Lord Jesus Christ the presiding deity and prophet of the New Testament embodied the Mainstream of Spirituality in his life time, with his revealing teachings in the Holy Bible, carrying a crisp message to the weary world:-
"If God is all you have,
you have all you need".(St. John. 14:8)
Keeping in mind the occasion of forthcoming, "Merry Christmas Day" it is worth understanding the Holy Message of Lord Jesus Christ in letter and spirit and translateit into action in our life as envisioned in the Mainstream of Spirituality.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
As God is one and Omni present, He is cosmic and common to all. All the prophets of the Old Testament have total agreement on this. God of one prophet is also the God of the other prophets. God is one and must be known as one.
As per the Old Testament, man was made in the image of God, superior to all species, having inherent power to know God.
The prophets rejected the deadwood of religious rites. As a social being man needs wisdom which is more valuable than material wealth.
The Holy Bible refers to the Ten Commandments. The first five relate to our love and worship of God, while the remaining five refer to our obligation and service to our society. Like two sides of the same coin, these are inseparable and give us coherent advice, "Worship and love for God and service to man go hand in hand."
THE NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament and the Old Testament have integral relation with each other.
Jesus Christ is the presiding deity and the prophet of the New Testament who embodied the Mainstream of Spirituality in his life time.
Jesus clarified that he was continuing the old prophetic tradition and fulfilling their commandment. He said:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them,
but to fulfil them."(Matthew. 5-17)
All this shows that Jesus had nothing different to reveal to the people. He preached the same as the earlier prophets had preached.
As given in the Old Testament Jesus gave the same Commandment in the New Testament:-
"Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul;
and with all your mind. This is the
first and greatest commandment."(Matthew: 22.37)
This establishes kinship of Jesus with all his preceding Hebrew prophets. He continued the same old tradition enshrined in the Mainstream of Spirituality which related to worship of One Formless God as the Ultimate Reality of cosmos.
Two points are of basic importance in the philosophy of Jesus. Firstly, before worship of God, one must know what God is; and secondly, God is to be worshipped as Spirit only. Any transgression from this is not approved by Jesus. So whosoever wants to follow and practise the teachings of Jesus Christ he has to attain practical knowledge of God as Spirit, as Formless Being and then only he can be a true worshipper. There is no exception to this divine principle. For which Jesus preached and died for. To quote;
"God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him
must worship Him in Spirit and in truth"(St. John 4-24)
Revelation Through Prophet
Another important aspect of the Mainstream is that God is known only through the living contemporary prophet. Jesus says:
If we don't know or meet the prophet (son), we cannot know or meet God (Father). There is no other way Jesus says:
"I am the gate, whoever enters
Through me will be saved."(St. John. 10-9)
Only surrender and a humble request:
Love and humility are the highlight of the Mainstream. Jesus prized these values and declared that. Arrogance and pride have no place in the valuable life of spirituality.
All these references reflect a clear vision of Lord Jesus who stood for humanism, love and humility. "Love of God, and love of man" are the two pillars on which his teachings are based. According to Jesus all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
(St. Matthew 22.37.39)
The other qualities take the back seat and in fact owe their existence only to love of God and love of mankind. These two spiritual postulates evolve durable cohesion in the society which are a pre-requisite for prosperity and progress of the society at large. Whenever these two aspects disappear, the social citadel crumbles down.
Strange are the ways of the world, it first kills its great men and latter worships them to be remembered forever.
SANT NIRANKARI MISSION
Taking a cue from the towering message of Lord Christ- "Love of God and love of Man", Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji activates the same feelings,"Life gets a meaning, if it is lived for others,"It combines the theory of mutual relationship through spiritual awakening with the innate spirit of living for others. Thus True Religion represents our love and worship of God in direct proportion to our dealings and doings with our fellow human beings. it is in this background we know that " SANT NIRANKARI MISSION IS AN ALL EMBRACING WORLD WIDE RELIGIOUS, SOCIO-SPIRITUAL AND CHARITABLE ORGANISATION WHICH PREACHES THE CONCEPT OF ONE FOMLESS GOD (NIRANKAR) AND BELIEVES THAT GOD CAN BE REALISED ONLY THROUGH THE GRACE OF LIVING SATGURU (TRUE MASTER)".
The curves and contours of this definition of the Mission run harmoniously into the teachings of all the past prophets and globally accepted scriptures, enjoined by the bold message, "Man is a man if he is human. He is human when the entire mankind is his family. Mankind is his family when the all-pervading God is his home. God can be his home when he actually knows Him and blissfully identifies himself with Him by living up to the teachings of True Master." In the expressive words of Nirankari Baba Ji, "No God, No Peace; Know God, Know Peace", is the impressive philosophy of life which is the real and actual subject matter of the Sant Nirankari Mission,widely representing as the present milestone resting on the pillars of the mainstream of spirituality.
The enlightened persons believe that all their assets, material and mental belong to God, and we, as trustees only, are ordained to use them for common good of the whole human race. This spells a living above narrow prejudices and dogmas of caste, colour, creed etc. Thereby, one becomes respectful towards others' modes of dress, diet and culture. With towering traits of humility and tolerance, he leads a purposeful self-reliant family life and maintains order in the society.
Religion essentially means knowledge of God. In the absence of actual knowledge, God is different for different persons and for the same person on different occasions. The concept of one God for all, foresees the idea of one religion for all, that suits the whole human race. Mission has succeeded in achieving this objective through a living revelation of Fatherhood of God, the central seed of all religions, ruling out conversions.
The wide range distinguished Socio-Spiritual and Charitable activities of the Mission led to the grant of "General Consultative Status" by U.N.
The Corona Virus pandemic, the biggest Challenge of our life time, has proved to be harbinger of destruction in terms of loss of lives. The entire humanity feels helpless to change its hapless into happiness. It will be divine intervention and an act of serendipity that we will come out of this pandemic. The whole world is closed for renovation. Restoration of enlightened faith in the Omnipresent and Omnipotent God marks the needed renovation, holding promise for a happier world eagerly waiting for "Grand opening."
It is believed universally that a healthy heart beat makes two sounds. “ludupp, ludupp.” Time has come for all of us to consider if this can be changed into two more important and much needed sounds; "love deep, love deep" We can surely hear the sound this way when we heartily pick up the spiritual message "God is love and love is God."
Her Holiness Satguru Mata Sudiksha Ji Maharaj, the present Spiritual Head of Sant Nirankari Mission gives a clarion call, "The world needs to be united as a family, tolerating, accepting and loving each other, keeping in mind the watchword "God-fi-dence" having complete faith and confidence in God, truly proving our image of God."
C.L. Gulati, Vice Chairman, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Delhi-9
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