Chain of Colored Gems

Cream of Christianity and Hinduism

[This is an address given to a gathering of Hindus and Christians]. You are the cream of Christianity and Hinduism. In course of time the devotees of other religions will also join you and make this group as a complete representative of Universal Spirituality. I wish all of you retain your identification of your individual religions. Let this group be a chain of gems of different colours. Let not the other gems be coloured by white paint so that the whole chain shall become a garland of white gems only. Let the pearls remain in the garland, which are white in colour. Let them not insist the other gems also to be coloured by white paint. A chain with different coloured gems looks more beautiful than a chain of mere pearls only. The thread running through all these gems is the Universal Spirituality. Religion is a gem with a particular colour. Spirituality is the thread that is holding on all the different gems in the garland.

Christians are the followers of Christ. Buddhists are followers of Buddha. Janis are followers of Mahaveer Jain. Hindus are the followers of various forms of God. Muslims were the followers of all the prophets up to Mohammad. Thus, the word "Muslims" is general just like the word Hindus. You cannot say that only the followers of Krishna are Hindus. Followers of Shiva are also Hindus. Later on the word Muslims was used specifically for the followers of Mohammad. Before the arrival of Christ and Mohammad all the non-Hindus were called as Muslims. In Sanskrit the word Muslims is represented by the word "Mlechcha" which means all non-Hindus. Thus, in ancient times there were only two religions. One was Hinduism in India and the other was Mlechcha or Muslim out of India. Sage Vyasa wrote a scripture called "Bhavishyat Purana" which mentions about the arrival of Christ to India after His crusification and His conversation with king Salivahana. Therefore, this point has the validity from the scripture. The historical proof exists for the burial tomb of Christ in Kashmir (India) even today. We cannot help if some conservative people like the well frogs deny this.

The word Brahman means the greatest. Any item, which is greatest among a category, can be called as Brahman. An officer in a department is Brahman. The president of the country is Brahman. The officer is greatest among the staff of the department. The president is greatest among all the citizens of the country. The word greatest or Brahman is common to both the officer and president. This does not mean that the officer and president are equal. You have to take the sense of the same word according to the context. Similarly the soul is greatest among all the items of creation. The soul can be called as Brahman. But God is greater than the soul. Therefore, God is greatest among all the items whereas soul is greatest among the items of the creation. Both God and soul can be called as Brahman. This does not mean that God is soul. Similarly, a non-Hindu is called as Muslim. The follower of Mohammad can be also called as Muslim. This does not mean that all the non-Hindus are followers of Mohammad.

When the body of Jesus was pierced by spear blood came out. This means that life was retained by the body of Jesus even after the crucification This shows the yogic power of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was in Himalayas from 16th to 30th year of age. He did severe penance and was in association of great sages in the caves of Himalayas. He attained all the yogic powers. He used the yogic power and retained the life. This is only praise of Jesus and should not be misunderstood as false crucification.

Brahman refers to Para Brahman or God pervading all the pure awareness. A very little part of the pure awareness in which God has not entered is like the mud to prepare the pot. The rest of pure awareness pervaded by God is like the pot maker. The pot is this universe. Veda says that the pure awareness used for the creation is just like ray of the sun ( Padosya Visvaa Bhutaani). Sage Vidyaranya in his famous philosophical book called " Vedanta Panchadasi" also mentions this same point. The mind or the nervous energy used for the conversion in to dream is very very little. This spectator part of the mental energy is huge compared to the mental energy that is converted into dream. Due to the vast quantative difference between the spectator energy and the modified energy, the modification is almost nil compared to spectator. Thus, the spectator is real and the modification is almost unreal. This is the concept of Sankara. The word "Mithya" does not mean completely unreal. It means almost unreal. A dream is almost unreal compared to the dreamer. A daydreamer will control the dream like God controlling the universe. A night-dreamer is controlled by dream like the soul. This difference is made clear through these two examples. If you see the difference between God and soul, the word God indicates the Para Brahman or God associated with pure awareness. The word soul means only the pure awareness with out Para Brahman. The quantity of pure awareness that is associated with Para Brahman is like ocean. The quantity of pure awareness which is the soul is like a tiny water drop. The ocean is Mula Prakruti. The soul is the drop of the ocean. Even without the reference to the God, there is lot of quantitative difference between the Mula Prakruti(Ocean) and the soul(drop). Both these are qualitatively same. But once the Mula Prakruti is pervaded by Para Brahman, there will be qualitative difference also. The ocean and the drop are quantitatively different but are qualitatively similar. Suppose the ocean is illuminated by lot of energy. The drop is not at all illuminated. Now, the illuminated ocean is different quantitatively as well as qualitatively from the non-illuminated drop. There is no difference between Brahman and Eswara. Brahman is the non-spectator. Eswara is the spectator. You are sitting in the house peacefully and you are called as Brahman. Suppose you are seeing a picture in TV, you are Eswara. Brahman and Eswara are essentially one and the same. The work of watching the creation is the only differential point, which is not an essential difference. Therefore, Eswara and Jeeva(Soul) are qualitatively and quantitatively different. This is the theory of Ramanuja and Mardhva. If you take the water item alone, the ocean and drop are qualitatively one and the same. This is the monism of Sankara. The dualism of Ramanuja and Mardhva arises only when the illuminating energy of the ocean and also the quantity of water in the ocean are considered. The human incarnation is the illuminated drop. The energy that illuminates the ocean as well as the drop is beyond the spacial dimensions. Therefore, from the point of the energy the quantitative difference between the ocean and the drop disappears. This means the God present in the universe and the God present in the human incarnation are one and the same both qualitatively and quantitatively. Due to the unimaginable power of this energy even the quantative difference in terms of water between ocean and drop also disappears. Thus the cosmic Eswara and Lord Krishna are one and the same qualitatively and quantitatively in terms of God as well as in terms of the pure awareness. Therefore, the entire cosmos is present in the small body of Krishna. In every aspect the cosmic Eswara and the human incarnation are exactly one and the same.

Common Philosophical Framework

I repeatedly say that Hinduism and Christianity have the same basic structure of spiritual knowledge. When God comes down as Human Incarnation, He is viewed in three ways.

Monism. Some people view the Human Incarnation as God in-Toto. When the electricity enters the wire it pervades all over the wire. Wherever you touch the wire you will experience the electricity. Veda says the same "ntar Bahischa Tat Sarvam"..., which means that God pervaded all over the human body and is present inside as well as outside the human body of the Human Incarnation. This view is called as monoism (Advaita) of Sankara. This exactly coincides with the statement of Jesus " I and My Father are one and the same". The Human Incarnation is convenient for the sake of human beings. The vision, touch, conversation and co-living are quite possible with Human Incarnation. The human body is exactly the similar medium in which the soul of a human being also exists. For any transaction common medium is the best. It is unnecessary and wastage of time and effort to try to see God in the medium of energetic form. For such a divine vision lot of severe penance has to be done. You have seen the same God in another medium called as energy. Is it not wastage of time and effort to try to see a person in a silk shirt, when the same person is appearing before you in the cotton shirt? The person is important and not the shirt. There is a saying which states that one caught a small rat after digging a big hill. Some people try to imagine God embedded in the pure awareness, which is the finest form of energy. Such form of energy is very very subtle and can be perceived only by imagination. The pure awareness is only the costliest shirt. Therefore, the time and effort you have concentrated on the meditation to perceive God in such costliest shirt through your mind is the climax of wastage of your time and effort. The penance to see the energetic form and the meditation to imagine God in pure awareness are unnecessary efforts because you can see the same God in the human body of the Human Incarnation. Moreover, the human body is very very clear for the vision. The energetic form cannot be seen by the naked eyes. Only by special energy granted by the Lord, the eyes can see such energetic form. The internal eye which is the mind can only imagine the form of pure awareness. Moreover, touch is not possible in the case of the forms of energy as well as awareness. Conversation with the form of pure awareness is very much subtle and unclear. The conversation with the energetic form can take place but that is also limited to a few seconds only. The energetic form is highly unstable and is subjected to diffusion. The entropy of the energetic form is very low and the spontaneity is towards the increase in entropy. Therefore, a long conversation is not possible with energetic forms. The energetic form appears for a few seconds only and grants the boons for the penance and disappears immediately by the process of diffusion. Such energetic form is not at all convenient for co-living. If you see Lord Krishna, the devotees could see the Lord for a long time. They could embrace Him for a long time. They could talk with Him for any length of time till their doubts are cleared. They could even hear the sweet songs from the mouth of the Lord. They lived with the Lord closely for years together. Such fortune is unimaginable and thus the human form of God is the best. Only very very few fortunate devotees can recognize God in human form and receive all the benefits fully. Some devotees doubt the Lord in human form due to over logic and loose the golden chance. Therefore, a human being can approach God completely only through the human form. This is stated by Jesus "one can reach My Father only through Me". Thus very fortunate devotees believe the monoism of the wire and the electricity and get the complete benefit.

Qualified monism. The second view is to see the God and the Human Body as separate items. The monoism gets diluted because of the natural egoism and jealousy of humanity. They cannot accept a particular human being as God. For such acceptance complete eradication of egoism and jealousy is needed which is highly impossible. God is present in the heart of the Human Incarnation. The Lord is wrapped by the human body like a chocolate is wrapped by a covering sheath. The inner Lord is the main component and the external human body is only a minor component. The human body is recognized as a part and parcel of the Lord but it is of least importance. One cannot experience the Lord just by seeing or touching the covering sheath. The main component is called as 'Seshi' and the minor component is called as 'Sesha'. This is the philosophy of Ramanuja. Jesus also represents this concept. Jesus told that God is His Father and that He is the beloved son of the Lord. The son is always together with the Father and is not an outsider. The blood of the Father and the son is one and the same. Thus both are essentially one and the same but God has major importance and the son has minor importance. Whenever Jesus talked that He is the Son of God this line of philosophy appears, which is called as 'Visishta Advaita' or a special type of monoism. The Father and His son are physically separate but both are one and the same by their essence. The Father is like ocean and the Son is like a wave. The human beings cannot worship the God. For their convenience, a small part of God came down to give the divine experience.

Dualism. The third line of view is 'Dvaita' or Dualism. This results when the egoism and jealousy of a human being is in climax. They cannot accept any human being greater than themselves in any way. God is the Master and the Human Incarnation is only His dear servant. The servant is an outsider and has no blood relationship with the father. God sends His messenger to pass on His message on the earth. Every human being is a servant of God and thus all human beings are spiritually equal. God chooses a particular servant as a messenger to the earth. Such choosing of the messenger is only a chance. This belongs to Madhva. God never enters any human body and will not come down to the earth. Only a little power and His grace enter the messenger. Whenever Jesus claimed Himself as the messenger from the God, this line of philosophy appeared. Islam believes this type of concept for them. Mohammed is only a messenger from God. They do not accept the concept of Human Incarnation. But they respect the messenger and worship Him as the representative of God. Thus this type of worship started the representative worship. A representative of God can be any object in the world. Not only the human body but also any non-living inert object can also stand as the representative of God. Based on this only the Persians started worshipping Fire as God. Some devotees feel that God is the all-pervading cosmic energy, which is also inert. Some meditate upon God as the all-pervading pure awareness, which is also another special form of energy only. Life or awareness is a special form of nervous energy. Some have started worshipping every human being or even every living being as God. Some have expanded the concept to every living and non-living object and thus treated the entire cosmos as God. Scientists believe that the ultimate is only this world. Thus this concept of representative worship ended with atheism finally. This concept has good sides also. When the Human Incarnation is denied the false human incarnations are prevented. Otherwise several preachers have started cheating the public by exploiting this concept. In that way this line of philosophy is no doubt good.

Common Trunk

Thus, the Christianity and Hinduism have the same structure of philosophy and can be treated as the two branches of the same tree. Only the language, culture, food habits etc., differ in these two religions. But the internal spiritual essence is one and the same. Only these two religions accept the concept of Human Incarnation and treat the human form as God. I do not understand why there is a quarrel between Hindus and Christians when such a wonderful homogeneity exists. The History also showed the mutual love and respect in these two religions as you can see the honour of Jesus in India and the honour of Hindu saints like Swami Vivekananda in Christian countries. No other two religions have such fusion as Christianity and Hinduism. When such homogenous religions quarrel with each other, not to speak of quarrels between heterogeneous religions. Never a Church in India was attacked and never a temple in America was attacked. The Christianity is spreading in India very easily. Similarly, Hinduism is also spreading very fast in Christian countries. Therefore, I wish the fusion of these two religions in the beginning to stand as an example for other religions also to fuse with each other. This will be the first step for the Universal Spirituality.

Practical Spiritual Effort

The spiritual message of Jesus and Krishna are always one and the same in every aspect. Jesus always preached for the detachment from the blind worldly bonds like bonds with family members. He stated that unless one is prepared to leave parents children, money and even life for His sake, one couldn't be His dearest disciple. He always preached the eradication of egoism. Whenever a supernatural act was done by Him, He always claimed that it was due to His Father whose glory is to be propagated. He never owned any supernatural act. He always preached that His Father only grants the boons and all the facilities on this earth. Krishna also told the same points in Gita about detachment (Nirmamah"), removal of egoism (Yadahamkaramasritya") and sanction of boons by God only (Mayaiva Vihitan"). These three aspects are very important steps to achieve the grace of the Lord.

Sublimate Love

You love your family members and such love gives you some pleasure in your heart. Therefore, your love is only for your self-satisfaction and such love is only selfishness. You are over powered by the emotions of love but you are not analysing by controlling your emotions. If you analyse, you can clearly understand that your love cannot protect either yourself or your family members. Your love is only some loss of your precious nervous energy and valuable time. Except this loss there is no use. By emotion you are becoming weak by losing energy. Why are you doing such foolish thing again and again? There is no benefit out of such act and there is only clear loss. But if you divert your love towards God, He will protect and develop yourself as well as your family members in this world as well as in the upper world. By spending the same quantum of nervous energy towards God, you are getting all unimaginable benefits forever! How wise is this act! By protecting yourself and your family members, you are proving your love towards yourself and your family members. This is the true love. The former is only false love, which involves wastage of energy just out of selfishness. Thus, wise scholars overcome emotions and analyse any point with calm and energetic brain. Gita says to apply the brain always to do the analysis and find out the truth before any action (Buddhow Saranam"). Most of the people are not understanding this truth. Especially this is very clear in the case of parents who blindly love their children with the climax of the emotion spending their maximum precious nervous energy, which is simply wasted without any use for themselves or for their children. I find, some times, some parents or elders are talking with just born babies! They talk so many sentences and they no very well that the baby cannot understand even a single word! They waste their nervous and oral energy for such a long time and they feel very great about such foolish act! Therefore, try to understand my point without any excitation and try to implement my advise. You can experiment my advise just for a month and then see the tremendous change in your circumstances.

Eradicate the Ego

The next item is eradication of egoism. Whenever you are doing some appreciable act, immediately you disown yourself from such act. You surrender all the credit to the Lord even before somebody praises about it. If some body is praising you for such act, you pass on the ownership to the Lord at once. Otherwise, the wine of egoism will enter your brain and your are intoxicated with the egoism. You are transformed in to a demon shortly. Some people disown the praise externally but accept the praise in their minds. This is just like drinking the wine negating it orally. In such case also the intoxication of egoism is inevitable. You are thinking that you are the owner or the master of your family. You feel your self as the king or the ruler and you think that your family is your kingdom. This is the climax of foolishness and ignorance. You cannot even rule the organs of your body like heart, kidneys, lungs etc. Even your body is under the control of the Lord only. How can you control other human beings? Therefore, you quit your post of headship of your family. From now onwards you recognise that the Lord is the head of your family. From this moment onwards you feel that you are just a member of your family like any other family member. You belong to the category of "Ruled" and you are not at all the ruler. Now your family and your body are under the control of the divine master. If anything happens to your body are to your family, do not get disturbed because the rectification is responsibility of the Lord who is the owner of your body and the family. The owner only has to worry about any disturbance. You are not responsible for either the disturbance or its rectification. Let any problem arise, you keep calm and peaceful. Even if your disturbed and feel responsible, you can not do anything. Suppose you are responding to the problem and try for its rectification, even then, you feel that you are acting as instrument or a servant of God to do that work. You must feel that you are assigned to solve that problem by the order of the Lord. When the problem is solved you must pass on the entire credit to the Lord only. As I told you, you can experiment my advise for a month and see the excellent works of the Lord.

Recognize God as the Supreme Controller

You must always feel that the final granting authority is only the Lord. Except the Lord no body or nothing or no force is responsible to accomplish anything every body and every thing acts according to His wish. The Lord is not seen by you. Therefore, you think that somebody is kind enough to help you. The person who helped you is forced by the Lord to help you. That person is just carrying on the order of the Lord. Even if you scold him, he will not stop helping you. Even if you praise him, he will not help you if there is no sanction from the Lord. A messenger is bringing a signed cheque from the Lord. The Lord is in the house and you are not seeing Him. You have seen the messenger and the cheque in his hand. You are thinking that the messenger is very kind in helping you. You are praising the messenger. The cheque is handed over in the Bank. The staff are arranging for the payment of the cheque to you. You are praising the staff thinking that they are very kind to help you. It is the duty of the staff to arrange for encashment of the cheque. They will loose their jobs if they are not doing their duties. They are working for the fear of their jobs only. Therefore, you must recognise that the God is the signatory and that He is the account holder. You must understand that the Lord is paying His cash to you. You must analyse the root cause. The root cause is the cheque. The cheque is valid only when it is signed by the account holder. Therefore, you must recognise the force that makes the root cause valid the sanctioning the boons to you. By such deep analyse only to find the Lord as the cause of the cause. Then only you will become grateful to the Lord. And express your gratitude to the correct person who is the Lord alone. Whenever any favour was granted Jesus used to praise the Lord immediately and expressed His gratitude to the Lord. You must thank the Lord for whatever is given to you already. If you are not satisfied with the existing facilities, you will never be satisfied even if the Lord grants any number of more facilities. If you already satisfied and feel contented with whatever is given already, the Lord is further pleased to grant further facilities. Therefore, to achieve the grace of the Lord, the contentment with the existing circumstances is essential. Therefore, be always satisfied and be always cheerful with whatever you have already. This is the basis for achieving the grace from the Lord in more quantity in the future. You must always express the gratefulness to the Lord for whatever is already granted to you. You should not ask for anything more. When thousands of people came to see Jesus, He was having just four breads in a basket. He did not ask the Lord for more breads. He raised the basket with His hands and praised the Lord for giving those four breads. Immediately the four breads were multiplied to thousands. Gita also says about the necessity of self-satisfaction with the existing things (Nityatrupto"). He will be rained with infinite grace of the Lord if you follow my advise. Again I suggest that you experiment this for a month and then practice in your life.

Human Incarnation of God

All this preaching is only the practical philosophy, which requires firm faith in the preacher. The preacher should be the correct the person. Only the Lord in human form can be such a correct preacher. If you believe a false preacher or an ignorant person as the true preacher, results cannot be seen. If you approach the real water and believe it as the water really, you can put your finger in it and feel the coldness, which is the correct result. If you put your finger in fire, you cannot feel the coldness because it is not water. Similarly the false preacher gives negative results. If you put your finger in air, which is neither water nor fire, your finger neither feels the coldness nor is burnt. Similarly an ignorant person acting as a true preacher can give neither correct result nor the negative result. You will be wasting your time energy with such an ignorant preacher. Therefore, catching the right guide (Satguru) is fundamental step. If you mistake the true guide as some ordinary guy, only you are loosing. Veda says "Ihachet Avedet") which means that if you miss the correct preacher in this world in this birth, you are a permanent looser. All those ignorant people who did not recognise Jesus and crucified Him were permanent losers. Similarly, all the ignorant people who cannot recognise Lord Krishna are loosing the spiritual treasure forever.