Harry Terhanian.com

We can consider that there are two categories of education: career education and self realization.

Career education is important for earning a living and acting responsibly as a member of society.

Self realization is important to understand the purpose of life so as not to waste time on useless endeavor. Such understanding will also give one the ability to achieve real love and peace in life. Knowledge of self and one’s real position in the universe will free one from acting ignorantly and becoming more and more entangled by the laws of action and reaction in this world. Ignorance of self and ignorance of self knowledge leads to the perpetration of violence to oneself and others. A life in which unnecessary violence is avoided should be the standard for society.

Nonviolence is not a religious principle, but it is an important quality for those seeking self realization. It is common sense
spirituality because one is advised to do no harm to any other animal or living being because such harmful actions are equally harmful to one who does the harm.

The preliminary steps to nonviolence require one to understand and practice humility and be free of false pride. Humility means one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others. One who is self realized does not identify himself with the material body. Therefore, honor or dishonor pertaining to this material body is not of any importance. It is a material deception for which one should not hanker. One becomes proud by accumulation of wealth and prestige.

If one dedicates his wealth and life energy to the service of God and humanity without seeking to be honored for such meritorious actions, then he may be said to be without false pride. Offering service for the satisfaction of God and humanity without expectation of profit or honor is the hallmark of a humble person.

Unless one is humble and without false pride, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. Beside not causing physical harm to others, the more complete concept of nonviolence is not to put others into distress. People are trapped by ignorance in the material concept of life. They suffer material pangs perpetually. Distributing real knowledge to people so that they may become enlightened and free themselves from material entanglement is real nonviolence.

When one adjusts his life to become nonviolent, one needs to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. This is gradually achieved by learning to not neglect anyone and give proper respect to everyone especially to genuine teachers and spiritual mentors. This helps one train the senses and the mind for controlled action and frees one from unnecessary material attachments.

The culture of respect develops from basic spiritual knowledge that is a result of honest self inspection. A quick summary of this process of self inspection which leads to the culture of respect follows.

Step 1: Establishing an absolute certainty that one exists as a unique individual is the foundation for self knowledge. Descartes attempted to do this when he eliminated everything in his existence of which he was not sure. He arrived at the conclusion “I think, therefore I am.” This is the perception of self identification or the positive feeling that “I exist.”

Step 2: Existence as a thinking and perceiving individual indicates that there is a difference between the perceiver (or the seer) and the perceived (the seen). For example, one sees his hand, leg and in general his body. He is the seer and his body is the seen. There is, therefore, a difference between the seer and the seen.

Step 3: The instruments of seeing, the objects of seeing and the process of seeing are all provided to the seer by nature. One who sees things beyond himself by ordinary vision has no power to see or move independently. All our ordinary actions and perceptions depend on various forms of energy supplied by nature by different combinations.

The five objects of the senses (of perception) are

1. smell

2. taste

3. form

4. touch

5. sound

The five senses of action or working senses are:

1. hands

2. legs

3. speech (voice)

4. evacuation organs

5. reproductive organs

The information gathering senses are:

1. Eyes

2. ears

3. nose

4. tongue

5. skin

The mind is the eleventh sense. Above the mind is the intelligence and the ego. The mind functions as the sixth sense in two ways: it receives information from the other senses and stores it in the memory. The intelligence is superior to the mind because it has the power to differentiate and make judgments like “this is good but that is bad.” The attribution of value and discernment makes the intelligence superior to the mind.

The above are provided to us by various arrangements of gross and subtle forms of natural energy.

The objects of perception of the senses are also products of the natural energy. The senses of perception and the objects of the senses are all provided to us. The individual does not have independent power of perception or motion. The seer is thus dependent on the arrangement of nature to see and perceive. The instruments of seeing, the objects of seeing and the process of seeing are all provided to the seer by nature

Step 4: Our power of seeing or perception is limited. The senses are limited by four inherent shortcomings, which are:

1. We make mistakes

2. We are easily put into illusion

3. Our senses are imperfect (I cannot see around corners or through walls, etc.)

4. We have a tendency to cheat

We can conclude that we are conditioned by nature’s energy. We are dependent and limited

Step 5: The seer is fundamentally different than the seen by virtue of the fact that the seer feels dissatisfaction due to the limitations of conditioned material existence. For example, a golfer hits the golf ball toward the hole. The ball misses the hole and the golfer becomes dissatisfied. Does the golf ball express dissatisfaction? No! There is a fundamental difference between the golf ball and the golfer. The golfer is a conscious being and the gold ball is made of matter but lacks consciousness. The golfer’s body is also made of matter like the golf ball. But the golfer’s body has consciousness in it and the golf ball does not. The consciousness of the golfer expressed by his dissatisfaction indicates that consciousness is not a material substance like a golf ball or a material body. Consciousness is not a product of any material combination.

Some scientists argue that matter develops the power to see and move as part of a certain organic development. Such an argument is not plausible or scientific because there is no evidence that matter has at any time produced a living and conscious being. There is no evidence that matter can randomly order itself to the point of creating a conscious living being with all the complex structural and intricate processes inherent in consciousness. Idle talks about the future development of matter into a conscious moving living entity is deceptive because there has never been any proof that matter has developed either consciousness or the power of seeing or moving in any part of the world.

By use of the discerning power of intelligence we can understand that matter and consciousness are different and that consciousness is not a result of material combination.

Step 6: Something cannot be animate without an intelligent person behind it. Intelligence gives direction like a higher authority. A living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the use of intelligence. Everyone is dependent their own intelligence or that of a superior being. An example may help to understand this crucial point.

A person buys a toy train set and constructs it. When ready, he takes control of the remote control and begins to direct the train. The train moves according to the will of the driver along a predetermined trajectory along the tracts. Sometimes the train goes forward and sometimes backward, sometimes it stops all by the will of the driver. Although a material construct, the train never moves by its own will. It did not construct itself. It was conceived and built by a superior intelligence (to matter) and it is moving by a superior intelligence (its driver).

Intelligence is all- pervading in human civilization and in nature. An intelligent man can understand by honest examination of himself that just as his will is driving his body’s movements or that of the toy train set so there is a superior will and intelligence driving the entire universe.

Every being has his intelligence. If one fails to take advantage of such intelligence he becomes a deranged person. For example, a person drives his car down the street. The street and all the arrangements such as red light, stop signs, speeding limit sign and all the rules for safe driving are made by the government. The driver uses his intelligence to follow the form intelligence of the government agents who have established the rules and the thoroughfares for driving. The government has also established rules for the vehicles used for driving. The car manufacturers must use their intelligence to build cars that comply with the rules made by the government. If a person follows the rules made by “superior intelligence” of the government people, he may drive according to his limited range of free will. If he does not follow the rules, he will be punished and is considered either less intelligent or in more chronic cases of disobedience, a deranged person.

Every person uses his intelligence to follow the direction of a higher intelligent authority. The higher intelligent authority is like a father giving direction to his child. There are many layers of intelligent authorities and the highest authority is the Supreme Person or God. In any organization there are many layers of authorities and there is a final authority or the ultimate director. For example, in any city there is a layered hierarchy of authorities such as the mayor, his advisers, the different departments like the police, fire, sanitation, transportation, health, education, welfare, etc. There may be several thousand people necessary beginning from the mayor to manage a city. An intelligent person can understand that in the universe there are also many layers of intelligent authorities to manage the universal affairs and an ultimate intelligent authority who directs all the other intelligent persons.

A question may be asked at this point. We understand that all our perceptions and activities are conditioned by arrangements of material nature. Yet, we feel and say, “I am perceiving” or “I am doing.” We can conclude that the body is like a vehicle that an intelligent person drives. When we sit in the car (or the body made of senses of perception and movement) we identify with it, “This is my car or my body.” This car (or body) is ultimately guided by a superior intelligence that guides and supplies us (gasoline or food) according to our desires. As I drive my car I must continually make decisions either to follow the rules of the superior intelligence or not to follow.

If I follow the superior intelligence, then I consistently understand that the vehicle (or my body) is actually not really under my control or ownership. I have been given the use of it as a privilege. A driver’s license is a regulated privilege given by the government to permit me to drive. I am not completely independent. I must comply with the rules established by the government or my right to drive will be revoked and my license and my car can be seized. Therefore, at any one time, I must decide either to follow the direction of the superior intelligence or reject to follow. My exercise of free will is limited to these two choices. If I follow, I have freedom. If I do not follow, my free will is gradually curtailed.

Our limited freedom of choice can be exercised on the basis of a misconception that I am the ultimate controller and enjoyer in this universe. This erroneous conception will lead us into an unending cycle of suffering because we will consistently violate the rules established by superior intelligence. By recognition that the superior intelligence is actually our friend and guide, we can dovetail our intelligence with the superior intelligence for maximum benefit in this life.

The honest self inspection and use of common sense leads to the conclusion that there are three distinct factors in life: matter, individual consciousness of the dependent living being, and the supreme consciousness of the ultimate authority in the universe. This six step common sense approach is the beginning of self knowledge.

With the development of self knowledge comes respect for the superior intelligence and exercise of attentive caution in all activities. One becomes very careful not to offend or violate the laws of nature and the rights of others to achieve self knowledge. Knowledge leads to caution and prudence in the exercise of our limited free will and the respect of others. With the advent of such knowledge one refrains from committing unnecessary violence and lives in harmony with the laws of nature.

The beginning of knowledge is becoming free of false pride. The delusion of pride is due to being puffed up by thinking oneself the owner and controller of material nature. It is impossible for one deluded by false pride to accept to be the servant of God Almighty. Through spiritual education one learns that he is not the lord of material nature. Only God the Supreme Person
is the Lord of everything.

Once free from delusion caused by false pride, one can begin the process of acquiescence to the will of God. But, as said above,
for one expecting some honor in this world, it is not possible to surrender to the Supreme God. False pride is due to illusion.
We come here for a short time, perhaps 60 to 80 years. Then we are forced to die. Yet, we maintain the foolish notion that we are lord of this world. This deluded state of mind makes all things complicated and causes us trouble all the time.

People claim the land, this whole earth belongs to human beings. They divide the land assuming falsely that they are the proprietors. One must discard this false notion that human beings or certain groups are the proprietor of this world.

Once free of this flawed notion one can disentangle oneself from false social and national attachments based on the bodily identification. These false bonds bind one to this material world birth after birth. Then and only then can one begin to cultivate spiritual knowledge. Such knowledge reveals what is actually the true nature of proprietorship, which is that everything belongs to God the Supreme. Understanding this plain truth, one becomes free from all dual conceptions of happiness and distress, pleasure and pain, and all the confusing dualities of material life. With such knowledge, one is able to surrender to the will of God and free oneself from the cycle of repeated birth and death in this material world.

We can control an airplane but can we control our own mind? The technological advancement of knowledge has given us many material conveniences. Yet, we are still plagued by distress and social ills. Over three thousand years ago, Moses received the ten commandments of which one says “Thou shalt not kill.” We can safely assume that killing was prevalent then and it was necessary to proscribe such horrible behavior of unnecessarily taking a life. After three thousand years, the killing has not subsided. Rather, it has become more scientific and brutal. Instead of killing a few people at a time, it is possible today, due to technological advances, to kill thousands at one time. Although we have advanced technologically during the same period, we have not advanced the human nature or the social skills by which men can live in harmony without unnecessary killing. The world seems much more violent today than it was previously.

Education gives us the power of discernment between what is real and what is not real. Some things are real but temporary. Others are real and eternal.. Some things do not really exist although we may believe they do. The goal of education is to strive for things that are eternally true. We can use those things that are temporarily true to achieve eternal truths. We must not be fooled by things that are false. For example, a horse’s egg is something we can articulate but it does not really exist. Seeking such a thing is an illusory endeavor. The body is true but it is temporary. It can be used, however, to achieve self realization or it can be used to chase illusory things. There is an eternal spiritual realty such as the individual soul and its relationship with God which is forever true and is above the transitory nature of the material world. Real education is directed at understanding what is matter, the individual soul and the Supreme Soul, God. Once this is understood, one is liberated from unnecessary suffering and illusion in this world.

With freedom from illusion and true knowledge, one becomes capable of achieving real love and happiness.

When we incorrectly see or hear about something we can make a mistake. For example, if I am driving on an asphalt highway on a sunny, dry, hot day and see a slick of water ahead of me, I may conclude that there is water ahead on the highway. This is most probably a mistake that I will find about quickly as I accelerate because once reaching the point ahead where I thought there was water I do not see water there but it appears to be still further ahead. What I am perceiving with my eyes is the mirage of water due to the hot sun shining on the asphalt highway. It is a mistake of perception. If I accept that there is water on the highway when in truth there is not, then I am subject to an illusion. A mistake of perception is not necessarily an illusion. But accepting that the hot highway is a body of water is an illusion because it is accepting one thing to be something that it is not.

If I am convinced that the illusion is true and begin to act on such an assumption of false truth, then I am in a deluded state of mind. Let’s say I truly believe that there is water on the highway ahead of me and purposely slow down drastically believing that my car may hydroplane on rolling into the water at my fast speed. If my abrupt slowdown causes the car behind me to tailgate my car and cause an accident, my action in a state of deluded mind has serious consequences. A mistake of perception can lead to an illusion or accepting one thing to be something else. Believing that my mistake is actually true (an illusion) and acting on it I fall into the trap of a delusional mentality with potential serious consequences.

Our position in the material world is very precarious and dangerous because material education teaches us to accept the material body and temporary bodily pleasures as the ultimate reality or goal of life. Thus, we organize our life to serve the bodily needs. We ignore our spiritual essence, believing matter is everything. There is no formal education today to teach the difference between the body and the soul. Thus, most people spend their whole lives seeking only bodily comforts. The temporary body is served but the soul is starved.

Above the body is the consciousness made up of mind, intelligence and ego. Psychology only scratches the surface of consciousness studies. The human consciousness is not regulated by material laws nor is it a mechanical construct. It is not produced by a combination of matter. Therefore, it remains an elusive subject for science.

Consciousness is the symptom of the soul, which is not a material thing. Science stays away from the subject of the soul because
it is not observable or measurable with our material senses or instruments of measure. The Vedic literature, namely the Svetasvatara Upanisad (5.9) explains that the soul is one ten-thousandth portion of the tip of a hair. It is said,

“When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spiritual soul.”

The individual particle of the spirit soul is a spiritual atom smaller than the material atoms. No scientist has ever seen a
material atom. They have only surmised its size and shape or constitution. They know however, that the material atom is capable of being divided or broken down. Therefore, there are existing particles that are even smaller than the material atom. The Supersoul is considered the soul of the soul and is even smaller than the soul. The Supersoul is present in the heart of every individual living entity and in every atom of the universe.

The Prince was asked to go to the market by the King
To ask quotes from different merchants for a precious ring
Hide his identity, present himself a witless soul
To beg for just price and truth under each merchant’s control

“Take it first to the seller of earthy roots and fruits
The value he’ll say whether treasure or worthless newts
The green hawker looked at the thin round marvel once twice
Thought it less than an old potato, offered no price

Then the spice dealer whose fragrant wares tantalized the nose
Damask rose, the cardamon pod, clove, cumin, all he knows
But ring with no scent, no cooking use, left him obtuse
He offered a pittance, petty remittance, no excuse

Off to the wheat grinder, grain dealer, dusty shopkeeper
Stone on stone sounded a din, crushed the grain of the reaper
The noise and powdery cloud covered the ring by a shroud
One bushel of fine fresh grain was all the payment he vowed

Disheartened, disillusioned, Prince returned to the King
Merchants busy cannot judge a fake from the real thing
Busy making a living, they grade all things by their trade,
Concerned with niggling affairs, snub the true price to be paid

The king said, ” See who knows the value of precious wares
The gold merchant and diamond Jeweler supplies millionaires
He will know the real worth and offer a fair amount
If honest, he will give the exact details of the count”

Alas, we, who are in the mortal frame, weak of firm will
Exploit the trust conferred on us, refine our cheating skill
Enticed by the rogue of undue profit, deign to commit
Misleading and mendacious acts that defraud the wit

With expensive magnifier, scales, training and fine tools
The Jeweler examined the king’s ring adorned with jewels
Eyed the boy more than the ring, to assess risk of a sting
“The best I can do is offer 1000 coins for this ring.”

Taking a calculated chance, hoping the boy was a dumb wit,
Like all sly thieves that bargain their risk on cheating a twit,
Jeweler tendered a pittance as if to deplete his coffer
Of a thousand rude coins, claiming it a generous offer

Dazzled at first by the number of coins, the young Prince
Chose prudence over rash decision, feigned wise ambivalence
Told the crafty Jeweler he would ask his Father’s advice
Took leave and went home to cull counsel, and a new device

Oh, how greed has no boundaries and shares not any mercy
Subjects innocents to lengthy payments and usury
But ignorance is the bane that causes the most pain
With dullness and laziness combine to make our lives vain

The King wanted to teach street wisdom to the callow youth
With foreknowledge, ready to test others, he learned to sleuth
Ignorance and expert deceit is difficult to perceive
When one is untrained, lacks experience, worldly naive

Jeweler, who has knowledge, expertise, and respected
Showed his twisted mind with lust and boundless greed infected
Humanity is shocked, good morality corrupted,
The development of human dignity disrupted

The King was determined to show decency is not amiss
Amongst the humble, poor, simple morality exists
So the Prince searched haphazardly for a modest soul
Found a elderly lady, carrying a sack of coal

“Dear Lady, can I ask your advice about a ring’s price?”
She laid down her sack and smiled while giving him advice
“I, poor woman, alone, forlorn worked hard all my life
I know not ring or price, I’ve had only misery rife.”

Still he showed her the ring for with age comes experience
She weighed it in her hand, marveled and gave a look askance
“Young man, beware carrying such an expensive jeweled ring,
Its weight and splendor is proof that it is fit for a king.”

Beauty is subtle, judged only in truth by a lover
As true love purifies the heart and let’s one discover
The value and beauty inherent in all things alive
For the lover of life will give all to all and ‘ever thrive

The treasure of opulence is in the depths of our heart
An ocean vast and deep, rich passion, a true work of art
Gift this ring to your love, she’ll reveal the true worth thereof
Through boundless affection, faithfulness and eternal love

The Prince was humbled by her deep wisdom and common sense
She had no ruse, no profit, no fault or hint of pretense
She spoke from the heart, enriched by the tested skill of years
In contrast with those who are blind or want to cheat their peers

Real Love expresses the truth whether in old age or youth
Don’t expect less from your lover or more from the other

The Nicene Creed (325 A.D.)

We Believe in one God, the Father almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only begotten, that is of the same substance of the Father.

God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten and not made, of the self-same nature of the Father, by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; who for us human beings, and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate, was made man, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit; by whom He took body, soul, and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance. He suffered, was crucified and was buried and rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father. He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there is no end.

We Believe also in the Holy Spirit, the uncreate and perfect, who spoke in the Law and in the prophets and in the Gospels; who came down upon the Jordan, preached in the apostles and dwelt in the saints.

We Believe also only one universal and apostolic holy Church; in one baptism with repentance for the remission and forgiveness of sins; in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies, in the kingdom of heaven and in the eternal life.

Explanation of some aspects of the Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is a statement of Faith used by many Christian Churches. There are some variations between the Armenian version which is translated above and that used by the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, or Protestant Churches.

The first question to ask is why should there be a statement of belief when there is the Bible or the perfect word of God? The problem has always existed of people using their fertile brains to speculate on the word of God and extract speculative theories and false representations of the original Bible knowledge. Beside the ravages of speculation, the second crucial problem is trying to understand the nature and person of Jesus Christ. Christianity introduced an esoteric element that the ancient Jews refused to accept: the possibility that God may incarnate at his will, or send
“His Son” to incarnate in this world. The idea of the incarnation of God or the incarnate Son of God were concepts that the ancient Jews could not accept.

I recently emailed and phoned three rabbis in the Seattle area about the Jewish point of view concerning the possibility of the incarnation of God or that God may have a son. One rabbi emailed me back the following statement.

“Judaism typically rejects the notion of God’s physical incarnation, and also that of any one individual becoming God’s son. The closest to any of this is the Jewish mystical notion of the Shekhinah – the feminine, indwelling, intimate presence of God in the world.”

The second rabbi explained to me on the phone that Judaism considers every being as a sort of incarnation of God. However, Judaism cannot accept that Jesus Christ was the unique Son of God or the unique incarnation of God or His Son.

The third rabbi explained to me on the phone that in the time of Jesus the Jewish rabbis would not be concerned by the technical details whether Jesus was an incarnation or the son of God. They were most concerned to determine if Jesus was the Messiah of their prophecy. They examined if Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecy. The Jews would not doubt that God can do anything such as incarnate or have a son. But they examined according to their scripture if God would appear in the particular way that Jesus appeared and acted. They would not accept, however, that Jesus was born of Mary if he was indeed the Messiah. Obviously, they concluded that Jesus was not the Messiah.

The concept of the incarnation of God or His Son cannot be understood in a comprehensive way by using the Jewish or Greek philosophical systems. These systems of thought are certainly profound but they lack the knowledge to understand the transcendental nature of God. I will give an example for illustration from the Gospel of John.

John 14 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

John 14

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1- “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2- In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3-And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4- You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father
5- Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6- Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7- If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8- Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9- Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10-Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11- Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.12- I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13- And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14- You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15- “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16- And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever 17- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18- I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19- Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20- On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21- Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

22- Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23- Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24- He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25-”All this I have spoken while still with you. 26- But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28- “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29- I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30- I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31- but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.”

It is impossible to approach these statements of Jesus by using Jewish or Greek philosophical systems to understand what he means. The Jewish and Greek systems are limited to the range of conceivable duality and oneness. For example if we try to understand the statement of Jesus,

9- Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10- Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11- Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

With conceivable oneness or duality, we understand that Jesus and His Father are either one in the sense of the same person, or that they are two distinct persons like a father and a son. This is an example of conceivable oneness or duality. However, this is not what Jesus is indicating in these statements.

When he says, 9- Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10- Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11- Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

If we look in the Bhagaved-gita, which was written over 5000 years ago, we find statements made by Lord Krishna that explain the principle of simultaneous and inconceivable oneness and difference as Lord Jesus indicates in His words above spoken over 2000 years ago.

BG 9.4: By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.

BG 9.5: And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, I am not a part of this cosmic manifestation, for My Self is the very source of creation.

BG 9.6: Understand that as the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, rests always in the sky, all created beings rest in Me.

Lord Krishna explains in these three verses the esoteric nature of God which can be summarized by the Sanskrit term acintya bheda abheda tattva, the truth is simultaneously and inconceivably one and different. First, He says that He pervades the entire world in His unmanifest form. Thus all beings are in Him but He is not in them. To understand the science of God realization, one must accept that God has inconceivable powers that are beyond our own human abilities.

This essential first point is revealed in the Bhagavad gita by the following:

BG 10.39: Furthermore, O Arjuna, I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being — moving or non-moving — that can exist without Me.

BG 10.40: O mighty conqueror of enemies, there is no end to My divine manifestations. What I have spoken to you is but a mere indication of My infinite opulences.

BG 10.41: Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.

BG 10.42: But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.

To understand what it means that by a single fragment God pervades and supports the entire universe, we can study a verse from the Vedic scripture called the Satvata tantra wherein it says:

“For material creation, Lord KrÌ£sÌ£nÌ£a’s plenary expansion assumes three VisÌ£nÌ£us. The first one, Mahā-VisÌ£nÌ£u, creates the total material energy, known as the mahat-tattva. The second, GarbhodakaśāyÄ« VisÌ£nÌ£u, enters into all the universes to create diversities in each of them. The third, KṣīrodakaśāyÄ« VisÌ£nÌ£u, is diffused as the all-pervading Supersoul in all the universes and is known as Paramātmā. He is present even within the atoms. Anyone who knows these three VisÌ£nÌ£us can be liberated from material entanglement.”

There is the spiritual world which is eternally existing. In the spiritual world, God or Lord Krishna, the father of Christ, possesses unlimited or inconceivable powers. From His position, He expands unlimited energies to sustain the spiritual world and also to manifest the material worlds. The spiritual world exists for the eternal loving exchanges between God and His devotees or loyal servants. The material world exists to give those souls who revolt against God an opportunity to see the futility of their attempts to live separately from God and eventually to rehabilitate themselves and return to the spiritual world.

Everything we perceive in the material world is made by the expansion of God’s energies. Everything is maintained by the mysterious expansion of God Himself into every atom of the material creation and also into the heart of every living entity. For the creation, maintenance and eventual destruction of the material world, God expands Himself into the Vishnu expansions or forms. Maha Visnu is the repository and creator of the entire material energy technically called the mahat tattva. When Maha Vishnu breaths or exhales, innumerable molecules expand from His Body and in each one there is a separate and complete universe. This is unimaginable ordinary living entities. However, we must accept the grandeur and infinite power of God. Maha Visnu expands Himself as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and enters into all these molecular universes to create diversities. This second Visnu form is also the collective Supersoul of the material universe. Garbhodaksayi Visnu expands Himself as the all pervading Supersoul known as Paramatma who is present in every atom of the universe and in every heart of the living entities.

Thus, with a single fragment of God’s infinite energies everything that we perceive in this world is pervaded by Him. The concept of a “single fragment” of God’s infinite energies is important because the entire material creation with its millions of universes (we, of course, only live in one tiny universe) does not constitute more than one fourth of God’s creation. The other three fourths is made up of the spiritual worlds. So the spiritual world is much bigger and much more expansive than the material creation and the diversity of the spiritual world is much more variegated than the diversity here as Jesus himself indicates, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3- And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4- You know the way to the place where I am going.”

The statement by Jesus that the Father is in Me is easily understood now. As the Supersoul (the 3rd Visnu expansion) of everything, God the Father is personally present in every atom and in the heart of every being. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad gita 13.23,

“Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.”

This verse makes a clear point that God is present in the individual living entity’s body as the Paramatma (or the 3rd expansion of Visnu) as the overseer or witness, the transcendental enjoyer (bhokta), the proprietor (maha-isvara), the permitter (anumanta), which means it is only by his permission that one can act either by following His instructions or willfully disregarding them. The Paramatma (God) in the heart is different than the individual soul (jivatma) or each one of us. There are three distinct topics of discussion namely the body, called the field of activity, the individual soul, or the knower of activities in the body(jivatma or individual living entity), and the Supersoul, or God (isvara) the supreme knower of activities and the supreme controller of both the body (material nature, prakrti), the individual enjoyer (purusa, the individual soul). Just as one should not confuse the painter, the painting and the easel. The material world as the field of activity is nature, the enjoyer of nature is the individual living entity and above both of these is the supreme controller or God.

The individual soul (the jiva) and the Supersoul (God as the Supersoul is present in the heart of all beings) are one and different. They are of the same nature because all souls come originally from God. This is stated in Bhagavad gita 15.7:

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts.”

The identity of the individual living being is clearly stated. The living entity is the eternal fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. The living entity does not assume individuality in his conditioned state and in his liberated state becomes one with the Supreme Lord. The living entity is eternally existing because he is part of God’s spiritual nature. He exists before birth in the material body, during his stay in the body and after death of the body. The eternality of the living entity is fully eternal before birth in a material body and after death of the material body. For example, Jesus existed before his incarnation in this world and continued to exist after his resurrection. However, contrary to the Vedic evidence, Christianity does not accept that the individual soul like you and me existed before birth in the material body. After death, according to Christianity, we may either exist eternally in heaven or be destroyed or stay eternally in hell. This incomplete understanding of the individual soul gives rise to many philosophical inconsistencies in Christianity. (See Footnote n.1)

According to the Vedas, the Supreme Lord manifests and expands Himself in innumerable expansions, of which the primary expansions are Visnu-tattva (as explained above) and the secondary expansions are called the living entities or individual, minute souls like us(jivatma). As fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the living entities have fragmental portions of God’s qualities, of which independence is one. Every living entity, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By misuse of that independence he becomes conditioned by birth and death in the material world, and by proper use of independence he is eternally liberated. Coming originally from God, the living entity is eternal, as is God. In his liberated state, he is freed from this material condition and he engages eternally in the loving service of God without any limitations of birth, old age, disease and death. In the conditioned state, he is dominated by lust, anger, greed, illusion, envy, and madness which causes him to forget the eternal loving service of the Lord and works for material happiness through enjoying his senses and exploiting the senses or material bodies and minds of other conditioned souls. Due to this forgetfulness, he experiences a constant, difficult struggle for existence in the material world of birth, old age, sickness and death.

Lord Jesus repeats several times: “…I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me….it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work…Believe me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in me..”

From the above explanation from the Vedic literature, we can understand how Lord Jesus and His Father are distinct, but at the same time eternally together in an inseparable relationship due to Lord Jesus’ complete surrender to the will of God the Father (Lord Krishna). This is collaborated in the Bhagavad-gita:

“Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into such illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme, or, in other words, that they are Mine.” (Bg, 4-35) The “illusion” referred to here is the sense of an existence separate from God which is impossible because God is all pervading as seen above. Such an illusion is called in Sanskrit maya (ma-not, ya-this). Receiving knowledge from a self-realized soul means knowing things as they really are or learning that all living entities are parts and parcels of God. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita 15.7 as explained above.

More evidence is given in the Bhagavad-gita to understand Jesus’ statements to His apostles:

“A true observer sees Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person sees Me, the same Supreme Lord, everywhere.”
“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.”
“Such a person, who engages in the worshipful service of the Supersoul, knowing that I and the Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in all circumstances.”
(Bg, 29-30-31)

A person who is meditating on God within eventually will see the Supersoul (the 3rd Visnu expansion of Lord Krishna). Why does God expand Himself into many expansions and specifically the Visnu expansions? The Visnu expansions are meant to create, maintain and regulate and eventually wind down the material creation. This goes on cyclically for eternity. Just as a businessman has so many executives work under him to maintain his company. God expands Himself so that He oversees all the complicated operations of the material and spiritual worlds and still in His original form remains completely aloof and untouched by the happenings under His control because everything is done by His potent expansions.

How do we understand the living entities? We, the living entities, including all living creatures (men, animals, reptiles, plants etc), are all emanations from God. God is One but He decides to expand Himself to increase His loving propensity of reciprocal loving exchanges. Just as a couple is married, but they decide to expand themselves by having children which permits them to increase their mutual love as well as share it with their children who, in return, love their parents. We are creatures of love because we come originally from God, the Supreme Loving Being.

Therefore God expands in a complete way as the Visnu expansions. He also expands as the minute living entities like ourselves. The complete expansions of God create, maintain and regulate, and wind down the material creation so that those living entities who misuse their free will and revolt against God can have a place where they can pursue their illusory desires. If they awaken to the truth, they can rehabilitate themselves and come back to to God and the eternal spiritual world.

Lord Krishna, as we have said, is in the heart of every living entity as the Visnu form.There is no difference between the Visnu forms present in the hearts of the innumerable living entities. By virtue of contemplation and practical loving service to God, the practionner of devotion and meditation always remains situated in God. We can see the meaning of the following words by Lord Jesus:

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15- “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16- And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever 17- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18- I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19- Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20- On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21- Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

22- Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23- Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24- He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25-”All this I have spoken while still with you. 26- But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The sincere servant of God always acting in God consciousness (Krishna/Christ consciousness) is automatically liberated because he employs all his senses, mind, intelligence, everything in the service of God without any expectation of material gain. He acts only to serve God with love. By always concentrating on Lord Krishna (whose Son is Lord Jesus), who is all-pervading and beyond time and space, one becomes absorbed in thinking of the Lord and then attains the happy state of transcendental association with the Lord.

The understanding that God is present as the Supersoul or Holy Spirit in everyone’s heart makes one spiritually aware and very careful in one’s behavior in order to honor the presence of God and listen to His instructions. There is verse in the Sri Isopanisad which says:

“He who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or anyone.” (Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 6)

In the Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.21 confirms the inconceivable potency of the Lord as follows:

Although the Lord is One, He is simultaneously present in innumerable hearts.”

Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita states:

“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come memory, knowledge and forgetfulness…..’ (Bg, 15.15)

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of material energy.” (Bg, 18,61)

God sits in the heart and directs the wanderings of every living entity. There is, therefore, no such thing as hazard or chance in the material world. Still the living entity has limited free will that is exercised by the living entity without the interference of God. The free will of living entities is limited to accepting or rejecting the instructions of God.

There are consequences that are all positive by accepting God’s will and consequences that are all negative by rejecting. The Lord, as the Supersoul or Holy Spirit, sits in the heart and directs the living entity. If the living entity accepts God, He directs him back to the eternal kingdom. If he rejects God, God gives him what he desires and merits according to his previous acts and desires. When the living entity’s material body dies, he forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the past, present and future, remains the witness of all the activities. All the activities of the living entities are directed by the Supersoul. The living entity gets what he deserves and is the vehicle of the material body, which is created in the material energy under the direction of God.

As soon as a living entity is placed in a particular body, he has to work under the spell of that bodily situation. A person seated in a high-speed motorcar goes faster than one seated in a slower car, though the living entities, the drivers, may be equally qualified. Similarly, by the order of the Supreme Soul, material nature fashions a particular type of body to a particular type of living entity so that he may work according to his past desires. The living entity is not independent. The individual is always under the Lord’s control.

Christianity no longer accepts the full eternality of the individual as we explained above( since the 6th century A.D. when Father Origen’s writings were rejected). Father Origen, a prominent Christian theologian of the 3rd century wrote that the soul passes through successive stages of incarnation before eventually reaching God. He imagined even demons being reunited with God. For Origen, God was the First Principle, and Christ, the Logos, was subordinate to him. His views of a hierarchical structure in the Trinity, the temporality of matter, “the fabulous preexistence of souls,” and “the monstrous restoration which follows from it” were declared anathema in the 6th century. From the 6th century A.D. Christianity rejected the notion of reincarnation and restricted the individual soul to one birth and one death. This is a flawed concept that contradicts Vedic philosophical truths and leaves many questions unanswered about the nature of God and the living entity.

However, the full eternality of Lord Jesus is definitely accepted and proclaimed. Therefore, Lord Jesus existed before His incarnation in this world. He was at the side of His Heavenly Father and after death and resurrection, He returned again to the side of His Father. Why should Jesus have full eternality and not the individual souls like you and me? This questioned is not answered in Christian theology and leads to many philosophical inconsistencies such as the notion that the individual does not exist until he takes birth in a material body on this earth.

The problem again is that Christian philosophers like Origen and others relied on Greek philosophy to understand the nature of the individual soul and Christ’s incarnation and the nature of God. Origen relied on Plato and therefore believed that the Supreme Father is invisible and incorporeal, transcending all things material, and therefore inconceivable and incomprehensible. Such flights of speculation based on Platonic impersonalism makes God into something that is less than His own creation. A common man has individuality and is a person, but his creator doesn’t have individuality and is not a person. How can the creator be less than the creations?

In the Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 8, a comprehensive description of God is given:

A person in knowledge knows the Personality of Godhead as the greatest of all, whose body, mind and soul are non-different(He has a body but it is not made of blood, veins,etc. as ordinary human beings; His Body is made of eternity, knowledge and bliss in a specific form that is transcendental to any material influence), who is omnipotent (meaning He has unlimited powers and can doing anything He wills without any limitation, and can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter, as He desires), who is omniscient (He knows everything past, present and future), who awards everyone according to what they desire and deserve but also can give his mercy to anyone whether they deserve it not, who is the greatest Personality of all (no one is equal to or greater than Him), who is completely self-sufficient (He can supply unlimited needs to others but is never in need of anything Himself), who is antiseptic meaning He can absolutely purify anything or anyone that comes in contact with Him, who is prophylactic (means His association is so powerful that He can protrct His sincere servant desiring to please Him from sin).

From this verse it is not possible that anything God has created can be greater or in any way more than Him. To say that God is not a Person implies that people in this world that are persons and possess a body (even if the body is a temporary material body) have something that God doesn’t. This makes God less than His own creation. Therefore, He cannot be the greatest of all. Such an incomplete understanding of God is unacceptable.

Origen’s understanding that the individual soul can undergo transmigration from one material body to another until he reaches pure consciousness of love of God and is liberated from the cycle of birth and death was correct. However, some of his other ideas based on Platonic philosophy was rejected along with transmigration of the soul. Christianity has maintained a personal concept of God by accepting the absolute divinity of Lord Jesus. However, Christianity did not fully understand the inconceivable and simultaneous oneness and difference that Lord Jesus taught. I will discuss this in more detail.

The oneness that Lord Jesus spoke of does not mean that He and His Heavenly Father are the same Person. This misconception has been adopted by many modern Christians. Without proper understanding, it is possible to come to this mistaken conclusion. One must have a certain level of spiritual purity to understand this subject. This purity is attained by becoming free of lust, anger, greed, illusion, envy and madness through dedicated prayer and respect for all life. One must give up unnecessary killing and violence on others and oneself by avoiding meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex. Through constant prayer, unselfish, dedicated acts of devotion to God and avoidance of sinful activities, one is blessed by God to understand this subject. Spiritual knowledge is revealed to the strict practioner by the mercy of God. It is not a mechanical academic process. Therefore, to understand the following words of Christ requires purity of body, mind and spirit:

19- “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20- On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21- Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

This sense of “oneness” that Lord Jesus conveys in this passage is that of qualitative oneness just as the sparks of fire are one with the fire. Yet, sparks of fire are not one as far as quantity is concerned, for the heat and light present in the sparks is not equal to that in fire. Therefore, Lord Jesus directly says,

28- “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

Lord Jesus is careful to explain qualitative oneness and quantitative difference between His Father and Himself. One who has attained the proper stage of purity can understand the oneness Lord Jesus is talking about in terms of seeing everything as the energy coming from God. Since there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, there is the sense of oneness. For example, from the analytical point of view, heat and light are different from fire, however, there is no meaning to the word “fire” without heat and light. In the synthesis, heat, light and fire are the same. Lord Jesus’s Father is the source of everything just as the Sun in this universe is the source of all light, heat and energy. Lord Jesus emphasizes this in terms of knowledge and teaching coming from His Father. He says:

23- Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24- He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

We can understand the “oneness” as the the acceptance of the teaching coming originally from Jesus’ Father through Lord Jesus to His apostles and to all humanity. Lord Jesus puts all the stress on this point,

15 - “If you love me, you will obey what I command …. 21 - Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…. 23 - If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 - He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me….28 - If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I …. 31- but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me…”

These words of Lord Jesus make a distinct difference between Jesus and his Father and at the same time demonstrate the oneness by the total acceptance by Jesus of His Father’s teaching and will.

10 - “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work…”

Jesus demonstrates the oneness experienced by the sincere servant of God who never deviates from following the instructions of the Heavenly Father. Father and son are one because the son completely obeys the Father. If you meet the son, you will know the father because the son perfectly represents the Father by his submission to the will of the Father. Satan disobeyed the Father and later convinced Adam and Eve to also disobey the will of the Father. Jesus came to demonstrate the power and glory of accepting totally and following the will of the Father and thus defeat death and repeated birth in this material. By following Jesus, we can again regain our natural position of eternal life and happiness.

-

ahskharuh dzohv, mehnk dzahrav
ahskharuh ahrohd, mehnk metch gahrohd

The turtle and the ducks

There was a turtle of little wit
bored of her pond, desired to quit
See the wide world, mounts, rivers and vales
Marvel splendors amidst nature’s trails

She shared her desire with two ducks flying high
Who agreed to carry her to Paris through the sky
They said: “We’ll fly you to the banks of river Seine
Where Eiffel Tower touches heaven, was built by men

You’ll gaze on different races whose customs vary
Who eat fine foods, colorfully dress and make merry
The turtle agreed to transit to exotic, far lands
While the ducks searched around for a strong branch

Fortune shined for they found a sturdy rod for transport
Cautioned the turtle to bite hard on it for support
“Oh thick shell with four fins and blessed with a mighty mouth
Don’t let go or you’ll hit the ground with a deadly clout.”

The ducks each grabbed an end of the rod
The turtle stared up and prayed to god
Upward and onward the ducks flapped high
Crossed seas and forests, they plied the sky

Wherever they flew all stared amazed
Raised their voices, cried aloud and dazed
“The queen turtle has risen the sky.”
Proud and impatient to make reply,

She said, “Yes, I’m the queen, what’s it to you!”

Better for her to journey quiet, closed lipped
Enjoy her trip without losing her grip
Wise to remain humble, not make facade
Than let go one’s hold and slip from the rod.

Down she fell forced by her weight and gravity
bouncing from one hard rock to another heavily
Broken and maimed she met death at the end game
Sad is the plight who falls from such height, poor dame

It is said, “Sweet speech is silver esteemed in days of old,
But knowing the art of staying silent is better than gold.”
One who is rash and cannot forbear
Whose tongue unleashed lives without care
Has certainly a dark destiny to suffer and bear
I declare I understand this truth, I’ll forever beware