What religion was Rabindrath Tagore- how did he express his spirituality, and what effect did this have on?
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He wasn't christian see here\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore\n\n“Rabindranath’s life and thoughts were shaped by a special set of historical circumstances that predisposed him in his choice of life style, and nurtured him in the atmosphere of the most accomplished Brahmo Family of the Bengal renaissance.\n\nThe situation then prevailing is best explained by Rabindranath Tagore -\n\n    “Unfortunately, when Englishmen alighted at our doorsteps with their material power, science and philosophy, our hearts were immobile. The religious asceticism, which had assisted the positioning of India as a preceptor in the world, had withered away. At that time, we were occasionally drying our ancient manuscripts in the sun, collecting them back and storing them in our houses. We were really doing nothing. The days of our glory were visible as a shadow on the horizon far behind. Even the banks of the nearby pond appeared to be more realistic and higher than those distant hill ranges.” [7]\n\nThe Bengal renaissance of the 19th century was a remarkable period of societal transformation in which whole range of creative activities – literary, cultural, social and economic- flourished [8] The Bengal Renaissance was the culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah (1493-1519). [9] This spread over covering around three centuries had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. Incidentally that coincided with the rise of the Tagore family.\n\nThe Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences. “Our being ostracised by the Hindu society provided us with a certain freedom in absorbing western influences, and at the same time the Adi Brahmo Samaj was a branch of Hindu society in all respects except the practise of idolatry. Maharshi (Debendranath Tagore) always expressed a hearty desire to establish this, and as such all the rituals and customs of Hindu society were followed in his family, and that environment prevailed at least till he was alive.” [10]\n\nTo quote Chitra Deb, “Though the cultural role of the Thakurs has received the greatest attention by far, their importance on final assessment is a composite one: commercial and political as well as literary and musical. They played a collective role in every patriotic movement of their times: Nabagopal Mitra’s Hindu Mela, the Congress and the National Conference, the Rakhi Festival of 1905, and the Nationalist Movement generally. The story of the Thakurs is inseparable from the story of Calcutta, Bengal and India.”
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Buddha told a story once about a man who had been shot, but wouldn't let anyone remove the arrow until he knew what wood it was made from, who made it, who shot him, whether the man who shot him was married, had kids, ....\n\nWhat a bozo, huh?  Again, a disciple asked Buddha whether or not the saints would be reborn in the Pure Land.  Buddha told him the question had nothing to do with the spiritual life, to get on with his meditation.\n\nSo, how does knowing about the cross make you more loving to your neighbors?
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This is what I found... hope it helps\n\n\nThe Child Angel\nby Rabindranath Tagore\n\nLet your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my child,\nunflickering and pure, and delight them into silence.\n\nThey are cruel in their greed and their envy,\ntheir words are like hidden knives thirsting for blood.\n\nGo and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child,\nand let your gentle eyes fall upon them like the\nforgiving peace of the evening over the strife of the day.\n\nLet them see your face, my child, and thus know the\nmeaning of all things, let them love you and love each other.\n\nCome and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless, my child.\nAt sunrise open and raise your heart like a blossoming flower,\nand at sunset bend your head and in silence\ncomplete the worship of the day.
41948
Are you refering to "Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain" If so he was the leader of the Osho-Rajneesh movement. I haven't read the article so I would not due it justuice but below is the link.  Mind you the article is being disputed at the moment but it might give you a general idea about the man.
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RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1913) \nNobel Prize for Literature \n\nPopularly known as Gurudev, India's most famous writer and poet was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his work Geetanjali, a collection of poems, in 1913. Tagore was also involved in teaching. In 1901 he founded the famous Santiniketan which later came to be known as Vishwabharati University. \n\nDID YOU KNOW? \nRabindranath Tagore is also the author of India's National Anthem.
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Prince Siddharta Gautama was born some 2,500 years ago as a prince in what is now called Lumbini in Nepal. At his birth, many special signs appeared. His father asked a sage living in his kingdom for advice on his son. The sage predicted that Gautama would become either a great King or a great spiritual teacher.\n\nThe King wanted his son to be his successor and tried to keep his son far away from all matters of life that could incline him to a spiritual life. Gautama usually spent his life in his father's palace, surrounded by all possible luxuries of the time. He proved to be a special child, being quite intelligent as well as an excellent sportsman. He married to a beautiful woman he loved, and they had a son.\n\nWhen he was 29 years old, he discovered there was much suffering in the world around him. Traditionally it is explained that he suddenly recognised the problems of sickness, old age and death when visiting the city. Being shocked by the suffering of all living beings, he decided to search for way to end it. He left his wife and child, the palace and even his royal clothes, and started out on a spiritual quest.\n\nGautama studied under various teachers and followed their practices until he mastered them all. His first teacher was Alara Kalama who taught a form of meditation leading to an exalted form of absorption called "state of no-thingness", a state without moral or cognitive dimension. Gautama saw this was not going to solve suffering, and continued his search.\nThe next teacher was Udraka Ramaputra who taught him meditative absorption leading to “the state of neither perception nor non-perception”. Again, Gautama realised this was not the state he was looking for. (Both Alara and Udraka are by some scholars considered Jain followers.)\nNext, he tried extreme ascetic practices at Uruvilva, with five other ascetics who turned into his followers. In the end, Gautama nearly died of starvation.\nAfter about six years of searching, he realised that just wearing down his body did not generate new insights, but rather leads to weakness and self-destruction. When he decided to give up extreme asceticism, his students left him.\nHe then sat down in a place now called Bodhgaya (North India) under a Bodhi-tree and decided not to get up anymore until he discovered the truth. Just a short time later, he became a fully enlightened Buddha. This means that he actualised all positive potentials of a sentient being and rid himself of all negative qualities. With this, he realised the true nature of existence and suffering (emptiness), and how suffering can be ended. \nSeven weeks after enlightenment, the Buddha gave his first discourse in Sarnath, near Varanasi . Here he taught the 4 Noble Truths. The Buddha continued to teach during his life, until passing away at the age of  81.\n\nThe Buddha once summarised his entire teachings in one sentence:\n\n    "I teach about suffering and the way to end it".
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the man named Bhagwan Swaminarayan was an important person in the development of a branch of Hinduism.  You can find out more about him and his followers at:\n\nhttp://www.swaminarayan.info/
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I think he was just a really cool spiritual dude (and probably a really good reiki master).  Spirituality is the  free will to find the path of God on your own.....not letting someone telling you how to find god via organized religion.  \nI think Jesus was the embodiement of getting in touch with God, by getting in touch with yourself.  That's why he didn't support organized religion.
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी; Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી; October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of India, and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer and perfector of Satyagraha - the resistance of tyranny through mass Civil Disobedience strongly founded upon ahimsa (total non-violence) — which led India to independence, and has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known and addressed in India and across the world as Mahatma Gandhi (from Sanskrit, Mahatma: Great Soul) and as Bapu (in many Indian languages, Father).
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Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.\n\nHe has been called the most prominent Indian Dalit leader of the 20th century. He was born in Mhow of Madhya Pradesh state in central India, the fourteenth child of parents who belonged to the very lowest stratum of Hindu society, known as Untouchables or Dalits. He helped spark a revival of Buddhism in India, a movement which is now known as neo-Buddhism. Dr. Ambedkar is one of the most revered leaders of the world. He is called 'Babasaheb' or 'sir-father' by his followers. His statues outnumber the statues of any other leader or deity in human history.\n\n\nSachin Ramesh Tendulkar \n-----------------------\n\nHe is an Indian cricketer, rated in 2002 by Wisden as second only to Sir Don Bradman[1] among Test batsmen. Oddly, Wisden does not include any innings by Tendulkar among its list of 100 greatest Test batting performances. Primarily a top-order batsman, Tendulkar has occasionally proven a useful slow bowler. He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for 1997-1998, and the civilian award Padma Shri in 1999. Tendulkar was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.
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Background:\n\nAccordingly to the Biblical Terms, "Turban" means a head covering worn by men, made of cloth wrapped around the head. This fact can also be seen in respect of old paintings exhibited in the Museums and the past literature pertaining to the earlier history. During the fifteenth century when Guru Nanak Sahib (CE 1469-1539) founded the Sikh religion, India was then being ruled by the Muslim Rulers whereas Hindus were their slaves. In those days most of the Muslims and Hindus used to keep "Turbans" though some of them had also been wearing ‘caps (topi) or kulah’. From the very beginning of his childhood, Guru Nanak also continued the tradition of keeping long hair intact and covering the head by tying a Turban. This continued to be followed by his nine successors (1539 - 1708). In this respect reference could be sighted in the "Guru Granth Sahib", the Sacred Scripture of the Sikhs:\n\n"Let living in His presence, with mind rid of impurities be your discipline. Keep the God-given body intact and with a Turban donned on your head". (GGS–Page 1084)\n\nHistorical Episode:\n\nAlthough the Sikh Faith continued to be flourished gradually, when Guru Granth Sahib containing the "Gurbaani" the Divine Word was compiled in CE 1604, both the Muslim ruling class and the Hindu priestly class were alarmed because most of their people abandoned the respective religions and started following the Sikh religion because it was more appealing to them. Despite the martyrdoms of the Fifth and Ninth Gurus of the Sikhs on 30th May 1606 and 11th November 1675 respectively, most of the Hindus and Muslims did not deter from joining the newly established Sikh Faith. With a view to consolidate this renaissance, special gathering of its adherence was called at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab State. Thus by selecting Five Dear Ones, the tenth Master Guru Gobind Singh Sahib established the "Khalsa Panth" by way of Baptism: Amrit Initiation Ceremony on 30th March 1699. The Guru commanded the Sikhs: (1) To keep up their "Kes" - uncut long hair as provided by the Almighty Creator, including untrimmed beards, moustaches and eyebrows as well as to cover the head by tying a Turban for males and scarf for females; (2) to keep "Kangha" – a small wooden comb which must be placed tucked in the hair-tress and used for cleaning the hair; (3) to wear "Kara" - a loose steel ring on right hand wrest; (4) to wear "Kaschehra" - specially designed breeches and (5) to carry "Kirpaan" - a small sheathed sword in baldric. These articles of Faith were made compulsory for the Sikhs so that their appearance remains distinctive from that of Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Muslims and other communities. \n\nIdentity struggle\n\nThe tying of a Turban and keeping unshorn long hair gave the Sikhs a unique and an easily recognizable identity all over the world. This distinctive identity of the Sikhs led them into various religious, cultural and political struggles throughout their history and that the sacrifices, which the Sikhs made during those struggles resulted in strengthening their resolve. The worst period of persecution of the Sikhs and the most malicious discrimination against them was during the first half of the eighteenth century when not only was their identity at stake, but also, their very survival. The Mughal Emperors of India – Bahadur Shah (1707-1712), Farrukh Siyar (1712-1719), Mohammad Shah (1719-1748) and Ahmad Shah (1748-1754) had ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the Sikhs with a view to stop them from practicing the beliefs of their Faith and from obeying the commandments of their Gurus. The Sikhs preferred to lay down their lives rather than allow their hair to be shaved or Turban to be removed. Aided and abetted by the Hindu slaves, Mir Manu, the provincial Muslim Governor of the Punjab, during the regime of Mohammad Shah, was the most cruel of
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The influences of my religion to my personality are as follows:\n\n1) My religion help me to become or to strive to become a better person every day;\n\n2) My religion teach me not to give up in time of difficulties;\n\n3) My religion help me to become positive minded;\n\n4) My religion teach me not to be afraid of death [or dying] as after we died there is an afterlife which is better than the presence life.
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Buddhism stated with Buddha, he was disappointed with life in the sense world....so he wanted higher answers and he got them....the story is long, basically he grew up in luxury and did not know anything about disease or old age ...one day he went out of his palace and has seen a old person, a dead person, a disease stricken person..and a crippled person...he was disgusted with the world, left his palace, became a monk and sought after enlightenment which he got after rigorous practice.\n\nand with caste of Hindus, Hindus divided people on the nature of their work ...for example, Brahmin's were scholars they worked on metaphysics and religion, the Kshatriyas were the kings, and they were responsible for the protection of the country...\nthe vaisyas were business  men, merchants...people who made money...and the sudras were people like barbers, cleaners..who used to get paid for a certain work like the above..\n\nHindus believe that after death, they will be reborn, and this cycle of births and deaths will continue until one attains enlightenment..\n\nand,  a person who seeks spiritual knowledge and strives for it in the present life will be born in better circumstances in his next life which will make it easier for him to concentrate on spiritual pursuits..\n\n\n\nI just read some of the answers, and what you have to know is caste system was not introduced by ashoka, but by the ancient aryans..who wrote the vedas and was called varnasrama, and yes buddhism is an offshoot of hinduism, and no people can change their caste, ie. if you are a brahmin, but like to be a king you can be..and will be called  a kshyatriya, the system was very flexible...
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Sikhism is  a branch of Hinduism with Islamic effects . \n\nGuru nanak was first Guru but Sikhism was established as a Pantha by 10nt guru Govind Singh.\n\nGuru Govind Singh Statrted the "Pantha" as a martial class to fight attrocities of Islam.\n\nHindus used to give at least one son to the "Sikh pantha" for the cause.\n\nHindus who followed Teachings of Nanak are Sahajdhari Sikh. Sikhs who follow Guru Nanak are Keshdhari  Hindu.\n\nMy sikh friends still call themselves Hindu.  Hindus visit Guru Dwara and Sikhs do go to temples.
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In one sentence, \n\n"The divinity of man"\n\nHinduism teaches that all religions are good and are valid paths to god...\n\njust like different ppl wear different clothes, eat different food, but are all the same "humans", so also different religions use different methods to reach the same\n"God"\n\nIt says that everything in the universe is god, you are god.\nI am god, \n\nall the suffering humanity goes through is because we forget our own divine nature, and think that we are nothin but bodies...\n\nThe goal of life is to realize our own divine nature,\n\nso hinduism shows 4 paths to that realization\n\nthey are\n\n1.bhakti yoga (through workship)\n\n2.karma yoga (through selfless work)\n\n3,raja yoga ( by psychic control, meditation and pranayama etc )\n\nand\n\n4.jyana yoga ( through philosophical discrimination of what is real and what is not real.)\n\nThe watch word of hinduism is\n\n"Truth alone triumphs"..........\n\nhinduism teaches us to be fearless...
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The Renaissance was an age of rebirth, basically what it means, the arguable precursor to the later age of reason. It's a time when the arts, culture, how we perceived the world, changed. The role of religion would have been influential, as it always is, but, from what little I believe to understand, one of the primary roles religion would play is in the advancement of architecture, notably cathedrals, includling the art there in, so it affected the arts. Likely, the philosophical writings of many theolgians was reread to garner wisdom, or be challenged. In that case, religion would be used for self reflection to grow from.\n\nMy opinion.
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Ramakrishna said there is one mountain and many paths.  The one mountain is ultimately advaita vedanta - nondualism, the dissolution of the universe into the Self.  Said a different way, it's like when you're in the "zone" and your body tingles as each cell feels wholly connected with the universe around you and you remember that you are truly NOT separate from everything around you, in fact, you are one and the same with all things.\n      But any path that will lead you to the Truth is a viable path, only arrogance or ignorance will lead one to believe that one path is "better" than another.  The path of bhakti, devotion or worship, is but one form of the path with many faces (many of the various gods of hinduism and many forms of Christianity fall within this path).  Their is also the path of wisdom, jhani which can lead one to the experience of advaita vedanta.  Ultimately, beyond beliefs, concepts, and words, there is the experience of being one with all things, the mystic connection.  The experience is key, not the words that people fight and kill over.  \n     So, if celebrating the Elephant god floats your boat and provides the experience of being one with all things, then celerate you should.  However, if worshipping Jesus the Christ works for you, then that's what's you should do.  It's a very personal thing and there is no "right" way to pursue enlightenment.  But, the more you judge others, the more you shall be judged.