Jesus and love are synonymous. If you say love, you need not say Jesus and if you say Jesus, it means love. Jesus once said, “If you call God in my name, whatever you ask shall be given. For God is love.” You find such a complete expression of love in Jesus. Whatever little glimpses you may get here and there indicates that fullness, that ultimate expression of the inexpressible that life is striving to express all the time.
Jesus is the embodiment of love. Just look at how much insult and pain he had to suffer. Jesus took the hurt and the pain with such equanimity and calmness. He was blamed by everyone. Even his own disciples ran away. Imagine how hurtful that must have been for him at that time. When you do all you can for your devotees, and one fine day, they disown you and run away, it is the most terrible hurt that anyone can imagine. But Jesus’ life was like that.
And when everyone had forsaken him in the end, he even asked God, ‘Have you also forsaken me?’So, his was a life of total pain on one side and love on the other side.
Now, this does not mean that anybody who loves will have to undergo so much pain. It is not so. His message to the people was always this, ‘Do not be a fanatic about anything. Do not judge and do not be cruel. Be loving and compassionate towards everyone, for God is Love.' People were living in the head at that time, they were only thinking of sins and punishment. They were only dreaming of heaven and afraid of hell.
Jesus came and said, ‘Live in the present moment. Live now and be loving and caring towards all. There is no need to be afraid of God because He is our father, and like a father he is part of us. My father and I are one.'
He gave such a revolutionary message at that time, and made people realize that the journey is from the head to the heart, and not from the head to the heavens and the stars.
He gave that message, but for seventy years no one recorded what He said. Jesus’ message was, ‘Wake up and see that the kingdom of heaven is within you. Know that God is love.'
So, be like a child. A child has no prejudices. Unless you are like a child you cannot get into heaven. This message is getting lost. A child-like innocence, and sense of belongingness with everybody is missing. This is why there has been so much crime in the name of religion. When religion started to be mixed with political authority, then it gave rise to communism. All this has happened because we do not realize the inner light, that we are, the light of our inner being.
Jesus said, “I have come to put man against man, father against son, daughter against mother.” Very few people have really understood what it means. Whom you think is your friend is really not a friend because he or she makes your faith on the matter strong, and spirit weak. “I have come to put one against each other, I have come to put fire, not make peace.”
Jesus said this because he knew the depth of slumber. When you talk something nice, peaceful, everybody will go to sleep and when there is something sensational, people wake up and listen. This is how the human mind operates. And Jesus made all efforts for one to cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self. You break through the limited identities and recognise the Divinity within you. You are much more than just a human; you are part of the Divine. And you inherit the kingdom. And that kingdom is right here, right within you.
This is also the reason why Jesus said, ‘Those who came before me were thieves.’
Why did he say that? He said that because right now you are here, and you are thinking about the past; your mind has been stolen by somebody. So, he said that to bring the people to the present moment, to wake them up so that they could be - here right now.
You cannot misinterpret all these things. Jesus said, ‘I have come here not to make peace, but to put fire. To put father against son, mother against daughter.’
If you think this is what Jesus said, then no. This is all with reference to some context, with some inner meaning to it. Jesus would never be unhappy or upset if you did something that would help in your growth; which would make you more loving, which would make you a more peaceful and a better human being.
Love is the only way. Do you know the Bible was written 70 years after Jesus Christ? There are 72 sects of Christianity, all of which have their own interpretation of the Bible (similar to how there are 32 sects of Buddhism).If you see the ancient teachings, Lord Krishna also says the same thing, ‘This is the only way!’ This is an affirmation for people who were there at that time, to be in the present moment.
Love has no name, nor form. Love is abstract, yet it is very concrete. It has no name or form but manifests in all names and in all forms. This is the mystery of creation. You can see love everywhere in this creation if only you have an eye to see it. Just see a bird, and a small one in the nest. The bird comes and how it feeds its young one. See how the young one waits for the mother bird to come. There is love in it. There is love among fish. There is love in the sky. There is love underneath the water. There is love on the ground. And there is love in the outer space.
Love makes you weak, but brings you the kingdom of heaven. However strong you are, you are the weakest when you are in love. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe. Since love makes you weak, it also is scary. Among thousands, just a few followed Jesus. Many heard, but just a few came. Even after performing many miracles, only handful of people could recognise him
Every form is full of love and every name represents love. And that is how Jesus is One with the Father. Father is One with his creation. In India, the creation and creator are compared to the dance and the dancer. You cannot have a dance without a dancer. Dancer is in every move of the dance. The creator is in every spec of the creation. That is what is omnipresent, omnipotent. If God is omnipresent, he is present everywhere, isn’t it? The creator, if he is different from the creation, then he is not present in his creation. Then he is not omnipresent. The whole definition of God is gone.
Love is present everywhere, but somewhere it finds total expression. And the knowledge of the Self leads you towards that total expression of love, of blossoming of love. It lifts your eyes from all tiny little things. One Divine is providing for everybody. Neither the python goes to work nor the birds toil. Everybody is taken care of. Everything is taken care of.
Jesus said, “Love each other as much as I love you.” What more do you need to see that embodiment of love?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
