Yoga and the Bible by Leeming Joseph;

Author:Leeming, Joseph;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN

‘The kingdom of God is within you.’

Luke 17: 21

‘Ye are the temple of the Living Goaf

II Corinthians 6: 16

One of the fundamental truths emphasized by Jesus is the, immanence of the kingdom of God, the fact that it is within each and every human being. This is also one of the cardinal precepts in the teachings of all other great masters, including those who are here on this earth today.

They, like Jesus, say that the kingdom of heaven is by no means a far-off place or a state of consciousness to be realized only after death. They teach, and also prove to their disciples, that the kingdom is a very present reality, which can be entered and known in this very life. The present-day disciples, as those of the past, are taught how to look within themselves and thereby find the kingdom here and now.

The statement that we must go within is, and always has been, confusing to many. Actually, it means that the higher worlds are reached by first withdrawing the attention from the outer world and then concentrating it within oneself.

This is done by centring the attention at the third eye, commonly called the eye centre, which is situated between the two eyebrows. When one succeeds in concentrating all of his attention at that point, the attention is actually and literally all inside of him. The outer world has been completely shut out and temporarily forgotten. The whole of the disciple’s mind and soul have left the outer world and have ‘gone within’.

Every man possesses the third eye, which is a private door that opens on the eternal brightness. As the disciple holds his attention steadily fixed on it, the soul and mind gradually concentrate all of their forces there. When this concentration has been successfully achieved, the mind and .soul pass through an inner aperture in the forehead called the Tenth Door’, leave the body, and rise to a higher region.

When the soul in this manner passes through the inner ‘gates of light’, it enters one of the countless kingdoms of heaven, or mansions of the Father’s house. Which one it enters depends upon the degree of spiritual advancement that has been achieved. The kingdom is then spoken of as an ‘inner world’, and is so called because one must first go within in order to reach it.

Thus, while the physical body is the prison chamber of the soul, it is at the same time the temple of the living God. And it is in this temple that man is intended really to worship God. This truth has also been taught by all of the many great masters who have visited this earth.

In the Adi Granth it is written:

‘The temple of God is the body, from which come out the rubies of knowledge.’

and:

‘By the grace of the Master do thou behold, within thyself is the temple of God.’

Maghrabi, a Mohammedan Saint, says:

‘The beloved resides within you, O ignorant man, and you are searching for Him outside from place to place.

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