FAQs About Steve Bohlert/Subal Das' Beliefs


Here are answers to FAQs about my beliefs. Click to email me.	BASIC BELIEFS What is God for you? God-dess is the divine couple, Radha Krishna, the Cause of all causes, the Ground of All Being, the Source of all life and love. God-dess is all pervading, immanent and transcendent. God-dess is love. What are your favorite "names for God"? God-dess, Radha-Krishna, The Divine Couple, Om, Tao, Higher Power, Collective Unconscious, The Ground of Being and many others What are God's basic characteristics, as you understand them? Love. God-dess is all loving and all knowing, but doesn't seem to have a lot of power to rid the world of evil and suffering or perhaps just chooses to leave that up to us to do by our free will. Sometimes it appears that God-dess is both good and evil and doesn't discriminate too much between the two. However, God-dess also lives in a transcendental realm that is beyond the dualities of this material world. That spiritual world is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Do you believe that "God lives within each human being"? Yes. Care to explain? God-dess is all pervading. If we develop our consciousness to be in tune with God-dess, we can experience God-dess’ presence within us and live our lives with and from that consciousness as the central organizing principle of our lives. Do you believe that "God is love"? Yes. Care to explain? I believe God-dess is love or I would want nothing to do with God-dess. I come from the devotional tradition and have a lot invested in this belief. However, I must admit that sometimes God-dess doesn't seem all that loving. I often am left with a sense of unfulfilled longing as expressed in Rumi's "Love Dogs" or the unrequited love in separation of the cowherd girls for Krishna. Therefore, I primarily take shelter of the lotus feet of Radha, the personification of love. Can the people on this planet learn to love one another? Yes. What is your best idea on how this can happen? When we realize we are all children of one God-dess and God-dess is love and loves all of us and wants us to love each other just as we love ourselves. The various religions need to get beyond superficial understandings to a deeper eternal religion or and help their followers attain self realization. They need to accept that God-dess is one, but there are many paths to reach God-dess. What are you doing to help? I practice an eclectic faith drawing from various traditions. I strip away the cultural externals and seek the core of wisdom which leads to a mystical union with God-dess. I walk the talk and talk the talk to anyone who cares to listen. I also write. THE MEANING OF LIFE Who are we? We are spiritual beings living in material bodies. We are part and parcel of God-dess having the same qualities but in smaller quantity. What are we made up of? We are pure spirit in essence. In our embodied state we are made up of body, mind, intellect and spirit. Where do we come from when we are born? Various places according to our own personal journey. Most people are reincarnated souls who have been in human form previously. Others have worked their way up from the animal species. Others are come from different planets within the material creation, and a few come from the spiritual realm to help humanity evolve. Where do we go after death? That depends on how we live this life. Just as the wind picks up the scent of the places it passes over, the soul picks up the qualities of the life/lives it lived and those qualities carry it on to the next life just as we move from place to place in this life. You might say the law of karma or cause and effect is at work. We are on sort of a trajectory from life to life. However, we do have free will and the ability to change our trajectory by making conscious choices. Hopefully the soul evolves and gains higher states of consciousness from life to life, but some develop bad karma and devolve. My goal is to escape the cycle of birth and death and return to the spiritual world. I do this by living a life of devotion and counting on the grace of Radha. Why do we live? Because we are eternal spiritual beings and cannot die. Why is there suffering in the world? Because embodied life in the material world entails suffering. We increase suffering through misuse of our free will. How can we avoid suffering? We can't. We can minimize its effects upon us according to how we react to it and choosing to live joyfully . We can minimize the amount of suffering by making wise choices in life and developing detachment. However, life in this world involves suffering. No one can totally avoid it. Which is the way (or which are the ways) to reach truth or to gradually get closer to reaching it? By studying spiritual teachings; by learning from a spiritual guide(s); by becoming a disciple; by applying and practicing spiritual principles; by prayer, meditation and contemplation; by associating with spiritual persons; by practicing love, devotion and service; by working for peace, justice and the integrity of creation; and more. SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION How do you define the term "religion"? Religion is a set of common beliefs and practices followed by a group of people usually in relation to the worship of a deity. One's religion may be understood as that which one holds in highest regard in one's life such as "Her profession is her religion." Or, "His family is his religion." It may be defined as the overarching paradigm of one's life. Is "religion" different than "spirituality"? Yes. How do you define "spirituality"? Spirituality is when a person engages in various practices which transform one's consciousness so that one is more aware and conscious of one's inner spiritual nature and relationship to God-dess. Such inner practices should affect one's actions so they are directed by the higher self and God-dess. One's self awareness should be identified with this spiritual nature and one should become accustomed to living in and from this consciousness. Spirituality also involves a mystical union with God-dess. What are some essential differences between the two? Many religious persons are not spiritual and many spiritual persons are not religious although one may be both. Religion is more superficial. The spiritual is more sublime. Religion often tends to divide people. We can see how many wars are fought in the name of religion. Even within one religion people may be divided in a battle for dominance. Spirituality tends to unite people. It transcends religious, cultural, economic and other distinctions and helps us understand we are all children of one God-dess.
Copyright ©2003-09 Steve Bohlert

BASIC BELIEFS

What is God for you?
God-dess is the divine couple, Radha Krishna, the Cause of all causes, the Ground of All Being, the Source of all life and love. God-dess is all pervading, immanent and transcendent. God-dess is love.

What are your favorite "names for God"?
God-dess, Radha-Krishna, The Divine Couple, Om, Tao, Higher Power, Collective Unconscious, The Ground of Being and many others

What are God's basic characteristics, as you understand them?
Love. God-dess is all loving and all knowing, but doesn't seem to have a lot of power to rid the world of evil and suffering or perhaps just chooses to leave that up to us to do by our free will. Sometimes it appears that God-dess is both good and evil and doesn't discriminate too much between the two. However, God-dess also lives in a transcendental realm that is beyond the dualities of this material world. That spiritual world is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss.

Do you believe that "God lives within each human being"?
Yes.

Care to explain?
God-dess is all pervading. If we develop our consciousness to be in tune with God-dess, we can experience God-dess’ presence within us and live our lives with and from that consciousness as the central organizing principle of our lives.

Do you believe that "God is love"?
Yes.

Care to explain?
I believe God-dess is love or I would want nothing to do with God-dess. I come from the devotional tradition and have a lot invested in this belief. However, I must admit that sometimes God-dess doesn't seem all that loving. I often am left with a sense of unfulfilled longing as expressed in Rumi's "Love Dogs" or the unrequited love in separation of the cowherd girls for Krishna. Therefore, I primarily take shelter of the lotus feet of Radha, the personification of love.

Can the people on this planet learn to love one another?
Yes.

What is your best idea on how this can happen?
When we realize we are all children of one God-dess and God-dess is love and loves all of us and wants us to love each other just as we love ourselves. The various religions need to get beyond superficial understandings to a deeper eternal religion or and help their followers attain self realization. They need to accept that God-dess is one, but there are many paths to reach God-dess.

What are you doing to help?
I practice an eclectic faith drawing from various traditions. I strip away the cultural externals and seek the core of wisdom which leads to a mystical union with God-dess. I walk the talk and talk the talk to anyone who cares to listen. I also write.

THE MEANING OF LIFE

Who are we?
We are spiritual beings living in material bodies. We are part and parcel of God-dess having the same qualities but in smaller quantity.

What are we made up of?
We are pure spirit in essence. In our embodied state we are made up of body, mind, intellect and spirit.

Where do we come from when we are born?
Various places according to our own personal journey. Most people are reincarnated souls who have been in human form previously. Others have worked their way up from the animal species. Others are come from different planets within the material creation, and a few come from the spiritual realm to help humanity evolve.

Where do we go after death?
That depends on how we live this life. Just as the wind picks up the scent of the places it passes over, the soul picks up the qualities of the life/lives it lived and those qualities carry it on to the next life just as we move from place to place in this life. You might say the law of karma or cause and effect is at work. We are on sort of a trajectory from life to life. However, we do have free will and the ability to change our trajectory by making conscious choices.

Hopefully the soul evolves and gains higher states of consciousness from life to life, but some develop bad karma and devolve. My goal is to escape the cycle of birth and death and return to the spiritual world. I do this by living a life of devotion and counting on the grace of Radha.

Why do we live?
Because we are eternal spiritual beings and cannot die.

Why is there suffering in the world?
Because embodied life in the material world entails suffering. We increase suffering through misuse of our free will.

How can we avoid suffering?
We can't. We can minimize its effects upon us according to how we react to it and choosing to live joyfully . We can minimize the amount of suffering by making wise choices in life and developing detachment. However, life in this world involves suffering. No one can totally avoid it.

Which is the way (or which are the ways) to reach truth or to gradually get closer to reaching it?
By studying spiritual teachings; by learning from a spiritual guide(s); by becoming a disciple; by applying and practicing spiritual principles; by prayer, meditation and contemplation; by associating with spiritual persons; by practicing love, devotion and service; by working for peace, justice and the integrity of creation; and more.

SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION

How do you define the term "religion"?
Religion is a set of common beliefs and practices followed by a group of people usually in relation to the worship of a deity. One's religion may be understood as that which one holds in highest regard in one's life such as "Her profession is her religion." Or, "His family is his religion." It may be defined as the overarching paradigm of one's life.

Is "religion" different than "spirituality"?
Yes.

How do you define "spirituality"?
Spirituality is when a person engages in various practices which transform one's consciousness so that one is more aware and conscious of one's inner spiritual nature and relationship to God-dess. Such inner practices should affect one's actions so they are directed by the higher self and God-dess. One's self awareness should be identified with this spiritual nature and one should become accustomed to living in and from this consciousness. Spirituality also involves a mystical union with God-dess.

What are some essential differences between the two?
Many religious persons are not spiritual and many spiritual persons are not religious although one may be both. Religion is more superficial. The spiritual is more sublime. Religion often tends to divide people. We can see how many wars are fought in the name of religion. Even within one religion people may be divided in a battle for dominance. Spirituality tends to unite people. It transcends religious, cultural, economic and other distinctions and helps us understand we are all children of one God-dess.