SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN
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 Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 4:06 am Post subject: SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN GOD GV921b |
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SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN GOD, NOT THE QUEST FOR HEAVEN AND ITS
COUNTERPART THE CONDEMNATION TO HELL
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"Even very intelligent people can have extremely bad habits of
hurting people. As you can well imagine, this bad habit makes life
unbearable for one's neighbours. So what happens when the call of
death comes? Will such persons be denied the pleasure of eating
sweet and savoury polau for eternity in heaven? Will they be
prevented from having friendly conversations with the angels?"
(BLACK WILL TAKE NO OTHER HUE, Sarkar's Short Stories Part 1)
"The inculcation of self-aggrandisement leads one to the worst hell.
The various hells really just denote the mental and physical states
of human beings. A person whose mind has been converted into matter
like that of a stone is really not worthy to be called a human
being, because he or she has lost the mental qualities of a human
being. A person of this type is said to be living in hell."
(A'NANDA VACANA'MRTAM PART 23, SAFEGUARDS AGAINST THE DEFECTS OF
JINANA AND KARMA)
In actuality "There is no heaven and no hell". "There exists no
such thing as heaven or hell. When a person does a virtuous act or
enjoys the fruits thereof, the environment around him or her is then
called heaven; and when he or she does an evil act and endures the
consequences thereof, then the environment around that person
becomes a hell for him or her."
(Ananda Sútram 2:20, 1962)
"If there is a happy adjustment and balanced blending between
carbonic (physical) and non-carbonic (psychic and psycho-spiritual)
pabula in the human mind and corpor, heaven will descend on the
dusty earth."
(THE NEO-ETHICS OF MULTI-LATERAL SALVATION, Few Problems Solved Part
8, 26 March 1987, Calcutta)
Good is that which elevates the mind and evil is that which degrades
the mind.
"Social virtue and vice are temporal entities. These things have
nothing to do so far as a person's relationship with the Supreme
Father is concerned.
Suppose several boys are moving along a particular road and one
particular boy falls into the drain. His dress, his body, become
dirty; other people, passers-by, will laugh at him, but when the
boy's father sees his boy in that condition, what is he to do? Will
he laugh at his own son? No, no, no. What will he do? He himself
will go there, into the drain, and take his boy in his own lap, and
clean his dress, clean his clothes, clean his body; and after that
he will say, "My boy, you should walk carefully".
Sinning persons are just like those boys in the drain. Now, high or
low, upgraded or degraded, all are equal, all are equal for Him,
because heaven is His creation, and hell is His creation. If we say
that He is only in heaven, it will not be a correct utterance,
because He is in hell also. His sons, His daughters, are never
alone. He is with you even in hell.
What are you to do? You are always to remember that you are the
child of a Great Father. You must not think that you are a sinner,
that you are a degraded person. If you think that you are a sinner,
it means you are meditating on sin! And when sin has become your
object of meditation, actually you will become a sinner, because a
person becomes just like his or her object of ideation, object of
meditation. If you always meditate on sin, "I am a sinner, I am a
sinner", actually you will become a sinner. The psychological
approach is, you should forget it - even if you are actually a
sinner, you should think, "I am the son of a Great Father, I am the
son of a Great Father, I am the son of a Great Father". And thus you
are meditating on the Great Father, and a day is sure to come when
you will become one with your Great Father. But to think, "I am a
sinner, I am a sinner, oh Father, save me, oh Father, save me", is a
defective approach! You should say, "I am your son, I am your
daughter, oh Father, take me on your lap, I am your son, I am your
daughter". This will be the approach. You should forget what you do
not want."
(STAGES OF SAMA'DHI, DISCOURSES ON TANTRA - VOLUME 1, 22 April 1969,
Manila)
"The brilliance of the Divine presence outshines even the dazzling
brilliance of the jewels of heaven's treasury. God's unequalled
love surpasses all things and in His loving shelter not only humans,
but also animals and plants, feel absolutely secure. You certainly
know this."
(The Pervasive Influence of Shiva, Namah Shiva'ya Sha'nta'ya, 9 May
1982, Calcutta)
The spiritualist sees things like this in their totality. They take
refuge in the Lord.
'"Take refuge in Me alone". Why this advice? The reason is simple.
It is not possible to put one foot in one boat and the other foot in
another boat and to sail in that way. If you try to do that, you
will end up in the water, and perish. Worship the non-dual Supreme
Consciousness with a single name. "Just as you move towards the
shelter of the Supreme Consciousness, I say from My side: I will
save you from all sin, have no fear about that. (Bhagavad Giita')
Be you a sinner, lowly, fallen, a filthy mole, or even a worm from
hell -- whatever you may be -- I assure you that I will always be
with you. From your side you do your duty -- take shelter in Me --
and from My side I assure you of your liberation."'
(SVADHARMA AND PARADHARMA, DISCOURSES ON KRS'N'A AND THE GIITA' - 3,
A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part 27, 23 January 1971 morning, Patna)
"If an Entity does not provide inspiration for anyone, can its
existence be justified? Let such a god reside in heaven; He is of no
value to human beings."
(DISCOURSE 9 - PA'RTHASA'RATHI KRS'N'A AND SA'M'KHYA PHILOSOPHY - 2,
NAMA'MI KRS'N'ASUNDARAM, 19 October 1980, Calcutta)
This simple but deep view also explains the difference between
religion and spirituality. Religion relies on god being in some
mythical heaven, but spirituality realises that God is the All-
pervading Cosmic Entity.
"The omniscient God, is the Lord of both heaven and hell. He is the
Father of both developed spiritual aspirants and of great sinners.
There is, therefore, no question of His hating the sinners and
loving the good spiritual aspirants. All are one to Him. He cannot
ostracize the former and embrace the latter. There is no place
outside Him where He can throw off the sinners. He cannot disown
them either, for in that case He would not remain the Saviour of the
Degraded.
(MYSTICISM AND SPIRITUALITY, A'NANDA VACANA'MRTAM PART 23)
"What is sectism or religion? Some people encourage us to worship
idols, others encourage us to have a dip in the Ganges. All these
things are created within the mind and are destroyed there.
Happiness and heaven, afflictions and hell - all are mental
conceptions in the physical world. They are all destroyed in the ego
layer of the mind. The proponents' minds are confined to the ego and
they are seekers of enjoyment and not the seekers of salvation.
Some sects hold that happiness comes after death, but who will enjoy
that happiness? The mind, of course. But where does the mind go
after the destruction of its vehicle - the physical brain? Who will
enjoy the pleasures? The soul pervades as an indivisible form, as an
all-knowing entity. There is no soul in the grave, nor does the
question of its waking up arise. In such sectism the ego layer of
mind is called the soul, however if there is only the soul, then
there would be no fear of pain or pleasure."
(INVOCATION OF THE SUPREME, Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 1, Jyaes't'ha
Pu'rn'ima' 1955)
Contrast this to spirituality.
"The purpose of spirituality or dharma is to attain perfect
happiness and perfect happiness is the attainment of the soul, there
being only partial happiness in each of the layers of the mind or
human physical existence. Where there is perfect happiness there is
Dharma. Everything else yields only partial happiness and is
therefore sectism or religion. Sectism leads to superficial and
immediate gains and only spirituality or Dharma leads to ultimate
and real gains. Everything else leads to crudeness. Dharma leads to
Supreme Consciousness and only that which upholds and sustains the
soul is spirituality or Dharma. The dharma of living beings is to
attain happiness. Where there is pursuit of superficial and
immediate gains there is ignorance. The happiness of heaven and the
fear of hell are creations of the mind. Dharma has no fear since
through Dharma one attains the original state."
(INVOCATION OF THE SUPREME, Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 1, Jyaes't'ha
Pu'rn'ima' 1955)
Taking refuge in spirituality means taking refuge in God. Only this
washes one's sins. In that sense God steals your sins.
"He steal the sins of devotees. You know that every action has a
reaction. If there is no change in time, space and person, there
must be a reaction equal to the action.
Suppose a person commits many sins; if the reactions to actions are
to be undergone, it might take twenty to twenty-five lives. Then is
there no future for the sinner? What is this? If the reactions of
all the actions are to be reaped completely, spiritual liberation
and salvation will be a far cry. There is certainly a future for
sinners. The Lord will certainly do something for those who have
taken refuge in Him. It is said about the Supreme that He is the
Lord of both hell and heaven. Those who remain in hell are also with
the Divine, are also dear to Him. To give them love, the Lord will
have to remain in hell with them. What does the Lord do? To save
them, He will take the load of their sins on Himself.
Real devotees do not want to give their sins to the Supreme
Consciousness, rather, they want to offer flowers and sweets. They
would like to carry the load of their sins themselves. Since they
are very dear to the Lord, He takes away their sins without their
permission. To take something without permission is known as
stealing. So the Supreme Consciousness steals, and therefore He is
known as the Cosmic Stealer ('Hari') - you have taken refuge in Him.
There is no need to worry any more. In hell also the Lord will be
with you.
(HARI, THE DIVINE STEALER, A'nanda Vacana'mrtam - Part 1, 13 August
1978, Patna)
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from works of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
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