The Teachings of Swami Omkarananda
At the heart of Swami Omkarananda’s teachings is the unbreakable oneness that unites humanity and the whole of creation with the Divine, the timeless Reality, the original ground of all existence, from which everything has originated and to which everything returns. The omnipresence of the Divine and the possibility of experiencing God in this life and in the earthly realm form the subject of all of his teachings, instructions and meditations.
Swami Omkarananda was a teacher of universal religion, which unites in itself the spiritual and mystical essence of all the world’s religions.
His teachings are a self-revelation of the ultimate Truth. Consequently, his utterances are in harmony with the Vedas and the Upanishads, and with the mystical insights found in the Judeo-Christian Bible and in the scriptures of other religious traditions.
Thus, he opens up for many Christians, Hindus and adherents of other religions new ways of seeing. Thereby, everyone and everything are recognised from the depth of one’s own true Self, in the radiant light of one’s innermost Being, as the many in the One, which is limitless, beyond the play of dualities and sense perceptions.
The timeless, infinite Power operated in and through Swami Omkarananda. Therefore, he was in a position to unify in himself all religions and to present a supra-religious synthesis which is established solely in the eternal Truth, the Truth that transcends the psychological realm, the Truth that is one with the ultimate Reality. This Truth is immediately present and can be experienced directly.
Swami Omkarananda’s life and work offer a vibrant, fascinating example of how his teachings can be realised.
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"The essentials of all religions are the same. Christianity says: love your neighbour, have faith in God, be good, be moral. What does Judaism say? Exactly the same thing. What does Hinduism say? Exactly the same. What does Islam say? Exactly the same. Love is the same everywhere – in all religions, in all races, in all nations.
Truth is the same in all cultures, in all nations, in all religions.
Goodness is the same in all religions.
Faith is the same in all religions.
Devotion is the same in all religions.
Knowledge is the same in all religions.
All these factors are uniting all religions. God does not belong to any religion. He does not belong to the East or to the West. Therefore, there is no such thing as Eastern religion and Western religion. There is only one God, and there is only one religion – the religion of Love, the religion of Service, the religion of Prayer and Meditation, the religion of divine Knowledge, the religion of Faith, Goodness, Saintliness, Godliness and divine Contemplation."
- Swami Omkarananda
