Reading today in Yogananda’s wonderful commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, I came across this paragraph:
In the beginning of creation and the advent of man, the Infinite impregnated His intelligent creative Cosmic Energy with not only the power of repulsion – the individualizing of Cosmic Consciousness into souls and a universe of matter – but also with the power of recalling souls from their prodigal wanderings in matter back to unity with Spirit. All things come from, are made of, and sustained by, and ultimately resolve into this intelligent Cosmic Energy, and thence into Spirit. Ascension follows in reverse the exact course of descension. In man, that course is the inner highway to the Infinite, the only route to divine union for followers of all religions in all ages. By whatever bypath of beliefs or practices a being reaches that singular highway, the final ascension from body consciousness to Spirit is the same for everyone: the withdrawal of life and consciousness from the senses upward through the gates of light in the subtle cerebrospinal centers, dissolving the consciousness of matter into life force, life force into mind, mind into soul, and soul into Spirit.
(If you have not read any of Yogananda, I highly recommend him. Besides the Gita translation/commentary, there are other titles at the Self-Realization Fellowship site; among them, his Autobiography of A Yogi, a classic for beginner seekers and everyone else, too, and his commentary on the Rubaiyat, which is super.)
For me, words like these from Yogananda, like virtually all of the other Teachers I have had the privilege of encountering in one form or another, are clear evidence and a constant reminder that God has only One Voice and only One Message, and that every Teacher who speaks does so with that One Voice and delivers that One Same Message.
That’s what distinguishes a Teacher from the rest of us. Because they have transcended the egoic body/mind personality, they no longer have or claim a separate identity, a “me” separate from others or from God, and so their vocal chords, for example, become God’s, undistorted by preferences, prejudices, or presumptions. When they speak, it is as if God is speaking; nay, it is God speaking.
To be sure, depending upon who delivers the message to each of us, and the circumstances of that delivery, it sounds different – special – to us. But that is undoubtedly Divinely Intentional. The Voice chooses the vocal chords that can speak in the language and the culture of its audience, precisely because it is in our nature, at least initially, to look for, expect, and even welcome distinctions, boundaries, differences, and labels.
In the words of Mohammed Neguib (one-time President of Egypt), Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there.
Religion is ...
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Ihavesayso
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Please forgive this long quotation. I hope you will agree that it is so nicely put that it is worth repeating here. I read it last evening in Holy Mother –The Life of Sri Sarada Devi. (Throughout, for man please read "man or woman" and ditto for he, him, his.)
All prophets and saints have emphasized the practice of spiritual disciplines. Religion is not a mere acceptance of dogmas or beliefs, nor does it consist in mere study of the scriptures or observance of moral laws or performance of rituals. The main purpose of religion is to help a man bring out his potential divinity and apply the knowledge of this divinity to his everyday life. Rituals, dogmas, moral disciplines, prayer, meditation, and scriptural study are only helps. From time out of mind, spiritual seekers have practiced disciplines to curb their senses, control the mind, and realize the ultimate insubstantiality of the phenomenal world. Man considers the world to be real and is trapped in it because he directly perceives it with his senses. But his knowledge of God, through study, is indirect and mediate. Only through practice of spiritual discipline does he obtain, by the grace of God, direct and immediate knowledge of Him, and so is no more deceived by appearances. Hence, for the average man there is no way to higher life except through earnest, sincere, and wholehearted practice of spiritual discipline.
But meditation and prayer contain a certain element of ego. The ubiquitous ego is present even in the practice of spiritual austerities. When an aspirant has passed through the entire gamut of austerities, he realizes that God is still far away. Then he totally surrenders himself to God, seeking His mercy. Genuine self-surrender is not possible without prior self-effort. Only through self-effort does one come to know that God cannot be realized through self-effort. Then God reveals Himself to a man in His own good time. Neither meditation nor spiritual effort can compel this revelation. God’s grace is showered when a seeker is completely free from desire or ego. Yet when the revelation comes, the seeker will not recognize God unless he has made himself ready through prior self-effort.
Sarada was the wife of Sri Ramakrishna, and a very powerful Teacher in her own right. This is a very nice book to have near at hand, to turn to for encouragement, nourishment, reminder, and the like.
All prophets and saints have emphasized the practice of spiritual disciplines. Religion is not a mere acceptance of dogmas or beliefs, nor does it consist in mere study of the scriptures or observance of moral laws or performance of rituals. The main purpose of religion is to help a man bring out his potential divinity and apply the knowledge of this divinity to his everyday life. Rituals, dogmas, moral disciplines, prayer, meditation, and scriptural study are only helps. From time out of mind, spiritual seekers have practiced disciplines to curb their senses, control the mind, and realize the ultimate insubstantiality of the phenomenal world. Man considers the world to be real and is trapped in it because he directly perceives it with his senses. But his knowledge of God, through study, is indirect and mediate. Only through practice of spiritual discipline does he obtain, by the grace of God, direct and immediate knowledge of Him, and so is no more deceived by appearances. Hence, for the average man there is no way to higher life except through earnest, sincere, and wholehearted practice of spiritual discipline.
But meditation and prayer contain a certain element of ego. The ubiquitous ego is present even in the practice of spiritual austerities. When an aspirant has passed through the entire gamut of austerities, he realizes that God is still far away. Then he totally surrenders himself to God, seeking His mercy. Genuine self-surrender is not possible without prior self-effort. Only through self-effort does one come to know that God cannot be realized through self-effort. Then God reveals Himself to a man in His own good time. Neither meditation nor spiritual effort can compel this revelation. God’s grace is showered when a seeker is completely free from desire or ego. Yet when the revelation comes, the seeker will not recognize God unless he has made himself ready through prior self-effort.
Sarada was the wife of Sri Ramakrishna, and a very powerful Teacher in her own right. This is a very nice book to have near at hand, to turn to for encouragement, nourishment, reminder, and the like.