What is Religion and who needs it?

This may be the most difficult paper you have ever read on the subject of true religion, which is the union of our soul with spirit. It points out our identification with and bondage to nature in the realm of duality.

May I suggest, that you read a small section at a time, ponder it and try to understand it, before you move on.

If you background is Christian, which is based on faith and the atonement of Jesus (The Atonement is the sacrifice Jesus Christ made to help us overcome sin, adversity, and death. Jesus paid the price for our sins, took upon Himself death, and was resurrected). You may say to yourself ‘I thought being a Christian is hart, but this, being based on a universal Concept of Oneness, Wholeness, is another story’. Many people say, everything in the universe is connected. If you are one of them, read to the end…. Peace.

 How can we make the distinction between that which is living and that which is dead? This question seems to be a no brainer. In the living there is freedom, there is intelligence; in that which is dead, is bondage and no freedom is possible, because there is no intelligence.

This freedom is what all of us are striving for. To be free is the goal of all our efforts, for only in perfect freedom can there be perfection. This effort to attain freedom underlies all forms of worship, whether we know it or not.

If we were to examine the various sorts of worship all over the world, we would see that the most primitive of mankind are worshipping ghosts, demons, and the spirits of their forefathers. There is serpent worship, worship of tribal gods, and worship of the departed ones. Why do humans do this? It is because they feel that in some unknown way these beings are greater, more powerful than they are, and thus limit their freedom. They, therefore, seek to atone these beings with sacrifice in order to prevent them from molesting them, in other words, to get more freedom. They also seek to win favour from these so-called superior beings.

In general, this shows that the world is expecting a miracle. This expectation never leaves us, and however we may try, we all are running after the miraculous and extraordinary.

What is mind? It is but that ceaseless inquiry into the meaning and mystery of life? We may claim that only uncultivated people are going after all these things, but the question still is there: Why should it be so? The Jews were asking for a miracle. The whole world has been asking for the same for thousands of years. There is, again, the universal dissatisfaction. We get an ideal into our mind and before we do something about it, we rush into another direction. We struggle hard to attain some goal and then discover we do not want it.

This dissatisfaction repeats itself many times and what it creates is only more dissatisfaction.  

What is the meaning behind this universal dissatisfaction? It is because freedom is every one’s goal. The search is endless. It goes on forever.  The child rebels against the law as soon as it is born. Its first utterance is a cry, a protest against the bondage in which it finds itself.

This longing for freedom produces the idea of a Being who is absolutely free. The concept of God, this is a fundamental element in the human psyche.

In yoga, Sat-chit-ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss) is the highest concept of God possible to the mind. It is the essence of knowledge and is by its nature the essence of bliss.

We have been stifling that inner voice long enough, seeking to follow law and quiet the human nature, but there is that human instinct to rebel against nature's laws, as the law of cause and effect. We may not understand what the meaning is, but there is that unconscious struggle of the human with the spiritual, of the lower with the higher mind, and the struggle attempts to preserve one's separate life, what we call our "individuality".

Even hell stands out with this miraculous fact that we are born rebels; and the first fact of life, is the inrushing of life itself, against this we rebel and cry out, "No law for us." As long as we obey the laws we are like robots, and on goes the universe and we cannot break it. Laws as laws become man's nature. The first inkling of life on its higher level is in seeing this struggle within us, to break the bond of nature and to be free. "Freedom, O Freedom! Freedom, O Freedom!" is the song of the soul. Bondage, to be bound in nature, seems its fate.

Why should there be serpent, or ghost, or demon worship and all these various creeds and forms for having miracles? Why do we say that there is life, there is being in anything? There must be a meaning in this search, this endeavour to understand life, to explain being. It is not meaningless and vain. It is our ceaseless endeavour to become free. The knowledge which we now call science has been struggling for thousands of years in its attempt to gain freedom, and people ask for freedom. Yet there is no freedom in nature. It is all law. Still, the struggle goes on.

The whole of nature from the very sun to the atoms is under law, and even for man there is no freedom. But we cannot believe it. We have been studying laws from the beginning, yet we cannot, will not believe that man is under law. The soul cries ever, "Freedom, O Freedom!" With the conception of God as a perfectly free Being, humankind cannot rest eternally in this bondage.

Higher we must go, and unless the struggle was for ourselves, we would think it too severe. We may says to ourselves, "We are born slaves, we are bound; nevertheless, there is a Being who is not bound by nature. He is free and a Master of nature."

The conception of God, therefore, is as essential and as fundamental a part of mind as is the idea of bondage. Both are the outcome of the idea of freedom. There cannot be life, even in the plant, without the idea of freedom. In the plant or in the worm, life has to rise to the individual concept. It is there, unconsciously working, the plant living its life to preserve the variety, principle, or form, not nature. The idea of nature controlling every step onward overrules the idea of freedom.

 Onward goes the idea of the material world; onward moves the idea of freedom. Still the fight goes on. We are hearing about all the quarrels of creeds and sects, yet creeds and sects are just and proper, they must be there. The chain is lengthening and naturally the struggle increases, but there need be no quarrels if we only knew that we are all striving to reach the same goal.

The embodiment of freedom, the Master of nature, is what we call God. We cannot deny Him, because we cannot move or live without the idea of freedom. Would we come here if we did not believe we were free? It is quite possible that the biologist can and will give some explanation of this perpetual effort to be free. Take all that for granted, still the idea of freedom is there. It is a fact, as much so as the other fact that we apparently get over, the fact of being under nature.

Bondage and liberty, light and shadow, good and evil must be there, but the very fact of the bondage shows also this freedom hidden there. If one is a fact, the other is equally a fact. There must be this idea of freedom.

While now we cannot see this idea of bondage, yet the idea of freedom is there. The bondage of sin and impurity in the uncultivated savage is to his consciousness very small, for his nature is only a little higher than the animal's. What he struggles against is the bondage of physical nature; the lack of physical gratification, but out of this lower consciousness grows and broadens the higher conception of a mental or moral bondage and a longing for spiritual freedom.

Here we see the divine dimly shining through the veil of ignorance. The veil is very dense at first and the light may be almost obscured, but it is there, ever pure and undimmed, the radiant fire of freedom and perfection. Mankind personifies this as the Ruler of the Universe, the One Free Being. He does not yet know that the universe is all one that the difference is only in degree, in the concept.

The whole of nature is worship of God. Wherever there is life, there is this search for freedom and that freedom is the same as God. Necessarily this freedom gives us mastery over all nature and is impossible without knowledge. The more knowing we are, the more we are becoming masters of nature. Mastery alone is making us strong and if there is some being entirely free and master of nature, that being must have a perfect knowledge of nature, must be omnipresent and omniscient. Freedom must go hand in hand with these, and that being alone who has acquired these will be beyond nature.

Blessedness, eternal peace, arising from perfect freedom, is the highest concept of religion underlying all the ideas of God, absolutely free Existence, not bound by anything, no change, no nature, nothing that can produce a change in Him. This same freedom is in us and is the only real freedom.

God is still, established upon His own majestic changeless Self. We try to be one with Him, but plant ourselves upon nature, upon the trifles of daily life, on money, on fame, on human love, and all these changing forms in nature which make for bondage. When nature shines on anything what depends on light, it actually depends upon God and not upon the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars. Wherever anything shines, whether it is the light in the sun or in our own consciousness, it is He. He is shining in all and all shines after Him as a reflection.

Now we have seen that this God is self-evident, impersonal, omniscient, the Knower and Master of nature, the Lord of all. He is behind all worship and it is being done according to Him, whether we know it or not. Let’s go one step further, that at which all marvel, that which we call evil, it is His too. There cannot be any life or any impulse unless that freedom is behind it.

Unless there is unity at the universal heart, we cannot understand variety. We are in essence one with God. He, who is the coloring in the wings of the butterfly, and the blossoming of the rose-bud, is the power that is in the plant and in the butterfly. He who gives us life is the power within us. Out of His fire comes life, and the direst death is also His power. He whose shadow is death, His shadow is immortality also.

Let’s take a still higher conception. See how we are running like hunted rabbits from all that which is terrible and thinking we are safe. See how the whole world is fleeing from everything terrible, if we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.

What is death? What are terrors? Do we not see the Lord's face in them? Flee from evil and terror and misery, and they will follow us. Face them, and they will flee. The whole world worships ease and pleasure, and very few dare to worship that which is painful. To rise above both is the idea of freedom. Unless we pass through this gate we cannot be free. We all have to face these.

We strive to worship the Lord, but nature rises between Him and us and blinds our vision. We must learn how to worship and love Him in shame, in sorrow, and in sin. The entire world has ever been preaching the God of virtue. We have to come to the point where we preach about a God of virtue and a God of sin in one. The Ultimate Truth which we must realize is that all is Oneness. Then will we give up the idea that one is greater than another. The nearer we approach the law of freedom, the more we shall come under the Lord, and troubles will vanish. Then we shall not differentiate the door of hell from the gate of heaven, nor differentiate between men and say, "I am greater than any being in the universe." Until we see nothing in the world but the Lord Himself, all these evils will be-set us and we shall make all these distinctions; because it is only in the Lord, in the Spirit, that we are all one; and until we see God everywhere, this unity will not exist for us.

We are in reality one with the Lord, but the reflection makes us seem many, as when the one sun reflects in a million dewdrops and seems a million tiny suns. The reflection must vanish if we are to identify ourselves with our real nature which is divine. The universe itself can never be the limit of our satisfaction. That is why the miser gathers more and more money that is why the robber robs, the sinner sins, that is why we are learning philosophy. All have one purpose. There is no other purpose in life, save to reach this freedom. Consciously or unconsciously, we are all striving for perfection. Every being must attain to it.

The one, who is groping through sin, through misery, the one who is choosing the path through hells, will reach it, but it will take time. We cannot save him. Some hard knocks will help us to turn to the Lord. The path of virtue, purity, unselfishness, spirituality, becomes known at last and what all are doing unconsciously, we are trying to do consciously. This is the lesson for the whole world to learn.

What have philosophies and theories of nature to do, if not to help us to attain to this one goal in life? Let us come to that consciousness of the identity of everything and let us see our self in everything. Let us be no more the worshippers of creeds or sects with small limited notions of God, but see Him in everything in the universe. If we are knowers of God, we will everywhere find the same worship as in our own heart.

In the first place we need to get rid of all our limited ideas and see God in every person, working through all hands, walking through all feet, and eating through every mouth. In every being He lives, through all minds He thinks. He is self-evident, nearer unto us than ourselves.

If we think, that the basis of religion is faith; may it please the Lord to give us this faith! When we shall feel that oneness, we shall be immortal. We are physically immortal even, one with the universe. As long as there is one that breathes throughout the universe, we live in that one. We are not this limited little being, we are the universal, I am, the life of all the sons of the past. I am the same soul that is of Jesus, of Buddha, of Mohammed. I am the same soul of the teachers, and all the robbers that robbed, and all the murderers that were hung, I am the universal. This is the highest worship. We are one with the universe. That only is humility, not crawling upon all fours and calling ourselves sinners. That is the highest evolution when this veil of differentiation is torn off. The highest creed is Oneness. I am so-and-so is a limited idea, not true of the real "I". I am the universal; stand upon that and ever worship the Highest through the highest form, for God is Spirit and should be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

Through lower forms of worship, man's material thoughts rise to spiritual worship and the Universal Infinite One is at last worshipped in and through the spirit. That which is limited is material. The Spirit alone is infinite. God is Spirit, is Infinite; man is Spirit and, therefore Infinite, and the Infinite alone can worship the Infinite. This is what we must realize.  .  

In contrast when we theorize, rationalize, talk, philosophize, and something unforeseen comes against us, we unconsciously become angry, we forget that there is anything in the universe, except this little limited self. We forget to say, "I am the Spirit, what is this trifle to me? I am the Spirit." I forget it is all myself playing, I forget God, I forget freedom.

Razor sharp, long and difficult and hard to cross is the way to freedom. The sages have declared this again and again. Yet let not these weaknesses and failures bind us. The Scriptures have declared, "Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached." We will then certainly cross the path, sharp as it is like the razor and long and distant and difficult though it is. Man becomes the master of gods and demons. No one is to blame for our miseries but we ourselves. Do we think there is only a dark cup of poison if we go to look for nectar? The nectar is there and is for everyone who strives to reach it. The Lord Himself tells us, "Give up all these paths and struggles and take refuge in Me. I will take thee to the other shore, be not afraid." We hear that from all the scriptures of the world that come to us. The same voice teaches us to say, "Thy will be done upon earth, as it is in heaven," for "Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory."

It may be difficult for some of us to say this very moment, “I will take refuge in Thee, O Lord. Unto Thy love I will sacrifice all, and on Thine altar I will place all that is good and virtuous. My sins, my sorrows, my actions, good and evil, I will offer unto Thee; do Thou take them and I will never forget."

One moment we may say, "Thy will be done," and the next moment something comes to try us and we jump up in a rage.

The goal of all religions is the same, but the language of the teachers differs. The attempt is to kill the false "I" (ego), so that the real "I", the Lord, will reign. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me," say the scriptures. God must be there all alone. We must say, "Not I, but Thou," and then we should give up everything but the Lord.

He and He alone, should reign. Perhaps we struggle hard, and yet the next moment our feet slip, and then we try to stretch out our hands. We find we cannot stand alone. Life is infinite, one chapter of which is, "Thy will be done," and unless we realize all the chapters we cannot realize the whole. "They will be done", every moment the traitor’s mind rebels against it, yet it must be said, again and again, if we are to conquer the lower self.

We cannot serve a traitor and yet be saved. There is salvation for all except the traitor and we stand condemned as traitors, traitors against our own selves, against the majesty of Mother Nature, when we refuse to obey the inner voice of our higher Self. Come what will, we must give our bodies and minds up to the Supreme Will."They will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for evermore” Amen.