The New Humanity - Part 3

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

One notable quote from the appended is: " Every religion tends to build up a wall

of separation which divides it from the rest of humanity. " (P.103)

 

This quote reminds me that i heard Shri Mataji tell a room full of us yogis at

Sydney Airport in the mid 1990's that:

 

" I hope you don't make a religion out of my teachings. "

 

Considering that religions do tend to build up a wall of separation, dividing

themselves from the rest of humanity, it makes sense that Shri Mataji did not

want Sahaja Yogis to make a religion out of Her teachings. i know Shri Mataji

approved a modicum of structure to enable communication between Sahaja Yogis all

over the world, but She said this modicum of structure was just for the purpose

of facilitating communication, and nothing else. But like it has happened to all

incarnations that came, the Sahaja Yogis that got themselves into a

'communicating position' took advantage of the modicum of structure, and took

the whole thing over, and tied everything up, so now the unofficial voices of

Sahaja Yogis are not heard anymore; only the official voice of those who took

everything over. This is a real pity, of course, and why Shri Mataji also

advised that:

 

" You have to dedicate yourself completely to Me, not to Sahaja Yoga,

but to Me. Sahaja Yoga is only one of My aspects. Leaving everything you have to

dedicate, complete dedication, otherwise you cannot ascend any further! Without

questioning, without arguing, complete dedication is the only way you can

achieve it. " (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - Cheltenham, U.K. - 31 July, 1982)

 

A number of us have done, are doing, and will be doing just that in future. We

cannot dedicate to Sahaja Yoga leaders who have taken over everything and

shouldn't have, but we have to dedicate to our Mother, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

She is the one that guides us " from within " . And through us, She is able to get

Her Message of Resurrection out, as we have not built a religious wall, dividing

ourselves from the rest of humanity.

 

In Part 2 of " The New Humanity " , we concluded with the following:

 

From the time of Abraham the promises are seen to focus on Israel as the " people

of God " . The promises are renewed to Isaac and Jacob, to Moses and Joshua, to

David and Solomon. But then comes the great reversal. The kingdom of Israel is

divided, the people of northern Israel are taken captive by the Assyrians, and

Jerusalem is captured by the Babylonians and its people transported to Babylon.

But it is precisely at this point, when the fortunes of Israel are at their

lowest, that the prophets come to teach them to look forward to a higher

destiny. Jeremiah speaks of a " new covenant " , which God will make with his

people, when he will " write his law in their hearts " (Jeremiah 31:33). This is

the beginning of that passage to an interior religion which every religion has

to undergo if it is to survive, and which is so clearly the call of religion

today. (P.102) From reliance on external rites and doctrines religion has to

pass to the experience of God in the heart, and this movement of interiority has

to be constantly renewed. This comes out above all in the figure of the

" suffering servant " of Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Israel had experienced the

loss of everything that made up their religion, their king, their land, their

temple, but it was then that they awoke to the deepest realisation of God. The

concept of the suffering servant arose when they realised that God was in the

midst of their suffering and their death and not in their conquests and triumph.

It is through suffering and death that confidence in this world and in the

triumphs of the rational mind is broken and humanity learns to surrender to God,

to that transcendent Truth from which it has fallen. It was through its

humiliation that Israel learned to free itself from its pride and

self-sufficiency and to open itself to the other peoples of the world. "

(P.101-102)

 

Here now is Part 3.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

 

The New Humanity - Part 3

 

(P.102) Every religion tends to centre on itself, to build up its own exclusive

structures of law and authority and so to close itself to the action of God.

This was the situation in Israel when Jesus came. There were many reasons for

this. Perhaps the most significant was that Israel had been subject to one

people after another: first the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks,

and finally the Romans. The result was that Israel tended to turn in on itself,

to defend its religion against the surrounding people. This gave rise to the

sect of the Pharisees. The term " pharisee " means " separated " , and the Pharisees

were those who separated themselves as far as possible from others to be " holy "

to God and to observe His law as strictly as possible. This was a worthy motive

in its way, but it led to an exclusive attachment to the law. This is the danger

of every religion, as we see around us today. As a religion feels itself to be

threatened, it clings to its old traditions and centres on itself, so that it

becomes incapable of further growth or of responding to the movement of the

Spirit.

 

Jesus came to set Israel free from this bondage to the law and to open it to the

new life of the Spirit. He saw himself as bringing to birth a new Israel, a new

people of God, which would be the nucleus of a new humanity. There is no doubt

that he saw his work in continuity with the history of Israel, as God's chosen

people. When he spoke of his " church " (Greek 'ekklesia'), he almost certainly

used the Aramaic word 'qahal', which was used of the " congregation of Israel " .

He could even say, " I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel "

(Matthew 15:24). He did not reject the law of Moses or the worship in the temple

or the synagogue, but he broke down the barrier of exclusiveness which had

imprisoned Israel and so opened the way to a new movement of the Spirit. There

was a wall in the temple of Jerusalem which separated the holy place in which

the Jews could worship from the " court of the Gentiles " , and no Gentile could

pass beyond that wall. That wall was symbolic of the division of the world

between Jews and Gentiles, the holy people of God from the sinful people

outside. Jesus came to break down this wall of separation, as St. Paul says: " He

broke down the wall of hostility...that he might create in himself one new man

in place of the two, thus making peace " (Ephesians 2:14). This applies not only

to the wall in Jerusalem and the separation of Jews and Gentiles, but to all

those barriers, particularly of religion, which divide humanity.

 

Every religion tends to build up a wall of separation which divides it from the

rest of humanity. In some respects this is inevitable, as a religion has to

preserve its own unique values. But in doing so it has to learn to respect the

values of other religions. The Christian churches have built up their own walls

of separation and excluded the rest of humanity from the " people of God " , and

even excluded one another from their own particular structure of religion. The

Muslims also have their own wall of separation and even Hindus and Buddhists,

though much more tolerant than the Semitic religions, yet have their own

exclusive claims. (P.104) Today we are seeking to find a way by which each

religion can retain its own unique spiritual and moral values, while remaining

open to the spiritual and moral values of other religions. This can only come

about when we learn to recognise the relative value of the external forms of

religion, their rites and dogmas. Each religion springs from a profound

experience of the Spirit which is expressed in a sacred book or sacred teaching

and develops its own distinctive rituals and doctrine, but behind all these

outward forms there always remains the original inspiration of the Spirit. It is

in the rediscovery of that original inspiration that we learn to find a living

relationship with the other religions. It is by returning to the source of each

tradition that we discover the basic unity which underlies all religion.

 

If we look for the basic inspiration which underlies Christianity, it is to be

found in the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus came to set Israel

free from its bondage to the Law, that is, to its religious tradition, and to

take it back to the source of all religion. It is clear that Jesus left behind

no definite structure of religion. He chose twelve disciples, whom he called

" apostles " , and by all accounts gave Peter a position of leadership among them.

He also left behind a " memorial " of his death and resurrection, the central

" mystery " of his life, but beyond that it is difficult to discern with certainty

any other formal structure. What he communicated to his disciples was the gift

of his Spirit, which was to lead them into all truth. The essential mystery of

the Gospel is this gift of the Spirit, that is, the opening of humanity to the

life of the Spirit, which had been lost at the Fall, and its return to the

communion with God in which the meaning and purpose of human existence is to be

found. It was this which was to lead his disciples to discern the significance

of his life and teaching and to enable them to become the nucleus of a new

humanity.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 99-104