An extract from True Christianity and Yoga

The supreme Truth is to be discovered as the essence of our own being. It is approached through the contemplation of some image or symbol that indicates, in a finite and imaginable form, the infinite spiritual reality that lies within and beyond the symbol. Our focus may be in the form of a sentence or word, a sacred picture or a holy name. All such inner focusing has the aim of awakening our faculty of spiritual intuition. This is the spirit of the Bhagavad Gita verse, where the Lord, in the form of Shri Krishna, gives us, in words, a symbolic indicator of His nature and, by implication, our own true nature, as the source of all:

I am the source of all. From Me everything evolves. Thus thinking the wise worship Me, endowed with contemplation. (10:8)

When Jesus declared: 'The kingdom of heaven is within you', he is, as it were, prescribing a symbolic meditation designed to turn our gaze from the outer and engage us on the inner quest for self-realization.

If we want self-realization, this inner quest should be the main intention of our life. For if we seek it above everything else, we shall find fulfilment. 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' (Matthew, 6:33)

The Chandogya Upanishad compares this spiritual realm within us to a golden treasure buried in the ground, which we may walk over again and again without realizing its nearness and availability. In the Gospels, the kingdom of heaven is also compared to a treasure that is buried in a field. The seeker is like a man who has realized that this is the place where the treasure is to be sought and found. He sells everything he has and buys the whole field.

One can interpret the whole field as the mind, in which is hidden the treasure of the supreme Truth as its very source. 'Buying the field' and making sacrifices to do so, signifies our determination to cultivate our mind, through tranquillity, purity and charging it with thoughts that point to our divinity. Thus the mind will become a clear channel through which our divine nature will manifest. This process is brought about by such practices as meditation, worship, service and philosophical reflection on the spiritual truth.

What is the result of this seeking? Concerning this quest, Jesus says:

Let him who seeks, not cease from seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled, and when he has been troubled, he will marvel, and he will reign over the All. (Gospel of Thomas, 2)

Once a man has been told that the Lord is his true Self and is to be sought within his own heart, and accepts it, once he finds, so to say, that this is where Truth has to be realized, he will be troubled, because he will be faced with an inner challenge which he cannot evade. He may postpone the quest or delay it, but it will always haunt his conscience. For he can no longer claim to be ignorant of the path he has to follow. There are no longer any excuses to hold him back, or, if he has been deflected from the path, to stop him from making a new beginning. Sooner or later he will have to face his inner state and take responsibility to remove the rust from the mirror of his heart and clear his vision of egoism and self-deception.

But once his vision is cleared, even partially, he will marvel at the inner revelation. He will realize that the source of happiness and divinity is his own essential being. Finally, he will know that there is no divinity other than his true Self, his Atman, the pearl of great price. And he will recognize himself as ever free, fearless and fulfilled. Sings the sage in the Avadhut Gita:

That God, Atman, by whose power the whole universe is born, in which it abides and to which it finally returns like bubbles and waves in the sea, is realized by the wise.

Such verses remind us of the overall purpose of both Christianity and the spiritual Yoga. It is to awaken to direct experience of reality, whether we call it 'the realization of the kingdom of heaven within', or we refer to it as Brahmavidya - the knowledge of Brahman, or Self-realization.

Religions are means to an end that ultimately transcends religion. They provide the dynamic and progressive steps to Self-realization. As Jesus says: 'If you bring forth that within yourselves, that which you have will save you.' (Thomas, 70). To bring forth what is within ourselves is to discover that our deeper Self is the source of joy. When we finally understand that we are not going to find lasting happiness in the outer world, one option still remains. And that undertaking is grounded on Truth, not illusion. It is to seek the treasure within oneself, to dig in our own field. At last our joy will be full, independent, pure and peaceful. This natural Self-joy is also the promise of Yoga...