandments of God and the Sacraments make it possible to know the Kingdom of God.

As the author writes: “An elder is one of the senior monks who has gone through the difficult path of self-denial and has taken young monks and laity under his spiritual guidance.” In the Vedic Vaishnava tradition (as well as among the impersonalists), one who, having reached a high spiritual level, renounces everything material, leaving home, family, bank accounts, etc. for the sake of further spiritual advancement, is called a sannyasi. It is such people who usually become gurus to teach others.

Humility

The third verse of the Siksastaka, the only short work (ashtaka means eight verses) left by Lord Caitanya, who revived the Vaishnava tradition about 500 years ago, says:

Trinad Api Sunichena

taror api sahishnuna

amanina manadena

kirtaniyah sada harih

(Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas, BBT, 1974, p. 33). The translation and commentary for this verse is:

The author gives a wonderful quote about St. Ambrose of Optina: “He only needed the soul of a person, which was so dear to him that, forgetting himself, he tried with all his might to save it...” I would like to continue it with another quote, but from the Bhagavad Gita: “ Humble sages, thanks to true knowledge, see with one eye the learned Brahmana, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the dog-eater (untouchable)" (B. g. 5, 18). Srila Prabhupada's commentary on this verse states: “A person in Krishna consciousness makes no distinction between species of living beings and castes [social classes]....” This does not mean that the animals to whom the Vedas deny free will are equal to man, the only form of life in which the soul can return to the Kingdom of God, but only that the soul and God reside in the heart of every living being.

The author writes about the difficult process of spiritual revival in modern Russia. On the restoration of churches and monasteries. But the main thing is that “we are all left with a great spiritual heritage, of which we must be worthy.” Let us read once again the wonderful Prayer of the Optina Elders and repeat in a humble mood: “Abandon all dharmas (religious duties) and take refuge in Me alone.” (B. g. 18, 66).