Lately, I’ve been reading an old copy of Hsin Hsin Ming, The Book of Nothing. It is Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh’s commentary on the teachings of Sosan. Again, I find myself startled to see the abundant generosity of Consciousness, the myriad means of attaining Knowledge of Truth available to us.
There are a thousand doorways into the Garden, I just want to open one. Everyday. I want to open a door into the Garden, then kneel and kiss the ground. In reading The Book of Nothing, I’ve been contemplating that sweet spot that balances precariously between non-striving and self-effort. When I’m poised there, in that spot, I feel the sweet breeze of Consciousness playing in the garden of my life. I recognize God.
Across time and culture, sacred writings have drawn clear and detailed maps to guide those travelers seeking deeper understanding and meaning. For me, I’m seeking both meaning and union with God.
What makes my heart sing on this journey is knowing that there are as many doorways into the garden as there are each of us. It’s a little startling to me that there is Supreme acceptance of the uniqueness of our various natures and moods. In some texts, the Bhagavad Gita for instance, the seeker is encouraged to pursue knowing God according to her nature.
In the commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, “Jnaneshwari”, Krishna invites Arjuna to recognize this generosity of the Lord.
“Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter. There is no doubt of this…
But if with your whole will and mind you are unable to fix your attention entirely on Me, Devote to this concentration at least a brief period during the twenty-four hours of the day…
If you are incapable even of practice, be intent on My work; even performing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection. . .Whatever action you perform, surrender it wholeheartedly to Me, and do not consider whether it is great or small…
But if you are unable even to do this, then, resorting to devotion to Me, and abandoning all the fruits of action, act with self-restraint…
Let this be. Set aside remembering Me, and direct your mind towards controlling the senses…”
When confronted with the revelation of Truth as revealed in sacred texts, literature, stories, and poems across cultures around the world, I cannot help but stand in awe when regarding such a compassionate Lord. I see these threads of Truth woven across continents and centuries as a mystical tapestry of clear patterns revealing well-trodden paths to the heart, paths to God.
God in His great compassion created many ways to love Him, many roads that lead to Her.
In ignorance and prideful yearning to know God, many of us have repeatedly and for centuries confused religion with the goal rather than the road to the goal – union wiht the Divine. Despite the repetition of the theme, “God is Love,” scattered throughout sacred texts, men and women continue to indulge anger, hate and pride to justify the fighting of wars and rejection of whole segments of our shared world “in the name of God.” Really?
Rather, our various roads to God, the diversity of religious paths, can serve as a reminder of God’s magnificence and compassion for the uniqueness of His Creation. I don’t want to EVER become mired in the differences. I intend not to confuse the flower for the honey, the road for the destination. Religious and spiritual freedom is a means to an end given by a loving God.
Living in the bible belt, where churches on almost every corner boasts that they have the key to eternity and knowledge of the Truth, at a time when, yet again, there are “holy wars,” I want to accept the unspoken invitation to choose and practice loving Divine Consciousness according to my nature. I don’t want to find myself choosing to love and serve God out of fear of what will happen if I don’t do it “right” and desire for what will happen if I do my spiritual path “right.”
When I stumble upon the revelation of Truth as revealed in sacred texts, literature, stories and poems across cultures around the world, I cannot help but stand in awe when contemplating such a compassionate Lord. There is no “right.” There are many well-trodden paths to the Heart. There a thousand doorways into the garden.
Embracing full self-responsibility for my life is a way I can remind myself of my worthiness to live in the steady awareness of God and allows me to perceive Love. Such rigorous assumption of self-responsibility jogs my memory of the Truth of who I am and truly creates my heaven on earth.
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
~ Holy Bible (11)
On a side note, I received an email from a reader who shared that she has been printing out and reading and re-reading these posts. You might want to consider re-reading as well. I have found re-reading to deepen my understanding and provoke a more practical understanding of what I’ve read. In this way, perhaps this Sacred Threads can serve you as a kind of spiritual correspondence course.
