God and Man

VII

I would say that today in the twentieth century, we are rather fortunate. Why? We have all the fine records of the experiences of the Masters Who came in the past. Had we come five hundred years ago, the Holy Scriptures of the Sikhs would not have been with us. Had we come, say 1500 years earlier, the Holy Koran would not have been with us. And if we had come before 2000 years, the Bible would not have been with us. If we had come before the time of Zoroaster or the Buddha, or any one else, Their scriptures would not have been with us.

What I mean is that today we are fortunate in having with us these valuable records of the Masters Who came in the past. They tell us what They experienced with Themselves and God. The only thing needed now is to have Someone Who has had that experience which is given in those Holy Scriptures. He will be able to tell us the true import of things, and also He will be able to give us a first-hand experience of these things.

So for the Love of God we love all Godmen. For the Love of God, we love all the Holy Scriptures. There are so many pages of the book of God that have been written to guide the erring humanity. Many more may be written whenever any Master comes. 

Further, we love all holy places of worship. Why? Because there people gather together to sing the praises of the One and the same God – in their own ways, of course. If we love somebody and someone happens to be praising him, we stand and hear how he describes him. So we have Love for all holy places of worship for the Love of God. Also, we love all places of pilgrimage, for they are the spots where once lived some Master, some Godman, Who was One with God, Who became the mouthpiece of God. It is for that alone that we have respect for all holy places where such Masters lived.

We love God first; God resides in every heart; therefore we love all humanity. For the same reasons, we love all Godmen, for They have known God. We love all Holy Scriptures, because they speak of Him and are valuable records of the experiences of the past Masters. Again, for the same reason we love all holy places of worship, whether temples or mosques, churches or synagogues. They are meant for chanting the praises of the Lord.

You remember, when Christ came, He entered the Temple in Jerusalem and turned out those who misused or defiled it. He told them:

You have made the house of my Father a business house.

Such a man, who is a lover of God, what will he say? He will say what the Vedas say. 

The Yajur Veda says: 

Well, oh people, let us all sit together and sing the praises of the Lord and worship the same God. 

But there are false ways of preaching that separate man from man. There is no common place where we can all sit together and worship the same God. 

Again the Rig Veda says: 

Gather ye in thousands, and worship God and chant His praises. 

We are all lovers of the same Reality. We are all for the same Truth. There are thousands of lovers, but the Beloved is only One. We may call Him God, or by any name we like. We are lovers of the same Reality. Outwardly speaking, we have different social religions. Blessed you are. Remain where you are. To live in some social religion is a blessing. That is a helping factor. As with a midwife who helps at the birth of a child, so with social religions which help us in that way towards Spirituality, in knowing ourselves and in knowing God.

Whenever Masters came, They never touched the outer forms, but simply said:

Remain where you are.

By changing your outer forms, rituals, this and that, you will not be able to have a first-hand experience of God. Those are only helping factors on the Way, paving the Road to Spirituality. Make the best use of them.

Real religion starts where world philosophies end. All these outer forms of the social religions are limited only to the man’s material existence. The Kingdom of God, if you know yourself and know God, will open of itself when you rise above body consciousness. There the alphabet of the teachings of the Masters begins. The True Religion starts from there. That is transcendental. That is above the organs of sense. When you come above, you will rise above the senses. It requires practical self-analysis, to know yourself and to know God.

This is the goal before us. The subjective side of all religions is the same. In the objective side, you will find some slight differences in non-essentials, but you will find their purpose is the same.

The question remains the same for all humanity – to know our Self and to know God. We have said so much about the outer things, the outer holy places of worship. God made man after His own image, and man made all these holy places of worship after the image of man. Churches are either nose-shaped or dome-shaped. And so are temples of other religions. In mosques, we find places of worship in the form of semi-circular arches whose shape resembles the human forehead.

The True Temple of God is the man’s body and that you have. We just have to tap inside. When you transcend the body, there the ABC of True Religion starts. That is the one destiny for all humanity. It has never been different.