ADVENTURES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA...

Adventures in Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy and science of spirit. We are one you and I; are you curious why?..


Part of a Whole

Hari Om

'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days; Q&As; a general review of the week so far…

A conversation took place last week. Out of the blue the person with whom it was being engaged said,

“I would just like you to know that you made me a better Christian.”

Whilst it took mere seconds to formulate a response – “Only you can make of yourself a better Christian, no one can do that for you!” – it actually felt much longer.  The churning of the ‘little grey cells’ was something to behold. Up until that point the chatter had been unrelated to anything particularly spiritual. Trying to relate what had been said to anything which had immediately preceded it as well as trying to grasp the context into which it might be leading was part of the inner flurry.

The follow-up comment revealed some more.

“Oh yes, granted; but it was from when you had mentioned that you thought of Jesus as a fine man, leading by example and being a supreme prophet. I found myself thinking on that for long afterwards, as it challenged my acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God. It was necessary to review my perception and my relationship with Him.”

Thus, a much earlier conversation had been referenced and it became clear that something had been stirred. This is as it ought to be. We can so easily drift along in our little cocoon of certainty about our particular connection to The Higher, never questioning, never stretching ourselves to truly improve our spiritual connection. Never growing.

Conversely, we may have wrapped that cocoon around us because we fear the challenge, the queries, and the answers which they will yield. We can build up a fear of stretching our spiritual muscle.

Image result for jesus and ramaFor many, keeping The Higher (however we chose to name it) and any who are considered as ‘Godmen’ (Jesus, Muhammad, Guru Nanak…) as separate from life, means that we can ‘go to them’ when in need. It is less common to find those who accept that the saints and sages and, indeed, The Higher, can be resident within us at all times, accessible in all places, ever guiding and caring for that part of us which is above and beyond the physical. The idea, too, that Jesus in particular, was not of flesh and blood tends to linger – yet He alone says, when we are asked to remember him, that He is of flesh and blood. However, when viewed through the scope of Vedantic understanding, (that everything is of the same stuff, energetically connected), the bread which we consume is of the very same material from which His body, therefore our own, is made; the wine which is drunk is of the very same material as His blood, therefore so must be our own. That ‘energy-link’ is The Higher. If Jesus is to be called the Son of God, then we too are His Children.

We are connected through the sacred.  This was undoubtedly the message of our Sweet Lord Jesus. It is the message of Vedanta. It is the message of all true Philosophy. Keeping it at distance, to be dusted off on Sabbath days, separating it from us, is to be living a fraction of our spiritual potential. Wrapping it in walls of dogma, seeking to differentiate rather than integrate the deeper understandings of whichever doctrine we follow, is to deny ourselves the fullness of enlightenment.

If another truly felt that through our conversation a shift towards spiritual improvement had taken place, then, certainly the Lord found an instrument in this roaming soul.

For that, there is gratitude not just from the beneficiary, but within the instrument itself.


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