recognize OUR OWN GOD NATURE
Irvine University, CA, USA. June 2, 1998.
Wehave to begin somewhere, and our life began a long time ago, orperhaps it has just begun and we have forgotten where we trulycame from. That's the only question that we could not answer,for most of us, for many of us. Everything else, we are cleverenough to know. We can learn through books. We can experimentin the laboratory. We can use chemical substances or scientificknowledge to solve, to give an answer. But the only answer that'smost puzzling is, "Where have we come from?" And thisis another equally puzzling one, "Where will we go afterthis?" Obviously, to many of us, life doesn't end in thecoffin. We do know that, but we just cannot prove it. To manyof the wise saints since ancient times, these questions are verysimple. They do know where they came from, and they do know wherethey will go. For them, the question of death doesn't have anyappeal or any frightening effect, because like the saints in theBible say, I die daily. What does it mean to die daily?When we withdraw ourselves inward to enter the Kingdom of God,that's when we die. We die temporarily, and then we come backto life again. So, resurrection can happen any time during ourordinary life if we follow the process of Jesus, of the ancientsaints. Since we die once, or we die daily, we do know there isother life, there are other worlds besides this physical one.Then we are free to roam around the universe; we explore the mysteriesof the cosmos. We know that dying is no big deal; and in fact,we know that we don't ever die. We also know that we don't evenhave a physical body. So strange as it may seem, it is a fact.
That's why when Jesus was nailed on the cross,He was not afraid, He did not cry. He didn't beg for His life.He didn't run away. He could have done so, but He didn't wantto. He didn't have to. He surrendered everything to God's willbecause He knew where He was going. He knew all the time. He knewthat there is no such thing as death or suffering. True sufferingoccurs when we do not know where we came from and where we willgo. Because Jesus knew already, He gave up the quest for physicalcomfort. He gave up the fear of death and He went because He knewHe would always be there, and that it is only the physical bodythat decays in the mortals' eyes. But in Jesus' wisdom, therewas no such thing even as a physical body.
This is very difficult to prove unless we followthe same path as the great masters have gone through, like Buddhaor Jesus. They went on the same path; therefore, they preachedthe same thing, even though we label them Buddhism or Christianity.We have so much terminology and separate the Truth into two differentcategories which confuses us. But actually, the Masters alwaysteach basically the same thing. If we cut off the ribbons, thewrapping paper, and the different ways of the Master's individualtalent and eloquence of speech, then they are the same. Especiallyafter we have become enlightened, or have followed the same pathand practice the same thing, then we know it is exactly the samebecause they both go the same way. Suppose all of us come to thisauditorium, sit here for a while, then afterward we go out andthen describe the same room. There is no difference.
Enlightenment Is Our NaturalState What is it about enlightenment that so manypeople make a great mystery about, praise so much, and encourageus to go forward to claim it again? It is not enlightenment atall. It is just the Truth. It is just the way it should be; itis the way it is. And if we don't know enlightenment, then wecontinue suffering so much until we realize that everything elseis not important, except to know God. When we begin to want toknow God, then God will send someone, a friend, a guide, an experiencedbrother to show us what to do. After we know what to do, that'swhen we are enlightened. We might not be as greatly enlightenedimmediately as Buddha or Jesus, hut we are enlightened somewhat.Then, day by day, we continue with the process, and we becomejust as great. We will understand what Jesus said to us, like:"Whatever I do, you can do better, or you can do as well,"and, "I and my father are one." We will understand thatwe are all children of God. We will understand that we are thetemple of God and only the Holy Spirit lives within us.
If God lives within us, then what are we? Weare God. Well, if this is only the house, and God lives inside,then who else is there? Could it be that we, I and God, live inthe same house? He didn't say I and God live in there. He saidI and my Father are one. If I and my Father are one, how comewe don't know Hirm? If the Holy Spirit dwells within this temple,and this fleshly body is only the temple, and there's only oneperson who dwells within, God, then who is there inside? Onlyone person, only God.
That made me cry sometimes before. I said "IfI am God, how come I am so humble? How come I'm so weak? How comeI'm so small how come I'm so ignorant? How come I suffer so much?Where is my Home?" And that's when we begin to ask ourselveshow to reclaim our glory again? That's when enlightenment beginsto inch toward us, or we're crawling toward enlightenment, ormaybe we're running, flying, it depends. Some people fly, somepeople walk, some people go by, maybe train. That's why at thetime of so-called initiation, some people have greater enlightenment,some people have lesser "great" enlightenment. It'sbecause sometimes we choose to go faster, sometimes we chooseto go slower.
How did we choose that? We chose that beforewe were born. We chose before creation began to play our partin this physical world, or in any part of the cosmos -- we spreadall over. We were one and then we became many, as God wished itto be. We partake in the grand design of the creation to playin the colorful drama of life. And now, when the time comes thatour role is finished, not necessary, or we're tired, then we wantto retire, we want to go back Home. Other people, or other souls,will continue our role, will take over, and then we begin to goHome. That's when enlightenment occurs. It is so simple. We areGod; we chose to be ignorant in order to play this drama of life,in order for creation to be colorful and lively, to be different,to have fun, and also in order to know what we truly are. In heaven,there is only God, nothing else. We don't know God, because weare God, so we have to be "un-Godlike." We chose tocome here to be different from God, so that we can have a lookand compare and know that we are God.
Enlightenment is the purpose of everyone whocomes into this physical universe. Because we want to know God,we have chosen to play this ignorant part so that we truly canrecognize God and ourselves. Just like if, in the world, thereis only man, we do not know the difference between man and woman.We will not know that we are a man unless there is a woman. Unlessthere is night, we do not recognize daytime. If we always livein the sunlight, we do not know what darkness is. That is theanswer that I have found myself. But to find out the real meaningof it, to realize the real meaning, each one of us has to searchthe way to find it for him or herself. It's not by hearing, bylistening, by saying, that we know we are God. Even though webelieve the Bible, at the moment we still don't know we are God,or do we? Do you know you are God? Some of you do, I guess, becauseyou are enlightened. Some of you have studied with other masters,or teachers, and then of course, you realized, to some degree,that you are not just the body; you are not the body at all.
Sometimes, during samadhi, you find your bodydoesn't exist. You know you exist, but not the body. You don'tfind any body, you don't find any trace of the physical substancethat we call flesh, bones, body, hair, or whatever. It's all light;it's all God. That's when we truly realize we are God, that onlyGod dwells within this temple; and after all, the temple disappears,too. Only this realization will make us happy, truly happy; otherwise,no matter how many Bibles we read, how many other teachers tellus that we are God, we can never believe it. We can never knowwe are truly the children of God or the Kingdom of God is withinyou.
We read the Bible every day; we know the Bibleby heart; we might be able to recite from the first page to thelast sentence, but we still do not know God. We pray every dayto God, to the God that we don't even know, to answer our questions,to fulfill our requests, to answer our desires; and all the whilewe are that. We are that to whom we're praying. Then sometimeswe get angry with Hirm because we think Hes doesn't answer us,Hes doesn't fulfill our requests. Only when we know we are God,we don't blame any-more. We don't even need to pray anymore. Whateverwe think, we will have; whatever we want, we will get, but wewill not want any more.
At that time, we can say, The Lord is myshepherd; I shall not want, because we are so fulfilled. Itdoesn't matter if we drive a Mercedes, we drive a bicycle, orwe walk, we are so happy, we are so fulfilled. We are so richinside that nothing can make us unhappy at all. Even if we area king, or we are a beggar, we are equally happy in any situationbecause we truly know happiness. At that time, happiness is usand that's what enlightenment will bring. It's not a theory thatwe should listen to, it's the experience, it's knowledge, it'sthe realization that we must get. Otherwise, we cannot understandmany things that we want to understand. Otherwise we will continueto misunderstand each other, also, and suffer a lot, whether inpersonal relationships, in business dealings, or in the lovingconnection with God. We will not have the true understanding andthe love that is so great that we could forgive our enemies becauseat that time, we will realize there is no enemy.
We read a lot of the Bible, like, you haveto forgive your enemy, love thy neighbor . But we will neverunderstand why until we truly realize what we are or who we are.Then at that time, there's no need to explain. Love just flowsfrom us. Light just surrounds us; we become that, we become love,we become light, we become what we always wanted to be, we becomewhat we have always been praying to. We become Godlike. That'swhy a master like Jesus, we worship because He is so Godlike.That's why Buddha, everyone adores Him, because He is so Godlike.He is everything that we imagine a God to be. But that, we canbecome also. Jesus has told us, and we have to believe Him. Hehad no reason to tell us a lie. He didn't take money from anyone.He didn't build a church or house at that time, even. He walked,He had no possessions, He had no reason to tell lies to any soulon this planet. He told us: Whatever I can do, you can do also.You are all children of God. He said that; we have to believeHim. Now, the only one thing for us to do is to realize what Hesaid, to prove it to ourselves. Because He already promised that,we have to find out 'how', how to realize these promises. Thisis what enlightenment is all about. Very simple.
-1 -2 - 3-4 - 5-6 -
