References:
1 The Holy Bible; the new revised standard version; Catholic Edition
2 Om, Gayatri and Sandhya; Swami Mukhyananda
3 Indian Journal of Spirituality, July-Sept 2001;Vol. XIV, No 3
4 More Than a Carpenter; Josh Mc Dowell
5 The Vedas; Sri Chandrasekhar Saraswati
6 The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol III, Vol V
7 Divine Harmony; Arvindakshan Menon
8 Nineyum Thedy; Mario Joseph (Malayalam)
9 The Good News, Jan-Feb 2006 (The Intelligent Design Revolution, Pg 19)
10 Biblical Fundamentalism; Ronald D. Withrup, S.S.
11 Catholic Answers to Fundamentalists’ Questions; Philip St. Romain
12 Vatican Council II The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents(St. Pauls Publication, Mumbai)
13 Life in Abundance; Kurien Kunnumpuram, SJ
14 The Wisdom of Yoga; KP Bahadur
Contents
POST 1 /Chapter 1- Introduction
The Thomases’ Road to Realization?
Section I
POST 2 /Chapter 2- The start to questions
POST 3 /Chapter 3- Secular versus orthodox
POST 4 /Chapter 4- The four linked questions
POST 5 /Chapter 5- Other doubts linked to Jesus
Section II
POST 6 /Chapter 6- Towards building a relationship with God
POST 7 /Chapter 7- The Christian approach to God
POST 8 /Chapter 8- Self awareness as an approach to God
POST 9 /Chapter 9- The Vedic approach to God
POST 10/Chapter10- Intercession in the approach to God
POST 11/Chapter11- Prayer in the approach to God
POST 12/Chapter12- Conclusion
Destination Faith
Showing posts with label BOOK EXCERPT of The Thomases' Road to Realization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BOOK EXCERPT of The Thomases' Road to Realization. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Section II chr9 -The Vedic approach to God
Chapter 9
The Vedic approach to God
By ‘the Vedic Approach’ I am basically intending the stress on sound vibrations. That is, the usage of mantras and chants or more specifically, ‘chanting the name of God’ as an approach to God. Repeating a name that is sacred is supposed to help in bringing us closer to God. I personally do believe that every name that generates in us a sense of the divine does bring to us all the positive energies of the world. Negative thoughts are warded off by resorting to the repetition of a sacred name and one is assured of a shield of positive vibrations. For the Christian, the name could be Jesus. The Hindus do have a number of names that are used for chanting, but all these names for them imply the one God, the one word Om.
The Upanishad says that ‘he who meditates upon ‘the Supreme Purusha’ with the immortal word Om, is freed from all sins even as a snake is freed from its slough.’
‘Om is Sabda Brahma(the word Brahma or Logos) in the divine mind and therefore by the repetition of Om, one attunes oneself to the cosmic mind and is lifted up spiritually. When the human mind is thus attuned, it becomes a channel for the flow of inspiration from the cosmic mind. Therefore, Om is considered the holiest Mantra(mystic formula for sacred repetition) and is added at the beginning of all other Mantras.’
The Matras (phonetic constituents) of Om are ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’, which are symbolic of the beginning, middle and end of all the worlds, entities and concepts represented by them. We Christians know that Jesus has said that he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. It becomes evident from these words of Jesus that he has infact said that he is the Word Incarnate or in other words the incarnate of Om(also dealt earlier in section I).
It is also obvious that even if a Hindu may not know the Word Incarnate they do know the Word. They have around 33 crore Gods but all of them are worshipped with hymns that begin with the word Om. It is because all these Gods are actually the representation of the innumerable powers of the one God. The Lord Ganesha is called Om-kaara swarupa(of the form of Om). That is, this Elephant God Ganesha is a representation of the letter in Hindi for Om. Every other name of a God, be it Mahesh or Vishnu or any other, is also the name for a similar concrete representation of some of the myriad powers or virtues of the one God.
The Vedas talk about so many Beings, because it is only through the agency of the many Beings that the One Being can be known.’
Therefore it can be understood that the Hindus are not basically idol worshippers (though they do use statues of Gods for worship) as is commonly misunderstood by Christians. The true Hindu worships the one Cosmic Mind through the repetition of the mantra Om.
A question cannot be prevented from coming up as an offshoot here. ‘Does this mean that it is not wrong to use symbols and idols?’ In even asking this question, I am sure every catholic does reflect that using symbols is actually something that we ourselves are not free from. Man is quite sight oriented. He needs to at least face a cross while praying. It could also be a photo of Jesus. Buddha discouraged the use of idols and symbols, but that could not prevent the followers of Buddhism from making statues of Buddha. The Hindu gurus do not really support the use of idols. What is wrong or right about idols?
A method that is helpful to one can be a hindrance to another in achieving the same end. I will take an example to explain this. Teachers in schools are asked to use stories to attract the attention of students to the subject. This is because children are more interested in stories than in subjects. When the subject finally becomes interesting to the student, he does not need stories. Idols of the crores of Gods and also stories linked with them are similarly an age old practice used only to attract the common man to God. It is required only till the interest in God is affixed and the relationship is built.
The problem arises when the simple man never rises above the stories, to glimpse at the real God; hence the universal call to give up idols and the blind faith in the stories related to Gods. Therefore using idols is not essentially wrong but it has been found to be misleading. That is why many Hindu Gurus question the practice of idol worship (even though there is nothing inherently wrong with using an idol for convenience) because it breeds ignorance in many regarding the true nature of God.
What exactly is called the wrong practice of idol worship?
The idol worship that the Bible speaks of is of certain tribes (of those times and those regions) that could not think of anything that is not visible and therefore called any visible thing as God and put their trust in ‘things’ rather than the creator of all things. They created the images of animals and considered the image itself as God! People belonging to the tribes that had such religious practices are referred to as ‘pagan’. Such practices existed before the main world religions were adopted.
Conclusions about a religion, on the basis of some practices of the adherents of the religion, may not be at all accurate. This is because some pagan practices or pagan influences in certain practices are found among the practitioners of today’s major religions too, which I should think is quite an understandable phenomenon. So a Christian would need to study the religious scripture (of concerned religion) rather than the general practices of the followers to be clear about the basic teachings of any religion. Therefore though the term ‘pagan’ is a blanket term used with abandon to the followers of any non Christian religion, yet I find its usage very unnecessary and misleading as it extrapolates the circumstances present in a different land onto other regions.
It should be remembered that if there is a mention of pagans in the Bible it refers to the certain tribes in Israel and around. I mention this because someone recently explained to a group of people (including me) that “To God’s displeasure, Solomon married pagan woman that is Hindu women”! Such a blunder in statements, by Christians in position to teach, is the major cause that misleads the lay Christian to believe that the Bible considers Hinduism as a pagan religion. Just reflect a moment and think- was Hinduism present in the regions, the history of which the bible speaks? Therefore, it should be clear that the Bible does not make any comment on Hinduism. And so if we want to make any comment on Hinduism then we have to study Hinduism rather than search in the Bible for an opinion.
We Christians should take care that though we may reject a method adopted by a particular religion (or by the people who follow a particular religion), we should not go further and discredit the religion itself without understanding it in its entirety. We have to reflect on our personal lives and realize that facing an idol while praying, merely as a convenience and not in ignorance about the truth about God, cannot be called wrong; for it is not the act but the heart, the thought behind the act that matters. It is the person’s heart that makes a method right or wrong. The method itself is not to be blamed.
And so to avoid confusion ‘we should move from the surface and dwell in the depths’. What I mean to say is we must not be too quick to judge others or the religion they follow and should not be confused by merely the phrasing, or the language, to think that two religions are speaking about two different Gods or two different ways to God. We have to go deeper than that to see the true picture.
Coming back to the topic at hand, the true picture is that repeating ‘the sacred name’ is practiced in all religions, though to different extents; the difference being only in the names and not in the power the names represent. The basis behind this approach is the base of all creation, namely ‘vibration’, Om, or Word! ‘Chanting the name of God’ therefore definitely cannot be considered as too far removed an approach, from the Christian approach to God.
The Vedic approach to God
By ‘the Vedic Approach’ I am basically intending the stress on sound vibrations. That is, the usage of mantras and chants or more specifically, ‘chanting the name of God’ as an approach to God. Repeating a name that is sacred is supposed to help in bringing us closer to God. I personally do believe that every name that generates in us a sense of the divine does bring to us all the positive energies of the world. Negative thoughts are warded off by resorting to the repetition of a sacred name and one is assured of a shield of positive vibrations. For the Christian, the name could be Jesus. The Hindus do have a number of names that are used for chanting, but all these names for them imply the one God, the one word Om.
The Upanishad says that ‘he who meditates upon ‘the Supreme Purusha’ with the immortal word Om, is freed from all sins even as a snake is freed from its slough.’
‘Om is Sabda Brahma(the word Brahma or Logos) in the divine mind and therefore by the repetition of Om, one attunes oneself to the cosmic mind and is lifted up spiritually. When the human mind is thus attuned, it becomes a channel for the flow of inspiration from the cosmic mind. Therefore, Om is considered the holiest Mantra(mystic formula for sacred repetition) and is added at the beginning of all other Mantras.’
The Matras (phonetic constituents) of Om are ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’, which are symbolic of the beginning, middle and end of all the worlds, entities and concepts represented by them. We Christians know that Jesus has said that he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. It becomes evident from these words of Jesus that he has infact said that he is the Word Incarnate or in other words the incarnate of Om(also dealt earlier in section I).
It is also obvious that even if a Hindu may not know the Word Incarnate they do know the Word. They have around 33 crore Gods but all of them are worshipped with hymns that begin with the word Om. It is because all these Gods are actually the representation of the innumerable powers of the one God. The Lord Ganesha is called Om-kaara swarupa(of the form of Om). That is, this Elephant God Ganesha is a representation of the letter in Hindi for Om. Every other name of a God, be it Mahesh or Vishnu or any other, is also the name for a similar concrete representation of some of the myriad powers or virtues of the one God.
The Vedas talk about so many Beings, because it is only through the agency of the many Beings that the One Being can be known.’
Therefore it can be understood that the Hindus are not basically idol worshippers (though they do use statues of Gods for worship) as is commonly misunderstood by Christians. The true Hindu worships the one Cosmic Mind through the repetition of the mantra Om.
A question cannot be prevented from coming up as an offshoot here. ‘Does this mean that it is not wrong to use symbols and idols?’ In even asking this question, I am sure every catholic does reflect that using symbols is actually something that we ourselves are not free from. Man is quite sight oriented. He needs to at least face a cross while praying. It could also be a photo of Jesus. Buddha discouraged the use of idols and symbols, but that could not prevent the followers of Buddhism from making statues of Buddha. The Hindu gurus do not really support the use of idols. What is wrong or right about idols?
A method that is helpful to one can be a hindrance to another in achieving the same end. I will take an example to explain this. Teachers in schools are asked to use stories to attract the attention of students to the subject. This is because children are more interested in stories than in subjects. When the subject finally becomes interesting to the student, he does not need stories. Idols of the crores of Gods and also stories linked with them are similarly an age old practice used only to attract the common man to God. It is required only till the interest in God is affixed and the relationship is built.
The problem arises when the simple man never rises above the stories, to glimpse at the real God; hence the universal call to give up idols and the blind faith in the stories related to Gods. Therefore using idols is not essentially wrong but it has been found to be misleading. That is why many Hindu Gurus question the practice of idol worship (even though there is nothing inherently wrong with using an idol for convenience) because it breeds ignorance in many regarding the true nature of God.
What exactly is called the wrong practice of idol worship?
The idol worship that the Bible speaks of is of certain tribes (of those times and those regions) that could not think of anything that is not visible and therefore called any visible thing as God and put their trust in ‘things’ rather than the creator of all things. They created the images of animals and considered the image itself as God! People belonging to the tribes that had such religious practices are referred to as ‘pagan’. Such practices existed before the main world religions were adopted.
Conclusions about a religion, on the basis of some practices of the adherents of the religion, may not be at all accurate. This is because some pagan practices or pagan influences in certain practices are found among the practitioners of today’s major religions too, which I should think is quite an understandable phenomenon. So a Christian would need to study the religious scripture (of concerned religion) rather than the general practices of the followers to be clear about the basic teachings of any religion. Therefore though the term ‘pagan’ is a blanket term used with abandon to the followers of any non Christian religion, yet I find its usage very unnecessary and misleading as it extrapolates the circumstances present in a different land onto other regions.
It should be remembered that if there is a mention of pagans in the Bible it refers to the certain tribes in Israel and around. I mention this because someone recently explained to a group of people (including me) that “To God’s displeasure, Solomon married pagan woman that is Hindu women”! Such a blunder in statements, by Christians in position to teach, is the major cause that misleads the lay Christian to believe that the Bible considers Hinduism as a pagan religion. Just reflect a moment and think- was Hinduism present in the regions, the history of which the bible speaks? Therefore, it should be clear that the Bible does not make any comment on Hinduism. And so if we want to make any comment on Hinduism then we have to study Hinduism rather than search in the Bible for an opinion.
We Christians should take care that though we may reject a method adopted by a particular religion (or by the people who follow a particular religion), we should not go further and discredit the religion itself without understanding it in its entirety. We have to reflect on our personal lives and realize that facing an idol while praying, merely as a convenience and not in ignorance about the truth about God, cannot be called wrong; for it is not the act but the heart, the thought behind the act that matters. It is the person’s heart that makes a method right or wrong. The method itself is not to be blamed.
And so to avoid confusion ‘we should move from the surface and dwell in the depths’. What I mean to say is we must not be too quick to judge others or the religion they follow and should not be confused by merely the phrasing, or the language, to think that two religions are speaking about two different Gods or two different ways to God. We have to go deeper than that to see the true picture.
Coming back to the topic at hand, the true picture is that repeating ‘the sacred name’ is practiced in all religions, though to different extents; the difference being only in the names and not in the power the names represent. The basis behind this approach is the base of all creation, namely ‘vibration’, Om, or Word! ‘Chanting the name of God’ therefore definitely cannot be considered as too far removed an approach, from the Christian approach to God.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Section-II chr8-Self awareness as an approach to God
Chapter 8
Self awareness as an approach to God
Just as the daily exercise for remaining in God for the Christian is prayer, the daily exercise for the intellectual is self awareness. The very practice of the Christian but looked upon with more of reasoning can be explained as self awareness. ‘Satan’ for the Christian would here be called the ‘false self’ that prevents one from realizing the true self. The false self creates its identity based upon all the emotions the mind experiences. When one sheds the idea that the emotions are a part of one’s self, victory over the false self is achieved.
Self awareness is being aware of what one is not. For example-when feeling angry, affirming, ‘but I am not anger’. When feeling jealous, affirming, ‘but I am not jealousy’. It does not mean denying the existence of the feelings but only rejecting them as being part of the self. Self awareness therefore does not mean being without emotion; rather it means a perpetual awareness of what the true self is not. The cloud is not the sky. The feelings are only a medium to perceive events, just like sense organs are to perceive the world. Though open to feelings, one must be constantly aware that ‘just as “I” am not the senses, “I” am not the feelings’.
This can also be compared to the Zen method of ‘total rejection’. Shed one by one what you are not, and so what finally remains, is you!
It is also obvious from the above explanation of self awareness that it is very clearly the same as ‘being dead to the world and alive in the spirit’(which is the christian approach). Self awareness and total rejection is therefore evidently the same as the Christian approach to God! What I understand is that all the three approaches perceive and experience what comes of the world but differentiate it from the true self. That is, all the three approaches do not seem to reject the body by suppressing the experiences it generates but rather only see it as separate from the true self or even as a medium to experience the true self.
The Tao religion teaches two methods; total rejection and total acceptance. We have noticed (above) how total rejection is similar to the Christian approach, and now we look at total acceptance in terms of the Christian approach
Total acceptance is in a way similar to the Hindu philosophy of seeing God in everyone and everything, in all creation. Five years back this philosophy seemed very different from the Christian approach until I heard a speech by a locally well known person in Elappara region of Kerala. The Christian approach of loving the neighbour was dealt with in such a fashion that I realized that the wall we create between different religions has to be more or less imaginary and the result of not looking at the same teaching from different angles. I will elucidate that explanation (heard at Elappara) even further by putting it forth as a dialogue between two kids discussing what they were taught in catechism….
John: I will love my neighbour as myself from today. Richard, you are my neighbour, so I will love you as myself.
Richard: Okay, so we are one.
John is confused: If we are one, then we are not neighbours!
Richard: Never mind, we have a new neighbour, Sarah. We will involve her in our gang. We three will be one.
John is more confused: If we three are one then she won’t be a neighbour either.
Richard (now irritated): Now John stop where you are, if you go on like this you will involve the whole universe in this gang.
John is silent for a moment.
John: Richard if I do that then we wont have neighbours left to love!
John has evidently understood what total acceptance is! Total acceptance can therefore be explained as ‘seeing one’s own self in everyone and everything’. This method to the experience of God asks one to be aware of the self in totality as all of what it is. Therefore, though in different words and different perspectives, total acceptance and total rejection do seem to be the two major methods taught by most religions for the purpose of achieving self awareness and thereby the experience of God. Amazingly, such seemingly opposite methods lead to the one experience! And what is more, both these methods are evidently more or less the same as the basic Christian approach to God.
in summary, self awareness is the same as total rejection which is the same as the christian idea of being dead to the world and alive in spirit. Total acceptance is similar to the Hindu approach of seeing God in all that is, and again is similar to the christian approach of loving the neighbour as oneself.
Self awareness as an approach to God
Just as the daily exercise for remaining in God for the Christian is prayer, the daily exercise for the intellectual is self awareness. The very practice of the Christian but looked upon with more of reasoning can be explained as self awareness. ‘Satan’ for the Christian would here be called the ‘false self’ that prevents one from realizing the true self. The false self creates its identity based upon all the emotions the mind experiences. When one sheds the idea that the emotions are a part of one’s self, victory over the false self is achieved.
Self awareness is being aware of what one is not. For example-when feeling angry, affirming, ‘but I am not anger’. When feeling jealous, affirming, ‘but I am not jealousy’. It does not mean denying the existence of the feelings but only rejecting them as being part of the self. Self awareness therefore does not mean being without emotion; rather it means a perpetual awareness of what the true self is not. The cloud is not the sky. The feelings are only a medium to perceive events, just like sense organs are to perceive the world. Though open to feelings, one must be constantly aware that ‘just as “I” am not the senses, “I” am not the feelings’.
This can also be compared to the Zen method of ‘total rejection’. Shed one by one what you are not, and so what finally remains, is you!
It is also obvious from the above explanation of self awareness that it is very clearly the same as ‘being dead to the world and alive in the spirit’(which is the christian approach). Self awareness and total rejection is therefore evidently the same as the Christian approach to God! What I understand is that all the three approaches perceive and experience what comes of the world but differentiate it from the true self. That is, all the three approaches do not seem to reject the body by suppressing the experiences it generates but rather only see it as separate from the true self or even as a medium to experience the true self.
The Tao religion teaches two methods; total rejection and total acceptance. We have noticed (above) how total rejection is similar to the Christian approach, and now we look at total acceptance in terms of the Christian approach
Total acceptance is in a way similar to the Hindu philosophy of seeing God in everyone and everything, in all creation. Five years back this philosophy seemed very different from the Christian approach until I heard a speech by a locally well known person in Elappara region of Kerala. The Christian approach of loving the neighbour was dealt with in such a fashion that I realized that the wall we create between different religions has to be more or less imaginary and the result of not looking at the same teaching from different angles. I will elucidate that explanation (heard at Elappara) even further by putting it forth as a dialogue between two kids discussing what they were taught in catechism….
John: I will love my neighbour as myself from today. Richard, you are my neighbour, so I will love you as myself.
Richard: Okay, so we are one.
John is confused: If we are one, then we are not neighbours!
Richard: Never mind, we have a new neighbour, Sarah. We will involve her in our gang. We three will be one.
John is more confused: If we three are one then she won’t be a neighbour either.
Richard (now irritated): Now John stop where you are, if you go on like this you will involve the whole universe in this gang.
John is silent for a moment.
John: Richard if I do that then we wont have neighbours left to love!
John has evidently understood what total acceptance is! Total acceptance can therefore be explained as ‘seeing one’s own self in everyone and everything’. This method to the experience of God asks one to be aware of the self in totality as all of what it is. Therefore, though in different words and different perspectives, total acceptance and total rejection do seem to be the two major methods taught by most religions for the purpose of achieving self awareness and thereby the experience of God. Amazingly, such seemingly opposite methods lead to the one experience! And what is more, both these methods are evidently more or less the same as the basic Christian approach to God.
in summary, self awareness is the same as total rejection which is the same as the christian idea of being dead to the world and alive in spirit. Total acceptance is similar to the Hindu approach of seeing God in all that is, and again is similar to the christian approach of loving the neighbour as oneself.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Section II chr7-The Christian approach to God
Chapter 7
The Christian approach to God
To give a personal view of the Christian Approach, I am focusing particularly on ‘Body Spirituality’ a theology (body theology), the development of which was initiated in the late seventies by Pope John Paul II. The Christian approach I would thereby say involves seeking communion with the Eternal God through the communion with the Incarnate God. This spirituality begins with awareness and acceptance of the body as a means to experience the spirit. It involves being ‘sensitive’ to the experiences of the body, both happiness and pain, being therefore empathetic, leading to tearful prayers for oneself and others in the way that the Word Incarnate Jesus has shown by example. And so here the Body is the means to communion with the Incarnate God.
In other words the experience of the true self need not be just an out of body experience but can be experienced inclusive of the body when one realizes it to be the medium to experience the Goodness of all that has been created. At the same time this does not mean one has to lose one’s peace over the pains of the world; for one thing that Jesus always promised is ‘peace that the world cannot take away’.
And being dead to the world does not need to make life boring! One can retain the sensitivity to the world and yet be aware of the peace within. What this means is that it is possible for one to cry and grieve over one’s circumstance or over the sorrow of another, experience all that the Body creates in oneself and yet if there is the awareness of the imperturbable true self, then it makes one ever conscious of undisturbed peace within. This is what the communion with the incarnate God gives us, ‘a peace that the body experiences don’t take away' . This awareness of the "peace within"is developed during a focussed prayer time, which is to be practiced daily. This time of peace is the time when one affirms to being dead to the world and alive in the spirit. The life in spirit is described in Galatians. According to Galatians verses 22-25, ‘..The spirit produces love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The spirit that is approached in prayer is given the reigns to control the direction of life, thus affirming that nothing is required from life above or beyond the will of God, affirming that one is in fact,.. dead to the world.’
The Christian resorts to help from daily prayers (for oneself and just as sincerely for others) and reading of the Holy Word to maintain the sanctity of the new creation (dead to the world and alive in spirit) that he is. But it is obvious that being sensitive means being equally affected by what happens to others and not just one’s own self and it means praying for others with sincereity. This requires that one love the neighbour as oneself. Therefore loving one’s neighbour as oneself, is also the essence of the daily practice in the Christian approach to building a relationship with God’.
The Christian approach to God
To give a personal view of the Christian Approach, I am focusing particularly on ‘Body Spirituality’ a theology (body theology), the development of which was initiated in the late seventies by Pope John Paul II. The Christian approach I would thereby say involves seeking communion with the Eternal God through the communion with the Incarnate God. This spirituality begins with awareness and acceptance of the body as a means to experience the spirit. It involves being ‘sensitive’ to the experiences of the body, both happiness and pain, being therefore empathetic, leading to tearful prayers for oneself and others in the way that the Word Incarnate Jesus has shown by example. And so here the Body is the means to communion with the Incarnate God.
In other words the experience of the true self need not be just an out of body experience but can be experienced inclusive of the body when one realizes it to be the medium to experience the Goodness of all that has been created. At the same time this does not mean one has to lose one’s peace over the pains of the world; for one thing that Jesus always promised is ‘peace that the world cannot take away’.
And being dead to the world does not need to make life boring! One can retain the sensitivity to the world and yet be aware of the peace within. What this means is that it is possible for one to cry and grieve over one’s circumstance or over the sorrow of another, experience all that the Body creates in oneself and yet if there is the awareness of the imperturbable true self, then it makes one ever conscious of undisturbed peace within. This is what the communion with the incarnate God gives us, ‘a peace that the body experiences don’t take away' . This awareness of the "peace within"is developed during a focussed prayer time, which is to be practiced daily. This time of peace is the time when one affirms to being dead to the world and alive in the spirit. The life in spirit is described in Galatians. According to Galatians verses 22-25, ‘..The spirit produces love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The spirit that is approached in prayer is given the reigns to control the direction of life, thus affirming that nothing is required from life above or beyond the will of God, affirming that one is in fact,.. dead to the world.’
The Christian resorts to help from daily prayers (for oneself and just as sincerely for others) and reading of the Holy Word to maintain the sanctity of the new creation (dead to the world and alive in spirit) that he is. But it is obvious that being sensitive means being equally affected by what happens to others and not just one’s own self and it means praying for others with sincereity. This requires that one love the neighbour as oneself. Therefore loving one’s neighbour as oneself, is also the essence of the daily practice in the Christian approach to building a relationship with God’.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Section II- chr6 Towards building a relationship with God
Section-II
Chapter 6
Towards building a relationship with God
Mere understanding of God is definitely insufficient. It should only be the forerunner to building the relationship with God, and so this book is incomplete without a consideration in that regard.
I have read somewhere that one can choose to be religious but one is spiritual whether one chooses or not. This statement expresses everything very simply for the seekers of the experience of the true self. It points out very clearly that the experience of the spirit is just a matter of being willing to experience it!
Religion helps discover one’s spirituality. It is the aid to realize one’s true nature as more than a mere body. When one is aroused to one’s Christ like self, the next step is to maintain the awareness. To make this awareness of the spirit or in other words the true self more prominent, one does need to practice. All ways suggested by the scriptures or by the realized souls be it meditation or simply prayer are therefore not aids to become spiritual, but aids to help the realization of being the spirit gain so much prominence as to be perpetually present
My personal quest has been for a way that might suit me and therefore which could also be a synthesis of all the seemingly very different ways suggested by different religions. This requirement is again to also reaffirm my faith that all religions are basically speaking of the one way through different or seemingly different approaches.
Before the quest to the way to experience God, one does need an idea of what the Goal, that is the ‘experience of God' could be like. Why have so many seekers given up all pleasures of the world for that one experience? God has put into man a leaning towards the pleasurable and therefore I have been led to a conclusion that the ‘ultimate’ experience of oneness with Him has to be something similar to the pleasurable experiences of the world. In fact some pleasure even greater than all pleasures or maybe even the peak or even confluence of all pleasures. It could therefore be an experience that can be achieved by maintaining in oneself a constant state of joy, peace, love, happiness etc which are already understood by every man of this world. It is possible therefore that all of these be it joy, peace, love are the little streams that lead to the sea, that is the ultimate experience, the peak.
For those who have experienced the bliss produced in the love union of man woman, it is possible to compare it to as being nearer to the bliss that union with the spirit would generate (as an aid to understand what has not been experienced)because a union engaged in out of love for the other person thinking the other person as higher and desirable, is a union of two souls or spirits. Mankind is made in the image of God and the bliss of their union could be taken as the closest similee to the bliss of the experience of the union with God. But of course the ultimate experience of oneness with God can be understood totally only when it is actually experienced but we now have at least enough reasons to look for it!
For starters, it is sufficient to begin with the understanding of what a person tuned in to the spirit will possess. This is made clear in Galatians verse 22,23; ‘..The spirit produces love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.’
This section is an effort to start with what we basically understand and slowly through it to be led to what we may not really be sure of now. I read a book recently which to my surprise showed me that I am in a way (totally unknowingly) the adherent of ‘new age spirituality’ with probably the only difference that I am not only celebrating pluralism but have also been looking for an inherent unity that I have believed to be present in even contradicting teachings and techniques. Within this section are considered certain approaches to the experience of oneness with God. As already said, I am presenting these not only to clarify the approaches as per my understanding and study but also so that the unity in these approaches may become evident.
Chapter 6
Towards building a relationship with God
Mere understanding of God is definitely insufficient. It should only be the forerunner to building the relationship with God, and so this book is incomplete without a consideration in that regard.
I have read somewhere that one can choose to be religious but one is spiritual whether one chooses or not. This statement expresses everything very simply for the seekers of the experience of the true self. It points out very clearly that the experience of the spirit is just a matter of being willing to experience it!
Religion helps discover one’s spirituality. It is the aid to realize one’s true nature as more than a mere body. When one is aroused to one’s Christ like self, the next step is to maintain the awareness. To make this awareness of the spirit or in other words the true self more prominent, one does need to practice. All ways suggested by the scriptures or by the realized souls be it meditation or simply prayer are therefore not aids to become spiritual, but aids to help the realization of being the spirit gain so much prominence as to be perpetually present
My personal quest has been for a way that might suit me and therefore which could also be a synthesis of all the seemingly very different ways suggested by different religions. This requirement is again to also reaffirm my faith that all religions are basically speaking of the one way through different or seemingly different approaches.
Before the quest to the way to experience God, one does need an idea of what the Goal, that is the ‘experience of God' could be like. Why have so many seekers given up all pleasures of the world for that one experience? God has put into man a leaning towards the pleasurable and therefore I have been led to a conclusion that the ‘ultimate’ experience of oneness with Him has to be something similar to the pleasurable experiences of the world. In fact some pleasure even greater than all pleasures or maybe even the peak or even confluence of all pleasures. It could therefore be an experience that can be achieved by maintaining in oneself a constant state of joy, peace, love, happiness etc which are already understood by every man of this world. It is possible therefore that all of these be it joy, peace, love are the little streams that lead to the sea, that is the ultimate experience, the peak.
For those who have experienced the bliss produced in the love union of man woman, it is possible to compare it to as being nearer to the bliss that union with the spirit would generate (as an aid to understand what has not been experienced)because a union engaged in out of love for the other person thinking the other person as higher and desirable, is a union of two souls or spirits. Mankind is made in the image of God and the bliss of their union could be taken as the closest similee to the bliss of the experience of the union with God. But of course the ultimate experience of oneness with God can be understood totally only when it is actually experienced but we now have at least enough reasons to look for it!
For starters, it is sufficient to begin with the understanding of what a person tuned in to the spirit will possess. This is made clear in Galatians verse 22,23; ‘..The spirit produces love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.’
This section is an effort to start with what we basically understand and slowly through it to be led to what we may not really be sure of now. I read a book recently which to my surprise showed me that I am in a way (totally unknowingly) the adherent of ‘new age spirituality’ with probably the only difference that I am not only celebrating pluralism but have also been looking for an inherent unity that I have believed to be present in even contradicting teachings and techniques. Within this section are considered certain approaches to the experience of oneness with God. As already said, I am presenting these not only to clarify the approaches as per my understanding and study but also so that the unity in these approaches may become evident.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Section 1 Ch 4:The four, linked questions
Chapter 4
The Four, Linked Questions
When the world outside seems unreliable, then one’s own heart has to be prodded for answers.
For finding answers within, one has to clear the mind of blocks. There should be a willingness to look into aspects that may hurt one’s long held beliefs. I had to overcome many blocks that were obstructing my thought process. I had once shut out the words of a book from my mind because it implied at something that I didn’t want to believe. The book is ‘The Power of your Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy. It said very clearly that ‘the power lies within’. The power to cure, the power to heal, the power to chart our own lives… It was difficult for me to accept this, as I had always been leaning on that somebody else called God. God was the one with the powers. He decided our lives. There is none but my own weak self to rely on? It was like being told that the parent you think you are walking with is a figment of your imagination. You have actually been talking to yourself! It was again bringing to the fore the advaitic philosophy that I had once shoved to a side. For me God would become so powerless if it were to be the poor me! ‘I am God’ was therefore a very unnerving philosophy to me and so I avoided even trying to reason out the truth. I was terribly afraid that it might be true! It was not easy to overcome this fear or mental block, and I needed help.
It is said that when a student is ready the teacher appears. A teacher, in fact a Philosophy teacher, did come in my life at this point of time and he introduced me to a magic word ‘synthesis’ which just made my thinking turn a whole somersault! This word cleared my thinking process in one miraculous moment. The teacher told me how Indian philosophy is a synthesis of contradictions. It assimilates all contradictions. He explained it with the example that when a person walks over a radius that leads to the centre of the circle, another person walking on another radius of the same circle may seem to be on the wrong road. But the closer they reach to the centre, the distance between the two roads decreases. Finally when both have reached the centre they can laugh aloud at their foolishness of having thought the other to be on the wrong road! So also all of us ardently seeking God are right. We are not aware that all who sincerely seek God are walking on some radius leading to the same centre that is God. If we were aware, we would not be worried about others on the other rediuses unduly. Somebody far behind in understanding, need not be rushed forward either; not faster than one rung at a time. A child learning the alphabets is not foolish. Unless he does that he will not be able to read great philosophies even in his adulthood. And so nobody can be wrong or at a ‘wrong’ level of understanding as long as there is sincerity and the purpose is divine. These were the words of the teacher that finally helped settle my troubled mind.
I had finally found through the words of my wise teacher that I needn’t try to eradicate contradictions but rather that I should learn to assimilate them. My troubled mind was finally eased. But then I needed to see the synthesis. I had to see how Christianity fitted into the whole picture, without contradicting any other religious teaching.
1. Who or what is God?
There are numerous ways to explain God to our own minds but as a quencher for myself, I have chosen to explain God using the synthesis of concepts from mainly Christian and Hindu scriptures. There are of course many other ideas enmeshed in the view that I am presenting here but the base is the Christian and Hindu scriptures.
I stress the similarity drawn between Adipurusha (Purusha or Parama Purusha) and the Christian concept of the Word(Son of God)as follows. The term ‘Adipurusha’ means First Man. He is the supreme Purusha who has been with the Eternal Spirit and is born in the womb of God. He is the knowledge and the wisdom and is responsible for the formation of the universe. This Parama Purusha is also called Omkaara. This Om or Omkaara is the vibration heard by mystics who attuned their minds to the cosmic mind through meditation. This Omkaara that formed the universe is very clearly the same as the power or vibration that Christians call ‘the Word’! For the Bible says ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through him all things were made. John 1:1-3’.That is Omkaara can be equated to the Word.
What we can derive as a result of these similar concepts is that the whole world is the result of vibrations (Om, Word). Two scriptures agree on this concept and therefore this is the basic concept or equation that I am holding in mind as I proceed to other ideas and towards a further analysis and synthesis.
Now my personal idea of God has to stem basically from my experience, and not just read ideas. So my personal experience is of the power of thought, how questions in my mind have drawn answers from the universe and I find resonance to this truth in books I have read as well. We may have also experienced or at least heard of how ‘thoughts can lead to outcomes’. It is often said that we should think positive as positive thoughts lead to positive outcomes and negative thoughts lead to negative outcomes. Some even go as far as saying that our thoughts determine our lives! These thoughts could be subconscious, which means that we may not be totally aware of these thoughts. In fact it is also believed that the collective subconscious of all the people in the world is responsible for whatever happens in the world, be it wars or even natural disasters!
Continuing in the same line… if our thoughts create our future, then whatever created this universe must be 'a Thought'. From the stars to the sun and the planets, the wonder called life and the master machine called man (which got endowed with the same power of thought) must all be the product of thought!
The next step to thoughts is words. Thoughts given form is Words. The Hindu scriptures which include four Vedas are considered the emanations of the breath of Brahma. This breath of Brahma is ‘Thought given a form’ or in other words it is the Word of Brahma and therefore for attuned minds it becomes possible to ‘hear’ God’s Mind. The Hindu philosophy speaks of the cosmic vibration not only as Om but also as vac(word) or naad Brahma(sound of the creator), which created everything, which the yogis were able to ‘hear’ through meditation and documented as the ‘Vedas’.
The conclusion to the above consideration is that Word or sound (Naad ) or cosmic vibration which could be heard is therefore not just a part of God but being an emanation from the breath of God is the creation of God! To explain it in human terms; our thoughts have no form but when we speak, we give a form to our thoughts by using our voice and language. In the same way the thoughts or lets say the Mind of God does not have a form and therefore the only 'form' of God is His Word or His Sound. Therefore to conclude, creation has been possible through ‘the first form’ created by God, which itself is actually a vibration heard as ‘Om’ and which is in fact the Word of God! A creation can be differentiated from the creator by terming it as ‘Son’. Therefore the first form, that is Om or Omkaara or Parama Purusha or ‘the Word of God’, being a creation of God, can be termed Son, considering the Creator (thought) as the Father. All creation has been possible through this Word and has no existence without it. This answers how everything that exists is said to be part of the one God and also explains how the Word is the Son of God being a first form or first creation.
Now we need to go back and consider the source of this thought, Word, sound or vibration because that undoubtedly carries not just the Mind of God but even behind the Mind, the Ultimate Power . That is, whatever 'power' causes this thought to be conceived and then resonate in the universe as Word/sound which resulted in the act called creation must be the basic power we call God. This conceiver is not matter, for matter is itself a creation and so this non matter can be called at best an Eternal Spirit or even ‘the Holy Spirit’. Eternal because it was never created and yet exists; Holy because nothing obviously can influence it or hurt or stain it (both terms are a corollary to ‘it’ being a non created entity).
But even as we are defined by what our thoughts, our words and our actions are, so also God must also be not only the conceiver but also his thoughts his words and his action. The conceiver (Holy Spirit), the thought or Mind (Father) and the Word or Omkaara/Adipurusha (the first begotten). This is the Holy Trinity. And yet the three are one with no difference between them because words and action are the evidence of the mind, and thoughts in the mind. Words cannot be without the mind and mind is known by the words that come from it. In this case the mind is the Cosmic Mind. Also as every creation was created through the Word and has its existence in him, hence creation (the action/work of the Word) is also a part of God.
God can therefore also be very simply and conveniently be called a ‘Cosmic Mind of an Eternal Spirit’( being devoid of a material Body) and where all creation is the evidence to its presence and its intelligence, and is its body. According to the Hindu Scripture the Geeta, 'just as the soul is to the body, God is to the universe'.
2. If there is nothing but God then why is all humanity said to be born in sin?
The Trinitarian (Triune) God that we pray to is one and thus belongs to an absolute world where there is none but Him. But we live in this relative world where though we are parts of 'the One Body', we have forgotten it. Now when ‘one’ has become ‘many’, each one can experience each others love, know ones own self through the other and in general have a good experience. But there is a difficulty. The thoughts of all the individuals can be ‘good’ only as long as they love each other as their own selves. Having forgotten this reality makes one love the other less than the own self. That is where the problem begins. It brings in dislike, envy, murder, stealing and so on termed as evil or sin. In short it brings in bad thought and consequently bad outcomes. The bad outcome at worst is the inability to ever realize one’s true nature and such a state can be referred to as eternal death. In the letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 5:12, he says, ‘Sin entered the world through one man and through sin death, and thus death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned’
Just being in the relative world results in the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘you’ which itself is the forerunner of that which we call sin. This is what is meant when it is said that ‘we are born into sin’. It means that we are born into a relative realm, that is, a realm where there is ignorance of the absolute and so where there happens to be evil or sin.
This does not mean that our soul becomes sinful because relative realm is an illusion and evil is sort of a byproduct of the illusion. The only reality is the Absolute realm of the cosmic consciousness. To understand how the soul could remain untainted, we only have to compare with some of the patterns in our own life like that of sleeping, dreaming and waking up. Let’s take an example. A person has a dream in which he murders another man. When he wakes up should he be called a murderer? Not at all for it was not real. What if he wakes up to his reality and realizes that in the world that he lives there is none but him? Then what would his dream be called? A meaningless mumbo jumbo! The idea of another person was just that, ‘an idea’ and ‘the evil’ was just the result of the absurd idea. Life on earth is such a meaningless mumbo jumbo, and God is deliberately having the dream to entertain himself and from which he will eventually wake up. Now suppose the man wakes up in the middle of a dream but still is not fully awake then he will go off to sleep again and may dream the continuation of the dream or some other dream.In our world this could be something like rebirth.As long as the man stays asleep he has sinned, he has murdered. When he is fully awake, only then is he free from the sin. Now consider this corollary, "As long as he keeps thinking he murdered, he will continue sleeping."
It can be understood from the above example that the soul is not sinful and therefore is part of the one and only God. One has to realise this true nature to be freed from the bondage of sin and hence rebirth. It is the ignorance of the true nature that comes with being in the body, that results in all humanity being sinful and so the term ‘born into sin’. Man only needs the removal of ignorance of his true nature and this awareness will make him part of God. In other words ‘truth shall make him free’ This clears the contradiction of the two statements that were taken up and both statements are therefore true. Though man is born into sin, creation is still a part of God. The above analysis also leads to some other conclusions.
3. Who is Jesus?
Jesus is considered by Christians as the Word made flesh (Word Incarnate), the first begotten (son), the only son of God. The doubt I had in the context of my understanding of God and creation was- How could Jesus born a human have a special status as the Only Begotten of God, when everything is supposed to be a part of God and therefore with obviously no such distinct status for one ‘human’?
There is just one separation between the Word and its creation, which I bring up here and it is that, all things will pass away but the Word will not pass away. All that perishes is therefore the illusion created by and through the Word. All creation is therefore within the Word and has no existence separate from it. Now it becomes clear that the Word, Omkaara or the Cosmic Vibration being the only imperishable creation is therefore not only the ‘first’ form but is also ‘the only begotten’ of God.
Now the question that remains is; how can Jesus born a human be this ‘Only Begotten’ the imperishable Word? Let us allow ourselves a bit of wild speculation here. We have heard of saints whose bodies did not decompose. Did their holy lives give an imperishable character to the body? The fact that Jesus took up his body again after death and ascended to ‘heaven’ with the body (as per the Bible), did make me wonder if this ascension ‘with the body’ was actually a pointer to the imperishability of the Body of Jesus. Was this imperishability on account of the purity of the life that Jesus had lived (as is assumed of the Body of Saints) or was this somehow related to how Jesus was conceived and therefore what his identity really was? Then could it be that resurrection of Christ is also another assurance that Jesus is in fact The Imperishable, that is, the Word of God? It seems too far fetched a logic and more logical seems the idea of the Word taking the "perishable" human form, and then it would mean that Avatars (incarnations) cannot be exhausted in just one appearance!
But it cannot be denied that the scriptures do vouch that it was a virgin who conceived Jesus (which can be a pointer that though Born through a Human he was not totally ‘Just a Human’) The scriptures also say that it was, the Word that made it’s dwelling with us, but again should that have to mean imperishabilty?
I believe that the vedic scriptures also give the same importance to Jesus as do the hebrew scriptures and that it is the vastness more than the inaccessabilty and tough language of these scriptures that has made the message almost invisible. There are numerous verses from the Rigveda (purushasukta hymn, 10th Mandala and their interpretations that I have read in at least 2 books by Sanskrit scholars, who have given numerous verses similar to those in the Bible and which describe him as a first born and as the one given up for sacrifice of sins. But my limited knowledge of sanskrit cannot contend with any arguments of the possibilty of these interpretations being faulty. But all this still is merely speculation. It may or may not be true and we cannot go by it alone.
But, there is an inference that can be definitely drawn from a crucial incident mentioned in the Bible 'It is about the three wise men from the east who studied the stars and travelled far following a star to reach the place where the messiah was Born and who declared that they had come to worship Him. Why would three men(Magi) from our subcontinent travel with gifts to see a baby Jesus born in some far off Land unless they were totally convinced of his importance. There must have been something in their scriptures too that convinced them to travel that far to look at and worship (or pay homage to) the new born. For they had asked,"Where is the baby born to be the King of the Jews? Mathew 2:2. Since Jesus never became the King of the Jews in the literal sense, what they meant should be the 'Son', for it is a Prince, who becomes King. The Son inherits the Kingdom(the world). I want to mention here another word used for Purusha in the Rigveda. It is Prajapati. The sacrifice of Prajapati is called Prajapatiyagam. And, the meaning of Prajapati is 'King'.
Now, the following are a few relevant verses from the Bible concerning Jesus …
‘He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him..John 1:10’
‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…… John testifies concerning him…. “This was he of whom I said, ‘he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me”John1: 14 and 15’
Consider another statement from the Bible. ‘Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. 1Corinthians1:24’, which is also what is said about the cosmic Purusha as mentioned earlier; the cosmic Purusha is the wisdom, knowledge and intelligence that has coexisted with the Eternal Spirit and who brought the physical universe into existence.
Also, Jesus himself says that ‘before Abraham was born, I am’, even though Jesus was born a long time after Abraham. John says about Jesus ‘this was he of whom I said, ‘he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.John1: 15.’ These statements imply that Jesus was present a long time before he was actually born. John, a pious soul (in all probability aware of his own ‘true self’), still points out such a distinction between himself and Jesus. For these statements to be true, Jesus has to be more than human. Then who could he be?
To understand this we may consider the concept of avatar in Hindu philosophy which distinguishes man-god from god-man as follows. According to this philosophy, the man god ascends from duality (the human as separate from God) to divinity, whereas the God-man or avatar descends from Infinity to duality to work amidst us. We as sons and daughters of God are unconscious divinity in a human form requiring to become a conscious divinity by seeing through the illusion of duality. On the other hand avatar is where God consciously becomes a man for the liberation of mankind. In Hindu mythology, Ganesha is considered the first Soul- Adi Devata- to have traversed the path from divine unconsciousness to divine consciousness, and so is responsible to guide all the souls through this journey by coming into the world as Avatar. It is to be noted that Ganesha or the elephant God is infact the symbolic representation of the Sanskrit letter for Om!
Trusting what both scriptures have to say, and holding the two religion’s basic philosophical concepts in mind I find it quite reasonable to conclude that Jesus is linked to the one who was present much before anything else was created and so he is an incarnation of the Word in a way that his divinity overshadows any measure of the Human nature in Him so that it is in no way wrong to accord him the title of ‘The First Begotten’ who exists with the spirit, that is, he is the incarnate of the ethereal body that existed since eternity with the Eternal Spirit and came down to earth for the glory of God.
A special distinction of Jesus as Son of God can really be possible, and especially because ‘nothing is impossible with God’. ‘God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise…..This means that no one can boast in God’s presence. 1Corinthians1:27 and 29.’
I add here Jesus’ statement concerning himself, ‘Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are Gods’? If he called them ‘Gods’, to whom the message of God came- and the Scripture cannot be broken-what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?' John10:34.
4. What did Jesus come in the world for?
Expanded, this question would be. ‘If everything is part of God and every sincere seeker will eventually find his way to God, then why did Jesus have to come in the world?’ The question is vital, but there are other questions that need to be answered before this. How many are able to sincerely seek God? How many are willing to sincerely put the effort required for it? The world is too attractive, so attractive that we rarely even think of God let alone seek Him!God has to reach out to the weak man who fails to reach out to God
There is an example that explains the way man is trapped by the lure of the world. In earlier times the villagers in India used a trick to catch monkeys. They would fill peanuts in a narrow necked pot called a surahi . The monkey would put its hand into the neck of the surahi and grab the peanuts, but is not able to remove its hand without letting go of the peanuts. It does not realize that its love for peanuts is clouding its mind and preventing its only way to escape, namely letting go of the peanuts. The only trap here is the monkey’s desire which eventually gets it caught. Such is the lure of the world. Even those who put the effort to overcome their desires may be discouraged when they again fall back into the lures of the world. When man becomes willing to return to God but is not able to maintain the self control that is required for it what can he do? He may in fact give up his efforts to overcome the world, in frustration, as something impossible. This is where God reaches out to man and makes the impossible possible. The way out is faith in the liberating power of a supreme sacrifice.
Jesus is the solution both in the form of his simple commandments and also in terms of a supreme sacrifice.
The teaching of Jesus is simple. According to him to realize God, there are just two requirements. ‘God should be more important to you than anything else in the world’. The second is ‘Love your neighbour as your own self’.
But even doing that is not so easy. What if one fails in following that? After all the law according to which the world runs has it that we pay for our thoughts. Since essentially we keep experiencing the outcomes of our own thoughts and deeds, and we never stop on either of these, it can be an unending cycle, which leads to life after life after life. It can thus lead to eternal ignorance of one’s true nature as it is so difficult not to sin.
Here again Jesus is a solution in the form of a supreme sacrifice. He took the debt or the punishment of our sins by dying on the cross, so that we may not have to undergo eternal death or eternal ignorance of our true nature, if we but believe that it is so. In ancient times, as a payment for sins the practice was to sacrifice the best sheep. It is understandable that the blood of the purest of pure is required to wash away the innumerable sins of mankind and that purest of pure could only be the Son of God Himself.( ‘I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:34.’ In laying down his life for us he has given the ultimate proof of love for us. The Bible says in Acts4:12, ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’It is because Jesus has been the only human being to take upon himself the doom, the punishment for the sins of all mankind (not of a few or a small group).
And yet, Jesus’ sacrifice is for a chosen people as he himself puts it. He is the shepherd of a certain flock. Which is the flock that Jesus refers to? We have to refer to Jesus’ words to understand that. When asked why he keeps the company of the tax collectors and the sinners, Jesus said that it is the sick that need the doctor not those who are healthy.
It is evident from these words that most people would qualify under the category of the sick, for who is the one that has not sinned! There are those who fall again and again into sin but repent each time and are disgusted of their own acts. These are the people who need someone to carry their burden. There are people who want to return to God but are pulled back by the fear of the debt of their sin. These are the people who need to be assured that their sins are paid for and so are no longer held back by the Law. Jesus, ‘the Word Incarnate’ came for the lost sheep, the poor in spirit, for the weak men and women, who live the worldly life but want to escape from its hold. Their spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
There may also be people, who are strong in mind and therefore who can train their minds to remain in God. They are healthy but also so few. Such extraordinary people can be counted on the fingers. They are the ones who sought ‘the Word’ and attained Him by leading a detached life and through continuous meditation.
To quote from ‘Catholic answers to fundamentalists’ questions by Philip St. Romain, ‘..even for people who have not heard his name, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Their consent to him and the guidance of his spirit in their conscience implies a kind of faith-call it implicit faith, as distinguished from explicit faith such as we find among believers in the church.’ This statement reflects what is said in Romans chapter 2. It speaks in essence that it is not what is outside or physical or the community (here Jew) that is valued by God, but rather what is inside. ‘The Gentiles do not have the Law; but whenever they do by instinct what the Law commands, they are their own law…’ Their conduct shows that what the Law commands is written in their hearts’ Romans 2:14 and 15.’
Now the question is; if knowing the Word can be a way and if implicit faith is enough, what exactly is the benefit of knowing Jesus?! To quote again from ‘Catholic answers to fundamentalists’ questions by Philip St. Romain, ‘..it is much better to live in the full light of the revelation of God.’ To know the Word incarnate is to know the Word in its fullness, and to be aware and make use of the Grace that his death on the cross has purchased for us. To not only reach out to God but to be able to avail of God’s hand reaching out to give a helping hand to man’s efforts.
So Jesus is needed by the world as an assurance to us that we are new creations in God when we accept Him as having paid for our sins. Our past does not exist. We are free from having to pay for our (or our anscestors') Karma (deeds), we are free from the karmic cycle! Though this is the Grace of Jesus for the believers of Jesus as Christ the saviour, this Grace does not work for those who do not care to practice the way that Jesus taught us, because choosing Jesus means choosing his way. Rejecting Jesus’ teachings is the same as rejecting Jesus. Those who do not put effort to practice what Jesus taught, only pretend to have chosen Jesus because of some mistaken notion of salvation. Their heart is still in the world, and so, such 'so called followers' are not under the Grace.
The forty days of fasting and penance called lent before Easter is the reminder to all Christians that Jesus has paid for our sins. During lent the true Christian remembers all sins he might have fallen into during the year. Remembering the pain that Jesus underwent for our sake, the true Christian repents and cries and does penance. The Christian is created again, is a new creation every time he sincerely repents remembering the cross and truly resolves not to sin again. The Christian thus renews his freedom from the karmic cycle or the Law every time he repents sincerely with remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice for his sins, the holiest of holy sheep, the Christ, on the cross.
There is a parable which explains the need of a savior for the world. In this parable Jesus speaks of the wedding feast of the son of a king to which many were invited. When they did not turn up, people from the streets were called to come, wearing wedding clothes to the feast. They arrived but the ones among them, who came without wearing the wedding clothes, were sent back. I read into this parable as follows.
God invited his creation man to 'gain wisdom' and experience the magnificence of God. But they enjoyed life so much that they delayed the pursuit of the experience of their real self through the gaining of wisdom. So God called the 'simple' to come to him 'believing in Jesus' as the redeemer from their sins. The simple people believed and respected Jesus as the son of God and followed his teachings. They entered the glory of God. Others came, claiming to believe in Jesus, but their disregard for his teachings showed that they were not sincere in their respect for the one from God; and so were denied the glory of God.
After telling this parable, Jesus had concluded, ‘Many are invited, but few are chosen.’ Matthew 22:14. Jesus( through his sacrifice for sins), is an invitation to all to enter the glory of God, but those who claim to believe in Jesus but do not follow his teachings will obviously not be chosen.
I conclude the synthesis with what Jesus says of himself. Jesus says that he is the Way, the Truth, the Life. His Way was of ‘loving our neighbour as our own self’. He is the Way also because he has paid for our sins and had he not done that there would have been no end to what we would have to suffer as a consequence of our sins. He is the Way to God because he is the Word Incarnate, and understanding the Word is the only way to understand God and His will. The Word is the help, the aid held out from God, holding which we can reach the seemingly unreachable. The Word is the only Truth being the only imperishable creation of God and therefore the Word is the Life itself. The Word is the one basis of all the religions born in different lands.
Thus, explanation of Jesus as the Way to God, does not exclude the followers of other religions and still maintains the Christian faith. In fact I believe multiplicity of religions is a need as people of each land are nourished best by what grows in their own soil.Not everybody would understand the taste in rice of course but it would still be carbohydrates that the staple of any land would actually be providing.
The Four, Linked Questions
When the world outside seems unreliable, then one’s own heart has to be prodded for answers.
For finding answers within, one has to clear the mind of blocks. There should be a willingness to look into aspects that may hurt one’s long held beliefs. I had to overcome many blocks that were obstructing my thought process. I had once shut out the words of a book from my mind because it implied at something that I didn’t want to believe. The book is ‘The Power of your Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy. It said very clearly that ‘the power lies within’. The power to cure, the power to heal, the power to chart our own lives… It was difficult for me to accept this, as I had always been leaning on that somebody else called God. God was the one with the powers. He decided our lives. There is none but my own weak self to rely on? It was like being told that the parent you think you are walking with is a figment of your imagination. You have actually been talking to yourself! It was again bringing to the fore the advaitic philosophy that I had once shoved to a side. For me God would become so powerless if it were to be the poor me! ‘I am God’ was therefore a very unnerving philosophy to me and so I avoided even trying to reason out the truth. I was terribly afraid that it might be true! It was not easy to overcome this fear or mental block, and I needed help.
It is said that when a student is ready the teacher appears. A teacher, in fact a Philosophy teacher, did come in my life at this point of time and he introduced me to a magic word ‘synthesis’ which just made my thinking turn a whole somersault! This word cleared my thinking process in one miraculous moment. The teacher told me how Indian philosophy is a synthesis of contradictions. It assimilates all contradictions. He explained it with the example that when a person walks over a radius that leads to the centre of the circle, another person walking on another radius of the same circle may seem to be on the wrong road. But the closer they reach to the centre, the distance between the two roads decreases. Finally when both have reached the centre they can laugh aloud at their foolishness of having thought the other to be on the wrong road! So also all of us ardently seeking God are right. We are not aware that all who sincerely seek God are walking on some radius leading to the same centre that is God. If we were aware, we would not be worried about others on the other rediuses unduly. Somebody far behind in understanding, need not be rushed forward either; not faster than one rung at a time. A child learning the alphabets is not foolish. Unless he does that he will not be able to read great philosophies even in his adulthood. And so nobody can be wrong or at a ‘wrong’ level of understanding as long as there is sincerity and the purpose is divine. These were the words of the teacher that finally helped settle my troubled mind.
I had finally found through the words of my wise teacher that I needn’t try to eradicate contradictions but rather that I should learn to assimilate them. My troubled mind was finally eased. But then I needed to see the synthesis. I had to see how Christianity fitted into the whole picture, without contradicting any other religious teaching.
1. Who or what is God?
There are numerous ways to explain God to our own minds but as a quencher for myself, I have chosen to explain God using the synthesis of concepts from mainly Christian and Hindu scriptures. There are of course many other ideas enmeshed in the view that I am presenting here but the base is the Christian and Hindu scriptures.
I stress the similarity drawn between Adipurusha (Purusha or Parama Purusha) and the Christian concept of the Word(Son of God)as follows. The term ‘Adipurusha’ means First Man. He is the supreme Purusha who has been with the Eternal Spirit and is born in the womb of God. He is the knowledge and the wisdom and is responsible for the formation of the universe. This Parama Purusha is also called Omkaara. This Om or Omkaara is the vibration heard by mystics who attuned their minds to the cosmic mind through meditation. This Omkaara that formed the universe is very clearly the same as the power or vibration that Christians call ‘the Word’! For the Bible says ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through him all things were made. John 1:1-3’.That is Omkaara can be equated to the Word.
What we can derive as a result of these similar concepts is that the whole world is the result of vibrations (Om, Word). Two scriptures agree on this concept and therefore this is the basic concept or equation that I am holding in mind as I proceed to other ideas and towards a further analysis and synthesis.
Now my personal idea of God has to stem basically from my experience, and not just read ideas. So my personal experience is of the power of thought, how questions in my mind have drawn answers from the universe and I find resonance to this truth in books I have read as well. We may have also experienced or at least heard of how ‘thoughts can lead to outcomes’. It is often said that we should think positive as positive thoughts lead to positive outcomes and negative thoughts lead to negative outcomes. Some even go as far as saying that our thoughts determine our lives! These thoughts could be subconscious, which means that we may not be totally aware of these thoughts. In fact it is also believed that the collective subconscious of all the people in the world is responsible for whatever happens in the world, be it wars or even natural disasters!
Continuing in the same line… if our thoughts create our future, then whatever created this universe must be 'a Thought'. From the stars to the sun and the planets, the wonder called life and the master machine called man (which got endowed with the same power of thought) must all be the product of thought!
The next step to thoughts is words. Thoughts given form is Words. The Hindu scriptures which include four Vedas are considered the emanations of the breath of Brahma. This breath of Brahma is ‘Thought given a form’ or in other words it is the Word of Brahma and therefore for attuned minds it becomes possible to ‘hear’ God’s Mind. The Hindu philosophy speaks of the cosmic vibration not only as Om but also as vac(word) or naad Brahma(sound of the creator), which created everything, which the yogis were able to ‘hear’ through meditation and documented as the ‘Vedas’.
The conclusion to the above consideration is that Word or sound (Naad ) or cosmic vibration which could be heard is therefore not just a part of God but being an emanation from the breath of God is the creation of God! To explain it in human terms; our thoughts have no form but when we speak, we give a form to our thoughts by using our voice and language. In the same way the thoughts or lets say the Mind of God does not have a form and therefore the only 'form' of God is His Word or His Sound. Therefore to conclude, creation has been possible through ‘the first form’ created by God, which itself is actually a vibration heard as ‘Om’ and which is in fact the Word of God! A creation can be differentiated from the creator by terming it as ‘Son’. Therefore the first form, that is Om or Omkaara or Parama Purusha or ‘the Word of God’, being a creation of God, can be termed Son, considering the Creator (thought) as the Father. All creation has been possible through this Word and has no existence without it. This answers how everything that exists is said to be part of the one God and also explains how the Word is the Son of God being a first form or first creation.
Now we need to go back and consider the source of this thought, Word, sound or vibration because that undoubtedly carries not just the Mind of God but even behind the Mind, the Ultimate Power . That is, whatever 'power' causes this thought to be conceived and then resonate in the universe as Word/sound which resulted in the act called creation must be the basic power we call God. This conceiver is not matter, for matter is itself a creation and so this non matter can be called at best an Eternal Spirit or even ‘the Holy Spirit’. Eternal because it was never created and yet exists; Holy because nothing obviously can influence it or hurt or stain it (both terms are a corollary to ‘it’ being a non created entity).
But even as we are defined by what our thoughts, our words and our actions are, so also God must also be not only the conceiver but also his thoughts his words and his action. The conceiver (Holy Spirit), the thought or Mind (Father) and the Word or Omkaara/Adipurusha (the first begotten). This is the Holy Trinity. And yet the three are one with no difference between them because words and action are the evidence of the mind, and thoughts in the mind. Words cannot be without the mind and mind is known by the words that come from it. In this case the mind is the Cosmic Mind. Also as every creation was created through the Word and has its existence in him, hence creation (the action/work of the Word) is also a part of God.
God can therefore also be very simply and conveniently be called a ‘Cosmic Mind of an Eternal Spirit’( being devoid of a material Body) and where all creation is the evidence to its presence and its intelligence, and is its body. According to the Hindu Scripture the Geeta, 'just as the soul is to the body, God is to the universe'.
2. If there is nothing but God then why is all humanity said to be born in sin?
The Trinitarian (Triune) God that we pray to is one and thus belongs to an absolute world where there is none but Him. But we live in this relative world where though we are parts of 'the One Body', we have forgotten it. Now when ‘one’ has become ‘many’, each one can experience each others love, know ones own self through the other and in general have a good experience. But there is a difficulty. The thoughts of all the individuals can be ‘good’ only as long as they love each other as their own selves. Having forgotten this reality makes one love the other less than the own self. That is where the problem begins. It brings in dislike, envy, murder, stealing and so on termed as evil or sin. In short it brings in bad thought and consequently bad outcomes. The bad outcome at worst is the inability to ever realize one’s true nature and such a state can be referred to as eternal death. In the letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 5:12, he says, ‘Sin entered the world through one man and through sin death, and thus death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned’
Just being in the relative world results in the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘you’ which itself is the forerunner of that which we call sin. This is what is meant when it is said that ‘we are born into sin’. It means that we are born into a relative realm, that is, a realm where there is ignorance of the absolute and so where there happens to be evil or sin.
This does not mean that our soul becomes sinful because relative realm is an illusion and evil is sort of a byproduct of the illusion. The only reality is the Absolute realm of the cosmic consciousness. To understand how the soul could remain untainted, we only have to compare with some of the patterns in our own life like that of sleeping, dreaming and waking up. Let’s take an example. A person has a dream in which he murders another man. When he wakes up should he be called a murderer? Not at all for it was not real. What if he wakes up to his reality and realizes that in the world that he lives there is none but him? Then what would his dream be called? A meaningless mumbo jumbo! The idea of another person was just that, ‘an idea’ and ‘the evil’ was just the result of the absurd idea. Life on earth is such a meaningless mumbo jumbo, and God is deliberately having the dream to entertain himself and from which he will eventually wake up. Now suppose the man wakes up in the middle of a dream but still is not fully awake then he will go off to sleep again and may dream the continuation of the dream or some other dream.In our world this could be something like rebirth.As long as the man stays asleep he has sinned, he has murdered. When he is fully awake, only then is he free from the sin. Now consider this corollary, "As long as he keeps thinking he murdered, he will continue sleeping."
It can be understood from the above example that the soul is not sinful and therefore is part of the one and only God. One has to realise this true nature to be freed from the bondage of sin and hence rebirth. It is the ignorance of the true nature that comes with being in the body, that results in all humanity being sinful and so the term ‘born into sin’. Man only needs the removal of ignorance of his true nature and this awareness will make him part of God. In other words ‘truth shall make him free’ This clears the contradiction of the two statements that were taken up and both statements are therefore true. Though man is born into sin, creation is still a part of God. The above analysis also leads to some other conclusions.
3. Who is Jesus?
Jesus is considered by Christians as the Word made flesh (Word Incarnate), the first begotten (son), the only son of God. The doubt I had in the context of my understanding of God and creation was- How could Jesus born a human have a special status as the Only Begotten of God, when everything is supposed to be a part of God and therefore with obviously no such distinct status for one ‘human’?
There is just one separation between the Word and its creation, which I bring up here and it is that, all things will pass away but the Word will not pass away. All that perishes is therefore the illusion created by and through the Word. All creation is therefore within the Word and has no existence separate from it. Now it becomes clear that the Word, Omkaara or the Cosmic Vibration being the only imperishable creation is therefore not only the ‘first’ form but is also ‘the only begotten’ of God.
Now the question that remains is; how can Jesus born a human be this ‘Only Begotten’ the imperishable Word? Let us allow ourselves a bit of wild speculation here. We have heard of saints whose bodies did not decompose. Did their holy lives give an imperishable character to the body? The fact that Jesus took up his body again after death and ascended to ‘heaven’ with the body (as per the Bible), did make me wonder if this ascension ‘with the body’ was actually a pointer to the imperishability of the Body of Jesus. Was this imperishability on account of the purity of the life that Jesus had lived (as is assumed of the Body of Saints) or was this somehow related to how Jesus was conceived and therefore what his identity really was? Then could it be that resurrection of Christ is also another assurance that Jesus is in fact The Imperishable, that is, the Word of God? It seems too far fetched a logic and more logical seems the idea of the Word taking the "perishable" human form, and then it would mean that Avatars (incarnations) cannot be exhausted in just one appearance!
But it cannot be denied that the scriptures do vouch that it was a virgin who conceived Jesus (which can be a pointer that though Born through a Human he was not totally ‘Just a Human’) The scriptures also say that it was, the Word that made it’s dwelling with us, but again should that have to mean imperishabilty?
I believe that the vedic scriptures also give the same importance to Jesus as do the hebrew scriptures and that it is the vastness more than the inaccessabilty and tough language of these scriptures that has made the message almost invisible. There are numerous verses from the Rigveda (purushasukta hymn, 10th Mandala and their interpretations that I have read in at least 2 books by Sanskrit scholars, who have given numerous verses similar to those in the Bible and which describe him as a first born and as the one given up for sacrifice of sins. But my limited knowledge of sanskrit cannot contend with any arguments of the possibilty of these interpretations being faulty. But all this still is merely speculation. It may or may not be true and we cannot go by it alone.
But, there is an inference that can be definitely drawn from a crucial incident mentioned in the Bible 'It is about the three wise men from the east who studied the stars and travelled far following a star to reach the place where the messiah was Born and who declared that they had come to worship Him. Why would three men(Magi) from our subcontinent travel with gifts to see a baby Jesus born in some far off Land unless they were totally convinced of his importance. There must have been something in their scriptures too that convinced them to travel that far to look at and worship (or pay homage to) the new born. For they had asked,"Where is the baby born to be the King of the Jews? Mathew 2:2. Since Jesus never became the King of the Jews in the literal sense, what they meant should be the 'Son', for it is a Prince, who becomes King. The Son inherits the Kingdom(the world). I want to mention here another word used for Purusha in the Rigveda. It is Prajapati. The sacrifice of Prajapati is called Prajapatiyagam. And, the meaning of Prajapati is 'King'.
Now, the following are a few relevant verses from the Bible concerning Jesus …
‘He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him..John 1:10’
‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…… John testifies concerning him…. “This was he of whom I said, ‘he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me”John1: 14 and 15’
Consider another statement from the Bible. ‘Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. 1Corinthians1:24’, which is also what is said about the cosmic Purusha as mentioned earlier; the cosmic Purusha is the wisdom, knowledge and intelligence that has coexisted with the Eternal Spirit and who brought the physical universe into existence.
Also, Jesus himself says that ‘before Abraham was born, I am’, even though Jesus was born a long time after Abraham. John says about Jesus ‘this was he of whom I said, ‘he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.John1: 15.’ These statements imply that Jesus was present a long time before he was actually born. John, a pious soul (in all probability aware of his own ‘true self’), still points out such a distinction between himself and Jesus. For these statements to be true, Jesus has to be more than human. Then who could he be?
To understand this we may consider the concept of avatar in Hindu philosophy which distinguishes man-god from god-man as follows. According to this philosophy, the man god ascends from duality (the human as separate from God) to divinity, whereas the God-man or avatar descends from Infinity to duality to work amidst us. We as sons and daughters of God are unconscious divinity in a human form requiring to become a conscious divinity by seeing through the illusion of duality. On the other hand avatar is where God consciously becomes a man for the liberation of mankind. In Hindu mythology, Ganesha is considered the first Soul- Adi Devata- to have traversed the path from divine unconsciousness to divine consciousness, and so is responsible to guide all the souls through this journey by coming into the world as Avatar. It is to be noted that Ganesha or the elephant God is infact the symbolic representation of the Sanskrit letter for Om!
Trusting what both scriptures have to say, and holding the two religion’s basic philosophical concepts in mind I find it quite reasonable to conclude that Jesus is linked to the one who was present much before anything else was created and so he is an incarnation of the Word in a way that his divinity overshadows any measure of the Human nature in Him so that it is in no way wrong to accord him the title of ‘The First Begotten’ who exists with the spirit, that is, he is the incarnate of the ethereal body that existed since eternity with the Eternal Spirit and came down to earth for the glory of God.
A special distinction of Jesus as Son of God can really be possible, and especially because ‘nothing is impossible with God’. ‘God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise…..This means that no one can boast in God’s presence. 1Corinthians1:27 and 29.’
I add here Jesus’ statement concerning himself, ‘Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are Gods’? If he called them ‘Gods’, to whom the message of God came- and the Scripture cannot be broken-what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?' John10:34.
4. What did Jesus come in the world for?
Expanded, this question would be. ‘If everything is part of God and every sincere seeker will eventually find his way to God, then why did Jesus have to come in the world?’ The question is vital, but there are other questions that need to be answered before this. How many are able to sincerely seek God? How many are willing to sincerely put the effort required for it? The world is too attractive, so attractive that we rarely even think of God let alone seek Him!God has to reach out to the weak man who fails to reach out to God
There is an example that explains the way man is trapped by the lure of the world. In earlier times the villagers in India used a trick to catch monkeys. They would fill peanuts in a narrow necked pot called a surahi . The monkey would put its hand into the neck of the surahi and grab the peanuts, but is not able to remove its hand without letting go of the peanuts. It does not realize that its love for peanuts is clouding its mind and preventing its only way to escape, namely letting go of the peanuts. The only trap here is the monkey’s desire which eventually gets it caught. Such is the lure of the world. Even those who put the effort to overcome their desires may be discouraged when they again fall back into the lures of the world. When man becomes willing to return to God but is not able to maintain the self control that is required for it what can he do? He may in fact give up his efforts to overcome the world, in frustration, as something impossible. This is where God reaches out to man and makes the impossible possible. The way out is faith in the liberating power of a supreme sacrifice.
Jesus is the solution both in the form of his simple commandments and also in terms of a supreme sacrifice.
The teaching of Jesus is simple. According to him to realize God, there are just two requirements. ‘God should be more important to you than anything else in the world’. The second is ‘Love your neighbour as your own self’.
But even doing that is not so easy. What if one fails in following that? After all the law according to which the world runs has it that we pay for our thoughts. Since essentially we keep experiencing the outcomes of our own thoughts and deeds, and we never stop on either of these, it can be an unending cycle, which leads to life after life after life. It can thus lead to eternal ignorance of one’s true nature as it is so difficult not to sin.
Here again Jesus is a solution in the form of a supreme sacrifice. He took the debt or the punishment of our sins by dying on the cross, so that we may not have to undergo eternal death or eternal ignorance of our true nature, if we but believe that it is so. In ancient times, as a payment for sins the practice was to sacrifice the best sheep. It is understandable that the blood of the purest of pure is required to wash away the innumerable sins of mankind and that purest of pure could only be the Son of God Himself.( ‘I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:34.’ In laying down his life for us he has given the ultimate proof of love for us. The Bible says in Acts4:12, ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’It is because Jesus has been the only human being to take upon himself the doom, the punishment for the sins of all mankind (not of a few or a small group).
And yet, Jesus’ sacrifice is for a chosen people as he himself puts it. He is the shepherd of a certain flock. Which is the flock that Jesus refers to? We have to refer to Jesus’ words to understand that. When asked why he keeps the company of the tax collectors and the sinners, Jesus said that it is the sick that need the doctor not those who are healthy.
It is evident from these words that most people would qualify under the category of the sick, for who is the one that has not sinned! There are those who fall again and again into sin but repent each time and are disgusted of their own acts. These are the people who need someone to carry their burden. There are people who want to return to God but are pulled back by the fear of the debt of their sin. These are the people who need to be assured that their sins are paid for and so are no longer held back by the Law. Jesus, ‘the Word Incarnate’ came for the lost sheep, the poor in spirit, for the weak men and women, who live the worldly life but want to escape from its hold. Their spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
There may also be people, who are strong in mind and therefore who can train their minds to remain in God. They are healthy but also so few. Such extraordinary people can be counted on the fingers. They are the ones who sought ‘the Word’ and attained Him by leading a detached life and through continuous meditation.
To quote from ‘Catholic answers to fundamentalists’ questions by Philip St. Romain, ‘..even for people who have not heard his name, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Their consent to him and the guidance of his spirit in their conscience implies a kind of faith-call it implicit faith, as distinguished from explicit faith such as we find among believers in the church.’ This statement reflects what is said in Romans chapter 2. It speaks in essence that it is not what is outside or physical or the community (here Jew) that is valued by God, but rather what is inside. ‘The Gentiles do not have the Law; but whenever they do by instinct what the Law commands, they are their own law…’ Their conduct shows that what the Law commands is written in their hearts’ Romans 2:14 and 15.’
Now the question is; if knowing the Word can be a way and if implicit faith is enough, what exactly is the benefit of knowing Jesus?! To quote again from ‘Catholic answers to fundamentalists’ questions by Philip St. Romain, ‘..it is much better to live in the full light of the revelation of God.’ To know the Word incarnate is to know the Word in its fullness, and to be aware and make use of the Grace that his death on the cross has purchased for us. To not only reach out to God but to be able to avail of God’s hand reaching out to give a helping hand to man’s efforts.
So Jesus is needed by the world as an assurance to us that we are new creations in God when we accept Him as having paid for our sins. Our past does not exist. We are free from having to pay for our (or our anscestors') Karma (deeds), we are free from the karmic cycle! Though this is the Grace of Jesus for the believers of Jesus as Christ the saviour, this Grace does not work for those who do not care to practice the way that Jesus taught us, because choosing Jesus means choosing his way. Rejecting Jesus’ teachings is the same as rejecting Jesus. Those who do not put effort to practice what Jesus taught, only pretend to have chosen Jesus because of some mistaken notion of salvation. Their heart is still in the world, and so, such 'so called followers' are not under the Grace.
The forty days of fasting and penance called lent before Easter is the reminder to all Christians that Jesus has paid for our sins. During lent the true Christian remembers all sins he might have fallen into during the year. Remembering the pain that Jesus underwent for our sake, the true Christian repents and cries and does penance. The Christian is created again, is a new creation every time he sincerely repents remembering the cross and truly resolves not to sin again. The Christian thus renews his freedom from the karmic cycle or the Law every time he repents sincerely with remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice for his sins, the holiest of holy sheep, the Christ, on the cross.
There is a parable which explains the need of a savior for the world. In this parable Jesus speaks of the wedding feast of the son of a king to which many were invited. When they did not turn up, people from the streets were called to come, wearing wedding clothes to the feast. They arrived but the ones among them, who came without wearing the wedding clothes, were sent back. I read into this parable as follows.
God invited his creation man to 'gain wisdom' and experience the magnificence of God. But they enjoyed life so much that they delayed the pursuit of the experience of their real self through the gaining of wisdom. So God called the 'simple' to come to him 'believing in Jesus' as the redeemer from their sins. The simple people believed and respected Jesus as the son of God and followed his teachings. They entered the glory of God. Others came, claiming to believe in Jesus, but their disregard for his teachings showed that they were not sincere in their respect for the one from God; and so were denied the glory of God.
After telling this parable, Jesus had concluded, ‘Many are invited, but few are chosen.’ Matthew 22:14. Jesus( through his sacrifice for sins), is an invitation to all to enter the glory of God, but those who claim to believe in Jesus but do not follow his teachings will obviously not be chosen.
I conclude the synthesis with what Jesus says of himself. Jesus says that he is the Way, the Truth, the Life. His Way was of ‘loving our neighbour as our own self’. He is the Way also because he has paid for our sins and had he not done that there would have been no end to what we would have to suffer as a consequence of our sins. He is the Way to God because he is the Word Incarnate, and understanding the Word is the only way to understand God and His will. The Word is the help, the aid held out from God, holding which we can reach the seemingly unreachable. The Word is the only Truth being the only imperishable creation of God and therefore the Word is the Life itself. The Word is the one basis of all the religions born in different lands.
Thus, explanation of Jesus as the Way to God, does not exclude the followers of other religions and still maintains the Christian faith. In fact I believe multiplicity of religions is a need as people of each land are nourished best by what grows in their own soil.Not everybody would understand the taste in rice of course but it would still be carbohydrates that the staple of any land would actually be providing.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Section 1: Ch 3: Secular versus Orthodox
Chapter 3
Secular versus Orthodox
Was Jesus really the only way to salvation? I was brought up in a totally secular environment, visiting even Hindu temples and Gurdwara. All the people in the defence campuses that I had lived in treated each others religion with respect. That was the culture that I had lived in. Consequently I had a hard time reconciling these ‘new ideas’ with my totally secular mindset. How could it be that the sincere prayers of my friends of other religion were meaningless?! The time they share with God each day in prayer, a waste?! I had read and heard the teachings of the Hindu religious books like the Geeta and had always been touched to my very depths by the beauty and wisdom of the teachings. How could a religion teaching such wisdom be wrong in any way? How could it be? I needed a clear answer to this. My Christian friends in college stressed that there is only one way and tried to help me clear my doubts by taking me to discourses by certain learned guests in the protestant church. I attended these. The ideas of the Hindu faith were discussed and disproved with the use of logic. ‘All is Brahma or God’ is the Hindu belief. This would mean that man is Brahma. But Brahma is nirvikar (without emotion). Man is full of vikar (emotions). So man cannot be Brahma. I mulled over all that I heard. The logic seemed in place. I realized that I knew little about what Hindu scriptures had to say. Anyway I was willing now to give up my doubts or so I thought.
Vivekananda has said, ‘Two statements apparently contradictory may both be true’. Statements are obviously subjective and arise out of the particular perspective taken by the seeker. It is said that even sages could never agree due to differing perspectives. Then how can common man? Do I then dismiss the differences according it to differing perspectives? But it was difficult for me to just overlook the contradiction. How could I believe that there is only one way to God and yet there could be many ways? How could I accept one without rejecting the other?
I did find a quencher to this query though, in a way that both scriptures could be right! It is just a one line quencher. The quencher is so simple that such a major, mind boggling question now seems silly and childish to me!
So here is the query (that has been the most troubling one to me) and its quencher with its explanation.
Which is the RIGHT path to salvation?
‘Ask and you Shall Receive, Seek and you Shall Find, Knock and The Door Shall Be Opened Unto you. Matthew 7:7’
Jesus explains with an example that if a person keeps on asking without shame, then he just cannot be refused. ‘For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Luke 11:9,10.’ ‘As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Luke 11:13.’ So there is evidently no need to worry about ‘the right way’ because it is actually a person’s intensity and sincerity that opens doors to the sought and not the religion that he follows. After all, nobody marks ‘the path’ a bee takes to a flower! A bee is a seeker of the flower and so will find it whether it is by a straight or a roundabout way. When the seeker has the intensity, the love for God above all else, then the world will have to step aside and make way for him to his cherished Goal. It’s obvious then that we need not go out of our way to show a seeker, our personal way as the only way. It is only when somebody comes asking the way through word or deed that we need to guide as per our own level of understanding.
If a Christian believes this statement as true then he will agree that whether a person walks the path shown by Jesus, or pursues with the aid of knowledge, selfless deeds or whatever else, his sincerity and persistence will be rewarded by God.
It would be interesting for the still doubtful (who may still wonder as to how different ways or religions can lead to the same destination and especially when the Christian way has it that Jesus is the only way to God) to know here a statement from Katha Upanishad, ‘The goal which all Vedas proclaim, which all austerities and meditations seek and desiring which the sages lead the life of Brahmacharya-it is Om.’ ‘This immortal Word (Logos) is verily Brahma( the Personal Creator God). This immortal Word is verily also the Highest Brahma (the Impersonal Divine Reality)’ as quoted from Om Gayatri and Sandhya written by Swami Mukhyananda.And what is Om? It is the vibration that the mystics could hear through meditation and is the vibration through which everything was created.
As per the Logos theology of christianity - Logos/word is the cause of all creation.(The term 'word' is derived from the greek word Logos). Logos is another way to refer to the Word of God and Jesus is considered the Logos incarnate.
Therefore, quite evidently Logos/word/Om is considered to be the way to the cosmic mind by both the scriptures. You may approach him daily through selfless deeds(Karmayog), through prayer(Bhaktiyog), through meditation(Rajyog) or by acquiring knowledge(Gyanyog) about him, and yet your soul would have gained only when it becomes attuned to the vibration (Om) in the universe, attuned to the ‘Word’ that is the window to God’s mind. Therefore there are many ways to approach God and yet the Word is the only way to the cosmic mind!
Moreover I want to stress the importance of "sincerity". When a person is filled with fear about which is the right road, his mind has no space for thoughts of love for the destination. His mind is busy with showing others the right road. Without total focus on the goal and a sense of fearlessness and faith in the compass of his heart...there can be no sincerity. The mind should be on the goal and not the road (to be able to reach it). For where ever our mind is, there we are. Let not fear and concern about 'which is the right road' make a christian stay forever on the roads...
Secular versus Orthodox
Was Jesus really the only way to salvation? I was brought up in a totally secular environment, visiting even Hindu temples and Gurdwara. All the people in the defence campuses that I had lived in treated each others religion with respect. That was the culture that I had lived in. Consequently I had a hard time reconciling these ‘new ideas’ with my totally secular mindset. How could it be that the sincere prayers of my friends of other religion were meaningless?! The time they share with God each day in prayer, a waste?! I had read and heard the teachings of the Hindu religious books like the Geeta and had always been touched to my very depths by the beauty and wisdom of the teachings. How could a religion teaching such wisdom be wrong in any way? How could it be? I needed a clear answer to this. My Christian friends in college stressed that there is only one way and tried to help me clear my doubts by taking me to discourses by certain learned guests in the protestant church. I attended these. The ideas of the Hindu faith were discussed and disproved with the use of logic. ‘All is Brahma or God’ is the Hindu belief. This would mean that man is Brahma. But Brahma is nirvikar (without emotion). Man is full of vikar (emotions). So man cannot be Brahma. I mulled over all that I heard. The logic seemed in place. I realized that I knew little about what Hindu scriptures had to say. Anyway I was willing now to give up my doubts or so I thought.
Vivekananda has said, ‘Two statements apparently contradictory may both be true’. Statements are obviously subjective and arise out of the particular perspective taken by the seeker. It is said that even sages could never agree due to differing perspectives. Then how can common man? Do I then dismiss the differences according it to differing perspectives? But it was difficult for me to just overlook the contradiction. How could I believe that there is only one way to God and yet there could be many ways? How could I accept one without rejecting the other?
I did find a quencher to this query though, in a way that both scriptures could be right! It is just a one line quencher. The quencher is so simple that such a major, mind boggling question now seems silly and childish to me!
So here is the query (that has been the most troubling one to me) and its quencher with its explanation.
Which is the RIGHT path to salvation?
‘Ask and you Shall Receive, Seek and you Shall Find, Knock and The Door Shall Be Opened Unto you. Matthew 7:7’
Jesus explains with an example that if a person keeps on asking without shame, then he just cannot be refused. ‘For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Luke 11:9,10.’ ‘As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Luke 11:13.’ So there is evidently no need to worry about ‘the right way’ because it is actually a person’s intensity and sincerity that opens doors to the sought and not the religion that he follows. After all, nobody marks ‘the path’ a bee takes to a flower! A bee is a seeker of the flower and so will find it whether it is by a straight or a roundabout way. When the seeker has the intensity, the love for God above all else, then the world will have to step aside and make way for him to his cherished Goal. It’s obvious then that we need not go out of our way to show a seeker, our personal way as the only way. It is only when somebody comes asking the way through word or deed that we need to guide as per our own level of understanding.
If a Christian believes this statement as true then he will agree that whether a person walks the path shown by Jesus, or pursues with the aid of knowledge, selfless deeds or whatever else, his sincerity and persistence will be rewarded by God.
It would be interesting for the still doubtful (who may still wonder as to how different ways or religions can lead to the same destination and especially when the Christian way has it that Jesus is the only way to God) to know here a statement from Katha Upanishad, ‘The goal which all Vedas proclaim, which all austerities and meditations seek and desiring which the sages lead the life of Brahmacharya-it is Om.’ ‘This immortal Word (Logos) is verily Brahma( the Personal Creator God). This immortal Word is verily also the Highest Brahma (the Impersonal Divine Reality)’ as quoted from Om Gayatri and Sandhya written by Swami Mukhyananda.And what is Om? It is the vibration that the mystics could hear through meditation and is the vibration through which everything was created.
As per the Logos theology of christianity - Logos/word is the cause of all creation.(The term 'word' is derived from the greek word Logos). Logos is another way to refer to the Word of God and Jesus is considered the Logos incarnate.
Therefore, quite evidently Logos/word/Om is considered to be the way to the cosmic mind by both the scriptures. You may approach him daily through selfless deeds(Karmayog), through prayer(Bhaktiyog), through meditation(Rajyog) or by acquiring knowledge(Gyanyog) about him, and yet your soul would have gained only when it becomes attuned to the vibration (Om) in the universe, attuned to the ‘Word’ that is the window to God’s mind. Therefore there are many ways to approach God and yet the Word is the only way to the cosmic mind!
Moreover I want to stress the importance of "sincerity". When a person is filled with fear about which is the right road, his mind has no space for thoughts of love for the destination. His mind is busy with showing others the right road. Without total focus on the goal and a sense of fearlessness and faith in the compass of his heart...there can be no sincerity. The mind should be on the goal and not the road (to be able to reach it). For where ever our mind is, there we are. Let not fear and concern about 'which is the right road' make a christian stay forever on the roads...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Ch 1- The Thomases' Road to Realization?
Introduction; Chapter 1
The Thomases’ Road to Realization?
The foremost thing that every young and religious mind should and will eventually learn is that ‘Organized religion is just a guideline to help each individual to walk his own personal road to realization’. Religion is thus supposed to serve each person and not vice versa. Just as Jesus tells us ‘The Sabbath is for man and women and not they for the Sabbath’. But when one is born a Christian, a Hindu.., the mind automatically believes that the individual is the servant of the religion.
Thomas as we know was the follower of Jesus who said he won’t believe that Jesus has risen until he saw him with his own eyes and touched the wounds in his hands. But the Thomas I intend here may not be exactly like the Biblical Thomas who only doubted that Jesus could have risen. The Thomas I refer to is in general to any person of any faith and also in particular to a Christian (in more probability a catholic like me) who may have ‘any doubt’ whether about truth in teachings of other religions or any aspect of one’s own religion. He could also be a Christian open to all the wisdom in the world and for whom that has been a reason of many of his tormenting doubts. He can see the beauty of truth in all religions but is not able to account for contradictions in the basic beliefs of the religions. He wants to put his complete faith in Christianity, because he cannot reject what he is born into, but having a thinking mind he cannot overlook the contradictory teaching of the other scriptures of the world either. (Of course a skeptic can be male or female; but I have used the male pronouns all through the book which is merely for convenience.) I have been a skeptic, for many years who did not know how to trust the Christian teachings about God, when challenged by the seemingly contradictory wisdom of the other major religions of the world. The contradictions did seem irresolvable and yet surprisingly I have been provided over time with answers that have finally put an end to my doubts and the answers have been such, that make me a devout Christian and yet a believer of truth to all scriptures! These answers I am sharing in this book.
The young Christian who wishes to analyze all “good words” will learn in this book that “two contradictory truths can co-exist”. That is, two seemingly contradictory ideas can both be actually true! For example, ‘Jesus is the only begotten son of God as per Christian belief and yet, all of us are sons and daughters of God in line with a philosophy that says “that thou art”!’ Or consider these statements ‘There is only one way to God (Christianity)’, ‘There are many ways to God (Hinduism)’. Yes, both these are true statements too! For truth is only a matter of looking again after removing the coloured glasses that we unknowingly get used to wearing.
The Thomases’ Road to Realization?
The foremost thing that every young and religious mind should and will eventually learn is that ‘Organized religion is just a guideline to help each individual to walk his own personal road to realization’. Religion is thus supposed to serve each person and not vice versa. Just as Jesus tells us ‘The Sabbath is for man and women and not they for the Sabbath’. But when one is born a Christian, a Hindu.., the mind automatically believes that the individual is the servant of the religion.
Thomas as we know was the follower of Jesus who said he won’t believe that Jesus has risen until he saw him with his own eyes and touched the wounds in his hands. But the Thomas I intend here may not be exactly like the Biblical Thomas who only doubted that Jesus could have risen. The Thomas I refer to is in general to any person of any faith and also in particular to a Christian (in more probability a catholic like me) who may have ‘any doubt’ whether about truth in teachings of other religions or any aspect of one’s own religion. He could also be a Christian open to all the wisdom in the world and for whom that has been a reason of many of his tormenting doubts. He can see the beauty of truth in all religions but is not able to account for contradictions in the basic beliefs of the religions. He wants to put his complete faith in Christianity, because he cannot reject what he is born into, but having a thinking mind he cannot overlook the contradictory teaching of the other scriptures of the world either. (Of course a skeptic can be male or female; but I have used the male pronouns all through the book which is merely for convenience.) I have been a skeptic, for many years who did not know how to trust the Christian teachings about God, when challenged by the seemingly contradictory wisdom of the other major religions of the world. The contradictions did seem irresolvable and yet surprisingly I have been provided over time with answers that have finally put an end to my doubts and the answers have been such, that make me a devout Christian and yet a believer of truth to all scriptures! These answers I am sharing in this book.
The young Christian who wishes to analyze all “good words” will learn in this book that “two contradictory truths can co-exist”. That is, two seemingly contradictory ideas can both be actually true! For example, ‘Jesus is the only begotten son of God as per Christian belief and yet, all of us are sons and daughters of God in line with a philosophy that says “that thou art”!’ Or consider these statements ‘There is only one way to God (Christianity)’, ‘There are many ways to God (Hinduism)’. Yes, both these are true statements too! For truth is only a matter of looking again after removing the coloured glasses that we unknowingly get used to wearing.
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