Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!news.daionet.gr.jp!news.yamada.gr.jp!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!news1.optus.net.au!optus!news.optus.net.au!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN GOD" Newsgroups: fj.life.religion Distribution: Global Subject: SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN GOD UEwUUQu1k X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 220.240.202.21 Message-ID: <413f9576@news.comindico.com.au> X-Original-Trace: 9 Sep 2004 09:27:50 +1000, 220.240.202.21 Lines: 206 Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 23:27:51 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.194.27.1 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comindico.com.au X-Trace: news.optus.net.au 1094686071 203.194.27.1 (Thu, 09 Sep 2004 09:27:51 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 09:27:51 EST Organization: Comindico Australia - reports relating to abuse should be sent to abuse@comindico.com.au Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.religion:467 SPIRITUALITY IS REFUGE IN GOD, NOT THE QUEST FOR HEAVEN AND ITS COUNTERPART THE CONDEMNATION TO HELL --------------------------------------------------------------------- "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) ===== from works of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti oU83wnHac5janIBHp9zt3SO5dWvVd29lIzdVi05sZot