Everyone is a Son of God

He who is known as Allah by Muslims,
As Jehovah by Christian aspirants,
As the lotus‑eyed Lord by the worshippers of Vishnu,
As Shambhu, by those who revere Shiva,
Howsoever He is worshipped, He gladly responds
Grants the grace of fame and fortune,
And showers happiness and joy. He is the One,
The Supreme Self. Know Him as Param‑Atma

Embodiments of love, nature confers, like heat and cold, joy and grief. In one season, cold is most welcome as a source of comfort. Another season, warmth is equally welcomed. Both give comfort to man when he needs it. Hence both heat and cold have to be welcomed by man. Both contribute to man’s comfort and contentment. Time, space, and circumstance decide their use and their value. This attitude of accepting the inescapable fact is what is proclaimed and praised as serenity and equanimity in the Gita. The Gita says, Samatwam Yogam uchyate”. (Equanimity, equal‑mindedness, and steadi­ness is known as Yoga).

The Gita also declares, “Yogah Karmasu Kousalam,” “Yoga is the quality of excel­lence that has to characterize every act.” Happiness and misery, success and fai­lure, obstacles and obstruction, defaming and denigration, praise and criticism are intertwined; they can never be experienc­ed singly. But man is elated by gain and depressed by loss. When praised, he is elated; when blamed, he droops. But man has to keep in mind that these are only phenomena like heat and cold.

That is the prescription for mental peace and social serenity. Consider the reality of things—mountain peaks are only heaps of rocks; the ground on which we dwell is only soil; the body we carry about with us is nothing but flesh and bone, a composite of the five main elements—space, air, fire, water, and earth. New forms and names are assigned to distinct patterns of the same forces and things that demonstrate distinct characteristics. Over millennia, Bharat [India] has been proclaiming and propagating this holistic spiritual truth and the consequential outlook of renunciation and serenity. “Through renunciation alone you can attain immortality,” declare the Vedas! This truth must be implanted in the mind by discriminating reason. That is why Sri Krishna says, “I am discrimination in the human being.” That is the distinct fea­ture of man.

In the Bhagavata Purana [a scripture] it is said each living being has to journey back to the source from where it sprang. Real joy is available only there. A man may travel on business through many lands and stay in several towns in great comfort, but he does get rest and peace only when he reaches home. The earthly career is but a stage in his long journey where he has camped for a while. The camp is not to be confused with the home, but many do and refuse to remember the home. All that concerns the atma is delight; all that concerns the self is misery. This is the Upanishadic declaration. Man loses himself in fights and factions, greed and gain, and ignores the source, the substance that He is.

The trouble starts with his habit of fix­ing his thoughts on some thing or person. The thought becomes a thorn, a theme, a trap, and finally an enslaving desire. When the desire meets with obstacles, anger wells up and emotions are aroused, which might even overwhelm the human‑ness of the individual. The person loses the capacity to distinguish between right and wrong and slides into sin itself.

How can the mind that leads us along the path of desire, anger, passion, pre­judice, and sin be kept under control? The senses that tempt and tarnish the mind have first to be monitored and mastered. Cultivate the style of speech uncontami­nated by falsehood, the bodily activity unpolluted by violence, and the mental pro­cess unsullied by attachment or hatred. Also, direct the senses along the path to­ward God. The mind robs you of the precious treasure of spiritual wealth. Be ever watchful of its machinations.

In the Bible, it is said that God seeks His own. Ponder over this. God is every­where at all times. He need not be sought anywhere, any time. But God has to seek those who seek Him and struggle to become aware of Him. Whom does God seek? He looks for a sincere, genuine, selfless, steady devotee. Besides, He seeks an ideal son who can be held before mankind as an example and an inspiration. Such persons have become extremely rare nowadays. They style themselves devo­tees, but they weep and wail when they ought to be really exulting; they exult when they have every reason to weep and wail! So, the Lord says,

I am searching, I am searching still searching,
I searched in the past, I search and search now
For the man knowing and observing his dharma true.

Christ announced Himself as the mes­senger of God. He identified His body as having been given to Him for alleviating human misery and serving the helpless and the homeless. He denied the demands of the flesh and devoted His skills and strength to relieve agony and pain. Then, when the consciousness rose to the level of the mind, He became aware that He was the Son of God. He strove hard to discover the distinction between appea­rance and reality, between truth and mental image, and He became aware of the higher level of consciousness that transcends the vagaries of the mind. From that peak of intelligence, He became aware that “I and My Father are one.” And both are one single manifestation of the Divine Essence, the Holy Spirit.

Those who adore and follow Him celebrate the birthday of every great person. This day being the birthday of Jesus is a holiday when offices and factories do not work. It is not sanctified as a holy day. People attend the church and join the rituals but return home to revel, drink, and dance. The Cross is forgotten when the Christmas season is on. The day must be dedicated to the purification of one’s passions and emotions through meditation on the virtues and values that Jesus held forth.

Today man runs after desires; he does not pursue ideals. He yearns for long life, not for a life lived in God. He does not recognize or follow the footprints of the great. Man has reduced himself to the position of a servant of the household who has no means of knowing where the master has treasured his most precious gems. If he is the master, he ought to know. But having failed to rise to that status, he is unaware of the treasure he can command. Each one has to examine for himself whether he is clinging to trin­kets or conserving gems. A lamp kept on a mound illumines the area; if kept in a pit, it is as if it were not. A virtue that is practiced is a lamp that shines for all; good thoughts and good deeds have a way of influencing others. The gems of wisdom, the light of intuitive experience should not be kept away from fellow‑men. They have to be shared, even at the cost of one’s life. That was the lesson Jesus taught and symbolized.

Derision and denunciation follow the footsteps of the great in all ages. They haunt them like the shadow that cannot be avoided. His own disciples, even those who adored Him and hung on His words, turned against Jesus. They did evil to Him who did them good. But Jesus wished well for those who insulted and injured Him. This is a lesson badly need­ed today. No one should count the harm inflicted on him and plan revenge. He must, on the other hand, return love for hatred, fraternity for enmity. To behave otherwise is a sign of weakness, want of courage, and lack of faith in human goodness. Jesus won in this holy strug­gle. On this day, we must cultivate in ourselves that conviction and that courage.

Far more beneficial than honoring the great is the practice of loving them. Praise, glorification, and eulogy raise them on to an unreachable pedestal. Love binds one heart to another. Gratitude for the inspi­ration and instruction received must bind the hearts in love. The celebration of Christmas should not conclude with some carols, tableaux, made‑up trees, and Santa Claus. It must be soaked in the re­solution to practice at least a few of the lessons Jesus taught us. The very first need is faith in God and in our own divine nature.

Where there is faith, there is love,
Where there is love, there is peace,
Where there is peace, there is truth,
Where there is truth, there is bliss,
Where there is bliss, there is God.

The yearning for bliss is the best proof of our holy nature. Man is bliss; he seeks bliss; bliss is blessedness for him. Since God is bliss, happiness is union with God. Nothing else can award that joy, which is unaffected by whatever happens or does not happen. The heart of Jesus was pure and calm. Hence, it is honored as sacr­ed. We must make our hearts sacred so that either we merge in Jesus or Jesus merges in us. When we merge, it is call­ed bhakti [devotion]; to have Jesus awakened in us is the path of jnana [knowledge]. Jesus was a mess­enger of God; but note this also: all of you are messengers of God. Jesus was not the only Son of God; you are all His children. Jesus and His Father are one. You and God are also one and you can be aware of it.

Today, people from many lands have gathered at Prasanthi Nilayam. Having come from such long distances, under­going trouble on the way and [while] staying here, you have to take with you from here at least a few sublime and sustain­ing lessons for spiritual progress. Instead of going around India as tourists do, and collecting impressions of places as thus and thus, imbibe the sacred and the holy to transform your lives and make it worth­while.

You must pay attention to one slight fact. Indians are not eager to identify and benefit from the lessons of their divine culture! Right under the lamp that is lit there is bound to be a patch of dark­ness. If one spends all the 24 hours in an air‑conditioned room, he can­not appreciate or evaluate its blessing. But if he has to walk through the hot sun for an hour, he will surely be grateful and gratified. There are thousands in this Nilayam who keep on exclaiming, “Swami! Swami!” but who have not recognized the immense boon they have secured.

When a baby gulps down the first mor­sel of cooked rice that is ceremonially placed in its mouth, everyone is happy. The parents are pleased and the child is admired. When the child grows and con­sumes plates of rice, no one expresses wonder, pride, or admiration. Why? The person is the same and the food eaten is the same. The eating has become routine, repetitive, mechanical, a kind of compul­sive habit.

You, too, like everyone else, are with God, in God. But you are not aware of that fortune. You are struck with strange wonder and joy when you see God during meditation; you are overcome with ecsta­sy. You have been looking at Me for such a long time now here in front of you. Yet, believe Me, when you go back to your rooms and when I give you darshan [sight of a holy person] even for a second while you sit for dhyana [meditation], you are beside yourself with joy: “O! Swami gave me darshan!” The fact is that it is only something beyond the natural, above the ordinary, that arouses interest. So one must overcome his failing. Spiritual joy, wonder, appreci­ation, the darshan of God must become the life, the natural breath of life, the very raison d’être of existence in the body. This is what Jesus taught by precept and ex­ample to mankind: the atmic principle is the eternal source of bliss.

Embodiments of love! Whatever activi­ty you may be engaged in, wherever you may be, however you may fare, be con­vinced that you are ever in God, that all is Divine, that all acts are offerings to the glory of God and thus make your lives full and fruitful.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1983