"That you have to be born again ... all these descriptions have come to us from all the great scriptures."
The Paraclete Shri Mataji “That you have to be born again, that you have to be baptized, that you have to become a Pir, that you have to become a Brahmin; all these descriptions have come to us from all the great scriptures. It is very easy to say that we don't believe in God, we don't believe in any Incarnation, we don't believe in Jesus, we don't believe in any religion, we don't believe into anything; is very easy to say. Even it is easy to say that we believe in them, we believe in God, we believe in Christ, we believe in Krishna, Rama, all that. Both things are equally the same.
When you believe in God you believe in the darkness and ignorance, and when you do not believe in Him also you are in ignorance. By believing into you close your eyes, accept the faith and go along with it. Of course it shows that you are conscious of some Power which is beyond. Such people have a great chance. But in the case if you go to these extremes in this kind of faith then you start only believing in Christ, only believing in Muhammad, only believing in Krishna—I mean depending on where you are born. How human beings are so narrow-minded?
If you are born in England either you will be a Catholic, or a Protestant, or maybe one of these witchcraft people. You believe into anything because you are localized in a place; there has been some identifications because your mother believed into something, because your father believed into something, or you paid for it. And this faith can become such a blinding effect on people that you develop absurd types of groups which call themselves as Christians, Hindus, Muslims—whatever you may say—and are extremely, extremely exclusive, blind, and fanatic. Today one of the problems of the times, of the modern times, is fanaticism. Now this fanaticism has been growing. The more people try to get out of this fanaticism, it grows more.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji, Being Born Again
Caxton Hall, London, U.K.—May 12, 1980
"How we think about the Holy Spirit is an important part of the theological thinking of Christians being in relationship with a world of many faiths and peoples. When Christians speak of God as Spirit, we do not speak of "one third" of God, but of the full presence of God. It is not a fraction or a piece of God, but the entirety of God. To speak of God as Spirit conveys the power and mystery of God's universal, active, relational presence. Spirit language is not an abstract about a vague God, elusive and far removed; rather, it is an intimate language, about God's presence within us. Is the Holy Spirit channeled only through Christ, as the "double procession" people would have it? Or is the Holy Spirit truly an expression of God's constantly revealing mystery and freedom? As we explore the Divine, we come to understand that the Divine is vast with many incomprehensible aspects. If this is so, why do we mere mortals believe we have the orthodox or correct way of talking about the Divine? In a multifacted, multidimensional world, how is it possible that Christians have the only way to come to understand God? No, the understanding of the Spirit is present in many cultures and religions. Doesn't this imply that the Spirit is a good converging point to talk about the Divine? Perhaps we can talk in partnership with other religions on a journey to a deeper glimpse of the Divine.” (Kim 2011, 59)
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
Madras, India—Jan. 17, 1994
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