Category: Bible Research

Love Yourself and Love Everyone, as God is Love – Thus Spake Jesus Christ

I came across this image today and it got me into thinking:

Rather than calling it ‘thinking’, I would describe it as a creative process which started flowing as I began typing.

Everything has a reason in nature even though it seems to be an unconscious process. It not only includes your forgetfulness, but also includes all the suffering you go through, every tear you shed and every lesson that you learn after that.

Jesus said blessed are the people who suffer. That is not a joke; suffering makes you to think and search for a solution; it creates empathy and sympathy for other people who suffer; suffering makes you to learn the lessons of life; suffering makes you search the divine inside you. So yes, if you are suffering now, you are blessed. And do you suffer thinking you are not good enough? If yes, forgive yourself and accept yourself as you are. No matter what you did in the past, forgive yourself! It could not have happened any other way because every effect has causes. What happened to you or through you certainly had a reason to follow.

Ok. Enough looking at your own suffering. Turn around and look at the face of the next person you see; yeah, do it now! He or she, only that person completely knows the suffering they went through; only that person knows every step they took in their life; only that person knows how much they are trying their best; only that person knows their struggles, painful memories, accomplishments, situations etc. Who are you to judge and label them as good or evil?

You don’t have that measuring scale! We all have planks in our eyes which stop us from recognizing the sawdust in the eyes of the others. May it is not a sawdust but you are projecting it! So isn’t it a good idea to throw those planks away and remove the blurriness from our own eyes first?

So, forgive the person you just saw wholeheartedly, accept them as they are and love them. Just try to send a thought wave of love. Try it!

Then open your windows and look at your neighbor. Repeat the same steps with them, repeat it for every person who you see after that. Just try for a few minutes or may be longer.

Come on, it is not that hard!

After all, it is another human being just like you, who has a story that you don’t know. It is the same breath, the same consciousness and the same Divine which resides within you. The kingdom of God is within him just like it is within you. It just have to be discovered by turning in (or metanoia, the actual Greek word for repentance used in the Bible).

Now you see someone that you really hate. Do you know him or her? Not really. Yeah we talked about it. Forgive and love, just try it….

The world will be a better place with more understanding, more love, less intolerance, less ingroup-outgroup bias, less prejudice and less hatred…

God is Love. We find Him in love.

Now, Is it very difficult to love the one who gave the message of love to the world and got nailed for it?

No. You don’t have to be a Christian to do it. You don’t have to be baptized to do it. And you don’t have to stand in the streets and give flyers to make someone understand it either!

Discovering God: Bridging Christianity, Hinduism and Islam

I just published my new book yesterday, September 11, 2019. The name of the book is ‘Discovering God: Bridging Christianity, Hinduism and Islam’. It is available in both kindle and paperback. This book is a step towards bridging all religions. Out of 100 readers, I am sure that it will make a difference to at least 10 people. This book explains the central nerve, the essence of all religions. I have written this book hoping that it will contribute something towards religious tolerance, unity of mankind and the ability to really see that all religions lead to the same truth.

You don’t have to have a kindle. You can download kindle app for android, create a free amazon account if you don’t have one, login and download the book for free during the period of promotion. Please leave your reviews after you read the book, to let the world know about this book. This book was possible only by Grace. Here is the book description as it is given in Amazon:

” God is the most misused and misunderstood word in the world. There are thousands and thousands of religions in this world but the major religions that stand out in the list include Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Do they have anything in common or they are completely different from each other? In this book, I will show you how all the major religions of the world have the same central core and point to the same truth. I have quoted numerous verses from the Bible, Bhagavad Gita and Quran and have given a detailed commentary on them in the process of explaining the truth about these religions. I have unraveled the secrets of Greek mystery schools, Upanishads, Kabbalah, Hasidism, Sufism and other mystic traditions in the book. But this book needs a complete open-mindedness and patience from your part. By buying this book and sharing it with your friends, you are contributing something to the world peace. I strongly believe that this book will bring a change. “

US readers, click here to buy the book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XRJ3GWS

Indian readers click here:

The Holy Spirit and its Gifts – Bible Verses

Let me first quote a paragraph from one of my recent posts, which will serve as an introduction:

“ We tend to interpret the scriptures the wrong way when we take them literally. But scriptures are full of metaphors. It is said that God breathed his breath into man. The Holy Spirit comes from the Greek word ‘pneuma’ which means ‘breath’. Holy spirit is the same as Prana, Shakti and Kundalini in Hinduism. It is what animates the world and the human beings. But inside the human beings it is dormant. By spiritual practice involving unconditional devotion and meditation, we purify ourselves and let the holy spirit be revealed and fill our entire being. This is the meaning of getting baptized by the Spirit. The fall of Adam and Eve is a beautiful metaphor that indicates how the oneness of childhood is lost by the birth of duality. This happens to everyone. Exodus is the symbolism of the journey from bondage to liberation. Crucifixion is the death of the duality. And resurrection is the birth of Christ consciousness, the spiritual rebirth which brings the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is called as Jnana in Hinduism. “

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 say that your body is the temple of Holy spirit. We have the exact same concept in Hinduism. Holy spirit is within us, but we have to purify ourselves with unconditional love so that holy Spirit fills your entire being and experience.

Psalm 139:7-8 talk about the omnipresence of God. God is usually personified but that is only for our understanding in the initial stage. As you progress in the spiritual path, you realize that God is all pervading presence and the essence of existence. The verses say that God is in your depths, within you, as a divine spark of consciousness and as the divine breath, energy and experience of Holy spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the gifts of the Holy spirit. These are nothing but the fruits of self realization or spiritual enlightenment. It brings love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Self realization indeed brings all this. So these two verses prove that Bible has a hidden message, which has a collection of some truthful verses about spiritual path and self-realization randomly distributed in the Old testament and concentrated much on the New testament. When we interpret symbolically, it solves many problems.

The Metaphoric Explanation of the Holy Bible – Discovering True Christianity

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We tend to interpret the scriptures the wrong way when we take them literally. But scriptures are full of metaphors. It is said that God breathed his breath into man. The Holy Spirit comes from the Greek word ‘pneuma’ which means ‘breath’. Holy spirit is the same as Prana, Shakti and Kundalini in Hinduism. It is what animates the world and the human beings. But inside the human beings it is dormant. By spiritual practice involving unconditional devotion and meditation, we purify ourselves and let the holy spirit be revealed and fill our entire being. This is the meaning of getting baptized by the Spirit. The fall of Adam and Eve is a beautiful metaphor that indicates how the oneness of childhood is lost by the birth of duality. This happens to everyone. Exodus is the symbolism of the journey from bondage to liberation. Crucifixion is the death of the duality. And resurrection is the birth of Christ consciousness, the spiritual rebirth which brings the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is called as Jnana in Hinduism.

This doesn’t mean that the stories in Bible didn’t happen. They just didn’t happen exactly the way it is explained. Also, there is a strong consensus among historians that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and many others were not real people. Archeological research has rendered incredible evidence for the fact that many of the Bible stories are stories and not history. But it also presents the history of Israel in a way that adds juice to the story, even though it is completely different from the actual history. For example, the conquest of Canaan didn’t really happen; but to interpret it in a symbolic way, it symbolizes the conquest of one’s own ignorance, which is also the metaphorical interpretation of Holy Jihad in Islam. United Kingdom of Israel as portrayed in the Bible never existed either.

The Hebrew Bible was written for two purposes. Contrary to what Bible suggests, the entire Torah and the parts of Old testament was written sometime around 8th – 6th Century BCE. A major part was written after the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem. The first purpose was political: to unite the people of Israel under one God, one temple and one Kingdom. The second purpose is spiritual: to convey truths via metaphors, parables and sayings.

The whole Bible comes under the category of mythology. In fact, only after the birth of Jesus, puranas, the Indian myths were composed. This also suggests that Indian mythology might have been inspired by Christian and Jewish scriptures. Indian myths also try to convey the spiritual truths using metaphors, parables, sayings and in the form of conversation between two people, a guru and a disciple. They do convey a little bit of history directly and indirectly, but many of the stories were added to create an interesting narrative. This narrative was used to unite people and also to kindle the feelings of devotion in the initial stage.

It is said that Quran was revealed to Muhammad by angel Gabriel. But here it is important to understand that even Gabriel is a personification of the Holy Spirit and the revelation by Gabriel is hence symbolic. There are a lot of such symbols in scriptures.

However, historians do agree that Jesus was a historical person. Two incidents which are considered as absolutely real are his baptism by John and his crucifixion.

John Campbell, an American professor of literature, has done a lot of research and has written books on this subject. I haven’t read any of his books yet and hence can’t comment about how efficient his arguments are. But I understood the symbolic nature of myths and scriptures in the light of my own experience.

Also read: Dear Christians, Hindu Deities are not Evil Spirits! – A Criticism of Christian Churches Which Promote Religious Intolerance

Dear Christians, Hindu Deities are not Evil Spirits! – A Criticism of Christian Churches Which Promote Religious Intolerance

I have a lot to say about Christianity. First, I will let you watch a video that narrates many incidents from my life which are associated with Christianity. I will be making many videos in the future, but this is an introduction. In this video, I have spoken the truth that I have realized in my experience, which is now as clear as the sunlight to me.  Sharing my thoughts on Christianity is intended to promote religious tolerance, inter-religious understanding and peace. I speak about all religions and this post is in specific to Christianity. First, watch the video, then read the rest of this post:

https://youtu.be/npKleb7Gh1A
The rest of this post is an answer that I wrote in Quora. But also follow the links at the end of this page. The Quora question was, ‘Why do most Christians refuse to accept “Prasad” from Hindus?‘

Because many churches preach that idol worship in Hinduism is Satanic and that idols have evil spirits in them. I used to have a Protestant friend, a girl, whose boyfriend is a Catholic. She wouldn’t step inside a Roman Catholic church because it has the idol of Jesus on the cross.

It is true that Hebrew Bible asks not to worship idols. But it was specifically for people in ancient Israel who were polytheists and didn’t have a strong philosophy that preaches the oneness of God. But when it comes to Hinduism, it already says God is one without a second, and idols are devices for meditation and devotion. So the idol worship that is banned in Bible is not the same as the idol worship in Hinduism.

Hinduism offers various symbols to connect with divine. The symbols include the stimuli of all the five senses. A form of God is a powerful visual stimulus that can evoke the feeling of devotion by mere exposure. This is possible because of a psychological phenomena called classical conditioning. So, in other words, Hinduism is based on deep understanding of human psychology.
Such symbolism is also present in other religions anyway. The Cresent in Islam, the Cross in Christianity, the taste of wine and the bread of the Eucharist and the melodious songs of orchestra in Church are a part of such symbolism and send powerful sensory cues.

Before there can be a real religious tolerance between various religions, people first need to understand the essence of their own religions. A Hindu cannot provide counter arguments to Christians if he himself is ignorant about his own religion.
And Christians should understand that anything that is offered to God with love is not /cannot be anti-Christian or Satanic.

I am in the process of making videos, images and infographics that promote religious tolerance and educate people about the true essence of religions.

Religious tolerance - Unity of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam

Hindu deities are not evil spirits

Idol worship in Hinduism

 

Christianity is all about love. When you reject a Prasad that is offered by someone with love, you are turning your face away from love; you are being anti-Christian.

Bible verse regarding love - 1 John 4:8

Bible verse regarding love - 1 John 4:16

Bible verse regarding love - Proverbs 3:3-4

By the way, this is not a post intended to attack Christians. And I am not in agreement with organizations like RSS who constantly abuse people of other religions in India. I am all for religious tolerance.

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Also read:

Hinduism, Christianity and Islam – One Truth, Various Names

Goddess Gomathi Amman, Adi Thabasu and Religious Tolerance

If I Speak in the Tongues of Men or of Angels – A Commentary on I Corinthians 13 and Bible’s Connection with Advaita Vedanta

The Good News – A Poem Connecting Biblical and Vedantic Thoughts

God: Who/What is God?

Christian Trinity and Vedanta

Repentance and Metanoia – A Bible question…

If I Speak in the Tongues of Men or of Angels – A Commentary on I Corinthians 13 and Bible’s Connection with Advaita Vedanta

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Hi people! Is there anything that is greater than love? Can there be anything ever that is greater than Love itself? No! I don’t think so! Love is the only thing that connects us… No matter which part of the world you are from… You need to understand that we belong to the same family! I am your relative no matter where you are from… This whole earth is one family and our family!

Let us all unite together, be happy and treat everyone as our own family members. I love you guys… We as humans have to stand up for a global unity and peace.

We CAN make this world a better place to live..

I don’t see any difference between John 14: 19-21 and Bhagavad Gita 9:29. I have no idea why people are fighting…
 
Gita 9:29:
I am equal to all living beings; I don’t have anyone that I hate or anyone who I told dearer than the others. But whoever worships me with devotion, they are in me and I am in them…
 
John 14:19 -21:
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

What we call as God is beyond time and space; but we understand him or imagine him as a person. This is because human mind always detects an agent for everything; this agent deduction in the human mind imagines God in human form or an invisible personality that has human psychology. But this is due to our limitation, not God’s! God is not a person but a personification that points to a direct experience and presence beyond time and space.

Also, most of the scriptures got distorted because of later interpolation, poor translation, lost verses, edited verses and testimony from people who are not direct eyewitnesses. Even the testimonies of eyewitnesses can be biased and memory can be biased too! But regardless of all that, the essence of the scriptures have been realized by millions of sages before us and their teachings can guide us to salvation.

Here is a riddle for you: 

He sees through the eyes of every being, knows through the awareness of every manifest organism and walks using the legs of every piece of life.

As an Octopus he has eight legs; as the son of Man, he has two legs; as the son of God, he is the inner light of every little thing that eats, procreates and decomposes!

He is beyond time and space.

He exists as the love of every mother, as the care of every father, as the company of every brother, as the support of every sister, as the closeness of every wife and as the convenience of every servant.

He shakes hands with you through every friend you see and he pays your wages as every boss you work for. He is the one who eats and he is the one who gets eaten, yet he neither eats; nor gets eaten. He is the essence of every word, every sound, every sentence, every contradiction, every confusion, everything that is good and bad; NOT EVEN AN ATOM MOVES WITHOUT HIS WILL…

He is the one who robs, which gets robbed and the act of robbing; yet he neither robs nor gets robbed. He is beyond the limits of human intellect even though intellect itself is a manifestation of him; he is beyond the power of human vision, even though human vision itself is one of his manifestations!. He is beyond the power of human ears and yet he is everything that you hear…

He is She; She is it, and it is You!  … His kingdom is within you and He is closer than the mane behind your neck! All praise ultimately goes to him and no one else.. He is the good shepherd and the sheep, he is the Gopalan and the Gomata; he is the Pashu and he is the Pathi! He is the Kartha, the doer; every biochemical living piece on planet earth is just a puppet; this puppet show is going on for aeons as a holy game of God…. you suffer, you laugh, you enjoy, you grow, you sin and someday you may even become a saint.. but you know, it is all in the game… in the eyes of God, there is no discrimination!

He is the sweetness of the milk and the sourness of the toddy; He is the intoxication and he is the clarity.. everything happens to according to His will and His will alone.. He is both the uppercase and the lower case letters and the one who is beyond, before, beneath, below and in the middle of all the letters.. He is the first and he is the last, yet He has no beginning and no end!

He expands through and from you in all directions and pervades everything, including every single stone pillar on earth, every single speck of dust and every heart that beats…

He is every mistake and he is every correction … He is… Only He is… He is the one truth which is known, spoken, and understood by various means, forms, names and practices by wise people…

He is not a person but a personification!

Who is He?

Clue: The answer is inside you, within you and lies very close to you; close your eyes and keep looking until you find it…

When you find it, your expression certainly will be, ‘Oh My God!’….

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The Good News – A Poem Connecting Biblical and Vedantic Thoughts

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Your life is the most beautiful mystery
And the screen which plays your private history;
Your life is the truth, consciousness, and bliss
That can’t be pointed out as that or this.

The life screen is the only truth you know;
All that are manifest move in its show;
This essence of life is your true nature;
Knowing this ends the distress and torture.

The one truth that pervades the time and space
Shines in the heart and showers love and grace;
By the veil of darkness it is concealed;
By nonstop inquiry, it is revealed.

That one truth is called by various names;
Deep inside you, it eternally flames;
It is the immortal life and the way;
Look inside, you can find its sparkling ray!

From the dawn of life, seers have seen this
And were reborn by its transforming kiss;
Unless you’re reborn as a wide-eyed kid,
It remains tucked away by a dark lid.

Those who mourn will be appeased by its shade;
Their craving thirst will be killed by its blade;
Those who cleaned their heart are blessed by its touch;
The mere words can convey only this much.

Neither moth nor rust can impair this truth;
None can steal it and none can cause your ruth;
No spade can cut it and fire can’t burn it;
Water can’t wet it and wind can’t dry it.

The birds of the blue sky don’t sow or reap;
About tomorrow, they don’t grieve or weep;
Like those blissful birds, you can become free
Then You’re not the wave, but the boundless sea!

Listen to this good news and wipe your tears!
Wake up from your dream and destroy your fears!
The guiding good shepherd is inside you
As a light that shines with a golden hue!

Whoever has ears, let them hear this song;
With their friends and foes, let them get along!
The kingdom of heaven is filled with love
where the peace descends on you like a dove!

 

God: Who/What is God?

(This post has also been posted as an answer on Quora)

The word God is being used in two different meanings.

1. The word ‘God’, as it is possibly used by a random guy in the world of over 7 billion people, means the creator, ruler and the moral authority of the universe.

A random guy usually understands God as an invisible person who has a mind, emotions, intentions and a personality that is strict, altruistic, intelligent, loving, judgemental and sometimes even cruel.

He is someone who is worshiped with or without form and who is also feared. As for as utility is concerned, such a random man uses this God to be hopeful of his wishes and even curses as well. Sometimes he also uses God even to justify his cruel actions.. That has caused a lot of violence in the name of religion over the last two or three millennia.

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The tendency to judge others usually occurs to a person because of the unconscious intention to show himself in a positive light, in terms of what is good and bad. By making a judgment about others either mentally or physically and by trying to see how bad they are, he unconsciously convinces himself on how good he is.

This tendency can be observed more in people who are brought up in religious families. Don’t think about spirituality here. I am talking about an orthodox Hindu, Muslim or Christian who believes that there is a personal superhuman God who is the moral authority of the world and who punishes the evil doers. He is conditioned more to think in terms of what is good and bad, what is evil and sin etc.

When he believes that his neighbor is selfish, arrogant, rude and probably even bad, he convinces himself on how bad that neighbor is; he also gets relieved in thinking that God will teach his neighbor a lesson one day.

loveyourneighbor

The neighbor is always a problem. It is not only the case with your next door neighbor, it could be someone who is sitting next to you in school or work, the people in neighboring town, state, country etc. Everyone wants to see himself better than other in some way. The worst problems happen when he wants to see himself better than others in how good he is, how pure his heart is, how devotional and dear to God he is etc. So, this is really not about God at all. God is just an excuse to bring some solace on his wishes and curses.

If for any reason he is not able to kill someone who he thinks as bad, rude or displeasing, he can find some temporary relief by thinking how much God would want to punish him. And as soon as he notices such a thought in his mind, he would probably pray to God saying “oh my God, what have I done!.. I have thought of killing that guy. It is such a bad thought and I have sinned now!. But you know how bad he is anyway (*this is the special part!). But I admit that I have sinned in my mind. Please forgive me.. I honestly ask for your forgiveness. Let everything happen according to thy will, Amen or Om Shanthi or Insha Allah or whatever”…. That’s it! He no longer has to worry about it anymore because God has forgiven him! But God is still not going to forgive that bad neighbor guy!

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And this typical religious person that we are talking about is not going to forgive that bad guy either. Also, God will only forgive this typical religious person because he believes that he is the dearest child of God. As far as he is concerned, God loves him but would want to punish everybody else that he doesn’t like for whatever reason he has. And his mind can easily find biased reasons for such an aversion. Any person can easily find thousands of reason to justify his hatred towards another person, there is no question. It is love which doesn’t require any reasons.

If you think for a moment, the main teachings of many religions have been love. It is even said that Love is God. Every religious tradition probably has love as the central theme. Most of the religions portray God as Love.

I think Jesus was a wise man. When someone asked him what greatest commandments were, he did not talk about Ten Commandments.

All he said was this:

”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second commandment is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

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But love is not a bargain or deal. Unfortunately, this is what we see in many people who claim to love God or human beings. Their prayers are like ‘God, please give me this, please give me that’. This is not Love. This is a business.

It is pretty much like telling your God what to do and doesn’t sound like ‘Thy will be done!”

2. But the word ‘God’ is also used in the context of spiritual enlightenment.

In this context, the word is just a synonym of Absolute reality from which people feel separated.

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The apparent union that destroys the apparent separation of absolute reality is what is called by different names: Some people call it as the mystical union and some people call it as Yoga, which literally means union. Here, the God is often personified and loved but never believed or seen as a person. In other words, union with God is the same shit as spiritual enlightenment! It is the end of duality which gives complete fulfillment and peace.

But the word ‘God’ in the context of spiritual enlightenment is totally unnecessary anyway. I would rather talk about spiritual enlightenment without using the word ‘God’. You can read this answer for a detailed description of what it is: What is Spiritual Enlightenment?

Christian Trinity and Vedanta

As I began to learn about the mystical teachings of Christianity, it was pretty clear to me that the essence of the true Christianity is same as the orthodox schools of Hinduism. But I was searching for an explanation of  Christian Trinity in the mystical context and I finally found the answer from the Indian Yogi ‘Paramhamsa Yogananda’.

Let me first quote the description by Paramhamsa Yogananda:

“When Spirit manifests creation. It becomes the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Ghost, or Sat, Tat, Aum. The Father (Sat) is God as the Creator existing beyond creation (Cosmic Consciousness). The Son (Tat) is God’s omnipresent intelligence existing in creation (Christ Consciousness or Kutastha Chaitanya). The Holy Ghost (Aum) is the vibratory power of God that objectifies and becomes creation. Many cycles of cosmic creation and dissolution have come and gone in Eternity (see yuga). At the time of cosmic dissolution, the Trinity and all other relativities of creation resolve into the Absolute Spirit.”

–  From http://www.yogananda-srf.org/glossary/Glossary_T_%E2%80%93_Z.aspx#.WMh2dFV96M8

Before we start on further explanations, I would suggest you to read my post on repentance to understand how Bible has lost some of it’s original meaning in the translations and has been misinterpreted.

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Now, we can derive clear-cut explanations for each member of the Trinity:

Father

He is pretty easy to explain. Father is popularly known as God by Christians; The Hindu term for the Father is ‘Sat’,  a Sankrit word which means ‘Truth.’ Even though truth is neither male nor female, it is personified as a male so that the Holy Spirit can be personified as female. Both of them make the Yin and the Yang or Shiva and Shakthi.

Holy Spirit

This is the aspect of God that is active in creation. It is the vibratory power or force of God.

In the Bible, the word ‘spirit’ has been translated from the Greek word ‘pneuma’, which actually  has several meanings: spirit, breath and wind. The exact word for it in Hindu tradition is ‘Prana’, which means ‘life force’ or vital principle. It is the cosmic energy, permeating the universe on all levels. That is why it is also known as ‘Shakthi’, the mother. It is close to the term Maya in Vedanta and Prakriti in Sankhya. Sankhya and Vedanta are two of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism.

This Shakthi has a symbol called ‘Om’. The same sound has been translated into ‘Amen’ and ‘Ameen’ in different religions. Om is also called as pranava. It is interesting to note than both pranava and prana come from the same root.

Another Sanskrit term for this holy spirit or pranava is ‘omkara’. The word has two meanings: ‘beginning’  and ‘female divine energy’.

So, ‘Omkara’ is a word, in fact ‘the Word’; and it means ‘beginning’.

Now,  if you read the following Bible verses after understanding this last statement, they will perfectly make sense:

John 1:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

The following Bible verse is another example:

“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” – Revelation 3:14 

Son

We have understood the Father and the Holy Spirit, the creator and the creative force. The Son is nothing but the cosmic intelligence or cosmic consciousness.

The consciousness of every individual is one with the cosmic consciousness. But Jesus knew the truth perfectly well while others are ignorant about this, which makes Jesus a special Son of God. (the phrase ‘only begotten’ is translated from the Greek word ‘monogenes’ which actually means special or unique)

The Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father can be put together in one Sanskrit manta ‘Om Tat Sat’

Now, we get to the core message:

The Father is God. (Matthew 6:8, 7:21, Galatians 1:1)
Jesus is God from the beginning (John 1: 1-18)
The Holy Spirit is God (John 15:26, Mark 3:29, 1 Corinthians 6:19).

So, these three are  the three aspects of one ultimate reality! There is no three, there is no two, there is only one!

This is the core teaching of Advaita Vedanta as well. The ultimate reality is defined as self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.

 

Repentance and Metanoia – A Bible question…

We have heard and read the following Bible verse over and over again:

Matthew 3:2

And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

repent

This gave the concept of repentance to Christianity. We are going to look into it and see what this verse really means. What did Jesus, the son of God who came to earth more than r 2000 years ago really mean when he said that? Let us start our analysis…

First of all, we all know that Jesus didn’t speak in English, and Bible was not written originally in English. Jesus spoke in Aramaic, Old Testament in Bible was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Koine-Greek. And I would say, the translation of Bible to English has killed the real meaning of most of the well known Bible verses.

The original Greek word used in New Testament for what we call as repentance is ‘Metanoia’..

What does Metanoia really mean?

Let us dive right into that and also look into various analysis available on the internet. I have given the links to the sources.

Metanoia means afterthought, from meta meaning “after” or “beyond” and nous meaning “mind”. In Classical Greek metanoia meant changing one’s mind about someone or something

(Source: https://bible.org/seriespage/3-new-testament-repentance-lexical-considerations)

Metonoia has nothing to do with the sins you have committed…

Tracing the root meanings is very helpful towards, but not determinative of, final meaning. Still, a word’s origin is not arbitrary, but informative. Thus we can not ignore the formation of metanoia which gives us the basic definition a change of mind.

(Source: http://www.gracelife.org/resources/gracenotes/pdf/gracenotes22.pdf)

A change of mind is very vague. What did Jesus really mean by change of mind? Let us look into various other things into consideration.

In the book ‘Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity’ written by Arthur Versluis, he goes into detail about Metonoia and brings the actual meaning of the Bible verse into light. He explains that as fallen beings we tend to search things outside and our yearning always remains outward bound… But the word ‘Metonoia’ really suggests ‘turning inward’…

So, the bible verse Matthew 3:2 really means

“Turn inward! The kingdom of heaven is near”

Kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God means the same thing….

This can be further proved by referencing another Bible quote here, which is one of my all time favorites. But before that, let me ask you this question:

Where is the kingdom of heaven?

The question is answered in Bible very clearly:

Luke 17:21:

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

So, the kingdom of heaven is within you. But our journey normally outside. As long as it is outward bound, the kingdom of God or heaven is going to be far away. But if we turn inward, it is near… Does it make sense?

In fact, the Tamil translation of Bible preserves the original meaning of the verse:

மனம் திரும்புங்கள் பரலோக ராஜ்ஜியம் சமீபித்திருக்கிறது

The above verse exactly means ‘Turn your mind, the kingdom of heaven is near’!

The mystical dimensions of Christianity talks about mystical union with God.. The union is only possible when you turn inward, because God is within you. If you turn inward and resume your journey, the salvation is not very far away….

There are lots of other pages on the internet which talks about it in detail and support my argument.

Here is another one:

Definition.  Metanoia is a Greek word that has the following translations and meanings in English:

1. A turning about at the level of the soul, with a resulting awakening to matters spiritual and less importance given to matters that are material and fleeting.

This turning about in the soul is very special.  It is akin to feeling and saying to oneself “I have been there and done that”, in regard to worldly pursuits.  The soul then makes a critical decision to take a turn or move in a completely different direction.

Some would say that direction is to re-unite with the Father energy.  Others would say that it is a turn inward toward perfecting the self, instead of seeking love and fortune outside of oneself.  Still others would say it is a turn toward the divine nature that is in each of us, to explore it to the fullest, with the belief and knowing that this is the true path to happiness and joy on all levels.

2. Repentance, as used in some Greek Orthodox churches.  Here the word has a religious significance and is similar to what other churches call conversion or being reborn again in Christ.  Conversion is not converting to a religion.  Conversion is a deeper spiritual process in which a person becomes more aligned with the principles of Christianity.

Source: http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/METANOIA.htm

I also have a video where I have spoken about this in detail… Here you go:

Hope you found this analysis meaningful.. Feel free to comment, I am open for a discussion…