Posted on: 01 Apr 2005
[Jesus said that one can reach His Father only through Him and that He is the only path. Does this not mean that we have to follow only Jesus? In such a case, how can one accept Universal Spirituality? This is a question posed by several devoted Christians from all over the world.]
Reply of Swami: My answer to these dear devoted holy Christian souls is as follows:
Does Jesus represent a human body, the word or both? If it represents a particular human body, then such a human body does not exist now. Only a particular human generation and that too, in a particular place was favored by the association of the human body of Jesus. Is it not the partiality of God?
If Jesus represents the word (Message of the Christ), then the previous human generations before the birth of Jesus were not favored with this word and this also leads to the partiality of God. If Jesus represents both the body and the word, then both the above objections will attack together, strengthening the partiality of God.
Impartial God
God is impartial. He created this entire universe. He should not favor a part of the infinite time and a particular piece of the world. Since there is no re-birth of the soul, as you say, all those unlucky souls fell permanently in the hell. Now such souls cannot take human re-birth to pray to Jesus for their salvation. If you say that some other prophet by name Moses or some other name, who was equal to Jesus, existed before the birth of Jesus, then, the Christian belief “Jesus alone is the Saviour” will be wrong. If you say that Moses was also the same Jesus, then, why not some other person, X or Y or Z, after Jesus also be Jesus? In such a case Jesus exists before and after the birth of Jesus. Then Jesus is omniscient and omni-potent. In such a case, Jesus in some other human forms, by some other names, must have always existed. Then, Jesus can even exist in different human forms simultaneously, in different countries during the same human generation to avoid the partiality, because the different countries might not have contact with each other during a particular old human generation. In fact, this was true because the countries were not having any contact with each other, a few centuries ago. God is the Father of all the people in all the countries of this universe and therefore, He should be impartial to all His children. You have to agree with this point because only one God created this whole universe. It will be better to further replace the word Jesus by a general word like ‘Holy Spirit’, because the word Jesus signifies a particular human body only according to general sense of the public. The word ‘Holy Spirit’ does not signify any particular human body and therefore it will be reasonable to say that the Holy Spirit is God and this Holy Spirit existed in all those divine human forms. In fact, the Holy Spirit is the purest power of God that enters a particular chosen deserving human body in every country during the same human generation. By this, every country gets equal benefit. When Jesus existed in a particular place, the other countries were not having any comunication with that Holy place of Jesus. Those human generations in other countries must have gone to the hell because Jesus was the only savior. Of course, some people who were associated with Jesus also went to hell since they disbelieved Him. But those people, at least, got the chance of association with Holy Jesus because they existed in that place. Had that chance of association been given to the people of other countries also, there might have been a fraction of the people, which, might have believed in Jesus and might have been liberated. Such salvation of a fraction of people happened in that Holy place where Jesus lived. This objection will charge Jesus or (and) God with lack of planning and lack of impartiality. To remove this charge, the above universal concept has to be accepted by open minds, following a logical scientific path of analysis, which is essential in any line of knowledge including spiritual knowledge.
O great Christians! I appreciate you from the bottom of My heart for your one-pointed faith and sincerity towards God. Who can be compared with you, in this world, for your practical sacrifice in the mission of God and for your kindest hearts in the service rendered to the downtrodden people? Fortunately you are also the toppers in science, which is the result of most powerful practical analysis of any concept. Thus you are the best cream of this creation in all the aspects. But why don’t you apply a trace of that powerful systematic logical scientific analysis in this spiritual knowledge also? Why should you follow the interpretations of your fellow human beings, who are just equal to you? You can yourselves analyse the divine statements of God Jesus with your own intellectual faculty based on simple logical analysis. Since only one God created this universe, since only God is the Father of all the human beings in this world and since the Father must be impartial to all the children, the same God must have written all the religious scriptures of the world. These scriptures cannot and should not contradict each other. If there is any contradiction, that must have been the misinterpretation of some closed minds.
Before Jesus was born, prophets announced Him as ‘Emmanuel’, meaning that God was coming in human form to live with human beings. Whenever the word Jesus comes, it should mean only ‘Emmanuel’. When you say that Jesus is the only path, it means that the human form of God is the only path to reach God. Whenever Jesus utters the word ‘I’, that word ‘I’ means ‘Emmanuel’, who is a general human incarnation of God and not just a particular human incarnation. The reason for the emphasis on the human form of God is that, human beings can have His vision for a long time, can touch Him for a long time, can converse with Him for a long time and can live with Him for a long time when He is in the human body. The Holy Spirit can enter a body of light also, which is called as angel. Such a body can be seen for a little time only since the light has the nature of propagation in the space. Such an angel cannot be touched due to the high intensity of radiation. The angel talks briefly for the same reason. The angel cannot live with human beings for a long time. Thus the human body is most convenient for human beings. This soul goes to the upper world by taking a body of light-energy. For those souls in the upper world, God also appears with a body of bright light-energy. Jesus referred this form of God as the Father of the Heaven. A human being with this materialized body cannot approach God with that powerful energetic body. The meaning of the statement that a human being can approach God only through Jesus is that a material body can approach God through a material body only. God is one and the same whether He is present in the body of light or in the materialized human body. From the point of God, Jesus and the Father of Heaven are one and the same. The milk present in a golden cup is the same as the milk present in a ceramic cup. “Jesus will come again!” means that God will come again and again in human form for every human generation, to avoid the partiality of the Father to a particular human generation. In this context the word Jesus means Emmanuel. The statement that Jesus is the light is a concept of science. The word Jesus indicates the external human body, which is made of the five elements i.e., earth, water, energy, air and space. Space is common for both matter and energy, which is the basis of the concept of volume. Volume is the property of the space. Both matter and energy need space. Earth, water and air constitute matter in solid, liquid and gaseous states. Thus the matter in the human body is another form of energy according to the law of mass-energy equivalence (E = mc2). Thus the human body of Jesus, which is constituted by matter is a form of energy and thus it is equal to the energetic body of the Father of heaven. Thus from the point of external body also, the Emmanuel and the Father of Heaven are one and the same. A person present in bright silk clothes or dull cotton clothes is one and same. Such interpretations must be logical and also must prove the impartial love of God towards all His children on the earth.
What is Saving?
[Shri Anil Antony, Mumbai, asked Swami some questions critcal to the present belief of Christianity. What do you mean by saving? Will Jesus save me if I accept Him as by saviour? What is truth? What is the kingdom of God? Who is Satan? Why rituals are more in Hinduism and not in Christianity? What do you think about worshipping idols, approaching astrologers, and people having super natural powers? How do you explain the Heaven of Kingdom compared in several ways in Holy Bible? Please explain (Luke 9:60-62 2, 12:51-53; Mathew 6:8; John 18:37-38; Mathew 11:28-30, 5:3-8). Swami has answered the questions below.]
Saving from troubles and misery is the general sense of the word saving. In the spiritual sense, saving means cutting all the worldly bonds and establishing the real bond with God, who alone is the truth. God is truth. This means that God is infinite power. This creation is just His imagination and is almost not true. The imagining person is said to be truly existing. The world, which is just His imagination, is not completely ‘nothing’. The world is made of an iota of energy of God. God is like the infinite ocean of energy. Compared to God the world is almost nothing. Thus this entire creation is under the full control of God. Just like the person doing some imagination, creates an imaginary world in him, God created this imaginary world in Him. The imagining person can fully control his imaginary world. He can transform any item into any other item. He can raise a dead body in his imaginary world. All the miracles of human incarnations can be explained only by this concept. God who is present in the human incarnation, does all these miracles only to establish this concept. If the world is equally true as God, then the world is equally powerful in comparison to God. In such a case God cannot do whatever He likes. Since the world is least powerful and God is most powerful, God controls the entire world like a very strong person controlling a very weak person. Thus the word ‘truth’ indicates the omni-potent nature of God. When we say that this world is not true, it indicates the negligible power of the world. Suppose a small ant is there on your shirt, will you say that you and the ant are present in the house? The ant is negligible and is treated as nothing. Therefore, a person who knows this concept surrenders to God and accepts Him as the saviour. In his eyes the entire world looks like an ant before God. You are a tiny particle in this ant-world. You can understand your position by putting yourself in this relative scale. Assume that this ant is the Infinite Ocean of energy. You are an iota of that ocean. This means your power is negligible before the power of this entire nature. The world is like the ocean and you are like a drop in it. God is like the ocean and the world is a drop in God. You must understand this simile not in terms of volume but in terms of the intensity of the power. When we utter the word God, we immediately imagine Him as a very large figure with unlimited boundaries. Space is also the largest thing that we can think of but it has no power as it is treated has nothing [emptiness or vacuum]. The atom bomb is very small but it has enormous power. Therefore, our idea about God should not be in terms of the three-dimensional space.
When a person imagines a large city, the city is very huge but the person is very small. But that small person has created, maintains and finally dissolves this huge city. He can do anything in this huge city. In fact he is standing outside this huge city. When He wants to enter into this huge imaginary city, He will imagine a small form and identify himself with that form. That small form represents the outside person. This imagined form, with which the outside person (one who is imagining) has identified, is treated as the outside person directly. This small imagined form is the human incarnation. The outside person is God. The huge imaginary city is this world. Thus God identifies Himself with the human incarnation. From this angle the human incarnation and God are one and the same.
There is another angle in which the human incarnation is not the original God but a part and parcel of God. In this angle, God and the human incarnation are treated as Father and Son. You can experience the Father only through this Son. In the third angle the human incarnation is just sent by God into this world as a messenger with some power. Jesus told this truth in all the three angles. Jesus can save any human being who has any one of these three angles. Acceptance of Jesus as your saviour is the essential step in the spiritual effort. Here Jesus means the human incarnation in general. Only God is the saviour. But you cannot approach God directly. Only through the human incarnation can you approach God. This means that you should accept the human incarnation as that very God. In such a case, only the human incarnation becomes your saviour. God is like free electrons flowing in the atmosphere. These electrons are electricity. Then can you heat water by keeping a vessel containing water in the atmosphere? When these electrons enter a medium like the metallic wire, you can heat water. If the medium is the human form, it is most convenient for you to clear your doubts, to love and serve Him. Therefore, acceptance of Jesus as your Saviour means that you should accept the human incarnation as your saviour.
It is told that Jesus will come again. This means that the human incarnation comes in every human generation. Otherwise, if one generation was only blessed by such fortune, the other generations will charge God as partial and such a charge would be justified. Therefore, if you think that Jesus means only that particular human incarnation, which came about 2000 years back, you have lost the whole concept. Through a particular example, a generalization must be made. If you say that the sodium atom is indivisible, it means an atom of any element is indivisible. If you say that Daniel is born, it means that every human being must be born. If this basic analysis is lost, the entire spiritual castle falls down due to the absence of its foundation.
Does Accepting Jesus Ensure Salvation?
Merely accepting the human incarnation (Jesus) as the Saviour cannot save you. It is told in the Bible that He came to save His people. Who are His people? They are His beloved devotees. They follow His instructions. Jesus did not give any attention to His mother, when He was with His disciples. When a woman shouted that the Mother of Jesus was blessed, Jesus did not agree with her and said that blessed are those who followed His instructions. He says that one should leave parents, wife or husband, children and must be prepared even to carry his own cross for the sake of Jesus. This means that one should be prepared to sacrifice even his life. Therefore, it is a narrow path with thorns. Even to hear this statement your mind is turmoiled with chaotic disturbance. That is the reason why He says that He has come to give peace to you and that He is holding the sword of knowledge in His hand. Therefore, you can be saved only when you reach that state. If you say to the judge that you accept him as your saviour, will he save you and cancel his judgement? If you say to the jailor that you will accept him as your saviour, will he release you from the jail? Therefore, Jesus saves only His dearest devotees. He underwent the suffering on the cross for the sake of only His people. He did not suffer for the sake of all people and He did not release all people from their sins. If such a thing is done, justice is destroyed. The divine administration becomes meaningless. When a devotee leaves everybody and everything for the sake of the human incarnation and participates in His service, such people are called as His people. Such devotees will never agree for the crucifixion of the Lord for the sake of their sins. Therefore, real saving is only at that stage.
Whether, it is Christianity or Hinduism the beginner cannot come forward if the final stage is shown in the beginning. In Hinduism the saints and in Christianity, the Popes, fathers, brothers and sisters, who are dedicated to the Divine Mission, have left everything and everybody for the sake of God. Actually only such holy saints can be saved since they live according to His prescribed standards. But if this fact is revealed, no common man will come forward. It is the tradition of the divine preacher to show the final result even in the first step. We say to the schoolboy that if he goes to school regularly and studies sincerely, he will become a professor. It is only encouragement. Does that mean that the boy will be appointed as professor as soon as he finishes schooling? He gets encouraged and studies well in the school. Then he will go to college and university and study further. Then he will join as a lecturer, become a reader and then finally become the professor. Therefore, to attract beginners, such encouraging statements are made, which need not be condemned as lies. When a lie is beneficial, it cannot be called a sin. Even if it is the truth, but if it harms, it is a sin. We tell so many lies to our children to encourage them and our aim is only their welfare and not cheating them. Therefore, such statements should be accepted with reference to the level of the devotees.
To recognize God, then to recognize God as the King of this creation and then recognizing His ultimate underlying hidden administration in the entire creation is the essence of spiritual knowledge. We recognize the government and its administration in this world. It is clear because it is visible to the eyes. But God and His administration are invisible. Invisible does not mean non-existent. This world is filled with cosmic energy, which is invisible. That does not mean that cosmic energy does not exist. You can experience the administration of God in every corner of your life. His administration applies to both living and non-living beings of the creation. The non-living sun, wind etc., move constantly following the rules of God. That invisible God comes as a visible human incarnation, and proves all this. When Jesus ordered the storm in the sea to stop, it subsided. Plants, birds, animals and all the human beings are all under His control. When Jesus told a tree to die, the tree died. Jesus controlled sheep and thus He controls animals and birds. The human beings consist of atheists, normal human devotees and real devotees. He also controls the atheists. The disciple of Jesus cut the ear of a soldier who came to arrest Him. But Jesus attached the ear in the proper place. Thus His enemies were also under His control. The second type, (normal devotees) worships God for solving their worldly problems. He proved that they were also controlled by Him, when He cured their diseases etc. He saved the highest real devotees by suffering on the cross. Thus, He proved Himself to be the controller of all the non-living and living beings. This means that He is the controller of the entire creation. Recognizing this all-controlling administration in the entire world is the recognition of His kingdom. People thought that His kingdom was somewhere in the heaven, above the sky. Jesus said that His kingdom was coming to earth. It means that the human beings on the earth have started recognizing His kingdom on earth, which already exists. There is no place, which is not in His kingdom. There is no king except the human incarnation like Jesus. He is the king of kings. Even Satan is an employee in His kingdom. This creation is created by Him for His entertainment. In a cinema, not only is the hero remunerated, but also the villain. Satan is used to test the devotees through his attractions. Thus Satan is required in the spiritual effort of the human being. In answering a multiple choice question, there are three wrong answers along with one correct answer. The three wrong answers represent Satan, which appear more correct and attract the mind. The power of discrimination of the student becomes more significant only in the presence of such wrong answers. What is the significance of happiness without misery? Nothing and none can oppose the Lord. Satan is required for His divine game.
Rituals
Rituals are there in every religion. Their significance is the effect of the external atmosphere. Baptism is a ritual. All rituals indicate the super natural power of the unimaginable God. Astrologers and black magic etc., are not good from the point of the highest real devotees. But from the point of atheists and scientists, they indicate the super natural element, which leads to the existence of God. Therefore, everything in the tradition is positive from the point of the lowest cadre and simultaneously negative from the point of highest devotees. Even the idol worship is good from the point of lowest devotees. They can not accept the present human incarnation due to their ego and jealousy. They cannot see the energetic forms of God by long penance. They can only retain the concept of God through idols and pictures. Jesus on the cross of the chain worn in the neck of every Christian is an idol. Of course, the idol worship is not direct worship of God, because God does not exist in idols. It is only a model or a representative of the concept. We use models in teaching. When you teach the generation of electricity through a model, flow sheet, or diagram, the model is not directly the electric generator. But it represents the concept of production of electricity. Idol worship should be limited only to obtaining a representative vision of God for meditation. Therefore, cleaning the idol by bath and decorating is acceptable. You can offer also food to the idol and feel that you are eating the remains. But you should not say that you have really scarified to God. Thus, you can see everything as positive from the lower level.
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God is compared to a treasure hidden in a field. This means that God is hidden in the human body of the human incarnation. In the Gita the human body is compared with a field (Idam shareeram…). Locating the field containing the treasure means identifying the human incarnation. Purchasing the field means serving that human body. If the treasure is announced, the owner will not sell the field. Then it is impossible to get the treasure. This means that it is impossible to serve the real form of the God, who is beyond imagination. The human body of the incarnation is a part of the kingdom of God.
Again the kingdom of God is compared to a merchant who is in search of pearls. This means that the Lord in human body is in search of real devotees. But only one in millions can be the real devotee as said in the Gita (Kaschit maam …). When a merchant finds such a pearl, he purchases it by selling all his property. This means that the human incarnation will go to any extent to save that rarest devotee. Again the kingdom of God is compared to a dragnet, by which all categories are captured and from each category, the good is taken and the bad is thrown. This means that God captures all types of devotees. Some devotees use God for their selfish benefits. Even for them, God answers their prayers and thus God captures them. Out of these devotees, those who are turned in to real devotees are accepted by Him and the others are thrown out. These other type of devotees love God as an instrument to solve their problems and that is not real love.
(Matthew 5:3-8) Mercy and purity are praised because such qualities will develop love for God. Only then will God bless them. Simple mercy and purity related to worldly bonds are of no permanent use. Such good qualities without the element of God, lead to temporary heaven, which is not a permanent fruit. Mere love for the society leads only to a temporary heaven from which one falls back to earth, as said in the Gita (Ksheenee Punye…)
(Matthew 11:28-30) The yoke of the Lord is light where as the yoke of human beings is heavy. This means that the work of the Lord will never give misery as there is no selfishness. But the worldly work of human beings becomes heavy due to selfishness that creates anxiety and misery since one is attached to the fruit of the work.
(John 18:37-38) God is Truth. But every truth is not God. For example, it is true if you say that the wind moves. This does not mean that this sentence is God. He said “I am the Truth.’’ He did not say “Truth is Myself”. The people who belong to the truth mean the devotees who belong to God. Here the word truth represents God alone and not every truth in the world.
(Matthew 6:8) He said that the Father knows things before you ask. This sentence belongs to the highest devotees. They do not expect anything in return, even for their practical service but the lower devotees aspire for fruits from God even for their theoretical service like prayers. For such low cadre devotees, He said “Ask and it shall be given”. For the high level devotees, He suffers for their sins and cancels their evil effects. For lower devotees it is only postponing the punishment to the other place called hell, with added interest.
(Luke 12:51-53) Jesus is evaluating the love towards Him in terms of the decrease in the love of worldly bonds. As the love of a boy for his girlfriend increases, the bonds with his parents weaken proportionately. At the final stage he runs away with the girlfriend, totally discarding his parents. Thus, the detachment from worldly bonds is an indirect measure of the attachment to God. Without the latter, the former is useless. This is explained here. Jesus said that one who could not be detached from one’s parents, wife or husband and children and even with one’s life cannot be his follower.
(Luke 9:60-62) Let the dead bury the dead. You preach about God. This means that you need not worry about the dead body or its rituals. The reason is that the inert dead body will decompose into the inert five elements. The decomposition reactions are controlled by inert items like entropy, free energy etc. Inert means dead. Therefore, the inert five elements will decompose the dead body and bury it, whether you do the ceremony or not. The Parsi people should be appreciated in this concept because they leave their dead bodies on hills and in forests.