Worship God in Spirit and in Truth [The Inner Jerusalem] - Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

" To truly worship God is to worship Him as transcendent Spirit in Nature and

beyond Nature....It is then that the devotee finds emancipation by becoming one

with the Spirit. "

 

Paramahansa Yogananda, The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the

Christ Within You) Volume 1, Discourse 18, pg. 303

 

In Note 1, page 296, the author states:

 

" Sychar (or Shechem), where Jesus' encounter with the woman of Samaria took

place, was located about twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, at the foot of

Mt. Gerizim. Samaria, the district between Judea and Galilee, was home to a

people of mixed ancestry. Centuries earlier, when Palestine was conquered by the

Assyrians, the Jewish population of that area intermarried with foreigners who

were sent to colonize the land, and who adopted some of the Jewish religious

beliefs. The Samaritans were the descendants of this cultural medley. Being of

mixed race, they were viewed with contempt by most full-blooded Jews. "

 

The woman of Samaria was of this mixed race and when Jesus approached her, she

said to Jesus that:

 

" Our fathers worshipped in this mountain [i.e., Mount Gerizim, adjacent to the

well at Sychar (Shechem)]; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men

ought to worship. " (John 4:20)

 

Jesus says to her that:

 

" Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor

yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what

we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when

the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the

Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him

must worship Him in spirit and in truth. " (John 4:21-24)

 

When Jesus said " the hour cometh " , the Time was obviously not there yet when

people would worship God in human temples " within " rather than in external

man-made temples " without " . Was Jesus talking about this present en-masse

Resurrection Time? i believe He must have been! Jesus knew the past, present and

future as in the Divine Present/Presence they all exist. So, Jesus must have

been talking about this present evolution of the human race to become the

Spirit! And lets remember that for this purpose He said He would send the

Comforter/Holy Ghost (a.k.a. " Helper " , " Paraclete " , " Counselor " ) who would

remind us and explain all that Jesus talked about:

 

" But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my

name, S/he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,

whatsoever I have said unto you. " (Words of Jesus - John 14:26)

 

What Jesus promised here, Shri Mataji has fulfilled to the highest degree--in

addition to which we have infallible evidence from independent witnesses that

have corroborated and identified Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi to be the

Comforter/Holy Ghost that Jesus said He would send:

 

http://www.adishakti.org/

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, whose name literally translates to " Respected Mother

Immaculate Goddess " has recalled and reminded us of the teachings of Jesus

Christ and also the teachings of the other incarnations and prophets. She has

shown how these teachings are all in essential agreement even though that had

not been recognized/understood by the individuals/groups following the

incarnations and prophets, which is why these teachings ended up being misused

for their own selfish purposes and ends.

 

So it has been the job of Shri Mataji to not only initiate the en-masse

Resurrection/Self-realization whose " hour " Jesus had said " cometh " , but it has

also been Her job to restore the original pristine unity of the spiritual

teachings of the incarnations and prophets on to the " One Tree of Life. " So,

there is much to be thankful for here, with the wonderful historical and

spiritual continuity and unity that Shri Mataji has again brought to the human

race.

 

regards to all,

 

violet

 

 

 

Worship God " in Spirit and in Truth " [The Inner Jerusalem] - Part 1

(The Woman of Samaria, Part II)

 

(p.305) Having recognized Jesus as a prophet of God, the woman of Samaria sought

from him spiritual guidance on the disputed question as to which was the right

place to worship: Jerusalem, as the Jews believed; or the mountain nearby, which

was sacred to her forefathers. [1]

 

In reply, Jesus set aside both the mountain and Jerusalem and spoke of

Self-realization, the inner Jerusalem, [2] where true devotees of God, having

ascended the sacred mountain of meditation, worship Him in the temple of actual

Spirit-to-soul communion.

 

Ceremonial worship

versus actual

communion with God

 

(p.306) Jesus declared that the mass of religious believers take part in

ceremonies or rituals but never know the Object of their worship. It is those

who have God-consciousness, who commune with God, that can truly speak of

worshiping God. Ceremonial worship--whether it be of diverse images venerated by

different cultures down the ages, or customized prayers, chants, or hymns, or

symbolic rites--without inner communion rarely uplifts the consciousness of the

worshiper beyond vague concepts of Divinity to actual perception of God. This is

why Jesus said, " You know not what you worship. "

 

If a person is deeply sincere and devout, no matter what words are used to

address God or what concept of the Divine informs those words, God will answer.

But most people do not worship with the conviction, born of experience, that God

is real and that He is listening to their prayers; that He is just behind their

thoughts, just behind the words of their prayers; just behind the love with

which they love Him. If they would pray with heart and mind indivisibly

concentrated on that indwelling Presence, they would know the One they worship.

 

The reason that God remains unknown to millions who worship Him in temples and

churches, and in holy cities and places of pilgrimage, is that the physical

instruments of knowledge can apprehend only the products of the Creator;

Divinity Itself is perceived by the supramental faculty of intuition, the soul's

God-given power of knowing truth. When mental restlessness is stilled and the

consciousness is interiorized, in touch with the soul, the God-revealing

intuitive faculty is awakened.

 

The tabernacle of deep meditation, the temple of soul intuition, is where the

devotee is first introduced to God. To one who finds Him within, God is no

longer an unknown mystery concealed by His various material manifestations. Thus

in answer to the woman's inquiry as to the best outer place for worship, Jesus

spoke instead of the difference between the theological priestly conditions of

worship and the saintly way of worshiping God in actual communion with Him " in

spirit and in truth. "

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 18, pg. 303-306

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] The woman was referring to Mount Gerizim, adjacent to the well at Sychar

(Shechem) where she met Jesus. Abraham (Genesis 12:7) and Jacob (Genesis 33:20)

set up altars at Shechem. Joshua 8:33 recounts how on Gerizim God's blessings

were proclaimed on the Israelites, as promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:1-68.

The Samaritans held that Abraham offered up Isaac on Gerizim. Later, the

mountain became especially significant to the Samaritans, for when the Jews who

returned to their homeland after the Babylonian Exile would not accept the help

of the mixed-race Samaritans in the building of the Second Temple of Jerusalem,

the Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which--until its

destruction in 129 B.C.--was the center of their worship even as Jerusalem was

for the Jews.

 

[2] " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my

God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God,

and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down

out of heaven from my God " (Revelation 3:12).