Do you not remember what the Bible says: "If you cannot love your brother whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen?" If you cannot see God in the human face, how can you see him in the clouds, or in images of dull, dead matter , or in mere fictitious stories of your brain?
I shall call you religious from the day you begin to see God in men and women and then you will understand what is meant by turning the left cheek to the man who strikes you on the right. When you see man as God, everything, even the tiger, will be welcome. Whatever comes to you is but the Lord, the Eternal, the Blessed One, appearing to us in various forms, as our father and mother and friend and child; they are our own soul playing with us.
As our human relationships can thus be made divine, so our relationship with God may take any of these forms and we can look upon Him as our father or mother or friend or beloved. Calling God Mother is a higher idea than calling Him Father, and to call Him Friend is still Higher, but the highest is to regard Him as the Beloved.
The highest point of all is to see no difference between lover and beloved. You may remember, perhaps, the old Persian story, of how a lover came and knocked on the door of the beloved and was asked: "Who are you?" He answered: "It is I," and there was no response. A second time, he came and exclaimed: "I am here," but the door was not opened. The third time, he came and the voice asked from inside: "Who is there?" He replied: "I am thyself, my beloved," and the door opened.
So is the relation between God and ourselves. He is in everything. He is everything. Every man and woman is the palpable, blissful, living God. Who says God is unknown? Who says He is to be searched after? We have found God eternally. We have been living in Him eternally.
-- Swami Vivekananda
What a way to start the day!
Posted by: h sofia | March 01, 2006 at 01:59 PM