“Let every word that comes out of this mouth be full of truth, love and peace and give understanding and enlightenment to those who listen.”
About five years ago in Hamburg, Germany there was a meeting. A group of twenty people, mostly pastors and priests and members of the parish came for exchange of ideas and to see what I had to teach. Because of some past experience or some misconception they came with the idea that Kriya Yoga is some thing peculiar to India and has nothing to do with other religions.
To their surprise I began my talk with the Bible. I said, “In the Bible, it is said that all Scriptures are the breath of God. I believe in all the scriptures of mankind. I was born in India, in an orthodox Hindu family and followed strict ritualistic way of worship and study of the scriptures. From the age of thirteen, I started studying the Bible also, along with the other scriptures.” Then referring to some statements of the Old and the New Testaments, I said, “You have dedicated your lives to Christianity. You have all studied the Bible as part of your training. Can you please explain these statements?” They all remained silent.
Then at the end of my forty five minute talk, the pastors came up to me to congratulate me and said,“ The way you have explained has logic and it is convincing.”
Let us now examine some of these statements and try to understand the meaning.
God Made Man from Dust - Atmano akasha sambhuta
God made man from dust - says the Torah or the Old Testament. Three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam are of the same origin. If you study the holy Koran all the stories about Moses are there. Jewish people study the Old Testament, while the Christians study the New Testament and the Gospels and the Letters of Paul. These three religions are called the Abrahamic religions. The background is the same and they believe in the same creation, one God and the Day of Judgment.
Coming back to the statement - God made man from dust -What does it mean? This is a symbol. Dust represents the finest particles of soil. We live on earth, we take food grown on earth and we should take care of Mother Earth. Earth represents the five elements. When you go deeper into the earth you find water. When you go deeper still, you will find fire - hot molten minerals. Earth also contains space and air. Each human body is made of these five elements.
The Upanishad says the same, Atmano akasha sambhuta
From the Lord that is the Self, the space was born.
God created space, from space came air, from air fire; water from fire, and from water earth. This is how creation takes place. Man is made up of the five elements.
The Sons of God - amrutasya putraha In the New Testament Jesus is considered the Son of God. But if you read the New Testament in depth you will see that nowhere has Jesus said that he is the Son of God.
He always said the son of man. At one place he said, “One who has seen me has seen the father”. Here you can say that it is indirectly implied that he is the Son of God.
The sons of God saw the daughters of men, they were beautiful and they wanted to marry them. (Torah Ch 5)
What does this mean? First let us take ‘the sons of God’. Sons of God should not be taken literally as only the male children. It does not mean God created only men and not women. Sons of God, here mean the children of God.
In the Upanishad it is said,
amrutasya putraha - the sons of immortality
putra means son, but what is really meant here is the children of immortality. We are all the sons of God, irrespective of a male or a female body.
The Gita says, the body is like the clothes we wear. Soul in all is one, like the bulbs are many but the electricity is one. Sons of God or amrutasya putra mean the children of God. This we understood.
Now come to - the daughters of men. What one creates is considered one’s child. A thought coming to you is your child. The thought in the form of a word, a sentence or a poem is your creation and is considered your child. So the daughters of men are the thoughts.
The sons of God (we all) saw the daughters of men (our thoughts), they were beautiful (good and positive thoughts) and wanted to marry them (entertain them or be with them). As you think so you become. With thought we create.
It is also said in the Old Testament, God thought and creation started.
The Upaniähads and the Bhagavad Gita also have a similar saying,
sa akamayata bahusyam prajaya yeti
God thought, ‘I will create many’.
Cleaning the Inside of the Cup
As students of religion you must be familiar with the New Testament and the Gospels. Each Gospel is unique.
Jesus said, “You fools! You are cleaning the cup from the outside. You don’t clean the inside. Don’t you know the inside of the cup is more useful than the outside”?
You cannot understand the meaning of the Holy Scriptures by taking the literal meaning. The meanings are mostly mystical and to understand, one has to have a contemplative outlook.
Each human body is a cup or plate and we clean the outside everyday by taking a shower. But how many of us clean the inside – the mind, the thought and the inner aspect of life. How do we take care of the inner life? Prayer and meditation is the way.
Truth is one but is Expressed in Many Ways
The message of all the scriptures is one but is explained in many ways.
Four children went to a store and bought candy of different shapes. One was an elephant, one a deer, one a tiger and another a man. They started arguing and quarrelling among themselves as to which is greater. The mother listening to their quarrel said, “ All candy has the same sweetness irrespective of the shape. Eat your candy and be happy.”
This is what we do. Instead of understanding the purpose of the scripture we argue about which is greater. The Bible, the Gita, the Upanishads and the Koran, all speak the same truth. How can truth be different? In Vedic scriptures it is said,
ekam sat viprah bahuda vadanti
Truth is one but is expressed in different ways. This is the message of the Scriptures.