The Word and the Scriptures

In scriptures , poetry , philosophy and artworks of every period of human history , there is a celebration of an experience to be achieved beyond the day to day pursuit of seeking food and shelter .

At the heart of each civilization there is a system of ritualized beliefs and practices which attempt to enshrine this experience .

The authority invariably finds its roots in sacred books and scriptures . The Christian Holy Bible , the Moslem Koran , the Hindu Vedas , Upanishads , Shastras and Gita , the Buddhist Dhammapada and Sutras , the Sikh Guru Granth Saheb , the Taoist Tao Te Ching , the Judaic Torah Prophets , Kabbalah and Talmud , are just a few ; not to mention the words of saints and illumined ones within each tradition . The voice of God is manifest in the written words of the scriptures and it is supposed to be all we need , in some cases , by way of strength , instruction and illumination .

But what are the scriptures actually saying ?

" You search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life ; and they are they which testify of me . And you will not come to me    that you might have life " - Jesus - John 5:39-40 (Christian)

Here Christ clearly refutes the view that Truth is to be found in the scriptures . These books are the records of people receiving the practical revelation of God within , then describing their experiences and then developing a moral code reflecting the qualities of that inner experience . Religions then are created around the record and external signs and forms of someone else's experience .

Yet all the scriptures - i.e all the saints who were blessed with the supreme experience-exhort us to seek it out for ourselves , at first hand .

Christ called it the Kingdom of Heaven or love ; Buddha - the Supreme Enlightenment ; Shankaracharya - the Crest Jewel ; the Tibetans - the Great Liberation . We read that

" You cannot describe it , you cannot picture it , you cannot admire it , you cannot sense it , it is your own true self , it has nowhere to hide , when    the world is destroyed , it is not destroyed " - Zen Flesh , Zen Bones ( Buddhist )

It seems that all the holy books speak of this experience,this communion with our higher nature,the divinity within,yet how is this to be gained ?

The Master

This experience seems always to have been dependent on the actual presence of a great teacher such as Jesus , Buddha , Nanak , Mohammed , who shook the dependence on external forms of religious ritual in his day , and through the power of his own realization and revelation to others re-instituted or catalyzed this direct form of spiritual experience among those who accepted him .

So the Master's service is to reveal this experience directly , showing the way to a direct perception of the Truth that dwells within inside each one of us .

" I am the light of this world , he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness , but shall have the light of life " ( Christ )

" The human soul is the child of God , but it does not know it , and therefore lives like an ordinary mortal , but when , by the grace of the Master    he realizes his true nature , he becomes free from all fear and attains to perfection " ( Sri Ramakrishna )

" By my grace and by my wondrous power I have shown to thee Arjuna this form of supreme made of light , which is the infinite , the all " 
      ( Krishna )

Moreover it appears that this experience is available ONLY through the living master . Thus -

" No man cometh unto the father but by me " ( Jesus )

" It is the divine law that none can conceive of him without a Satguru " ( Amar Das ) Sikh

The Master has himself realized Truth , and he alone has the power to pass it on , to quicken that vision .

" Without a Satguru , liberation is not won " ( Guru Granth Saheb ) Sikh

" He cannot be taught by one who has not reached Him and He cannot be reached by much thinking 
   The way to Him is through a teacher who has seen Him
   He is higher than the highest thoughts , in Truth , above all thoughts
   The sacred knowledge is not attained by reasoning but it can be given by a true teacher " ( Katha Upanishad ) Vedic

Without his revelation , the gift of one level of consciousness to another , all rites and rituals and scriptural learning are of no avail . The scriptures actually sing the praises of the Master as much as , or more than the revelation that he gives . Indeed he is described throughout the history of different religions , as the divinity manifest to man , the link between us an God.

" Unless the Lord takes a human form and comes to our level in the form of a master , he cannot make any true contact with us . The Lord speaks    in the Master " ( Guru Nanak )

" For an experience of the divine link it is necessary to contact a Satguru , for he alone can explain the theory and grant a practical demonstration    of the reality within each one of us " ( Kirpal Singh ) modern day Sikh tradition

" Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son , and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him " ( Jesus ) Matthew 11:7

" If you find a man who is constant , awake to the inner light , learned , long suffering , endowed with devotion , a noble man
   Follow this good and great man even as the moon follows the path of the stars " ( Dhammapada ) Buddhist

" He who works at the prayer from hearsay or reading and has no instructor , works in vain " ( St Gregory of Sinai ) Christian

" Knoweth that from time to time a Perfect Master is born into the world abounding in wisdom and goodness , unsurpassed as a guide to erring mortals 
   The Truth he doth proclaim , lovely in its consummation . He makes known a higher life in all its purity and all its perfectness " ( Tevigga Suttra ) Buddhist

" Whenever true religion is on the decline , and wrong doing is increasing , then I make myself a body 
   To protect the good , to destroy evil and to establish Truth , I body myself forth from age to age " ( Krishna ) Gita 4:4 Hindu

" I bow down to my most adorable teacher who is all-knowing and has , by imparting Knowledge to me , saved me from the great ocean of births    and deaths filled with ignorance " ( Shankaracharya ) Hindu tradition

" The Lord which even the great Brahma , holy men and gods could not find , though they got exhausted in the search 
   That Lord is found by ordinary mortals , through the grace of a Master 
   Therefore , says Kabir , O brother seeker , do the devotion of a Master , who is the Lord incarnate . ( Saint Kabir ) Hindu/Moslem Tradition

" True believers , Now hath God sent down to you an admonition , an apostle who may rehearse unto you the perspicuous signs of God ; that He    may bring forth those who believe and do good works , from darkness into light " ( Koran ) Moslem

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