On
December 25th, when Jesus was born, three kings. came to his birthplace. These
three gave
expression
to three different views about the new-born babe. One of them, looking at the
infant,
said:
"This child looks like one who will be a lover of God." A second king
said: "God will love
this
child." The third king declared: "Verily, this child is God
Himself." The first one viewed the
child
from the physical point of view. The second saw the child from the mental
viewpoint. The
third
saw from the Aatmic (spiritual) point of view.
The
three declarations indicate how one can progress from the human to the divine
level. What is
needed
is the destruction of the animal and demonic qualities in man. Man today
worships
inanimate
idols and images, but makes no attempt to love his fellow human beings in flesh
and
blood.
This was the first message of Jesus. Though one sees his neighbours day after
day, he
does
not choose to love them. How can one believe that such a person can love an
invisible God?
If a
man cannot love a fellow human being who is visible before his eyes, how can he
love what
is not
visible to him? This is not possible. Only a man who loves living beings around
him can
love
the invisible Divine. Love must start with love for beings that have form. It
must be
Spirituality
does not mean preoccupation with meditation, worship, etc. It involves total
extinction
of the animal and demonic qualifies in man and the manifestation of his
inherent divinity.
When
the attachments and hatreds in which man is enveloped are removed, the inherent
divinity
in man, the Sath-chith-ananda in him will manifest Itself.
There
is no need to search for the omnipresent Divine in any specific place. When you
are
yourself divine, why search for the Divine
elsewhere? It is a mark of ignorance.
How
Jesus Christ's message was accepted
Jesus performed many miraculous deeds,
relieved the sufferings of many in distress, preached sublime truths to the
people, and ultimately sacrificed his life. For over a hundred years after his martyrdom,
Christ's message did not have any impact. Four centuries later, Christianity
was
accepted by Roman emperors. Even after many
centuries humanity is yet to realise the inherent
divinity of man.
Man is searching for a reason for every
belief or action. Should you seek a reason for sanctifying
the time spent by you on any action? When you
are engaged in unselfish activity for the common
good of society and discharging your duties
with dedication, you are sanctifying your life.
There are four basic elements in every
action. They are Kaarana, Karma, Kaala and
Karthavyam. Kaarana is the reason, Karma is
the action, Kaala is the time and Karthavyam is
the duty that has been discharged. We can
cite an example for this. Supposing you want to go to
Madras to see your relatives; you go to the
bus-stand in the morning, sit in the bus, travel for
eight hours and reach Madras in the evening. Now,-seeing
your relatives is Kaarana (cause).
Sitting in the bus and travelling is karma
(action). Spending eight hours is Kaala (time factor)
and seeing your relatives in Madras and
getting satisfaction therefrom is Karthavyam (goal).
If you do the same things in your dream,
there is no time factor. The cause and action factors are
also absent. As soon as you wake up, you find
that you are only in the bed and discover that your
seeing your relatives in Madras was unreal.
All the four factors are absent in the dream state.
Only where all the four are present will it
be real.
The purpose in view is termed Lakshyam. You
are born as a human being for doing your Karma
(duty). Life is given to you only to
recognise Divinity and the body is the instrument for
achieving this Kaarana (purpose). When you
have spent your life, you have done the karma
(action) in the duration of your life--kaala.
You should have the satisfaction of having achieved
the karthavyam (goal).
Christ preached only this truth and taught
the people that the body should be used for service to
society. This is the teaching of Vedanta.
Vedanta declares that the body is intended only to do
actions in the world in a selfless way.
The genesis of the Christmas tree
Jesus was crucified on
a Friday and He rose from the tomb on a Sunday. That is why Sunday is
taken as the day of
worship and service in churches. Catholics gave importance to Virgin Mary,
the mother of Christ,
while Protestants gave importance to the birth of Christ. Catholics celebrate
Christmas by
worshipping Mary on the evening of 24th and Protestants celebrate the birth of
Christ on the 25th.
There is a custom of putting up a Christmas tree on this day and worshipping
it. The genesis of this
custom can be traced to Germany. A preacher by name Jensen from
England once visited
Germany. When he was travelling in Germany on his mission, he noticed
some Germans attempting
to offer a child's life as sacrifice to propitiate God who, they believed,
lived in an oak tree.
The priest was worried and questioned them why they were offering an
innocent child as
sacrifice to a tree. As they asserted that God lived in the tree, he took an
axe
and cut the tree. To
his surprise, he was shaken by an inexplicable vibration from head to foot.
He noticed the form of
a child between the two portions of the tree that was cut by him.
This incident teaches
the truth that God lives not only in human beings but also in plants and
trees. From that time
onwards people started putting up a Christmas tree and worshipping it on
this Christmas day. The
system of worshipping Divinity in many forms including plants and
stones, which
originated in Bharath, has been prevalent for a long time in other countries
also.
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