This was a fascinating interview and frightening all the knowledge Acharya .S seems to have on a wide range of religious cultures spanning back centuries,
I walked away from listening to this interview thinking Acharya has become to much head and not enough heart.
It's funny that the Sanskrit word "Acharya" is normally a title given to a spiritual teacher or religious teacher who is well versed in sacred Vedic literature
I'm intrigued why Miss Murdock chose this title.
It evidently obvious that Acharya.S is well educated on a range of religious cultures spanning back centuries and I would imagine a conversation with this lady would be fascinating, I am also interested in buying the book mentioned in the interview that claims to unveil Krsna, Buddha. and Jesus. That should make an intriguing read.
I understood how Murdock finds similarities between this religious culture and that religious culture and claims one has taken concepts and adopted them from another, and in conclusion the ideas of Christianity are not original but adopted from a previous movement.
This on the surface seems to undermine the authenticity of the power of religion, How can it be genuine when it stole the idea from another movement which predates it.?
This to me
is not the most accurate way to view the purpose of religion. The purpose of religion is to bring one closer to God, regardless of the religion, it is to learn and know and to understand God. That is what religion means.
If we accept any of the great religious teachings of today and what their theology teaches, it teaches that
In the beginning God.
What this means is, That God is the only independent being, God does not depend on anything to exist, God is self sufficient in energy, That is the nature of God, everything else that is brought into existence is through God, nothing exists independently or outside God. Therefore the conclusion is that everything that exists is an expansion of Gods energy. But does this mean that everything automatically becomes God?, No, it just means everything is an expansion of Gods plenary portions or external energy, An example can be given of the sun and the sunshine, using a purport from the Bhagavad Gita.
As the sun exists diffusing its unlimited rays, so does the Supersoul, or Supreme Personality of Godhead. He exists in His all-pervading form, and in Him exist all the individual living entities, beginning from the first great teacher, Brahma, down to the small ants. There are unlimited heads, legs, hands and eyes, and unlimited living entities. All are existing in and on the Supersoul. Therefore the Supersoul is all-pervading.
Bhagavad Gita purport CH13 Text 14
The Lord is situated in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. Does that mean that He has become divided? No. Actually, He is one. The example is given of the sun: The sun, at the meridian, is situated in its place. But if one goes for five thousand miles in all directions and asks, "Where is the sun?" everyone will say that it is shining on his head.
Bhagavad Gita purport CH 13; TEXT 17
In the Vedic literature this example is given to show that although He is undivided, He is situated as if divided.
From this we can conclude that the sunshine is everywhere and is an extension of the sun, Yet the sun globe exists in a single spot, Both are the same in chemical qualitative attributes and are non different from each other but yet both are different. For example both the sun and sunshine are part of the same reality, but there is a great difference between having a beam of sunshine in your room, and being in close proximity to the sun itself.
This philosophy is called Acintya Bheda-Abheda, which means
the inconceivable oneness and difference of the Lord. He is one with his creation by expansion of energy yet different at the same time.
If one advances to this understanding, it is easy to understand how nothing is separate from God, and how everything rests in God,
In conclusion it doesn't matter weather certain religions share similar stories and one adopts some idea from another, because it is all parts of Gods being,
The goal of every religion is to reach God realization, and to awaken our spiritual relationship with God, There are many paths this is an accepted theology according to the Vedic school of thought under Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
I am only giving my understanding here and by no means do I intend to undermine Achrya.S or her work, I am just offering my understanding at how to create unity in diversity. Everything is from a single source God, although things appear different they are from the one source.
I also look forward to buying the book
Sons of God: Krishna, Buddha, and Christ Unveiled.
Every time I listen to an interview I think this could be my favourite one, but I certainly think this interview is up their with the best.