Religions, the esoteric, and reaching divinity

[Loulie]

Hello all,

I am fairly new to these forums and have enjoyed skimming through a lot of the topics discussed herein. I just wanted to ask everyone what's their views on religious doctrines and the vast repertoires of ancient and modern techniques of reaching divinity and how do they correlate?

 

Does anyone agree with me that religions' purest purpose is uniting the self with the divine? Be it through prayer, devotion, meditation, overcoming bodily limitations etc, as discussed in the yogic system as bhakti gnana kriya hatha etc?

 

Has anyone here reached the peak of awareness/enlightenment also known as samadhi? Is this state real? Could you please be kind to share your thoughts/path you took and the stages/experiences through your progression to your current stage and how did it change your life?

 

Another few questions I would like to ask is the difference between this train of thought mentioned above and Daoism and all the Chinese names and systems I have been reading here. Are the goals similar or any different? Another thing that caught my attention was the LoneManPai techniques I came across through quiet a few threads, I tried to look into it a little but was limited to guest account on their boards and couldn't read much. Does anyone vouch for this system? is it healthy and pure in its deeds?

 

A little about me:

I'm 26 year old and love reading all kinds of spiritual books and mystic stuff and have been doing so for quiet a few years not only in the hopes of reaching any specific state of mind but also to be a better human being. I was initiated by Sadhguru's organization and enjoyed going through some of their programs but since I put my practice aside for a long time I started doubting the techniques offered there and then lost faith in any commercial teaching. Do not get me wrong I love the guy and he did wonders and does every day but I was not fully convinced I would advance much specially after running through some very toxic people inside. Currently I'm a lost seeker wanting to try something new my last books was Brahmacharya and also Kundalini by Sivananda and it was very informative but it lacked the technical know how of doing most of the breathing techniques and a lot of them are very advanced and need 1-on-1 guidance.

 

Peace and God bless everyone!!!

[rex]

Welcome to the Daobums Loulie! So many deep and wide ranging questions in one post. It might be better to ask them separately in their own posts.

[mvingon]

"Does anyone agree with me that religions' purest purpose is uniting the self with the divine?"

 

Yes. But I could be wrong.

[thelerner]

Lots of questions .  The guy who runs the Lonemanpai board always seemed balanced and cutting edge to me in a Bruce Lee, in a Jeet Kune Do way.  In the early stages though, imo putting in time (years) to get down fundamentals is more important then questions or answers about divinity or Oneness. 

 

Good to look around, but progress only comes when you choose a practice and go deep.  You marry one and maybe flirt with others every now and then.

 

 

addon>

2> I don't know about uniting, but its certainly seeing the divine in aspects of the world around us.  Maybe thats the same thing.   In Judaism traditionally you're saying blessings through the day, most of them 'The spirit of God is all around, his mystery suffuses Everything (time and space), Wow, a ____ 'bread, wine, water, washroom.. pretty much any noun.  Traditionally that goes on about a 100 times a day.  Striving for the recognition of God, within the mundane.