Now if that all makes Perfect Sense then We are not writing this article for You because you already understand the Truth. However since we are writing this article for the benefit of the mortal population of our community, we must assume that further explanation is necessary.
First let us start with the first part of our question: What is Relationship with God??? We have already answered that question by saying it is the path of Self-realization, so let's start there. In order to explain this simple phrase all we have to do is explain everything you need to know about the Bible. That should be easy enough because it is the Simplicity of the Gospel...
The Bible is composed of Two Parts; the old and the New Covenants. Under the old covenant you are required to relate to God as a mortal required to die. Under the New Covenant you are required to relate to God on His level in Perfect Union and therefore LIVE. How simple is that?
Now in order to relate to God we must assume that you consider yourself mortal and must do so under the old covenant. Might we advise you to "Accept Christ" at this point and consider the subject finished?
How does one have a relationship with God? Seems like we just answered that question as well. First we said that one must relate to God in deception, and then we said that New Covenant Union with God is the Truth. Is anyone beginning to see a pattern forming here? So what does that mean where the rubber meets the road?
It means that the only reason you continue to be mortal is because you are relating to God under the old covenant even if you are doing it in Jesus' name. Here's a clue; the reason it is called Old Covenant is because it was OVER 2,000 years ago and is now obsolete. Actually it became obsolete even before the Apostle Paul said so in his letters and is still True for us today as well. Of course it is only made obsolete in the Light of New Covenant, so before we blow off half of the Bible by disposing of the old, perhaps we should examine the New.
If you have been paying attention thus far you should already know where we are going with this. Union with God is how the New Covenant works. If you have been united with God by the Blood of Jesus, there is no room for relationship because all is one. If the Blood of Jesus is absolute and your ideas about the old covenant are not, which would you bet the salvation of your Soul upon? Just a rhetorical question really.
So if relationship with God is a deception enforced upon mortals by old covenant law, is it really necessary? Obviously if you are to continue as a mortal it is not only necessary but critical that you remain deceived. However, if you desire to know the Truth then just as obviously escape from deception is necessary, which means that relationship is not.
So then it would seem that the necessity for relationship with God would depend on your commitment to mortality, which we view as nothing more than ignorance of the Gospel. If you honestly examine the choice between Absolute Fulfillment or eternal damnation, is there really a choice? Eternal damnation by default is one thing, but to see the options and then reject Absolute Fulfillment in favor of damnation is insanity of the highest caliber.
This might be where we say we have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is now that you have been shown the options, to remain mortal is the insanity spoken of earlier. The GOOD News is that you can NOW Choose Absolute Fulfillment because now you know it is an option. Of course, once again that means you will have to let the old covenant be obsolete and realize that We are Living in an AD World!!!
So just relate to God in whatever way works for your mortal soul and then when you decide that Life is better than death, just accept Christ and welcome to the Real World.
We use words to translate the split-second images in our minds into describing our experiences for others.
William Shakespeare invented 25,000 words, which are now part of our regular vocabulary, thus broadening our abilities to perceive our world in a unique and much broader way.
For the most part, language has been used as a means of communication between people.
However, it has also been used as a way to converse with God, or the great mystery of causation and origination, the pervasive pure consciousness that informs all experiences.
In some cultures, certain words, like those Sanskrit words used in the Ancient India, were used to connect a person with ultimate reality. This unique language appears in the earliest Upanishads (7th-8th century b.c.e.). But exactly how and when it evolved by the seers of that time remains a mystery.
These sacred words were called mantras and sutras.
A mantra is a sound that does not mean anything but which helps you transcend the limitations of thought and move to a state of ascending awareness. An example is "Om" which is used to represent the sound of creation, the primeval vibration that is believed to have created all the other vibratory phenomena we call a universe. By sitting still and repeating this word with full attention, you transcend the limitations of the senses, the limitations of your identifications, and the limitations of your sequential thought processes. You attain stillness, poise, and equanimity over time because the word comes to inform your awareness.
A sutra is a sound as well, but it is also a word; it is something that has meaning. The word "sutra" itself means a stitch; it stitches the finite being with its infinite capacity. The word "suture" that is used in English to describe a stitch by a surgeon comes from this word.
Sutras abound in Sanskrit, and in fact the entire language of Sanskrit can be said to have been invented as a way for a person to communicate with the divine. It is even believed that saying the word has an impact on the chakras, energy vortexes in the each of the subtle bodies, and the nadis, the subtle nerves. Their purpose is to conduct prana or vital force through the subtle bodies.
Many cryptic traditions refer to a number of discrete planes of existence, each with its own parallel "vehicle" of consciousness. Instead of a single physical body housing the soul, we have a series of "bodies" or "vehicles of consciousness". All these planes and bodies are connected by a pervasive consciousness.
Thus by using a sacred language, we not only connect with divinity, but with our own subtle powers that exist in an invisible way.
Here are a few examples of sutras.
Tat Tvam Asi (that tvam AH-see) which means "I am that." That, of course, refers to our spiritual essence.
Aham Brahmasmi (a-HUM-brah-MAHS-mee) which means "the core of my being is the ultimate reality and the source of all that exists."
Namaste (nah-mah-STAY) which means "my divine nature acknowledges the divine in you."
Sutras, however, are not merely brief statements. They can also be woven into complete dialogues that invoke the potentiality of the non-local mind.
The most famous is the Gayatri Mantra:
Om Bhoor Bhuwah Swaha, Tat Savitur Varenyam, Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yo Naha Prachodayat.
A rough translation might be: "Oh God! Thou art the giver of life, remover of pain and sorrow. The bestower of happiness. Oh! Creator of the universe, may we receive they supreme light. May thou guide our intellect in the right direction."
The purpose of this invocation is to make the devotee more intelligent, more capable of insight, ingenuity and inspiration. This wisdom will then create a life of balance and harmony, truth and meaning, purpose and fulfillment, and ultimately a life of transcendental joy.
This mantra is said to be so potent that some people consider it their only form of devotion. There are numerous anecdotal reports of people who have miraculously resolved complex situation by using this mantra. They range from resolution of court cases, relief from debt, and escape from life-threatening circumstances, ranging from potential violence to a critical illness.
Over eons, the concept of God has changed to represent the idea of a physical being of sorts, but in the time the language of Sanskrit was evolving to connect with God, divinity was considered more along the lines of Baruch Spinoza, as an intelligence that informed all of creation, an abstract, energetic, and effortless organizing principle.
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), a Dutch philosopher, was considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. He created a sharp separation from the medieval approach, especially scholasticism, which considered God as a being that was separate and distinct from its creation, an authoratative figure, not unlike the Grecian God, Zeus, or the Nordic God, Odin, that demanded a survile obedience that reflected the relationship between a Medeval lord and his serf.
Today Quantum Mechanics finds that the entire universe is intimately inter-related at a subatomic level. This leads to the speculation that the idea of separation itself may be the ultimate illusion.
Everything may, in fact, be stitched together by consciousness, what has been referred to as "the nonlocal mind." Thus, through the use of the sacred language, the spiritual aspirant hoped to suture the relationship between individual, conditioned consciousness with universal, pure consciousness, to suture the linear with the synchronistic, and to suture the time-bound and limited with the timeless and infinite. He sought to find the rhythm in the universe that would bless his life with a stream of well-being, and that would heal the schism of separation and seal the wound of fear with the balm of love.
The ultimate purpose of sentience appears to be to embrace the mystery, and for this it has evolved beings capable of creating sounds to penetrate the veils of existence in an attempt to suture the visible and the invisible worlds, the realm of effort with the effortless experience, the algorithmic with the non-algorithmic, and the conscious with the supra-conscious.
Language has been used to connect us with each other, to share our experience with one another, but once upon a time, in a world now almost completely forgotten, language was used to try to connect all the worlds together and to experience the bliss of transcendental harmony.
Both B Weiser & Saleem Rana are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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