Self-Transformation

                                                       The purpose of our spiritual life is union with God and this cannot be achieved without a transformation of our very being. How this is to be brought about should be the most pressing and urgent question of our life. God has shown us the way how it should be done through the centuries down from the creation of the world. Until Jesus Christ came on the scene, all the revelations of God through various means were preparations for the ultimate resolution of this problem. Jesus announced the good news of the arrival of God's Kingdom on earth. All of us are invited to co-operate in building up this kingdom the foundation of which has been laid in and by Jesus Christ.
                                                       The very first requirement to enter God's Kingdom is to receive God's life from above to recognize and accept which we are required to turn back from our present ways of life. This is called repentance or conversion from our usual habit of looking outward to the world turning back to ourselves to find there the image and likeness of God in us ( Matthew, 4:17; Gen.1:26). All our actions and reactions in life proceed explicitly or implicitly from the inner powerhouse enshrined in our soul and we are called to make the same process conscious. This is why the wise people from both the East and the West constantly insisted on the maxim: 'Know Thyself'. Without the consciousness of who we are essentially if we start interacting in the world, we are going to be sucked into the whirlwind of the external world where we are likely to be drowned. Reflection and meditation on our essential nature keeping which upfront as our standard-bearer is the sure shot method to live happily and peacefully in this world.
                                                      That we are governed ordinarily by our apparent and false self overshadowing our real and true self is a fact of life. Our body through its five senses merrily goes on interacting with the world forgetting all about the soul that is the source of its energy. Our forgetfulness of the source of our energy results in its dissipation in the objects of the world through false attachment. Since we have to interact in the world for our daily life, it is necessary to transform our life through proper detachment from objects in the world. While our true happiness resides in the soul, we are deceived by the seeming attractions of the objects in the world in thinking that they are the source of our happiness! The result is a nagging sense of dissatisfaction and disappointment with our involvement in the world. If only our involvement in the world, even while enjoying sense pleasures, were with a detached attitude, our original energy of the soul would not have been compromised!    
                                                    Our self-transformation is the sure shot method to achieve this kind of balance needed in our daily life. How shall we attain this self-transformation? St. Paul deals with it in a very palpable manner in his Epistle to the Colossians ch.3, verses 5-17. We must put off what belongs to the earth like fornication, indecency, lust, foul cravings and ruthless greed that is  equal to idolatry. In their place, we must put on the garments that suit God's chosen people like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Genuine love for one another should be the crowning glory of our life. Since our mind plays a pivotal role in controlling our life, a transformation of our mind is the basic requirement for our self-transformation. As we live in the world, we cannot avoid facing many life-challenges that come our way. We shall encounter the world by keeping the spirit of the world at bay by exercising self-control whereby our mind is taught to keep its balance (See the next Post on'The Spirit of he World').
                                                     This kind of self-transformation is what Jesus wanted from his followers. "Then he called the people to him, as well as his disciples, and said to them, 'Anyone who wishes to be a follower of mine must leave self behind; he must take up his cross, and come with me...'" (Mark, 8:34). It is not for nothing that Jesus demands the fulfillment of these seemingly irksome conditions from his followers. It is the tried and tested method for genuine and perfect happiness for everyone including those who are crushed under the weight of their daily life. "Come to me all whose work is hard, whose load is heavy; and I will give you relief. Bend your necks to my yoke, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted; and your souls will find relief. For my yoke is good to bear, my load is light'" (Matthew, 11:28-30).
                                                      

Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth

                                            "But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John, 4:23).
                                             These are words from Jesus in conversation with the Samaritan woman on the religious dispute whether God should be worshiped in Samaria or in Jerusalem. Jesus provides two reasons why real worshipers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth. "Such are the worshipers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24).
                                             How should we understand worshiping God in spirit and in truth? As we are composed of body and soul, both of them should find place in our worship. As God is spirit and our soul too is spirit, the communion between the two is of the essence of worshiping in spirit. However, we cannot neglect the external manifestation of worship by using our body to praise and thank God and being related to others. The conformity between the internal and the external is guaranteed by worshiping in truth. Mere rituals and uncommitted words used in prayer to God do not contribute to worshiping in truth. As a clear example of worshiping God in spirit and in truth, let us examine the style of life Jesus led here on earth.
1. Jesus was consumed by the firm determination to do the Will of his Father in heaven. As a consequence, his dealings in the world and his relationship to everyone including Mary, his mother, was secondary because he had to be busy with his Father's concerns (Luke, 2: 49; John, 2: 3-4). Jesus was completely detached from the concerns of this world and yet was ready to take care of the needs of the people around him(John, 2: 3-10). Our involvement in the world with an attitude of detachment, not indifference, is essential for worshiping God in spirit and in truth. (See our Post on 'Detachment').
2 Jesus went to the Jerusalem Temple, especially during festivals, to teach people the ways of God without dissuading them from offering ritual sacrifices. Clearing the Temple of those who turned it into a marketplace was to remind them that it was meant to be a house of prayer (Matthew, 21: 12-13, Mark, 11: 15-17; Luke, 19: 45-46; John, 2: 13-17). Worshiping God in spirit and in truth is reflected in our personal and social attitudes.
3. Jesus overturned every rule that demeaned people upholding, in the process, the dignity of human beings above every other concern. The best example for the same may be seen in the instances when Jesus seemingly violated the Law of Sabbath in order to heal the infirm and help the weak to regain their strength. In matters concerning laws and rules, Jesus set the priority right that was distorted by the authorities by declaring: "He also said to them: 'The Sabbath was made for the sake of man and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is sovereign even over the Sabbath'" (Mark, 2: 27-28). Safeguarding, therefore, the dignity of every human being, demolishing in the process every restriction against it, is the same as worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
4. Jesus was compassionate and his heart went out to people who suffered from indignities, illness, hunger, death of the loved ones etc. Actions out of compassion for people are examples of worshiping God, Who is compassion itself, in spirit and in truth. Jesus did not shy away from the social life of the times and got himself thoroughly involved with the problems of the people.      
                                       Worshiping God in spirit and in truth is the right means to surrender ourselves to the Will of God without, at the same time, compromising on the quality of our life in this world. For how do we pray always even as we are engaged in the activities of daily life? It is done through the spirit of prayer pervading our entire life. What is this spirit of prayer? Besides the usual timings and forms of prayer practiced by us, when our entire life is dedicated to the Will of God  with a clean heart and unattached actions and relations in the world, we have the spirit of prayer. Without seeking our own name and fame for our good works if we offer them up for the glory of God alone, we worship God in the spirit. 
                                       What about worshiping God in truth? It should not be the case that we imagine our worship to be in spirit without any substance in it. Worshiping in truth is the remedy to this sort of malady seen in many cases. It is like checks and balances we exercise on our spiritual authenticity. Hollow and empty sounds produced in certain instances may help us psychologically and yet to benefit spiritually, our rituals, prayers, sacrifices etc. must have a correspondence between the internal and the external. What we express externally should be an outcome of our internal life and in the process we are thoroughly transformed into new people. Actions that follow from a transformed person are infused with spiritual vigor. Whatever is not conducive to our own transformation from the old ways of life to the new ones cannot be counted as woship in spirit and in truth. (See the next Post on 'Self-Transformation).                                    

A Slave of God is really a Free Person

                                                  Jesus said:"No servant can be the slave of two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing of the second. You cannot serve God and Money" (Luke, 16:13).        
                                                  The question that might immediately arise in our minds could be: 'How can then we live in this world?' Let us keep in mind that Jesus does not forbid use of money or material things required for our life in this world What is forbidden is serving money instead of God alone serving Whom is the only way to free ourselves from the tyranny of seeming attractions of life. Our heart, that is the center of our personality, tends to be satisfied only with the total dedication of ourselves to the object of our admiration. A slave is branded with the symbol of authority of the master for no other reason than the requirement of full dedication, and in our case we are branded with the very image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). What is more, the perfect image and likeness of God in Jesus Christ is in us as the hope of a glory to come (Col. 1: 27). This is so from the very beginning of creation since "All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men" (John, 1:4). Thus we are doubly branded by God as His own Whom alone should we serve for our real happiness as the slave of God is really a free person.
                                                 How is this to be understood? Living in the world we are drawn to many things that seem attractive and to different people for various reasons. We are on the wrong path only when we attach ourselves to things and persons in wrong ways. When we are addicted to them and cannot extricate ourselves from their strangleholds, we are on the wrong path. The remedy for this ill is to surrender ourselves to something stronger and all-consuming so that we are masters of ourselves in the world. This is achieved through our self-surrender to God loving Whom whole-heartedly is our primary duty (Deuteronomy, 6:5; Luke,10:27). and is the panacea for total freedom.
                                                  Jesus continues with the reason why we cannot love God and Money at the same time citing from the example of the Pharisees who loved money. "You are the people who impress your fellow-men with your righteousness; but God sees through you; for what sets itself up to be admired by men is detestable in the sight of God" (Luke, 16:15). Righteousness is our right standing before God and that cannot be manufactured by our ingenious ways as it has to come from God alone. Any human attempt to show righteousness without reference to the initiative of God in the matter turns out to be hypocrisy. The reason for this is that the standard set up by God for human righteousness is beyond our scheme of things, which is governed by the pattern of this world.
                                                  How should we surrender ourselves to God whole-heartedly in order to be really free and be permanently happy? Jesus himself gives us the solution to our query by continuing to say: "Until John, it was the Law and the prophets: since then there is the good news of the kingdom of God, and everyone forces his way in" (Luke, 16:16). The Law given through Moses and the prophets was meant to be preparatory for the great initiative of God in inaugurating His Kingdom on earth. The price one has to pay in sharing the joys of this good news is to do violence to oneself just as Jesus did and overcame the world (John, 16:33). This violence is against our undue attachments in the world that distort and veil our fundamental relatedness to God.
                                                  If anyone thinks that as a consequence the Law and the prophets are irrelevant, Jesus has forewarned: "It is easier for heaven and earth to come to an end than for one dot or stroke of the Law to lose its force" (Luke, 16:17). How should we proceed then? How can we combine the demands of the Law and the prophets with the good news of the Kingdom of God? This is achieved through worshiping God in spirit and in truth (John, 4:23). We shall treat this topic in our next post as it needs to be elaborated  a little. It should also help us to see through many of the problems involved in surrendering ourselves fully to God without compromising on the quality of our life in the world.

The Worldly and the Other- Worldly

                                             "For the worldly are more astute than the other-worldly in dealing with their own kind" (Luke, 16:8).
                                              A cunning person is better equipped in dealing with another cunning person, just as a miser knows the trick of the trade in confronting another miser. In the parable of Jesus about the rich man and his steward, we see the master applauding the dishonest steward for acting astutely. The conclusion drawn by Jesus is that the worldly people are more astute in dealing with their own kind, i.e., the worldly people (Luke, 16: 1-8). The other-worldly people, on the other hand, are full of intelligence of a different order that is divine in nature and is foreign to the worldly. This allows them to see God's creativity everywhere and invite Him to re-create one's own life. Jesus recommends use of our wealth for charity so that we may be able to win friends in the other world where our present wealth would be a thing of the past. No wealth or treasure can really be ours when compared to our life that should be really ours. If we are irresponsible by squandering what is really not ours, nobody is expected to give us what is really ours, i.e. eternal life (Luke, 16:9-12).
                                            Even as we live in this world, how can some be other-worldly and others this-worldly? It does not mean that in order to be other-worldly, one has to run away from or cut all relations with the world. It depends on our personal attitude, wherever we are, that makes us other-worldly or this-worldly. Even when a tragedy strikes, it may transform our lives for the better. Brooding over our life can be either for coming out of it stronger and better or for breaking us to shreds! The former manner of brooding over helps us to strengthen our inner life with full vigor to rise up again, whereas the other type drags us into further desperation The difference is between the other-worldly and this-worldly. St. Paul expressed it thus: :"For the wound which is borne in God's way brings a change of heart too salutary to regret; but the hurt which is borne in the world's way brings death" (2 Cor. 7:10).
                                            What is God's way that makes our life other-worldly and the world's way that makes it this-worldly? In a nutshell we may say that all that is related to our soul and its connection to God is God's way and everything that is connected to our body and this world is the world's way. Our primary inclination is to tend to our body and its needs for which we need the resources of this world. As a result, all of us are extroverts, meaning 'turned towards' the world and as it is natural, it is to be accepted as normal. This is in consonance with what St. Paul says: "Observe, the spiritual does not come first; the animal body comes first, and then the spiritual" (1 Cor. 15.46). Of itself, it does not make a person this-worldly provided we are willing to turn back inwards to see the implications of being human that cannot avoid the reality of our soul and its connection to God.
                                          Our usual tendency to blame the situations of life for our failures and failings should not be resorted to as an escape route to avoid our responsibility. For, very often it is due to our failure in attending to the infinite capacity we are endowed with that we encounter disaster! St. Paul warned about adapting ourselves to the pattern of this world instead of renewing our minds and thus transforming our entire nature (Rom. 12:2). The clue lies in the state of our minds and not in the state of affairs in the world, which could also be transformed through the transformation of ourselves.
                                          Our mind has the capacity to transform our lives whereby we become other-worldly even as we are engaged in the daily routines of this world. As long as we take care not to be a slave to anything or anybody other than God, we are free and are other-worldly. Our outlook and views may not tally with those in the world who hold fast to merely worldly values. They are smart in dealing with similar worldly people and we should not have any regrets in being relegated to the background as we have a greater treasure to cherish of which they may be unaware! Other-worldly does not mean that we cannot engage the world, but it means that our engagement with it is capable of transforming it to a new and higher level