Before concluding this section, it might be worth while to note a few points about the Kingdom of God that is one of the central themes of this short Study. The Kingdom of God stands in antithesis to any kingdom of this world as well as our very life in this world. And yet, it is not completely foreign to this world in as far as we have to enter the Kingdom of God from our base in this world. Here we see the connection between the secular and the sacred. Jesus categorically announced at his trial before Pilate that his Kingdom was not of this world (See John, 18: 36-37).Thus, the origin, establishment and completion of the Kingdom of God are from above and our participation in it is from below. The Kingdom is hidden in the world as well as in ourselves, but goes beyond the world and waits for its full manifestation The Kingdom implies sovereignty that we the subjects are bound to accept and acknowledge culminating in full faith in the sovereign, in our case, God Himself. Fear of God and love of God cannot be separated unlike the sentiments of some young people who are ready to love God, but are averse to fearing Him. This is because they misunderstand the fear of God to be like our fear of something in this world from which we tend to run away. The Bible gives ample evidence of the true meaning of the fear of God as running away from evil because of love of God. One example would be the instance when the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah who were ordered by Pharaoh to kill all the boys at birth disobeyed him. The reason they did not comply with the strict orders of the all-powerful Pharaoh was that they were God-fearing women. They also dared to give an unusual explanation when questioned by Pharaoh about failure to follow his orders (See Exodus, 1: 15-22). We may say, in brief, that fear of God implies avoidance of evil as love of God results in doing good.
The main thrust of this Study is to suggest ways and means for us to be transported from the present world (the secular) to the Kingdom of God (the sacred). Our real Self and the Ultimate Reality of the world are both covered up by 'avidya' (ignorance) and 'Maya' (apparent reality) respectively. The veil that covers up is a false sense of Ego with all its consequences in the former case and a false sense of reality that leads us astray from the true Reality in the latter case. It is similar to our experience of dreams, which are real to us until we awaken to the world we daily live in. In our waking life, our mind has the tendency to superimpose false reality on the true reality due to various inadequacies in our perception. Examples would be a mirage seen by a thirsty person in a desert or a rope taken as a snake by someone due to lack of light. The lack of light stands for ignorance (avidya) and the object of superimposition is apparent reality (Maya). The real Self within each one of us is the image of God and His likeness in biblical terms and Sadchidananda in the Bagavad-Gita. In order to be conscious of this Reality, we have to turn to ourselves from the world outside of us we constantly deal with. Even the monks and the reclusive are not able to run away from the world as they carry the world with them through their bodies endowed with five senses wherever they are! The trick is to keep calm and be relaxed in all trying circumstances to attain which faith in God is the surest and permanent method of action. This method consists in our habitual practice of concentration on our true inner nature through meditation away from the clamor and distractions the world is filled with. Jesus instructed his disciples to go into a room closing the doors to pray in secret to the heavenly Father and he did not want his Father to take them away from the world, but only to protect them from evil. Once we attain the clarity about the nature of Reality as against appearances, we are well on the way to steer clear our life of all obstacles on the way to the Kingdom. The practical tips we find in the Bible, the Vedas and other Scriptures of religions should be our guideposts in this all-important venture of our life.
The Kingdom of God is hidden in each human being as well as in daily situations of life. Jesus indicated this by saying that the Kingdom of God is within us (See Luke, 17; 20-21) and prohibiting his disciples from searching for it in the outside world (See Luke, 17: 23) At present we are not able to point out the Kingdom as it is not fully established and manifested for all to see. By faith in Jesus Christ we know that it is fully established in his death, resurrection and ascension to his Father and that it will be fully manifested at the end of times when this world itself would come to an end. We have to learn to act in such a way that even as we are engaged in the daily business of living, our gaze should not waver from the values of the Kingdom of God. According to Paul "... the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking , but justice, peace and joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit" (Romans, 14: 17). A familiar example given by the Indian Gurus is about a woman laborer carrying her child on her back even as she toils in the fields. Her constant thought about the well-being of her child does not distract her from efficiently performing her duties. At the same time, her complete involvement in the task assigned to her does not lead her to neglect her child. A similar attitude is what is required from us in our daily routines without forgetting the presence of God. This is same as praying always and everywhere when our actions are dictated by the fear of God as we have seen above in the case of the Hebrew midwives in Pharaoh's Egypt. Besides, let us remember about the logical order explained above as well as the metaphysical order of reality underlying the physical one.
How shall we go about in achieving this kind of balance and harmony in life? Jesus insists on the necessity of watching and praying as well as the need of being awake always and everywhere. It is against ourselves and our distorted minds that we have to keep a watch. A sleeping mind leads us into all sorts of imaginations contrary to our true well-being. Anything that comes to our observation and perception is liable to be misinterpreted by our minds so that what we understand is not the fact that is presented, but our imaginative interpretation of it. In this sense there are no pure facts as they are immediately interpreted by the mind. It is essential, therefore, to purify our minds and that is done through meditation raising the level of our consciousness to its full capacity. Then we shall see things as they are and that cannot be enunciated in words, but can only be lived. The Kingdom of God is perceived by such minds and that is why Jesus recommended children as representatives of the Kingdom. They perceive things as they are and not by a mind complicated by personal experiences. This is illustrated by the story of the naked emperor when everyone including the emperor himself believed that he was arrayed in magnificent clothes, seemingly too transparent, although in fact he was naked. It took a child to spontaneously shout out the fact that the emperor had no clothes on him!
The main thrust of this Study is to suggest ways and means for us to be transported from the present world (the secular) to the Kingdom of God (the sacred). Our real Self and the Ultimate Reality of the world are both covered up by 'avidya' (ignorance) and 'Maya' (apparent reality) respectively. The veil that covers up is a false sense of Ego with all its consequences in the former case and a false sense of reality that leads us astray from the true Reality in the latter case. It is similar to our experience of dreams, which are real to us until we awaken to the world we daily live in. In our waking life, our mind has the tendency to superimpose false reality on the true reality due to various inadequacies in our perception. Examples would be a mirage seen by a thirsty person in a desert or a rope taken as a snake by someone due to lack of light. The lack of light stands for ignorance (avidya) and the object of superimposition is apparent reality (Maya). The real Self within each one of us is the image of God and His likeness in biblical terms and Sadchidananda in the Bagavad-Gita. In order to be conscious of this Reality, we have to turn to ourselves from the world outside of us we constantly deal with. Even the monks and the reclusive are not able to run away from the world as they carry the world with them through their bodies endowed with five senses wherever they are! The trick is to keep calm and be relaxed in all trying circumstances to attain which faith in God is the surest and permanent method of action. This method consists in our habitual practice of concentration on our true inner nature through meditation away from the clamor and distractions the world is filled with. Jesus instructed his disciples to go into a room closing the doors to pray in secret to the heavenly Father and he did not want his Father to take them away from the world, but only to protect them from evil. Once we attain the clarity about the nature of Reality as against appearances, we are well on the way to steer clear our life of all obstacles on the way to the Kingdom. The practical tips we find in the Bible, the Vedas and other Scriptures of religions should be our guideposts in this all-important venture of our life.
The Kingdom of God is hidden in each human being as well as in daily situations of life. Jesus indicated this by saying that the Kingdom of God is within us (See Luke, 17; 20-21) and prohibiting his disciples from searching for it in the outside world (See Luke, 17: 23) At present we are not able to point out the Kingdom as it is not fully established and manifested for all to see. By faith in Jesus Christ we know that it is fully established in his death, resurrection and ascension to his Father and that it will be fully manifested at the end of times when this world itself would come to an end. We have to learn to act in such a way that even as we are engaged in the daily business of living, our gaze should not waver from the values of the Kingdom of God. According to Paul "... the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking , but justice, peace and joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit" (Romans, 14: 17). A familiar example given by the Indian Gurus is about a woman laborer carrying her child on her back even as she toils in the fields. Her constant thought about the well-being of her child does not distract her from efficiently performing her duties. At the same time, her complete involvement in the task assigned to her does not lead her to neglect her child. A similar attitude is what is required from us in our daily routines without forgetting the presence of God. This is same as praying always and everywhere when our actions are dictated by the fear of God as we have seen above in the case of the Hebrew midwives in Pharaoh's Egypt. Besides, let us remember about the logical order explained above as well as the metaphysical order of reality underlying the physical one.
How shall we go about in achieving this kind of balance and harmony in life? Jesus insists on the necessity of watching and praying as well as the need of being awake always and everywhere. It is against ourselves and our distorted minds that we have to keep a watch. A sleeping mind leads us into all sorts of imaginations contrary to our true well-being. Anything that comes to our observation and perception is liable to be misinterpreted by our minds so that what we understand is not the fact that is presented, but our imaginative interpretation of it. In this sense there are no pure facts as they are immediately interpreted by the mind. It is essential, therefore, to purify our minds and that is done through meditation raising the level of our consciousness to its full capacity. Then we shall see things as they are and that cannot be enunciated in words, but can only be lived. The Kingdom of God is perceived by such minds and that is why Jesus recommended children as representatives of the Kingdom. They perceive things as they are and not by a mind complicated by personal experiences. This is illustrated by the story of the naked emperor when everyone including the emperor himself believed that he was arrayed in magnificent clothes, seemingly too transparent, although in fact he was naked. It took a child to spontaneously shout out the fact that the emperor had no clothes on him!
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