Sunday Service Reading #39

From Rays of the One Light
Many Are the Pathways to Truth
(to long readings) (link to longest reading)

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.

On the dedication page of Swami Kriyananda's book The Path appears the following account:

A group of Paramhansa Yogananda's disciples had gone with him to see a movie about the life of Gyandev, a great saint of medieval India. Afterwards they gathered and listened to the Master explain certain, subtler, aspects of that inspiring story. A young man in the group mentioned another film he had seen years earlier, in India, about the life of Mirabai, a famous woman saint.

“If you'd seen that movie,” he exclaimed, “you wouldn't even have liked this one!”

The Guru rebuked him. “Why make such comparisons? The lives of great saints manifest in various ways the same, one God.”

The Bible contains a similar account in the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 9:

And John . . . said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.

And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

The more central a truth, the greater the number of contexts in which it can be applied. Truth is like a pure white light, containing within itself the full spectrum of the rainbow.

Let no one tell you what your path to God ought to be. Many are the paths. Select your own according to the dictates of your own nature, no matter how out of step that puts you with other people.

Sri Krishna in the third Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, states:

Trying even unsuccessfully to fulfill one's own spiritual duty (dharma) is better than pursuing successfully the duties of others. Better death itself in the pursuance of one's own duties. The pursuance of another's duties is fraught with (spiritual) danger.

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

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Peter Goerings Service on this Subject from 9-29-10

VIDEO of Helen Purcell's Service on this Subject from 9-27-09

Sunday Service on 9/27/2009 from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.
MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Here's Service on this Subject from 9-27-09

VIDEO of Raghu's Service on this Subject from 9-28-08

Sunday Service on 9/28/2008 from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.
MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Raghu's Service on this Subject from 9-28-08

VIDEO of Devi's Service on this Subject from 9-30-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Devi's Service on this Subject from 9-30-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 9-30-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Uma's Service on this Subject from 9-24-06

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

#39 Many Are the Pathways to Truth
("Religious Duty Varies with the Individual" in the original book)

This passage is from the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 9, Verses 49 and 50:

"And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.

"And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us."

Commentary

Jesus in this story reveals a broad-mindedness that one doesn't often encounter among his followers.

It would be well for religionists everywhere to understand the difference between dogma and dogmatism. A dogma is a definition of a spiritual truth. But dogmatism is the substitution of definitions for the truth itself. Dogmatism is an implicit denial of the need for any direct experience of spiritual realities.

Dogmas can be helpful. They may serve to clarify people's concepts. They may inspire them with deeper understanding. Dogmas, however, can also arrest further development. This they do if they tempt one to remain satisfied with whatever level of understanding he has reached so far in his spiritual growth. In this case, dogmas become dogmatism.

Bigotry is the mental calcification that develops when a person becomes so determinedly entrenched in his dogmatism that he erects protective walls around it to protect it from reasoned questioning. Dogmatism arrests further development, but bigotry is that mental and spiritual stagnation which ensues, once development ceases.

Dogmatism, and the fetid thought-forms spawned in its waters in the shape of bigotry, have nothing in common with the true spirit of religion. Both dogmatism and bigotry block the free-flowing river of soul-consciousness, and transform it, too, into a stagnant swamp.

True faith on the other hand, is an ever-widening wellspring of inspiration. It is like the joy that accompanies a new discovery: expansive, creative, all-embracing.

When Jesus counseled his disciples not to oppose those who were not in active conflict with his teachings, he was counseling an attitude of respect for other religious expressions.

Respect for other faiths and for other spiritual practices is a sign of spiritual maturity. Great masters invariably demonstrate appreciation for the religions of others. As a saint once said to Paramhansa Yogananda when Yogananda was a boy, "Isn't it true that the Lord's name sounds sweet from all lips, ignorant or wise?" It is the disciples of the masters, rather, who quarrel over differences in belief. And it is later generations of disciples who split theological hairs in their efforts to prove their own ways the best. Truth eludes them, for truth is one. It is the paths to it, only, that are varied.

To the extent that devotees deny other expressions of truth than their own, they deny the truth itself. They imagine by their dogmatism that they are demonstrating loyalty to their own teachings, whereas in fact they succeed in doing quite the opposite. They render a disservice to their own truth as well, when they seek to encase it within the narrow confines of dogmatism.

The true enemy of religion is not religious diversity. It is atheism. It is materialism.

Certainly the devotee should be loyal to his own spiritual path. The error so many devotees make is simply that they equate loyalty with narrow-mindedness, and dogma with dogmatism. Loyalty ought to broaden their perceptions, not shrink them.

A saint once said, "It is no doubt a good thing to be born into a religion, but it is a misfortune to die in one." What he meant was, "It is a good thing to be raised in religious teachings, but a pity to die entrenched in them, instead of having had one's consciousness expanded by them."

Jesus makes a statement elsewhere in the Bible that seems in direct contradiction to the tolerant reply he gave on this occasion. He tells the Pharisees, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (Matthew 12:30)

Countless Christians quote this second passage to support their claim that non-Christians, and even professed Christians whose interpretations of the Bible don't coincide with their own, are against Jesus. Few Christians seem even to have heard of Jesus' reply to the disciples in this week's passage. It is almost never quoted, certainly.

The fact is that Jesus, in saying, "He that is not with me is against me," was answering those who had accused him of casting out devils by the power of Satan. He was telling them that his was, instead, the power of God. He was simply saying, then, "Choose between God's power and the power of Satan." He was telling the Pharisees that, just as a demonic entity can be driven out only by its spiritual opposite, divine power, even so, anyone actively opposed to divine truth will have to be in league with that which opposes the truth: Satan. His words were not a condemnation of other ways of serving God, or of receiving divine inspiration.

It is a great blasphemy to defend one's own spiritual beliefs by denouncing those of others. Not only do people, by so doing, belittle truth itself: They also cheapen the dignity of their own potential relationship with God.

Disrespect for the insights and discoveries of other cultures has prevented many a society from flourishing. If one's love for God is true, it can only be deepened by appreciation for the many ways in which divine love has found expression on earth. It is like the love a person feels for his own mother. Ought not his love to deepen his appreciation for motherly qualities in other women? Surely it is unthinkable that it inspire hatred, instead, for other women!

To an art lover, even primitive art can prove inspiring. For a true lover of God, similarly, the devotion even of primitive peoples can be inspiring. Certainly, unless it takes a decadent form, it is not something to be attacked.

We are all children of the same, one Father. It behooves us, if we sincerely love Him, to love and respect all others also in His name. Especially should we love and respect those who love Him, no matter what form their devotion to Him takes.

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

This passage is from the third Chapter, the 35th Stanza:

"Trying, even if unsuccessfully, to fulfill one's own spiritual duty (dharma) is better than pursuing successfully the duties of others. Better even death in the pursuance of one's own duties. The pursuance of another's duties is fraught with (spiritual) danger."

Commentary

The word dharma means "duty." One's spiritual duty refers to those acts, specifically, which lead to soul-enlightenment.

Every Scripture enjoins general forms of behavior: to be kind; to be sincere; to speak the truth; to act in the interest of others and not only in one's own.

Certain types of behavior, besides, are mandated by a person's level of spiritual development. For the restless, service may be more beneficial than meditation. For the lazy, even ego-motivated action may be preferable to performing no action at all.

Certain acts, finally, are enjoined even more specifically, according to the tendencies a particular devotee needs to perfect or eliminate in himself.

In the above passage, the Bhagavad Gita is referring both to individual dharma and to the rules for people at various levels of spiritual development.

It was counsel according to individual dharma that Jesus Christ gave when, as we read at the end of the Gospel of St. John, he told Peter, "Feed my sheep." Peter then looked at John and said, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" Jesus answered, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." (John 21:20-22)

It is important to realize that, apart from general moral maxims, there isn't any one path that is right for everyone. No particular set of practices, no particular system of beliefs, not even any particular religion is the best one for all. The more that universal truths become particularized, the more specialized, and hence limited in number, the group of people to whom they apply.

Certain monks are attracted to the cloistered life. Others are more inspired by a life of service. Those in the second group might feel spiritually suffocated in a cloister. And those in the first might find outward service disturbing to the inner calmness they are trying to develop. Who will say that either of these groups has made the better choice? Both are dedicated to pleasing God, perhaps both equally so. Their paths are different, but their goal is the same.

The same is true for the various world religions. Truth is one, even though the paths to it are diverse. Each individual must find that path which most inspires him in his own search for God. And each must consciously adopt that line of action — that dharma, in other words — which is most likely to free him personally from his spiritual limitations.

It is important when pondering this teaching to realize that a person's dharma is not necessarily determined by his talents. A devotee with a beautiful singing voice might be spiritually better off not becoming a professional singer. It depends on whether he finds divine inspiration in singing and can channel that inspiration to others, or whether there is a danger of his getting caught up in the delirium of popular acclaim.

It is never easy to make a critical choice of this nature for oneself. Usually it helps to seek advice from another, preferably one who is spiritually wise. Lacking a wise counselor, a good alternative would be to seek it from one who is removed from the problem emotionally.

To assume duties that are not one's own, spiritually, despite a possible aptitude for them, is dangerous not only because of the temptations they might pose to the ego. Delusion has countless ways of entering the mind and fanning the flames of desire.

The goal of right action is inner freedom, not bondage. Were one to pursue a plan of action that is not deeply rooted in his own nature, it might mean assuming to himself an entirely new set of tendencies, each one of which would have, eventually, to be worked out along with the pattern of unresolved tendencies that he already carries.

The humble devotee who pursues his own dharma with sincerity, even if he is not yet qualified to succeed in it, is far more securely on the path to liberation than one who seeks name and fame for the fleeting "success" of worldly applause. It is better to lose everything, even life itself, while doing one's spiritual duty than to take the "easy" path of success in a field that is not rightfully one's own.

As Emerson put it, "Imitation is suicide."

And as Shakespeare wrote:

"This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

If the goal of right action is indeed freedom from attachments and desires, then success itself, ultimately, must be viewed in these terms. To succeed as a singer, spiritually speaking, means to relinquish attachment to the fruits of action, which in this case might be outward acclaim. To find spiritual success through singing, the singer should also seek to realize music as an aspect of the infinite "music" of Creation — the sound of Aum, as it is called in Sanskrit — by attuning himself inwardly to that sound.

Duty, in every case, is that which brings a person closer to God.

Thus, through the Bhagavad Gita, God has spoken to mankind.

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