Bible Discourse 18 Worship God “in Spirit and in Truth.”

                       Discourse 18

Worship God “in Spirit and in Truth.”

The woman of Samaria part II

“Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say, that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 

Jesus saith unto her, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem, worship the Father.  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him spirit and in truth.”

--John  4:20--24

  The woman of God recognized Jesus as the prophet of God. She sought spiritual guidance from Jesus as to which was the right place to worship?  The Jews believed Jerusalem as the right place for worship.  The forefathers of the woman of Samaria worshipped at the nearby mountain. Jesus did not accept neither Jerusalem nor the mountain for worship. He spoke of Self-realization, inner Jerusalem. He said that we should worship Him in the temple of actual Spirit-to-soul communion.

The woman was referring to Mount Gerizim.  It was nearer to the well at Sychar where she met Jesus.  Abraham (Genesis 12:7), and Jacob (Genesis 33:20) set up altars at Shechem.  Joshua 8:33 recounts how on Gerizim God’s blessings were proclaimed on the Israelites, as promised by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:1—68.

“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.”     Revelation 3:12

Jesus declared that the mass of religious believers take part in ceremonies or rituals but they do not understand the object of their worship. Only who are having God-consciousness shall commune with God. They are the true God worshippers. Ceremonial worshippers –whether it be of diverse images venerated by different cultures down the ages, or customized prayers, chants, or hymns, or symbolic rites—without inner communion is of little value.  Jesus said, “You know not what you worship.”   Ceremonial worship is of no value vis-à-vis actual communion with God through scientific yoga meditation.

God remains unknown to millions who worship Him in temples and churches, and in holy places of pilgrimage because the physical instruments of knowledge can apprehend only the products of Creator.   God is found in silence and in deep meditation.  Thus in answer to the woman of Samaria, Jesus said: The difference is between theological priestly conditions of worship and the saintly way of worshipping God.   The devotee must be in actual communion with Him “in spirit and in truth.”    Devotees must interiorize the consciousness, withdraw their outer consciousness.  God wants no pomp and show. He likes simplicity.

God wanted the “salvation of Jews’ i.e., the developed souls but not Jews as a caste or nation. Jesus said: “God is Spirit: and they worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”    God and Spirit semantically same.  Spirit is beyond logic and unmanifested Absolute or avyakta brahma.  It is darkless dark and lightless light. It is eternal infinity. It is timeless, spaceless, and formless. It is dimensionless. It is ever- existing, ever conscious, and ever new bliss i.e., Sat Chit and Ananda.   God implies the transcendent Creator, beyond Creation, but existing in relation to manifestation that evolves from Him.  When relative creation is dissolved again into its Creator, then God becomes Creator, the unmanifested Absolute.  The true vision of God lies in the perception of the Spirit Ocean without waves of creation.  The devotee must realize God as unmanifested Spirit without delusion of matter or phenomena is Truth.  That is known as “in spirit and in truth.”

“The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saiththeprophet, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house ye build Me? Saith Lord: or ‘what is the place of My rest?  Hath not My hand made all these thing’” 

Acts 7:48—50 (quoting Isaiah 66—2)

Unmanifested Absolute Spirit is Sat . This is God the Father. A part of unmanifested absolute is Tat or Son of the Father or Krishna/Christ Consciousness or Suddha tatwa Maya or Divine Mother or Jagajjanani. The Divine vibratory intelligence is Holy Ghost or Ohm or Amen or the Creation. This is reflected or manifested in Macrocosmic creation.  The individualized Macrocosm is reflected as Microcosm. That body is man.  The true worshipper who is in communion with God understands in his meditation. He clearly understands that he and the God the creator are the reflections of God. It is akin to the individual character and characters are the mere reflections on the screen from the same projector. 

Observe the following four categories:

1) A person has taken a ticket and watching the movie.  2) A person has taken a movie ticket (s) but not yet seeing the movie.  3) A person has taken ticket but his attention is only on the projector or the projection beam that causes the materialization on the screen.  4) There is another person who has not even taken a ticket but observing the movie projector and movie on the silver screen with equal interest without passion.  We will call him as projector operator.

Now observe the scenario. The movie going of these four may be different.  One who is immersed in the story oblivious of the beam. He is in creation. He is the Son of Man.

One who has taken the ticket but not seeing the movie. He is the Holy Ghost. He is in creation but of off the creation.

One who is observing the beam oblivious of the movie.  He is in Savikalpa Samadhi. He is beyond Creation. He is tat. He is in vibrationless Christ or Krishna consciousness.  He is Shuddha satwa maya. He is Jagajjanani.  He is Son of the Father. He is Divine Mother.

A person conscious of both i.e., movie projector and movie is analogous to person in nirvikalpa Samadhi.  This is analogous to conscious of Creation and beyond Creation. He is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. He is God the Father,  Parabrahman, Cosmic consciousness.  

People call Him as Friend or Beloved.  When you feel the gravity of wisdom, you can call him as Father. When you feel unbounded and  unconditional love you can call Him as Divine Mother. When you feel God as the nearest of the near you can call Him Friend. 

God is Spirit, the Absolute, beyond form, qualities, manifestations, cannot be perceived, but only experienced by the supreme realization of Spirit and soul union.

In whatever way people are devoted to Me, in that measure I manifest to them. All men, in every manner, pursue a path to Me.

                                                                Bhagavad Gita IV: 11

The link between the manifest and unmanifest is the Holy Ghost.  It is the Holy Vibration of Ohm.   You can cross the bridge with this only Holy Ghost Vibration.

The first Guru of Sikhs i.e., Guru Nanak Dev ji said:

Ik oh ang kaar sat naam kartaa purig nirbh-a-o nirweir-akaal moerat ajoenie, zae bhang, gur prasaad

Ik- There is ONE(Ik) reality, the origin and the source of everything. When there was nothing, there was that ONE, Ik. 

Onkaar- When Ik becomes the creative principal it becomes Onkaar. Onkaar manifests as visible and invisible phenomenon. The creative principle is not separated from the created, it is present throughout the creation in an unbroken form, 'kaar'.

Satnaam- The sustaining principle of Ik is Satnaam, Sat is Beingness , which just is, eternal, always was. IK is both sat and satya (true) Satnaam the True Name, True Name.

Kartaa Purakh- Ik Onkaar is Creator and Doer (Kartaa) of everything, all the seen and unseen phenomenon. 

Nirbhau- That Ik Onkaar is devoid of any fear, because there is nothing but itself.

Nirvair- That Ik Onkaar is devoid of any enmity because there is nothing but itself.

Akaal Moorat- That Ik Onkaar is beyond Time (Akaal) and yet it is existing. Its a Form(Moorat) which does not exist in Time.

Ajooni- Self -Existent,  That Ik Onkaar does not condense and come into any birth. All the phenomenon of birth and death of forms are within it.

Saibhang- That Ik Onkaar exists on its own, by its own. It is not caused by anything before it or beyond it.

Gurprasaad- That Ik Onkaar can only be known through a channel known as Guru, it’s Guru’s prasad and it is only its own Grace and Mercy (Prasaad) that this happens.

God is ONE and is everywhere and in everyone, He is the truth-immortal Creator, Without-Fear, Without-Enmity, Unborn, and Self-Created.  This understanding comes by the Guru’s Grace. 

                                Japji sahib – Page 1 -- Sri Guru Granth Sahib

Aad satj, Jugaad satj

God was the truth in the beginning, and has been so in all the ages

He is the truth now, and shall forever be so.

Sotje sotj na howe  ie jhe sotji lach waar

Ceremoniously chanting the name of God one cannot understand Him, 

Cleansing the body cannot make the mind clean.

Tjuphe tjup na howe ie jhe lahe raha liv taar

Blanking the mind is not the solution to receive God.

Phukhea phokh na oeterie jhe banna puria paar.

Hunger for God is not appeased – knowledge of God is not obtained, though one may study the relevant literature of the world.

Sehas siaanpa  lakh hohe ta ik na tijalle naal.

We may have a hundred thousand folds of wisdom, even this does not help us understand God.

(At the time of death intellectual smartness also stays behind)

Kiw satj ara hoie kiw koedhe tutte pale

Then, how can we know the truth (The true one), and how can we remove our doubts?

Hukam rejhai tjalna nanak likhea nale  1

Nanak says, the answer is to stay in the Will of God (doubts will clear up and we will attain Him    1          

The "Gurus" in Sikhism are the great enlighteners and divine messengers. They were the messengers of the Timeless, who brought forth the eternal wisdom. They were universal men who freed our minds from bigotry and superstitions, dogmas and rituals, and emphasized the simplicity of the religion.

Learn to worship God in Samadhi or super communion.