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Who God is

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by
NikolaiI
, 02-22-2009 at 02:50 AM (945 Views)
Whether you know me or not, whether you are a friend or an acquaintance or not, if you're here I am guessing you're interested in reading my blog. Let me say I am not a Christian, Buddhist or Hindu, but these three have strong influences on my belief, Daoism and Judaism coming closely after. I have a strong faith in God, and I wish to speak about Him for a moment. By my life's experiences and knowledge, by picking the minds of all the people I do, by my studies of those religions and by my meditations, I believe I've come to get a true perspective of God and reality. Whether any of you are atheist or theist or pantheist or any other, I am writing to all of you.

The first thing I will say is that God does not change anything immediately. Our lives are the product of our karma, karma simply being cause and effect. Coming to understand God is the goal of human life, since God is our Creator. But in our human life we also have to deal with karma. So we have to develop merit by practicing virtue with meditation and action. This is vital. All of our actions which are not directed toward this only create distractions, as well as producing karmic effects which we must deal with sooner or later.

Now God can be understood through any religious path. Ramana Maharshi for instance taught this. Ramana Maharshi was a self-realized sage, one can study him if one likes. God's character is revealed in moments of revelation; moments when one understands by His grace what one is not otherwise capable of understanding. For instance consider the lines in the Heart of Perfect Wisdom sutra: "It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the Mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken." The knowledge of God exists so we can become free from illusion, free from suffering, so we can become enlightened, and whole.

God is the source of reality. As human beings, we are not satisfied until we are self-realized. We seek for God. Our relationship with God is the correct way to satisfy our desires. When we try to satisfy them by material means it does not work. We are spirit, rather than matter. Trying to squeeze happiness out of matter simply doesn't work. This has been shown and it will continue to be shown forever. So we must understand what we actually are, the spirit, the soul. And the soul has no existence except for being part of God.

Still, God seems distant from us. After all, God is the Supreme, and we are infinitesimal. God is beyond our conceptual understanding, beyond our intellect. And the path to God is an individual's path, one's relationship with God is a private, personal matter, because it is a personal relationship. I have no bearing or interference with anyone's relationship with God, nor would I wish to have, since it's a personal relationship. We are all connected, though, because we're connected to the same God. I am writing this to share what I know is true, which I know only by God's grace. To go back to the beginning of this paragraph, God seems distant from us. Yet He loves us, and is calling every one of us to rekindle our relationship. If we come to God then we do not ever lose this. Also we don't have to give anything up to come to God. But once we love God, once we are completely self-realized in that love, then we do not desire any "wayward desire," as Daoism would call it, which keeps us from God.

What is the nature of God? It's been said that God is infinite, and this is true. We don't know Him with our normal, materialistic, "seeing is believing," conceptual, finite consciousness. William Blake said, "Where pity, love, and mercy dwell, there God is dwelling too." We are finite, fragile, temporary living entities. We can't know God without calling to Him, being pure ourselves, and filling ourselves with faith. Faith can be accessed, internalized, purified, and refined, and only when these have been done can we ever hope to see God. This is where ethical conduct comes in. Ethical conduct and practising virtue and cultivating wisdom are [I]all[/I] essential in ever coming close to understanding God. If we are not perfect, then we are not in harmony with God. Because the elements of practising virtue and cultivating wisdom are so necessary to awakening love, I value so greatly the Buddhist religion. This is why I don't keep myself to one bodily religion.

So we have to practice discipline, ethical conduct, virtue, wisdom, we have to develop these before we can perceive God. We have to have faith before we can have love. But once we have come closer to perfecting ourselves, then we can begin to perceive that God is not separate from us. What I mean is this; we begin by seeking something foreign or external to us. It seems distant. We wish to know what we are, what reality is, and what we came from; our source - God. But once we complete our path we come to realize that our source is within us. God is within us. Our source - that is where we came from!! So this whole process of life, of wondering what the meaning of life is, deciding it is searching for God or one's source, all of that culminates in realizing that we are not separate from our source.

Now, we realize this before anything intellectually. I may say, or you may hear some other educated person say, we aren't separate from our source, and it might seem vaguely plausible. But actually it is true. And it is the understanding this on a visceral level that is the attainment of perception of God. It is only then that we truly perceive God through our spirit, that we truly perceive that we cannot die. Making the connection between ourselves and the source is only the beginning! There must be faith and love on Earth. If what I've said has made sense to you, then please search for yourselves, because you can find this. You can find that we are connected to the Lord. Why do I say this is only the beginning? Because - why should life end in the next 50 years? People say this! Believe me they do. But life on Earth could be paradise. If you do not see it, don't think it isn't there. Just as if you do not see God, you may not think He is there. But if you began the science of self-realization in earnest, you would come eventually to perceive that God is with you.
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Comments

  1. Joreads's Avatar
    This is a really interesting Blog. I enjoyed reading it.
  2. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Thank you Joreads, I very much appreciate your comment, and thank you for reading it.
  3. Virgil's Avatar
    Interesting Nik. Have you ever read the Greco-Roman philosopher Epictetus? There are some similarities, though I'm no expert.
  4. andave_ya's Avatar
    Nik, this was indeed an interesting post. But frankly, I see no need for needless complication. God is all of a prayer away, so as much effort as I am willing to put into it, He'll meet me halfway. As to the world's end, well, even when Jesus came He said it was already the last days. There are signs and prophecies being fulfilled that point to the world's end soon - although it may be fifty years, hundred years, five hundred years, etc. The Bible says that the day will come like a "thief in the night."

    I also don't think ethical conduct is the way to forge a relationship with God (incidentally I'm not saying all this in a concerted effort to change your mind, only to try to understand you better . ) We're supposed to have a relationship with Him - only when we are truly walking with Him can we attain any sort of perfection. Real perfection would come when we're with Him in Heaven.

    I'm sure you know all this already; like I said I'm just curious . By the way I'm sorry things took the turn they did for you in the religious thread I started up .
  5. NikolaiI's Avatar
    Thank you for commenting, Andya. The world's end was just about the least important thing in my blog, though. But since you addressed it, I would say again I don't think the world will end anytime soon. As I said, if we as a human race could establish peace and tolerance, then it would be only the beginning of a millennia-long journey.

    As for complications, I am trying to do the exact opposite of that. I am trying to break away complications, obstalces, karma, and obscurations from our vision. I can see you might think I am complicating things by not choosing Chirstianity. But in my own path, which incorporates knowledge from all parts of the world, in the present and in history; as I make progress things do not become more complicated but clearer. As long as we become closer to God I believe that will be the case.

    I also see it to be very simple. I believe in One God. All things rest in Him, and He is within the heart of all living beings.

    I also don't agree with needless complications. Complications are necessary for living, we have to have material knowledge, and work in the material world. We have to do this to maintain ourselves. But we are not one-sided. Since the technological revolution and the scientific revolution onwards, a greater emphasis has been placed on understanding and controlling the physical universe, to the detriment of our spiritual understanding. It causes an unbalance. So as a society we lost something which is vital to our existence. If we do not re-establish harmony between Heaven and Earth, to put it in Daoist terms, then we are running blindly.

    So as I said I think God-consciousness can be realized through any religion. God is one - truth is one - but different nations and peoples in different times see Him differently, and there is nothing wrong with this. But God is real, and our lives should be oriented towards Him.

    As I said I believe that all rests in Him and He is within the heart of all living beings. Secondly, He is the all-attractive Personality of Godhead, all beings are attracted to Him. He is the reservoir of all pleasure.

    My reason for posting this blog was to simply speak of Him, to share what I've known, and to encourage others. Not to encourage them to accept my ideas, but to simply encourage them. We have glimpses of God, the One, beyond transcendent reality. But they are brief and fleeting and we wonder - how can we get there from here? It actually is relevant to the thread you posted.

    I understand that enlightenment is possible; further, that when one becomes enlightened, one never falters again. Those glimpses of ecstacy or revelation are actually where we came from and where we are headed. The future is very bright. You said you think it is simple and God is not farther away than a prayer, and I agree completely. However, a single prayer is not enough, we have to make our whole life one undivided aspiration for the Divine Grace. It can be immediate, though. As Srila Prabhupada said, if everyone became God-conscious, there would be immediate peace.

    But my idea is based on the idea that what we see in glimpses of revelation is true. Revelation is possible, and in this way we can establish a relationship with God. In this way we get a glimpse of the truth. And then we must realize, the purpose of this life is to come to be God-conscious. Life in the materialistic understanding is backward, opposite of reality. It is based on the idea that we are matter, and not spirit. Actually we are spirit, not matter. Materialistic conception leaves us feeling empty, that emptiness can only be filled with spirit - with knowledge that we are spirit, and with the fullness of that spirit. Materialistic conception leaves us ignorant of what we truly are, and where we come from.

    Finally, and this is an important part of what I have to say... this may seem again like needless complication. But this is what I would like to say; simplicity is necessary. We need to have simplicity in our lives to have some sanity. We need to have ourselves grounded. Whenever we speak, on and on, about something which doesn't matter, this distracts us. All of this non-essential speech should be done away with. In the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism this is fairly strongly emphasized. Only speech about God is encouraged. (It is a little different in Buddhism). Everything which encourages ego, sense gratification, the desire for wealth (greed) all of this is unnecessary and rather harmful speech and thought. Again, we can't serve two masters. This is why I take things from all religions, as well as all people. To learn the most. And it becomes clear for me because I see that we are all part of the same reality, directed by the same One God. I see that we're all connected in God. Christianity has a great verse in the Bible. "Be still, and know that I am God." This is so wonderful and if people would live by this they would make great strides in their spiritual life. Stillness is necessary for understanding God. God is beyond stillness, beyond time, beyond all of these things, so naturally we must be still to know Him.

    So I think we must search for stillness. There is a good book by a Christian minister, Henry Nouwen, called [I]Way of the Heart[/I]. In it he describes this in a lot of detail. I recommend you read it sometime if you're able, I believe you'd find it greatly rewarding.
    Updated 02-23-2009 at 01:49 AM by NikolaiI