All traditions proclaim this world is not a place in which we are hopelessly lost

[Guest guest]

>

> All the Holy Scriptures - Torah, Bible, Qur'an, Upanishads, Vedas,

> Puranas, Granth Sahib - uphold the Self as Spirit, the essence and

> presence of the Divine in humans. That is why Jesus answered them in

> the temple, " Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? " .

> Self-realization is a slow process of confirming the same divinity

> i.e., the Divine within humans. No external images, rituals or

> contacts whatsoever are needed for this inner journey to realize and

> meditate in the Kingdom of God within.

>

> So why do many Christans think it's evil to believe we become like

> God... that we eventually can become gods? That is definitely not

> the case. Humans only realize the Divine - the Self as Spirit

> within. They only realize their own divine nature i.e., the essence

> and presence of the Divine within. That does not mean they become

> God Almighty. Even Shri Mataji has said that Self-realization does

> not mean you become gods. Christians (Jews and Muslims) are just

> ignorant of the true teachings and deep, subtle esoteric truths of

> Jesus that, when understood properly, is not self-deification.

> Realizing the presence and essence of Self as Spirit/God/Divine

> within and meditating on it is not self-deification. Asking others

> to meditate on you is.

>

 

 

" Salvation " is a term which arises most clearly in the Christian

tradition – the idea that God's love through Jesus Christ will save

humans from their sinful state. However, other religions have

parallel concepts. Rather than salvation, Jews speak of " redemption "

for individuals, for Israel and indeed for all nations. In Islam the

closest parallel is found in the term najat which means " escape or

deliverance from the fires of hell to the pleasures of paradise by

following God's guidance. " In Judaism, Christianity and Islam the

human condition from which we all begin is one of sin or disobedience

to God, and it is from that state that we need to be saved. When we

turn to Hinduism and Buddhism, however, it is human ignorance rather

than sin that is our baseline human experience. Our ignorance traps

us in a seemingly unending series of lives – of birth, aging,

sickness and death repeated over and over. This apparently endless

series of suffering, death and rebirth is the human condition that

leads one to long for " release from rebirth " – the Hindu and Buddhist

functional parallel to the idea of salvation. " Release " for Hindus is

referred to as moksa, while Buddhists call it nirvana.

 

In his classic work, The Varieties of Religious Experience, the

psychologist William James suggests that we humans innately seek for

a wider sense of ourselves through which saving experiences come.

This " wider self, " says James, might well be the door that the divine

uses to enter into the lives of humans here on earth. In the chapters

that follow we are introduced to different perceptions of the divine,

of our human condition, and of the " wider sense of self " through

which salvation may come. In the history of the human search for

salvation we find not only differences between religious but also a

great variety of understandings within each tradition. What is

common, however, is the basic insight found in all the religious

traditions " that this world is not a place in which we are hopelessly

lost, that evil or illusory as the world may be, and sinful or

ignorant as we are, there is a way, a path, that leads from darkness

to light, from lostness to salvation. "

 

Harold Coward

Sin and Salvation in the World Religions: A Short Introduction