It is the hallmark of any true believer in God to express, in however small a measure, the inherent divinity present in each of us. How this is to be done in public is our topic here. Our actions in public tend to be ostentatious and boastful when they do not spring up from the deep reservoir of our spiritual nature. In this context, Jesus admonished his disciples to take care that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. At the same time, they have to be light of the world that should not be hidden from giving light to all around. How the two should be combined is an art we should learn from Jesus himself even when he performed miracles that could not be hidden. It was always to reveal God's glory and out of compassion for the poor and the needy, taking all precautions himself to be humble and unassuming. In other words, Jesus took care to deflect the glory emanating from his wonderful deeds away from his person. He did this by giving all glory and power to God alone and admonishing the beneficiaries of his mercies to keep them secret. If they did, however, publish them that did not detract from the good intentions of Jesus. The lesson for us in all our endeavors is clear here. We should not use our position, authority, and the good we do to enhance our standing among the people thereby promoting our own self, which is but an echo of our Ego. On the contrary, we should be able to use them to express our true Self, namely, the image of God in us, which is ever present in us.
What are the practical ways of expressing the image of God in us? First of all we have to discover the image of God in us by being conscious of it. This requires meditation, which is the result of our rest from work occasionally. In this state of rest from the routine work, we are deeply engaged with our inner nature that is spiritual. Our concentration in this state on the inner core of our being produces a tranquility of mind that sees deep into our nature. We are seen as the image of God just as the moon is reflected in undisturbed and serene water and not in muddied water.With a calm and clear mind we are in a position to grasp the meaning of image of God as reflected in us. Our body and soul together as a unit is the image of God and not the soul alone. In the Indian tradition, we are not different from the 'Sadchidananda', i.e., God Himself or the Absolute. With this ever present and increasing self-consciousness, we have to face the challenges offered by the world. Each interaction in the world like in our family life, official life, life in the particular community we are a part of should turn out to be sources of enlightenment to those we come in contact with. Take the case of rampant corruption seen around us so much so that those who refuse to toe the line are dealt with indifference, if not hostility, by those who are bent upon using unfair means to enhance themselves. The politicians take solace in the malady by branding the disease as a global phenomenon. People take the easier route to achieve their purpose by throwing money around obtained probably through unfair means. The right attitude should be to be patient and refuse to part with money for favors and very often the right circumstances fall into place whereby we achieve our purpose without paying anybody undue fees. We are welcome to see God's hand in those favorable circumstances and thank Him for letting us contribute a little in treating the malady of corruption. There may be very few circumstances when we cannot wait for too long in emergencies and have to get things done like obtaining a passport in a hurry. It is like approaching the allopathic practitioners for severe illness instead of depending on the homeopathic treatment. A student who refuses to copy in exams even when there is mass copying may feel bad for some time, but never loses peace of mind. In later life such a student has a better chance of meeting the professional challenges in his or her career. The same may be said about the unfair means used in promoting one's career prospects. Our faith and trust in God are manifested through following the straight and narrow path less traveled by the general public.
As a rule, therefore, whenever genuine human values and causes are upheld by our actions, we are on the road to realize ourselves as true images of God. It implies the seemingly unattractive injunction to lose ourselves in order to gain life. For, when we think that we are enhancing ourselves we are really losing ourselves and vice versa. The ultimate reason for this is that our real Self is not immediately evident to us and we mistakenly think that our false self, the Ego, is our real self. In order to overcome this malady we have to align ourselves with the Spirit of God. In this context, we may consider the fruits of the Spirit as propounded by St. Paul. St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians chapter 5, verses 19-23 narrates the actions that proceed from our false self as well as our real Self. The real Self produces fruits of the Spirit and they are: love, joy, peace,patience,kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control.
To express externally the divinity inherent in us, it is absolutely essential to love God fully and totally and our neighbor as ourselves. Although they are intimately connected, the one may not be confused with the other. St. John in his first Letter chapter 4, verses 19-21 emphatically aligns the two kinds of love to such an extent that some are misled into substituting one for the other. In fact St. John does not intend to do so as he has given only a means to test the veracity of our love for God. The ultimate reason for our contention that the one cannot be substituted for the other is that those two kinds of love belong to two different orders of reality. Our love for God is in the metaphysical order underlying our positive attitudes , while the love for our neighbor is in the empirical order to be executed visibly here and now. The two kinds of love, therefore, can easily co-exist without any conflict as our love for God stands as the foundation for our love for the neighbor. This will ensure that our love for the neighbor is not motivated by self-interest and with an eye for his or her exploitation. The interplay of the secular and the sacred comes to the fore here where the Kingdom of God is not removed far from the affairs of this world and yet the former is not entirely restricted to the realms of the latter nor is the Kingdom generated from this world. (To be Cont'd).
What are the practical ways of expressing the image of God in us? First of all we have to discover the image of God in us by being conscious of it. This requires meditation, which is the result of our rest from work occasionally. In this state of rest from the routine work, we are deeply engaged with our inner nature that is spiritual. Our concentration in this state on the inner core of our being produces a tranquility of mind that sees deep into our nature. We are seen as the image of God just as the moon is reflected in undisturbed and serene water and not in muddied water.With a calm and clear mind we are in a position to grasp the meaning of image of God as reflected in us. Our body and soul together as a unit is the image of God and not the soul alone. In the Indian tradition, we are not different from the 'Sadchidananda', i.e., God Himself or the Absolute. With this ever present and increasing self-consciousness, we have to face the challenges offered by the world. Each interaction in the world like in our family life, official life, life in the particular community we are a part of should turn out to be sources of enlightenment to those we come in contact with. Take the case of rampant corruption seen around us so much so that those who refuse to toe the line are dealt with indifference, if not hostility, by those who are bent upon using unfair means to enhance themselves. The politicians take solace in the malady by branding the disease as a global phenomenon. People take the easier route to achieve their purpose by throwing money around obtained probably through unfair means. The right attitude should be to be patient and refuse to part with money for favors and very often the right circumstances fall into place whereby we achieve our purpose without paying anybody undue fees. We are welcome to see God's hand in those favorable circumstances and thank Him for letting us contribute a little in treating the malady of corruption. There may be very few circumstances when we cannot wait for too long in emergencies and have to get things done like obtaining a passport in a hurry. It is like approaching the allopathic practitioners for severe illness instead of depending on the homeopathic treatment. A student who refuses to copy in exams even when there is mass copying may feel bad for some time, but never loses peace of mind. In later life such a student has a better chance of meeting the professional challenges in his or her career. The same may be said about the unfair means used in promoting one's career prospects. Our faith and trust in God are manifested through following the straight and narrow path less traveled by the general public.
As a rule, therefore, whenever genuine human values and causes are upheld by our actions, we are on the road to realize ourselves as true images of God. It implies the seemingly unattractive injunction to lose ourselves in order to gain life. For, when we think that we are enhancing ourselves we are really losing ourselves and vice versa. The ultimate reason for this is that our real Self is not immediately evident to us and we mistakenly think that our false self, the Ego, is our real self. In order to overcome this malady we have to align ourselves with the Spirit of God. In this context, we may consider the fruits of the Spirit as propounded by St. Paul. St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians chapter 5, verses 19-23 narrates the actions that proceed from our false self as well as our real Self. The real Self produces fruits of the Spirit and they are: love, joy, peace,patience,kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control.
To express externally the divinity inherent in us, it is absolutely essential to love God fully and totally and our neighbor as ourselves. Although they are intimately connected, the one may not be confused with the other. St. John in his first Letter chapter 4, verses 19-21 emphatically aligns the two kinds of love to such an extent that some are misled into substituting one for the other. In fact St. John does not intend to do so as he has given only a means to test the veracity of our love for God. The ultimate reason for our contention that the one cannot be substituted for the other is that those two kinds of love belong to two different orders of reality. Our love for God is in the metaphysical order underlying our positive attitudes , while the love for our neighbor is in the empirical order to be executed visibly here and now. The two kinds of love, therefore, can easily co-exist without any conflict as our love for God stands as the foundation for our love for the neighbor. This will ensure that our love for the neighbor is not motivated by self-interest and with an eye for his or her exploitation. The interplay of the secular and the sacred comes to the fore here where the Kingdom of God is not removed far from the affairs of this world and yet the former is not entirely restricted to the realms of the latter nor is the Kingdom generated from this world. (To be Cont'd).
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