Sunday Service Reading #32

From Rays of the One Light
Does God Hide the Truth?
(to long readings)

Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within. The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

In last week's reading we saw that the great masters themselves counsel discretion in the dissemination of truth. The counter-argument is sometimes made, “But the Lord doesn't hide! He reveals His beauty in the sunsets, His tender sympathy in the rain, His wrath in the thunder, His restless energy in the brooks, His power in the sunlight.”

There are exoteric truths, and there are also esoteric truths. There is that which is revealed impersonally and left up to us to interpret—such as the thunder and our perception of it as divine wrath; the rain and our perception of it as God's sympathy. But behind even God's most open expressions there lies impenetrable mystery.

“The wind blows where it wills,” said Jesus in Chapter 3 of the Gospel of St. John. “You hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

And Sri Krishna says in the ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:

By Me the whole vast Universe of things
Is spread abroad;—by Me, the Unmanifest!
In Me are all existences contained;
Not I in them!

God's hidden reality cannot be understood by the reasoning faculty. India's Shankya philosophy states frankly, “Ishwar ashiddha: God is not provable.”

A willingness to seek the underlying reality behind appearances is essential for those who would know God.

Thus, through holy scripture, God has spoken to mankind.

VIDEO of Asha's Service on this Subject from 8-10-08

Sunday Service on 8/10/2008 from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.

VIDEO of Nitai's Service on this Subject from 8-9-09

MP3 For Download (or online listening) of Nitai's Service on this Subject from 8-9-09

VIDEO of Gary McSweeney's Service on this Subject from 8-9-09

Sunday Service on 8/9/2009 from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.

MP3 For Download (or online listening) of Gary McSweeney's Service on this Subject from 8-9-09

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 8-12-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Anandi's Service on this Subject from 8-10-08

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of another of Gary's Service on this Subject from 8-12-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of another of Dr. Peter Van Houten's Service on this Subject from 8-6-06

MP3 For Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 8-6-06

Long Readings from the 3 Volume Set:
Rays of the Same Light

#32
(Titled: The Spirit Animates from Within in Rays of the Same Light and Numbered 32)

This passage is from the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, Verse 8:

"The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Commentary

The Spirit, like the wind, is invisible to human eyes. We know that the wind is blowing, when we hear its sound through the trees.

Similar is the man or woman of God. To those of only outward vision, he may seem much like other human beings. He walks; he eats; he sleeps — he smiles and frowns like the rest of us.

Inwardly, however, there is a vast difference between such a person and those who are unenlightened. One must be somewhat spiritually aware himself to appreciate the difference, but those who are aware find inspiration in the very tones of a master's voice. They recognize his consciousness in the subtle vibrations flowing from him. They thrill to the divine power behind his words.

The Spirit, again like the wind, is ever free. "It blows where it wills." God cannot be confined by outward forms. Nor can man-made definitions or dogmas ever limit Him. His clearest earthly manifestations may be found in the great masters. Not even they, however, in their outward lives and teachings, can encompass the vastness of His truth.

A master like Jesus, who lives in the Spirit, allows the inspiration he feels to flow outward through his words. He never tries to lock that inspiration in a casket of final definitions. Nor does he ever allow the truths he teaches to be influenced by others' expectations of him.

A certain prominent rabbi in Jerusalem a few years ago made this extraordinary statement: "Should the ancient temple of Jerusalem someday reappear in the sky and descend onto the spot where it once stood, I would want to measure it to make sure that it corresponded exactly to the figures set forth in the Bible. Only if the correspondence were complete in every detail would I accept it as a miracle."

Man judges by what he knows. No one can comprehend the ways of the Spirit, if he remains immersed in outwardness. Inevitably, his vision will be superficial.

It was to this pharisaic tendency that Jesus was referring in this passage. His words were in fact addressed to Nicodemus, a Pharisee. The baptism that Jesus brought was not outward. It was of the Spirit. The attunement, too, that he offered was on a soul level. He compared it to the living connection of a vine with its branches. The branches are sustained from within by the sap, and not outwardly, through the bark.

As Jesus said also to Nicodemus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6) He implied that he was not opposed to outward religious affiliation, but wanted only to emphasize that a deeper understanding of religion depends on inner attunement.

The Spirit "blows where it wills." Too much institutionalism, and too many rules in the name of "safeguarding" religion, do harm to the very cause of religion, for they destroy inspiration. Certainly, the aspirant should not refuse outward guidance. Nor should he scorn rules and rituals. He ought never to look to outward practices, however, as substitutes for direct attunement with God, and with the rays of grace that flow down to him from the Divine.

The more in touch we are with the truth within, the less we need to depend on outward religious practices. The devotee, as he progresses spiritually, comes in time to resemble the skillful writer, who fears not to bend the rules of grammar to suit his needs, once he knows clearly how to express what he means.

Baptism involves more than formal admission into a religious organization. True baptism is possible, first, only in response to God's call in the soul to live more fully in Him, in His eternal freedom and joy. Baptism means receiving some form of inner awakening. It is a transferal, on the part of one serving consciously as a channel for God's grace, to one who seeks to grow in that grace.

A nylon thread may outwardly resemble a thread spun of cotton. Between the two, however, there is a basic difference. Natural fibers are porous. Artificial fibers lack porosity; therefore they cannot serve as channels for life-giving fluids.

True religion is God-made, not man-made. Outward forms do not constitute religion. Religion is true if it provides soul-nourishment from within. Like all things natural, the human body itself is made to permit life to flow through it — through the spine, especially, and from the spine outward into the nervous system. True religion teaches man how to fill his body, and his entire being, from within, with divine vitality.

Man can only build from without. He carves solid statues; God creates living bodies. Man crystallizes spiritual truth into lifeless dogmas; it is God's grace, however, that breathes life into our ideas about eternity.

The more we learn to live inwardly by divine inspiration, the closer we come to fulfilling God's expectations of us, as His children, that we live forever in His joy.

Thus, through the Holy Bible, God has spoken to mankind.

Bhagavad Gita

The Little Wave and the Infinite Ocean

This passage is from the 9th Chapter, the 4th Stanza, in the poetic rendition of Sir Edwin Arnold:

"By Me the whole vast Universe of things Is spread abroad; — by Me, the Unmanifest!
In Me are all existences contained; Not I in them!"

Commentary

Students of metaphysical thought often confuse the finite spirit in man with the infinite Spirit; the soul of the individual with the Oversoul. A superficial acquaintance with the teachings of India, or with their modern offshoot, the so-called "New Thought" movement, makes this equation seem plausible. It is not, however, a teaching of the great masters.

Self-realization is, in fact, the ancient definition of the soul's state of union with God. The Lord is the sole Reality — the one true Self of the universe. He constitutes the very essence of our being. It is to His level of awareness that we should always aspire. It is in the thought of oneness with Him that we should strive even now to live.

There is a difference, however, between that self which is speaking when one says, "I am hungry," and that infinite Self, beyond body and mind, which is God. As Paramhansa Yogananda pointed out, although the wave is made up entirely of ocean water, as a wave it cannot be equated with the ocean in its vastness.

Superficial students of metaphysical thought are often heard referring to their "inner God-Self" — as though they themselves were the Infinite Lord! Have they any idea what they are saying? One is reminded of a certain spokesman for the "New Age" who announced gleefully, "I am God!" Such a statement can only mean that he thought of himself as the creator of the universe.

There are people who take belief in a personal absolute so far as to insist, "When I die, the universe will die with me." See the absurd heights to which philosophy can carry one, if one is willing to abandon the firm ground of common sense and soar, like a balloon without ballast, into skies of abstract reasoning!

Each one of us is, certainly, a manifestation of the infinite Spirit. God is not, as the theologians claim, "Wholly Other." Jesus Christ made this point forcefully, and justified it by the Scriptures. When his critics accused him of blasphemy for the claim, "I and my Father are one," he replied that they, too, were gods. (John 10:30-34) Elsewhere he told people also, "The kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)

In this passage of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains that God is within man in the sense that He is omnipresent, and not in the sense that human beings share His omnipresence. We can achieve omnipresence, but only by merging our egos in God — in that limitless state of being which the yoga teachings define as samadhi. One must die to himself, if he would live in God.

Jesus Christ said it also: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:25)

Nothing could be more self-contradictory than for a person steeped in ego-consciousness, with all the attachments and desires to which the flesh is heir, to declare, as some people do in their pretensions to enlightenment, "I never pray, for in my God-Self I dwell forever in oneness." Far better would it be if they approached the Infinite Lord with humility and devotion!

Immature declarations of oneness may easily cause a person to swell up with spiritual pride. The Bhagavad Gita, however, makes it clear that the soul is contained in God, not God in the soul. Another way of putting it would be to say that it was God who dreamed us into existence, not we who dreamed Him.

Indeed, if man were the dreamer we would all be able to duplicate the genius of Shakespeare, the marvels of scientific invention, the countless experiences of human lives, the very grandeur of the galaxies. Obviously, we cannot. We are but figments of thought in the Infinite Dreamer's consciousness. Individually, we could never have brought this dream into existence.

Another mistake people make is to imagine that if God is in everything, He must therefore evolve with His creation. While things change, the essence of things never changes. God is that ultimate, eternal Essence. According to the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord, although existing in all things, remains forever untouched by anything.

If we would live in our "God-Self" — to use this oft-heard expression — we must recognize that that greater reality, albeit expressing itself through us, is yet infinitely greater than we are. We should participate in the cosmic drama with humility, therefore, and with the devotion due, on the part of the little reality, to the Infinite Good.

Thus, through the Bhagavad Gita, God has spoken to mankind. Back to Top of Page

Longest Reading from the Book
The Promise of Immortality
NOTE: This book ended at Reading #26.

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