there am I in the midst of them

[Guest guest]

borgengruft, might we address you by name? I read On

May 16, 2005, at 6:26 AM, Ramakrishna : To my remark,

" We are all saints. We are a community of saints. We are the tender

living roots of today. We can help each other by speaking from the

heart. " You commented: " Of course, we have all heard the old saying:

'When one blind man leads another, both fall into the ditch.' "

 

What I was trying to express: Jesus said: " For where two or three are

gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. " Matthew

18:20 Also in the Confessions of St. Augustine: " Ubi caritas et amore,

ibi Deus est. " " Wherever there is charity (meaning: the willingness to

judge people in an accepting or favorable way) and love, there dwells

God. "

 

It is in our Vedantic sense of the Indwelling Spirit, present in all

and in the assurance of Jesus' “there am I” and Augustine's " Wherever

there is charity and love, there dwells God, " that seekers can help

each other. Holy company, the community of saints. Is there anything

unusual about saints? Are we not good people?

 

There is never only " the blind leading the blind, " clever as that

jingle may sound in every day parlance. God does not abandon us if we

seek with sincerity whether we have the good fortune to have a holy

guru or whether we must find our way by trial and error, by hook or by

crook or even for some in spite of a false guru. And yes, it can be

part of the journey to even fall into a ditch. We dare not ever be smug

about falling or self-righteous because of the holiness of our teacher.

A guru alone is no assurance of realization nor is it wrong to teach

each other. We should never doubt that we are surrounded by saints. We

may take comfort in that. We may speak our love to each other. We may

encourage each other. That is all I meant.

 

God speaks to us constantly in even the waving of a leaf on a tree or

the glint of light that shines out to us from every pair of eyes. May

we here as real Vedantins challenge and wrestle for the truth. May we

all be blessed, Tom

[Guest guest]

Dear Tom,

 

RE: " We can help each other by speaking from the

heart. " You commented: " Of course, we have all heard the old saying:

'When one blind man leads another, both fall into the ditch.' "

 

Comment:

 

I was only endeavouring to reply to your initial question:

 

" We seem to quote religious teachings. To what point? "

 

RE: " There is never only " the blind leading the blind, " clever as that

jingle may sound in every day parlance "

 

Comment:

 

That was, of course, a paraphrase from Matthew 15:14, in which Jesus

speaks of the hypocritical Pharisees and scribes: " Let them alone,

they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both

will fall into a pit. "

 

RE: " A guru alone is no assurance of realization nor is it wrong to teach

each other. We should never doubt that we are surrounded by saints. "

 

Comment: Quite so. Sri Ramakrishna had this to say about Gurus:

 

" " Do you know what is my way of thinking? I go about eating and

drinking and the Mother knows all. There are three words that

prick me ­ guru, doer and father.

 

" It is Guru alone who is Sachchidananda. It is only He who will

preach. I for my part feel like a child. You can find lakhs of

men as gurus. Every one wants to be a guru.

Who wants to be a disciple?

 

" Preaching to mankind is very difficult. It is when God manifests and

commissions, only then it is possible. Narada, Sukadeva and some

others had received the commandment. Sankracharya was commissioned by

God.... "

 

Om Tat Sat

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