The higher Values of Life

I

In the previous talk we came to the conclusion that God made man and man made all social religions and that the purpose of social religions was the uplift of man.

We dealt with the outer side of man; we said that man was born with equal privileges from God, irrespective of whether he belonged to one country or another or one religion or another. We have to make the best use of all social religions so that we may know all about man.

Our Ultimate Goal is to know God. First, we must know ourselves and then we will know God. All scriptures say that we should love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our might. As we are lovers of God – and God resides in every heart – we must love all humanity. Those who came in contact with God became the mouthpiece of God – God in man or Godmen, because of their Love of God. We love all scriptures because they are the treasures of the experiences of the Masters with themselves and with God. We also love all holy places of worship because they are the places meant for singing the praises of the One Lord. We love all Holy Places of pilgrimage too, for the reason that there lived some lover of God, Someone Who became One with God and became the mouthpiece of God. Thus, for the sake of Love of God, we love all others. If we just love God and hate one Master or the other, or hate one Holy Book or the other, or if we hate other men, do we truly love God? Surely not; because God resides in every heart, and our Ultimate Goal is God. The Ultimate Goal of all religions, too, is God. Then, how can a follower of one religion or another hate anyone else? If we would live up to what the scriptures say, that looks an impossibility at first sight.

If we live up to these two commandments – 

Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might

and,

love all humanity since God resides in every heart – 

the Kingdom of God will descend on earth. All other commandments hang on these two commandments. All prophets have laid stress on these commandments. They are all one on these two fundamental tenets.

We would like now to probe further into: What is man? Unless man knows himself, he cannot know God. All scriptures which we have with us today say: Man, know thyself. They do not say, 'know others'. Why? 

Who are you? What are you? Are you this five or six feet high body that you have? That is not knowing yourself. You will see for your own self; the time does come when you have to cast away the physical body you are carrying – this muddy vesture of decay. The body remains like a clod of earth and is cremated or buried underground.

If you know so much about your physical self, that is not truly speaking, knowing yourself. The Greeks and the Egyptians had inscribed on their temples these very words – Gnothi Seauton.

The Upanishads say so:

Know thyself.

Christ also said,

know thyself.

Guru Nanak also said:

Unless you know yourself, you are not in a position to know God.

All this delusion through which you are passing cannot easily be set aside. Is it not true that you are deluded? You see bodies like the body you have. You have seen with your own eyes that something left such bodies and they were cremated or buried. You too are carrying a similar body. If you know so much about your physical self, it does not follow that you know your own self. 

This question has been before us ever since the world began. We have known so much about our outer self – maintaining our bodies, supporting our families, living socially and politically. We have given rather too much thought to the body and bodily relations, but we have never tapped inside to see the Inner Man, the Inner Self, who we are and what we are.