Christ lived two thousand years ago. Why do we still remember this day? Not because Christ was the founder of Christianity. Christianity was established in Rome, not in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The founder of the organized Christian system was St Peter. The teaching of Christ, of Jesus, before the establishment of Christianity was very simple. If we are to express Christ’s teaching in the language of today, we would say, “Live for others, to alleviate the suffering of others and to reconnect them with their source, God.” This would be Christ’s teaching in a nutshell, and it is the most important one to transform the human mind.
Who lives for other people? Today we are so self-centred that we forget about the suffering of others; we are too caught up in our own conflicts and problems. To connect with God, the source, becomes a distant reality in our lives. But if we can conceive of a process to fulfil these three important mandates of Christ, we become true Christians in heart and in spirit; we become true yogis in heart and in spirit; we become true human beings in action and in thought.
This has to be the form of our sadhana in order to humanize ourselves. We call ourselves ‘humans’, but it is only a social label. In reality we are different. What are the qualities of a human being? What determines that we are human beings? Thinking is not a quality of a human being, thinking is a process of intellect, intelligence. Intellect does not define a human being because the same intellect, when used in the wrong manner, can make us satanic.

 

Spirit is beyond the mind
The thing that makes us really human is the knowledge of the connection, the invisible thread that exists connecting the individual and the transcendental, the Divine; the ability to see this link, this connection, in everything, in everyone else; and the destruction of the thought that “I am superior” or “I am inferior”, “I know more” or “I know less” – because these are all the plays of ego. If I feel superior, it is my ego playing with me. If I feel inferior, it is my ego playing with me. If I consider myself to be knowledgeable, it is my ego. If I consider myself to be foolish, it is my ego. Foolish in relation to what? Knowledgeable in relation to what? Is a Ph.D. degree an indication of your knowledge, just because you have crammed your head with many different ideas and concepts, some of which are very fulfilling and enriching and some of which are not so fulfilling and enriching?

Human experience is beyond ego. You have to understand this concept in terms of mind, consciousness and spirit. Intellect, knowledge and perception all relate to the dimension of mind. Your understanding of yourself, of who you are, relates to the dimension of mind. But the mind has to die for consciousness to take birth. Jesus had to die for Christ to emerge. Jesus died on the cross and after three days Christ emerged from the cave. It was that Christ who ascended to heaven. Jesus did not ascend to heaven, Christ ascended to heaven. So, the mind which relates to the world has to die and consciousness has to emerge. Therefore, no amount of wisdom, knowledge, intelligence or personal awareness is going to lead us to the experience of consciousness or spirit. Once you realize the spirit, then spirit is recognized as one.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, Ganga Darshan, December 24, 1999

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Sadhana to transform the mind

Christ lived two thousand years ago. Why do we still remember this day? Not because Christ was the founder of Christianity. Christianity was established in Rome, not in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The founder of the organized Christian system was St Peter. The teaching of Christ, of Jesus, before the establishment of Christianity was very simple. If we are to express Christ's teaching in the language of today, we would say, “Live for others, to alleviate the suffering of others and to reconnect them with their source, God.” This would be Christ's teaching in a nutshell, and it is the most important one to transform the human mind.
Who lives for other people? Today we are so self-centred that we forget about the suffering of others; we are too caught up in our own conflicts and problems. To connect with God, the source, becomes a distant reality in our lives. But if we can conceive of a process to fulfil these three important mandates of Christ, we become true Christians in heart and in spirit; we become true yogis in heart and in spirit; we become true human beings in action and in thought.
This has to be the form of our sadhana in order to humanize ourselves. We call ourselves 'humans', but it is only a social label. In reality we are different. What are the qualities of a human being? What determines that we are human beings? Thinking is not a quality of a human being, thinking is a process of intellect, intelligence. Intellect does not define a human being because the same intellect, when used in the wrong manner, can make us satanic.

 

Spirit is beyond the mind
The thing that makes us really human is the knowledge of the connection, the invisible thread that exists connecting the individual and the transcendental, the Divine; the ability to see this link, this connection, in everything, in everyone else; and the destruction of the thought that “I am superior” or “I am inferior”, “I know more” or “I know less” – because these are all the plays of ego. If I feel superior, it is my ego playing with me. If I feel inferior, it is my ego playing with me. If I consider myself to be knowledgeable, it is my ego. If I consider myself to be foolish, it is my ego. Foolish in relation to what? Knowledgeable in relation to what? Is a Ph.D. degree an indication of your knowledge, just because you have crammed your head with many different ideas and concepts, some of which are very fulfilling and enriching and some of which are not so fulfilling and enriching?

Human experience is beyond ego. You have to understand this concept in terms of mind, consciousness and spirit. Intellect, knowledge and perception all relate to the dimension of mind. Your understanding of yourself, of who you are, relates to the dimension of mind. But the mind has to die for consciousness to take birth. Jesus had to die for Christ to emerge. Jesus died on the cross and after three days Christ emerged from the cave. It was that Christ who ascended to heaven. Jesus did not ascend to heaven, Christ ascended to heaven. So, the mind which relates to the world has to die and consciousness has to emerge. Therefore, no amount of wisdom, knowledge, intelligence or personal awareness is going to lead us to the experience of consciousness or spirit. Once you realize the spirit, then spirit is recognized as one.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, Ganga Darshan, December 24, 1999