December 2015

This song was praise to Hare
Krishna and other Hindu gods
with the tune inspired from “Oh,
Happy Day” a Christian song
and used “Hallelujah,” a Hebrew
term. Harrison ultimately used
the tune from “He’s So Fine” for
which he was sued for copyright
infringement. Harrison wanted to
wipe out religious sectarianism
to bring in peace and harmony
(Song Facts). Unfortunately,
many Christians thought the song
was about Jesus, not Krishna.
This effectively spurred on the
“all roads lead to God” thought.
Another influence was the pop
song “The Age of Aquarius” by
the 5th Dimension wrought with
New Age Spirituality’s astrology,
also common in the early 1970s
(Song Facts)( (Metro Lyrics).
Their song topped the charts of
popular music, too. When people
can sing the lyrics along with the
songs, it’s not long before the
lyrics influence their minds and
hearts.
The Belief Systems of the
Movement
There are four common believe
systems causing turbulent
waters: Hinduism, Buddhism
(Zen primarily), New Age Spirituality,
and Universalism. These
have become a pantheistic blur,
meaning God is in everyone and
everything. These are attractive
to people who believe God would
never send anyone to Hell. It
seems good, safe, neutral.
Hindu adherents believe that
there is a “spark” of the divine in
everyone. All is God, and God is
in all. (Martin, 1997) All of life is
suffering: therefore, one should
seek enlightenment to alleviate
suffering in this world restoring
harmony and peace. Adherents
must work off bad deeds-karmato
move up in the reincarnation
cycle. There are essentially four
paths to God: knowledge, love,
work, and mind-body exercises.
They practice transcendental
meditation, yoga in various
forms, higher learning, and doing
good deeds as a way to Brahman
(highest god), reaching Nirvana
(Ultimate Reality). These practices
are used to attain enlightenment.
The god of this religion
is really that of self, even though
there are thousands of deities
considered gods. One can supposedly
attain god status by
working one’s way through the
reincarnation cycle. (Smith, Hinduism,
1991) Hinduism is part
of the foundation of groups like
Baha’i and Scientology (Martin,
1997, pp. 261, 270, 275) (Baha’i
International Community, 2015).
Buddhism’s fundamental doctrines
are not that different from
Hinduism because the founder
grew up Hindu; however, these
practices are viewed through
Buddha’s teachings The Four
Noble Truths. Gautama Buddha
concluded life is filled with suffering.
Enlightenment transcends
all suffering, by avoiding selfish
ambition. The goal is to end suffering
and attain world peace,
a narrow road for the follower.
Adherents follow the Eight-Fold
Path to accomplish the Four
Noble Truths include right views,
intent, speech, conduct, livelihood,
effort, mindfulness, and
concentration. Meditation, yoga,
tai ch’i, and other methods are
used to follow the Eight Fold
Path. All of these works are to
achieve perfection, alleviate suffering,
and restore peace within
the Universe, hence a form of
“salvation.” There is no defined
god-figure, but there is the impli-
cation each person is a god of
his or her own destiny (Smith,
Buddhism, 1991).
Zen Buddhism is a blend of traditional
Buddhism and Taoism,
the driving force for martial arts
based in Korea, Japan, and
Okinawa. Taoism believes the
center of all matter is a cosmic
force which keeps all things in
balance symbolized by the yin
yang (Smith, Buddhism, 1991,
pp. 196-216). Zen maintains
this position; however, it is the
harsher, more practical branch of
Buddhism. The god figure is the
cosmic force into which everyone
will one day be absorbed at
death. (Smith, Buddhism, 1991,
pp. 128-139). Practitioners want
to become one with the Universe,
the great Tao. Jesus is
considered a good teacher, but
not God. Buddha is the greatest
teacher and prophet.
New Age Spirituality blurs several
beliefs with science and
health to form some basic principles.
Together with Hindu and
Buddhist thought, Gaia, Wicca,
Native American Indian, and
other nature worship groups
form the view that there is no
one way to God. Each person
is on a journey to God. They
also believe each person is
divine and God is in everything
in nature, pantheism. Everyone
has the “spark” of the divine. If
you viewed the movie, “Avatar”
it presents a clear view of the
pantheism of New Age. Scientific
principles are intermingled.
Everything is good and everything
is evolving. We are to take
care of Mother Nature. The core
of the holistic medicine movement
is balancing ch’i from the
yin-yang, aligning chakras, and