The kingdom of God is within you

Can we have heaven on earth? The first question we would have to ask is:” What is heaven”. Since we don’t know the answer from the point of view of experience, we can only assume, that it means ideal circumstance on all levels of existence, but ideal according to whom.

Perhaps this leads us to higher order thinking. From a religious perspective it is spoken of as the re-appearance of Christ and his reign on earth. Islam speaks of the coming of the Mahdi.

But according to the Apostle Luke, when Jesus was asked when the Kingdom of God would come, he gave a completely different answer.  Jesus replied that it is not something people will be able to see and point to. Then came these striking words: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

With these words, Jesus gave voice to a teaching that is universal and timeless. When we look into other religious, spiritual teachings, and wisdom tradition, we find the same precept that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within.

As Jesus made unambiguously clear, we can experience this inner treasure and no experience could be more valuable. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” he declared, “and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). From this inner plane he is saying, that all will be given unto us. This infers that this inner transcendent reality can be directly experienced.

Depending on one’s tradition, this experience has been given different names. In India traditions it is called Yoga, (Bhagavad Gita X – 20,  

O Arjuna I am the Self (soul), is seated in the heart (source of existence) of all beings. In Buddhism it is called Nirvana, in Islam *fana, in Christianity spiritual marriage or mystical union. It is a universal teaching based on a universal reality and on universal experience.

*fana, Arabic Fana,(“to pass away,” or “to cease to exist”), the complete denial of self and the realization of God that is one of the steps taken by the Muslim Sufi (mystic) toward the achievement of union with God.

Fana may be attained by constant meditation and by contemplation on the attributes of God, coupled with the denunciation of human attributes.

When the Sufi succeeds in purifying himself entirely of the earthly world and loses himself in the love of God, it is said that he has “annihilated” his individual will and “passed away” from his own existence to live only in God and with God.

But how does one realize this inner, transcendent Reality?

In the yoga tradition it is through meditation on God and through devotion.

In Christianity it is through prayer and devotion of the heart, with the heart being understood as one’s inner essence.

Intellectuals may prefer a method of Self inquiry. Who or what is this I?

Most non dualistic teachers stress, that there is only one Self or consciousness and when knowing it, everything is know. This cannot be a superficial or just intellectual inquiry. One must be able to merge with the object of inquiry trough contemplation and become one with it, otherwise the knowledge is incomplete.

It seems that the majority of people associate themselves with the ego and forget their true nature as spiritual beings. This is a habit has been ingrained in our mind right from birth.

During Self inquiry instead of wanting to know about things, one seeks to know the Self by asking, who am I? The fruit of Self inquiry is Self Realization. For those who follow this method no other sadhana is necessary. It should also be noted, that those who adopt devotion or bhakti, reach the same goal. In other words by surrendering one’s ego to God one is Self Realized.

Consider the characteristics of the mainstream image of Jesus presented by the churches.