Christianity and Yoga - Why they belong together
"The teaching of the Last Judgment and Resurrection is where Christianity and Yoga here agree. Shri Mataji says that at this Last Judgment time, we will judge ourselves by this vibratory awareness. We will be able to then clear and heal ourselves with our connection to the Holy Spirit or Kundalini. She states that our Resurrection at this time is the Connection with our Spirit, and we then enter into the Sahasrara, which is the Kingdom of God. And I see, that you do mention this Kingdom of God in the Sahasrara.”- VioletForum: Holy Scriptures and Religions
Christianity and Yoga - Why they belong together
Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:42 am
CHRISTIANITY & YOGA - WHY THEY BELONG TOGETHER
Rasa Von Werder"GuruRasa"April 21, 2005
Christianity and Yoga - can they be One? Can they, in any way, be
united? What stands them apart, and what makes them the same? Are
they totally different or not? In what way are they different, in
what way similar? Is there anything they both agree on completely?
It all comes down to one word: suffering. The religion of Jesus
has a profound theology on suffering, yoga has not. (When I use the
word Christian and Jesus, I refer mostly to the theology of
Catholicism.) Contemplation belongs to both. Renunciation is the
same. But Suffering is not something yogis recommend, - they seem
to abhor it and teach us how to rise above it. Not that it stops
suffering! The world is full of it!
Life is full of it!
Contemplation is in both. This is the vision of God. Both
religions teach that to find God, we must pray. To yogis it's
Mantra or Japa and chanting. To Christians it's all kinds. There
are litanies, prayers of praise, petition, and thanksgiving,
personal and public prayers. Prayer, including silent prayer, along
with other practices, leads to contemplation, or the vision of
God. For yogis, meditation and mantra, along with other things,
leads to Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Nirvana, and Bliss. Here, Christian
and Yoga are the same.
Renunciation is also the same. You must not have ego. Christians
call it pride and selfishness; the opposite is humility and the
virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. The East calls our ego
the big delusion, where we set apart a world that doesn't exist, a
framework or domain that we create in our minds. We have a fantasy
of who we are, but we are not that. Break that delusion of a
separate self, and ego dissapears. For Christians, it takes a lot
to break us of pride and selfishness. We must be humbled time and
time again before we are humble.
In the area of sin there is a slight difference. The East sees sin
more like darkness and delusion which cause one to stumble and make
mistakes, while Christianity sees sin as deliberate acts. (In fact,
a rule is that if you don't know it's sin, it is not. You have to
understand what you are doing, on some level at least.) The Eastern
way is that we must live again and again to evolve to a place where
our sinful nature dissapears, while the West is we have one chance
at it, and what we do in this lifetime is it. It's either Heaven,
Hell or Purgatory (Protestants don't believe in Purgatory,)
thereafter. At one time, Christians believed in reincarnation, then
they voted against it at one of the councils.
Christians say"We are all sinners.”But yogis don't think that
way. They do not have our heavy burden of"guilt trips.”We are
taught that we all come short of the glory of God, and even the
saintliest of souls had the"devil's advocate"Accuse them before
they were declared fit for veneration. Yogis are supposed to
worship and imitate"living saints," but to Catholics and
Protestants, that is a no-no. With Catholics, you only honor them
when they're dead, to Protestants, never. (Only Jesus, they say.)
They have no registry of saints, and they do not systematically
praise their dead saints.
East and West both believe in Paradise or Heaven, as well as Hell
and demons, and Purgatory. But Hell and Purgatory is different to
yogis, since they believe in reincarnation, and so, it seems to me,
punishment is a temporary place of various degrees, where they
reside until they are born in another body.
I personally believe that Jesus was teaching Yoga when He
ministered. He taught seeing the guru as God, identification with
the guru (guru-bhava) and becoming him, transference of the power
and identity of the guru (initiation and shaktipat) through Holy
Communion, and other types of transmission. He was not a higher
form of Judaism, it was another religion altogether - yoga. (With a
Matriarchal stamp.) He was probably in India during the"lost
years" (twelve to thirty) and there is evidence of that. (Check
Vedanta Press in Hollywood.) Of course, Jewish men had no idea what
He was talking about, and turned Jesus into the One and Only
Incarnation of God - and no one comes to salvation but by Jesus.
Jesus taught and said many things that so-called Christians
misunderstood. But the thing I want to emphasize most here is the
difference - the absolute difference - between yoga and the
understanding on Jesus and suffering as it developed after Our Lord
died.
In our theology of Jesus, suffering plays an important part.
Because of this"dispensation", if you will, we have a sacred place
for suffering, and so, for us, suffering is a part of life that has
great utility and purpose. I like this point of view because I can
use my sufferings as ministry, and help others as well through it.
We suffer anyway - why not put it to good use? When I suffer, in
any way, be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, it all goes
first, to help souls in Purgatory. This is called"reparation for
sin.”I unite myself with my Spouse, Jesus Christ, and receive his
infinite merits, joined to my limited merits. Then the reparation
carries infinite power, and souls are delivered. My suffering
cleanses me and gives me spiritual medals (Lights) which can be seen
upon my soul. The Divine Stigmata is the biggest one. It is seen
as rose Light coming out of the Heart Chakra. The terrible
sufferings caused by love cause the Heart Chakra to dilate, and make
it a giant. The big heart then has something most people do not
have - compassion. Our heart has to be awakened and enlarged before
we can have sensitivity to the pain of others, and truly have
charity for them.
I treasure my sufferings as some of the most important things in my
life, as they unified me with my first guru, Jesus Christ. We say,
to love him, and him CRUCIFIED is the mark of perfection. To love
him crucified, means we, as individuals, are also crucified! How
else could we be ONE with him? There, on the cross of our
unbearable pain, we are helpless, and we absolutely know we are with
him - the one we love. The worship of Jesus' wounds has the most
bittersweet quality. We learn to identify with each and every
wound, from his Crown of Thorns, to his nailed hands and feet, the
secret wound on his shoulder where He carried the wood, the terrible
Stripes which could have killed him, the Agony in the Garden before
his Passion, and last of all, the crem-de-la-crem of all suffering,
Divine Stigmata, which is martyrdom. I have found no teaching like
this in yoga. No theology of suffering, and no praise of
martyrdom. Perhaps it is there, but I have not seen it.
What is there, and extremely powerful, is the thesis of abstraction,
that place where one goes to be alone with God. Here yoga is
profound, (when I say yoga I include Buddhism, because after all, it
came from yoga and India) having points in theology not found in the
same depth and detail for Christians. The Atman being worshipped
frees a person from all outer forms of religions. Here, Christians
admit God is within us fully and completely, yet no one is
encouraged to worship the God within. The Witness Consciousness
also explains, to Eastern practitioners, that bonding with the
Spirit, not the flesh, lets one see things objectively and
truthfully and gives one a great vantage point on life. Equality of
Consciousness - where all things are equal in God's mind - I cannot
find in Christianity. Man is always on top to Christianity, with
animals and others far below, where we humans, as"stewards"have a
wide berth with them. That we are the Spirit, not the body is in
both disciplines. Both Yoga and Buddhism agree that earthly desires
cause suffering, and suffering can and should be stopped.
Christianity believes that desires not of God are suspect, and
pursuing the things of the world and flesh should be put aside for
the Highest: "Only one thing is necessary...” (Magdalene at the
feet of Jesus) and"Put first the Kingdom of God, and all things
shall be added unto you.”And then again," What profit a man if he
gains the whole world, but loses his soul? For what shall he
exchange for his soul?”It is agreed in both that God is first, and
all other things second.
Now to the subject of suffering.
Why are yogis and Buddhist so against it, while Catholicism holds it
sacred, when united with Christ? How could these two great
religions disagree so strongly on a point that affects everyone? In
Catholicism, it is said that a mark of perfection is to be totally
one with the will of God, that whatever happens we must accept, good
or bad. The bad things - even attacks of the devil - God allows for
a reason. So all that happens, all calamities, accidents,
sicknesses, deaths and so on, must be accepted as the will of God.
This is called"uniformity with the will of God.”
Yoga deplores suffering so much, that some yogis laugh at social
work, saying basically, that let people meet their own karma, you
have better things to do. Is this callousness, or are they putting
first the Kingdom of God, who is above the human condition, and
pursuing it? There is an argument on both sides. On the side of
suffering and The Mother Theresa's of the world, there is this:
Without suffering, compassion is not developed. How can you
understand the pain of another if you have not experienced it
yourself? And if you bore distress with love (not with hate) then
it gave you strength and wisdom. There is nothing more terrible
than the person on a cushion, who cares only for his own pleasure.
The one in the gutter is more likely to save another soul.
Which is right? Should we accept suffering or should we strive to
end it and reach Nirvana at all costs? The answer is that both are
right. Here is what I have found:
We humans are composed of two things, humanity and Divinity. Our
humanity is felt, primarily, in the Heart Chakra, or feeling part.
Our Divinity is present mostly in the Sahasrara, the illuminated
mind. When we go off to pray, and abstract ourselves, and fully
receive the vision of God, we are not suffering. In order to have
this vision, in fact, we have to leave behind the things which make
us suffer - all attachments and distractions. It is EXTREMELY
difficult to receive Enlightenment unless one goes off from family,
friends, and all ties. One must be alone with the Alone, for some
time, even if it is, like St. Catherine of Sienna, staying in her
room at home (meals being brought to her) FOR TWO FULL YEARS BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT! After the first great experience of God, one
continues the pursuit, and growth never stops. At this time, you
are above it all. In various states of contemplation, Nirvana,
Samadhi, you are to some degree, abstracted from all the cares of
the world. The world spins around you and evryone is suffering to
various degrees, but you don't feel it. You are FAR AWAY. You are
intimate, cacooned and embraced by God and you want and need for
nothing else. (I've been there, more than once, for months at a
time.) This cannot go on indefinitely. Why? Because, what are we
living for? Only ourselves? Does not God want to save everyone?
After being with God, we must come down from the mountain, in order
to bring this Light and Truth to others.
Now there are two ways of bringing this Light to others. There is
the way some yogis prefer, and that is, to remain abstracted as much
as possible, keeping some sort of a shield around them, be it
physical or emotional, and not letting others get under their skin.
This works for some people. They bring what they have to others but
refuse to get down"Into the dirt and dirty.” They might have a few
in the circle who protect them from the mob, they might work through
writing books. But then there are those who lower themselves to the
needy, in a way that by the nature of the job, requires suffering.
Jesus went to the people - with no curtain or shield - deliberately
seeking out sinners and outcasts - and Jesus LOVED. Is it right to
love? Not just in a supernatural way, but in a human way, so that
ones loves one's family and pets, and friends? And if they suffer,
you suffer? Of course it's right! Jesus loved his Holy Mother,
Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, all his friends and disciples, and every
sinner there ever was. He loved them enough to suffer for them.
Yes, he went to the wilderness to pray and touch base with"Father,"
but He always came back to love and suffer. Eventually, it cost him
his life, paving the way for all martyrs that went after him. You
do not have to be abstracted when you are saving souls. An
anointing works through whatever state you are in as an individual.
The anointing (shaktipat, power, gifts) is given not for your
pleasure, but for the sake of others, and it EVEN WORKS IF YOU FALL
FROM PERFECTION IN YOUR OWN PERSONAL SANCTITY!
In order to be fully developed, the human must taste both worlds.
When you enter samadhi, you must break attachments and be fully
absorbed in God. Later, you must descend into the lower world,
through compassion, and touch others. In my experience, both
disciplines, samadhi and bhakti, (abstraction and love) work one at
a time. If you are abstracted, your love is fully absorbed in God.
When you love others, that love flows horizontally to them, and
then, by the very nature of the act, your mind has to descend - as
mind follows action and focus. (Here again, there are variations.
Your mind does not descend when giving supernatural love, like
shaktipat or faith healing, but it does go lower to give natural
love, that which is given in compassion.) Now the vision of God
can be lost in pain, even the pain of saving souls. Indeed, the
greatest pain I know is fighting to lift souls out of darkness who
resist the love of God. If you want to be fully, absolutely and
perfectly developed, you must let God steer you to one state, then
another, from season to season. In Springtime, your heart grows,
and that means suffering. TO LOVE IS TO SUFFER. Then, in winter,
your mind grows, and that's by perfect contact with God. These work
in symbiosis. The vision of God dilates the heart. Then, charity
being given, opens up the mind. I have experienced time and again
that after forgiveness and charity, I have had revelation.
I might add one more thing. Nobody, not even Buddha or Ramakrishna,
could stay in a trance all the time. Reading Ramakrishna's life I
noted that he suffered agonies. Once he was going to kill himself
if God didn't reveal Herself to him. Another time, he was going mad
with desire to see the tarrying Vivekananda. Bhagwan Nityananda got
so angry at devotees, he used to beat them. If you look at all the
lives of the yogis, you have to read between the lines. Their
legends have made them seem above human life. I believe these
legends give a false impression, that their humanity was asleep.
These saints, Avatars and Incarnations of God, suffered. They had
people they loved. They grieved, they toiled, they cried. They
were not spirits or angels, they were flesh. Flesh feels, and
therefore, it suffers. For us to think that in order to imitate,
say, the Krishnas, the Chaitanyas, the Nityanandas that we must be
fully in samadhi all the time is a mistake. No, indeed, I tell you,
life is composed of two things. Yes, we try to stay on the upper
levels WHENEVER POSSIBLE. It is possible for short lengths of time -
for days, weeks or months. Years? I don't think so. You see, this
is not Heaven. In Heaven, all sufferings end, but not here. You
can reach Nirvana, but world comes back, feelings come back. Then
you must work with these feelings to grow a great soul's heart; at
the core, forgiveness, mercy and love. To live, to have association
with others, means suffering.
Here I have explained the two disciplines I practice, East and
West. I am closer to Jesus when I suffer, but when I must escape
pain, yoga is my best friend. That is why, to me, both religions
merge. I have incorporated into myself the principles of both.
Rasa Von Werder April 21, 2005"GuruRasa"
Christianity & Yoga: Why They Belong Together
Violet: Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:24 pm
Dear Rasa Von Werder,
All the religions that mankind has are like branches of a tree. This tree is, the Tree of Life. Therefore all the religions belong together. The incarnation or prophet of each religion first revealed the teaching or mystical truths that later were formed into a religion following that teacher, messiah or prophet. Each person, namely Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and others revealed a part of the God nature to mankind and gave instructions and lived a life of holiness and devotion, giving mankind an example to follow. All of these enlightened beings actually agreed with each other, although their subsequent followers made artificial doctrines for individuals to follow and these doctrinal differences have succeeded in pitting Christian against Christian, Jew against Christian, Hindus against Muslims and so forth. I see it as spiritual blindness that exists and needs to be overcome. Religion seems to separate people rather than unite them and I think you have stated this very thing, however it was not the fault of the incarnation who only came to enlighten; it was the blindness of people causing the stumbling block. Usually it is those trying to organize any religion, that first try to water it down and package it for consumption of the average person, making rules and regulations, dogmas, and doctrines and in the meantime also getting control and money out of it. The mass of the people have needed these rules and regulations to make them feel safe and these religions have been able to give individuals in their various stages of ascent, a place to feel safe and secure and to grow spiritually. Not all of these individuals have been striving to reach sainthood; some are just plodders wanting to associate with spirituality. Being in the fold, so to speak is better than being out of it. Individuals evolve at their own pace and this is where an organized religion is helpful. However, religion is not always helpful, when it also wants to limit and restrict the mystical. They go hand in hand. The Book and the Experience. Knowledge alone does not save. The application of the knowledge and resulting experience does. Often pastors, leaders, imams, popes, mullahs, and so forth are so busy guiding others that they themselves fail to have the time to go within themselves. However you have those Seekers, who bring back fresh expressions of their Inward Journey to give back to others. These are the true Christians, the true Muslims, the true Jews, the true Hindus, and the true Sikhs; the ones that follow the teachings and go within to experience them truly and bring back to others these jewels. We are not here to judge others but to judge ourselves at this Last Judgment and Resurrection time. Jesus said that in the Kingdom of God, the first will be last, and the last will be first. Very Profound! And True, if you think of it!
However, now it seems, there is a spiritual revolution going on in which those who are insightful realize that regardless of the outer boundaries that may restrict religions from interacting; essentially the teachings agree with each other. I personally, do not choose to concentrate on differences but try to unite these religions on the basis of similarities, because essentially the original teachings all complemented and agreed with each other. There may be slight differences in cultural and outward appearances but all lead man to the God within.
I was brought up as a Fundamentalist Christian and yet was a seeker within this outer framework. Not all churchgoers are seekers. Some just go because it is fashionable or traditional. I used to study the Bible and read the words....”Seek Me and you will find Me, knock and the door will be opened, for whoever seeks will find and to whomever knocks, the door will be opened.”Now I felt the Presence within my heart speaking to me, which I was told in Christianity was the Jesus within. I eventually realized that there was a motherly voice within telling me of Her love for me and it was so wonderful; this communion with Her and assuring me of Her guidance. She was revealed to me as the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of Christianity, the One that Jesus prophesied would come and lead us and guide us.
Since having been drawn to Sahaja Yoga by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, I have come to have more precise knowledge of the Divine Feminine within and to realize Her, the Divine Eternal Mother within. Shri Mataji has given the knowledge of Sahaja Yoga to us. She states that when we are just a fetus in our mother's womb, that the Kundalini (which is a form of our Divine Mother) accompanies our spirit when we first enter our body. We enter through the fontanelle bone in our head and our spirit is settled into the heart while the Divine Mother in the form of the kundalini energy settles down into the sacred area of the body known as the Sacrum Bone. The Greeks called it"sacrum", meaning"sacred.” They must have known the significance.
So this is how much the Divine Mother actually cares for us. In the same way that our physical mother gives birth to our body, our Spiritual Mother gives birth to our Spirit. In Christianity, She is called the Holy Spirit or Comforter. There is the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit in Christianity, as the three are called. Shri Mataji tells us that how can you have a father, and a son, without The Mother. Can you? Where there is a son there is always a mother, right? It is just logical and absolutely absurd that there should not be a mother. Anyway, that was the work of patriarchal teachings.... they did not give The Mother her rightful place. So it really is...God the Father, God The Mother and God the Son. That sounds right, now, does it not? That is where Christianity needs to open their eyes and start to include The Mother. Right there in their teaching of the Trinity.
The Holy Spirit or Kundalini are two words for the same thing. She is called the"Ruh"In Islam and the"Adi Shakti"by Hindus, the"Maitreya"by Buddhists, the"Eykaa Mayee"by Sikhs and of course the"Comforter"Also, by Christians as well as the"Holy Spirit"And"Holy Ghost.” Whatever may be the name, She is the Feminine Divine Principle - The Mother.
At this time, however, the Kundalini or Holy Spirit has a special work to do among all people of all religions. She wants to give all those who want it, their second birth as prophesied in all religions. This Kundalini energy lies dormant in our sacrum bone. This Divine Mother of all religions is in a dormant sleeping state, awaiting our desire for Her to be awakened within us, because this is the"blossom time"; the time when humanity must awaken to realize that we are all one in the Spirit, regardless of our outer religious culture that we come from. We can ask Her to awaken within us and She will. We need to awaken and this need is built within us at this time to do so.
This second birth, the real Baptism of the Holy Spirit, results in human beings being connected with their Spirit and is also known as Self-Realization. Deep seekers in the past experienced this, like Catherine of Sienna as you mentioned. However, a lot of penances needed to be done previously to reach this stage as you have mentioned. However, with the Advent of Shri Mataji, that has changed everything. Shri Mataji has worked out the permutations and combinations of human beings and found a way to give people their connection to their spirit first, which you will actually feel as a Cool Breeze of the Holy Ghost around your body, fingertips, hands and at the top of the head. No other incarnation has been able to give en-masse Self-Realization in the past. Very few people, also, got it in the past. Even today, Shri Mataji is the only one able to do so. Although, those that have received their self-realization can now pass it on to others. It is similar to when a candle is lit; you can light many other candles with that one candle. Shri Mataji has changed the age-old way of having to suffer and do penances etc. first and then achieve the ultimate connection. Now, She has come to give us the boon of our Connection to our Spirit first; then we can work it out and clear our spiritual bodies and attune ourselves. I have done both, the Christian suffering and penances etc. and then received my Connection through Shri Mataji and the second way is much easier. With this connection, you get the power and balance to stay connected and that is why Shri Mataji has come to save us all from ourselves.
I can identify with what you say, Rasa, as I too was brought up as a Christian and being a deep seeker also felt close communion that way. However, constant identification with this suffering can cause a lot of stress on the sympathetic nervous system. Shri Mataji is telling us that Christ has done all the suffering for us and She does not want us to suffer anymore. The suffering bit is to be finished. That does not mean that we do not suffer in our daily lives....in ordinary ways that all humans experience life, of course. However, I have found that with the connection and balance in Sahaja Yoga," Sahaja"meaning"spontaneous"And"Yoga"meaning"union"of the Divine, that we can rise above suffering and can look upon it in the"Witness state"As you mention as well. This connection can be compared to when you first get electricity into a new house. The electrical current does not flow until the wiring is connected into the mains. In a similar fashion, this is the case with one's Self-Realization as experienced in Sahaja Yoga. It is a REAL experience; you can feel the Cool Breeze around you or on your hands or on your head. The connection is real and this is what all the saints who got their self-realization in the past spoke about.
Christians are also taught to rise above all these things but it is only with the connection I received in Sahaja Yoga given by Shri Mataji, that I was actually regularly able to be in a balance. These techniques are taught in the Sahaja Yoga Centres and are a good idea to learn, no matter what religious background you come from. It does not mean you have to stick to the organization of Sahaja Yoga because Sahaja Yoga is not a religion, and Shri Mataji has not wanted to make it into a religion because all the subsequent organizers of the religions in the past have cemented the truth in such a way that they have restricted their adherents, as we see has happened very clearly in all religions today.
What you can do, however, is learn and incorporate the experience in your life and transform the Christian religion to one that accepts all the saints and all the enlightened prophets and eventually all the religions will agree with each other, if we all do our part. Sahaja Yoga on the outside looks like a Hindu Yoga, you could say because Shri Mataji comes from India, but if you study the teachings of Shri Mataji, you will find that there is much more in Her teachings than yoga only and She now wants Sahaja Yoga to be Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. In fact, Shri Mataji at a certain point said we are no longer Sahaja Yoga, but Vishwa Nirmala Dharma. That mean Universal Immaculate Religion, which I believe, is a new stage where She is incorporating all religions to be a part of Sahaja Yoga, which means that She wants all religions to be transformed to include the spontaneous union of the Divine, which is what"Sahaja Yoga"means as mentioned earlier, that"Sahaja"means"spontaneous"And"Yoga"means"union.”
Shri Mataji came on this earth to continue Jesus's teaching of the Last Judgment and Resurrection and speaks, like Jesus did, to people of all religions. Jesus also started new practices when He was alive.... for example, he stopped the Jewish use among his close followers of the sacrificing of the lamb for the Paschal Feast, but started the new practice of partaking of the bread and wine, saying this is my body, this is my blood and then the lamb would not be killed anymore. It was a revolution from the Jewish to Christ's enlightened way, of not killing animals as a sacrifice, which came from an earlier way of doing things.
I repeat that Shri Mataji has continued the teaching of Jesus, about the Last Judgment and Resurrection. She has come to fulfill what Jesus said would be the Comforter coming to teach us all things... That is Shri Mataji in person. So it is important that Christians and others find out about these teachings and incorporate them in their lives. This connection that we receive actually results in sensations in our hands, whereby we can decode where we need to heal ourselves and the Kundalini with our attention does the healing for us. It was prophesied in Islam"our hands will speak.” This is the vibratory awareness that we feel through our connection with our Spirit and you can receive the connection and feel that if you go to any Sahaja Yogi or any Sahaja Yoga centre that teaches this.
The teaching of the Last Judgment and Resurrection is where Christianity and Yoga here agree. Shri Mataji says that at this Last Judgment time, we will judge ourselves by this vibratory awareness. We will be able to then clear and heal ourselves with our connection to the Holy Spirit or Kundalini. She states that our Resurrection at this time is the Connection with our Spirit, and we then enter into the Sahasrara, which is the Kingdom of God. And I see, that you do mention this Kingdom of God in the Sahasrara.
Guilt is a thing that is too prevalent in Christianity. Shri Mataji gives us an affirmation that goes like this...”As I am the spirit, I am not guilty.”We also are the temple of the Holy Spirit and when we are feeling guilty the Deity within is hurt. Of course, if we do something wrong, we will feel a natural guilt. And we will realize our mistake and we forgive ourselves and let it go and seeing this as a mistake is much more realistic than as a sin. Sin sounds so condemning as of punishment by religious authority whereas if we see it as a mistake we do not become so involved in it and can correct ourselves. Guilt does affect our connection with the Divine because it affects one of the chakras and this chakra has to do with communication with the Divine and with others. The Divine does not want us to feel guilty for every little thing, which is very much a conditioning within Christianity. However, there are still the 10 Commandments or Dharma built within us and with the connection of our Spirit, these qualities of Innocence, Wisdom, Chastity, Loyalty, Patience, and so forth manifest automatically. That does not mean that we have to be abstaining from normal husband/wife relationships which are balanced, but it does mean that automatically as we become the Spirit these problems of sexual liberation/obsessions, excess Puritanism or fanaticism, just go away.
Referring to the above and perhaps repeating this, as it is important, as far as personal purity is concerned, when a person is seeking God and connected, they will automatically want to do the right thing. Relationships are important and need to be chaste. One of the Shri Ganesha qualities of the Mooladhara Chakra is pure brother and sister relationships. Sex is nothing to do with spirituality that is why the kundalini is at the sacrum bone, above the sexual functioning. Yet sex, is not meant to be puritanical or obsessive but a natural human functioning that does not bother a person, unnecessarily. It is just a part of life, but not to be emphasized out of all proportions as it is especially in the Western Society. Abstinence is not advocated but more a matter of choice. That is where the Catholic Church has become in crisis. We still come from the human nature. There is a balance in all things. That is why there is the Marriage of Man and Wife, and a balanced relationship in all ways. Adultery and all that was not condoned by Jesus, neither did He condemn her as did the Pharisees, because Jesus saw that she was lonely and alone. However, when the connection is there all these things come into balance.
The knowledge that Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has given needs to be incorporated into all religions and then they will all complement each other and all agree in spirit and not be cut off from each other. Shri Mataji says that what has happened, is that each religion has taken one branch of the tree and claimed it as their own exclusively. However, She says that because they take the one branch and off they go with it, they lose their connection with the whole Tree of Life. The branch has to remain on the tree, or it will die. In similar meaning, we need to take the teachings of the incarnations and prophets, and messiahs of all relgions and read and understand them to get the full picture. It may surprise you to know that the Jesus of Christianity is actually the reincarnation of Shri Ganesha of the Hindus. There are many other such examples. This is why it is important to know them all. We then as a human race can come together to a new Advent, a new Golden Age, where will reign peace, goodwill, commerce, and interaction on a global scale unknown before, where all the religions will have connection again with each other and complement one another. It is predicted that there will eventually emerge a unified One Religion where people will accept each other in brotherhood and sisterhood and will help and support each other as brothers and sisters would. This change will come over generations where the teachings of Shri Mataji, The Mother, the Comforter, will gradually transform the outlook of all religions as they stand today.
The only thing, I can suggest to you Rasa Von Werder, is to also get the knowledge that Shri Mataji has given and incorporate it into your life and teachings. Your understanding of the connection of religion and the experience of Yoga or Union with the Divine will be greatly enhanced and you will not regret it. It is a personal journey, of course and everyone takes it on their own. The Divine Mother is within to be sought, not on the outside. Religion can lead you there, but only the individual can seek and find Her. She is waiting for you, as you know.
You are very fond of Mother Mary. Shri Mataji in Sahaja Yoga is known as an incarnation of The Mother Mary and so you have been drawn here to this website. We adore Her. I would encourage you to take some time and read the section entitled Her Love Reflected (Forum for Personal Accounts of People Who Have Met Shri Mataji) and see if you do not recognize our Divine Mother Mary in it.
All my Christian and Sahaja Love to you,
Violet
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