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Religion is the realization of Spirit as Spirit; not Spirit as
matter.
Religion is a growth. Each one must experience it for oneself. The
Christians believe that Jesus Christ died to save us all. With
Christians it is belief in a doctrine and this belief constitutes their
salvation. In Vedanta, doctrine has nothing whatever to do with
salvation. Each one may believe in whatever doctrine he or she likes, or
in no doctrine at all.
What difference does it make to you whether Jesus Christ lived at a
certain time or not? What has it to do with you that Moses saw God in
the burning bush? The fact that Moses saw God in the burning bush does
not constitute your seeing Him, does it? If it does, then the fact that
Moses ate is enough for you; you ought to stop eating. One is just as
sensible as the other. Records of great spiritual luminaries of the past
do us no good whatever except that they urge us onward to do the same,
to experience religion ourselves. Whatever Christ or Moses or anybody
else did does not help us in the least, except to urge us on.
Every one has a special nature peculiar to oneself, which they must
follow and through which they will find their way to freedom. Your
teacher should be able to tell you what your particular path in nature
is and to put you in it. The teacher should know by your face where you
belong and should be able to indicate it to you. You should never try to
follow another's path, for that is their way, not yours. When your own
path is found, you have nothing more to do than fold your arms and the
tide will carry you to freedom. Therefore when you find your path, never
swerve from it. Your way is the best for you, but that is no proof that
it is the best for others as well.
The truly spiritual see Spirit as Spirit, not as matter. It is
Spirit that makes nature move. Spirit is the reality in nature. Action
is in nature, not in the Spirit. Spirit is always the same, changeless,
eternal. Spirit and matter are in reality the same; but Spirit, as such,
never becomes matter; and matter, as such, never becomes Spirit.
The Spirit never acts. Why should it? It merely is, and that is
sufficient. It is pure existence absolute and has no need for action.
You-as Spirit-are not bound by law. Law belongs to nature. The mind
is in nature and is bound by law. All nature is bound by law, the law of
its own action, and this law can never be broken. If you could break a
law of nature, all nature would come to an end in an instant. There
would be no more nature. Those who attain freedom break the law of
nature, and for them nature fades away and has no more power over them.
All of us will one day break the law for all time, and that will end our
trouble with nature.
Relatively speaking, Governments, societies, etc. are evils. All
societies are based on bad generalization. The moment you form
yourselves into an organization, you begin to hate everybody outside of
that organization. When you join an organization, you are putting bounds
upon yourself, you are limiting your own freedom. The greatest goodness
is the highest freedom. Our aim should be to allow the individual to
move towards this freedom. More of goodness, less of artificial laws.
Such laws are not laws at all. If it were a law, it could not be broken.
The fact that these so-called laws are broken, shows clearly that they
are not "laws." A law is that which cannot be broken.
Whenever you suppress a thought, it is simply pressed down out of
sight, in a coil like a spring, only to spring out again at a moment's
notice, with all the pent-up force resulting from the suppression, and
do in a few moments what it would have done in a much longer period.
Mind is action of its own nature. Mind-activity means creation. The
thought is followed by the word, and the word by the form. All of this
creating will have to stop, both mental and physical, before the mind
can reflect the Spirit. Mind can travel at the highest speed beyond our
imsgination
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