The Kingdom of God

II

So the physical body is the True Temple of God, and after this image of man the outer places of worship were made, in which you find the symbol of Light and Sound.

When I was in service, I had a Roman Catholic office superintendent working under me. I asked him to go to the Bishop of Lahore, in Punjab, to ask him about the symbolism of the big bell that is rung in churches. This symbol you also find in all other places of worship, whether they are Hindu or Sikh temples or Jain or Buddhist. – We also find the symbol of Light in the churches in the form of lighted candles, which is also a common symbol in all other places of worship.

I just explained all this to him and asked him to inquire of the Bishop who was considered to be the most advanced in India, what the ringing of the bells stood for. He did go to the Bishop, who replied that it was meant simply to call people to church. But if that were correct, how can we explain this custom in the temples of other religions where every visitor when he enters, tolls the bell? Among the Hindus it is a common practice to light earthen lamps and ring bells at prayer-time. These symbols stand for something about which we are ignorant.

When you look within this temple of God – the human body – you find the Light of God. Where to find God? Does He reside in the Holy Scriptures? The Holy Scriptures merely contain a very good account of the valuable experiences that the Masters had Themselves, within this temple of the body. They saw the Light of God within, and heard the Voice of God within. The reading of the scriptures will inspire in us a desire to know Truth.

Does God reside in the holy temples? We have respect for all temples because there we all sing the praises of the Lord. These holy temples are made after the image of man to remind us that God is to be realised within the human body and not outside it.

Where then does God reside? In the True Temple of the body.

We find in 1 Corinthians:

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

All is holy where devotion kneels. The True Temples are these bodies we are carrying. The whole world is the True Temple of God, the earth below and the sky above. There is no place where God is not present.

These temples were made to enable us to sit together and join our hands in prayer to the Almighty. For that reason, we get together in temples. But God does not reside in the temples made by human hands. He resides in this human frame which truly is the temple of God. We must keep it clean and chaste. How clean we keep the temples of brick and mortar, both without and within! But what about the True Temple of God – the human body? It must above everything else be kept pure and chaste.

In 2 Corinthians we have:

[...] Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

But we only defile this temple of God. Again I refer to Corinthians:

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

These scriptures are all ours. They were produced by the Holy Masters Who found God within Themselves. Whatever experience They had, They recorded for our guidance and help.

Again we find in the Bible:

Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

The phrase flesh and blood signifies the life of the senses. Until we know how to rise above the physical body, we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Saint Paul wrote:

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither doth the corruptible inherit the incorruptible. The Lord of Heaven and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

That is what all scriptures say. This does not in any way mean that we have no respect for the places of worship; we have respect for them because these are the places meant for singing the praises of the Lord, Whom we are enjoined to love, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Because we love God, wherever we sit together and chant His praises, the atmosphere of that place gets charged with the loving devotion of the devotees. But God resides in us; that is the point I am bringing out.

A Mohammedan Saint says:

Whom you worship, Whom you are after, He resides in you and you are seeking Him elsewhere, in the outer things; how will you find Him?

That is what the scriptures and all the Saints tell us.

The body is the True Temple of God, wherein God resides. How can we worship Him?

The scriptures tell us: 

God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth.

The elementary steps that we have in all the religions begin with the body. These lead or pave the road to True Spirituality, and are helping factors. They are means to the end; they help us, just like a nurse helps in bringing up a child. We have to make the best use of them, and, with due deference to all the social religions and their immense importance to man’s social life, we must go beyond them. It is a blessing to be born in a temple but not necessarily to die in one.