Those who believe in reincarnation are taught that anyone who strives to achieve union with God by living a virtuous life but fails to reach the ultimate goal will go to heaven and stay there for a long time before returning to earth. When that person is reborn it will be into a good and prosperous home where he or she will be encouraged to continue the quest for God realization.  If you practice long and hard enough you might be lucky enough to be born into a family of already enlightened parents, but that is rare and hard to obtain. That fortunate person will recall his or her former wisdom and be in an environment that will encourage even more earnest efforts than before.

Nothing bad comes from following a spiritual path

So what happens if you decide to follow this spiritual path, that you decide all the ego gratification and indulging yourself in sensual satisfaction really is no good, and you give it all up to practice the things that lead to union with God, but you find out you can’t do it?  What if you either quit practicing after a while or realize that you can’t control your mind and emotions well enough to make it to the ultimate goal?  Won’t you find yourself lost to both worldly pleasures and the promise of bliss with God? What then? Do you just perish like a cloud dissolved by the wind? Will you find yourself disillusioned by the quest for God and alone without support for either way of life, riddled with doubt? Rest assured that anyone who sincerely tried to apply these principles will not suffer a negative outcome. Whether in this world or the next, anyone who tries to do good and be good will not come to an evil end.

All this is hard and seemingly unnatural, but it can be done

All those great things like bliss and peace of mind are wonderful for those who have achieved union with God, but for the average person it seems impossible to get there. If even-mindedness under all circumstances is what it takes, most people would say that it can’t be done. The mind is restless by nature and is as hard to control as the wind. Indeed the undisciplined mind is restless and hard to control at first, but by steadily practicing meditation and non-attachment it can be done. In fact, if you persist in applying the proper methods and earnestly try to remain self-controlled, little by little you will undoubtedly succeed.

Once aware of your oneness with God, you are never separated

Whether in a human body or merged with the eternal Spirit after death, once united with God no one is ever separated.  Anyone who perceives God everywhere and sees that everything is a part of God will never be separated from that Holy Spirit again. That person feels the pleasure or grief of others as if it were his or her own.

God is everywhere and within everyone

The practice of meditation consists of withdrawing one’s consciousness from its attention to the senses and their contact with the things that stimulate them.  With patience, little by little, the mind becomes one-pointed and tranquil.  Then you can completely let go of any desires and expectations so you can identify with your inner soul-self. Whenever your mind wanders away, simply bring it back to rest in that calm identification with your true self. Anyone who masters this will be able to quell all passions and become united with God.  All sins fall away and one experiences the greatest joy.  That person sees the same image of God within everyone and everyone becomes a part of oneself.  God is everywhere and within everyone.

A description of union with God and how to get there

When your mind is completely under control and you turn it inward, devoid of attachment to any desire, towards the image of God within, your individual “self” beholds your true soul-self and it becomes satisfied.  That well-trained mind becomes as steady as a candle flame in a windless place.  Once your mind becomes fixed in that state, you will have achieved union with God.

            There is nothing else to achieve for yourself when you become completely established in that state of union.  You will be immune from even the worst possible grief. Nothing can upset you.  You will have awakened an intuitive intelligence about reality and you will experience an immeasurable bliss that far transcends any pleasure of the senses. You will have discovered the treasure of all treasures and you will never slip from that state again.  This pain-free state is achieved by resolutely practicing meditation and selfless service. Therefore, be determined and practice with a brave heart.

A moderate lifestyle helps with meditation and selfless service

If you want your attempts to reflect God’s attributes in your own life to be successful you should also regulate your lifestyle. Do not eat too much or too little. Do not sleep too much or too little. Do not be too lazy or over-exert yourself. Avoid extremes in everything you do. Combine that with the practice of meditation and selfless service and you will find that it will eliminate all your pain and suffering in this world.

The basics of meditation

These are the basic instructions for practicing meditation: find a clean place to lay out a mat or something to protect yourself from the ground. Put a blanket or towel over the mat and sit on a cushion that isn’t so high that you are unstable or so low that you are uncomfortable. Sit with your body, neck and head all in a straight line.  Don’t look around or let your mind wander. Instead, focus on a point between the eyebrows and concentrate on one thing only.  Be serene and fearless. Your mind and body will gradually calm down. Sit thusly, firm in the vow to ignore the body and its sensations. Meditate with the intent to identify your consciousness with the image of God within. If you have the self-discipline to practice this steadily for a long enough period of time you will naturally attain a state of serenity and peace which will allow you to perfectly reflect the image of God within you.

A spiritual seeker should persevere with meditation in solitude until he or she masters the mind and body and should constantly strive to identify with the soul. That person will eventually be free from the endless effort to satisfy the senses and obtain possessions.

Enduring the pairs of opposites with an even mind

That person who has completely identified him or herself with the image of God within becomes tranquil and content with understanding the wisdom that comes from seeing things the way they really are. The spiritual seeker who is absorbed in that truth, who has firmly established his or her identification with the soul and who has conquered the senses will be unaffected by heat or cold, pleasure or pain, praise or blame. He or she is not disturbed by anything and looks with equal regard on a clod of soil, a stone or a nugget of gold.  That person has equal regard for everyone whether they be a family or strangers, friends or enemies, neutral acquaintances or hateful people, saints or sinners.

An uncontrolled mind is your enemy

You can decide to be your own friend or your own enemy. A person can rise up through the efforts of the mind or similarly be cast downward. As you gain control over your thoughts and feelings through the help of meditation and forsaking your ego, your mind becomes your friend. An uncontrolled mind becomes your enemy.

You cannot really be seeking to reflect the image of God within you if you have not renounced selfish motives and personal desires.  Selfless service to everyone around you is the way to attain union with God.  When you overcome both attachment to fulfilling your sensual desires and to the desire to have your actions yield the results that you want, you will be completely identified with the image of God.  True serenity is the state of mind that results.

Real freedom and supreme peace

When you become perfect in the practice of both non-attachment and meditation things like longing for sensual pleasures, anger and fear naturally drop away and you will realize you are really one with God by virtue of having His image within you. With your mind and body calm and controlled, you will experience real freedom.  You will then understand that these attributes of self-sacrifice and self-discipline are really attributes of God and you will have undoubtedly reached a state of supreme peace

Find joy from within and delight in the welfare of all

When one becomes identified with the image of God within, a person can understand the true nature of reality and therefore has no delusions and can act without having any doubts.  That person who has realized God is not excited by pleasure nor do they suffer from unpleasant circumstances.  He or she is wise enough to remain unaffected by temporary conditions that always come and go.  That attitude combined with persistent meditation yields a state of uninterrupted joy.  That person finds his or her joy solely from within and can then delight in the welfare of all beings.  If you can accomplish this while still in your human body, you are destined for happiness.

Ignore petty differences and see everyone as the same

Those who continuously identify with their true soul-self rather than their ego and its attachment to the body will eventually merge with God and any remaining flaws will then be destroyed.  When that happens, people will call that person enlightened and the darkness of ignorance that misleads all people will be replaced by the light of true knowledge about reality.  Those who reach that state can then see that the image of God within is the same in a humble student, a cow, a dog or in someone who eats cows and dogs.  When you become firmly established in your identity as the reflection of God’s image, you rise above all the petty differences in the world and are unaffected by its constant change.

A little summary

Anyone who meditates with a mind made pure by selfless service to others will soon realize his or her own oneness with God.  When your thoughts are pure and your mind is well-disciplined, the relentless urge to satisfy your senses dies down and you realize that your true self is the image of God within.  By completely identifying with that part of yourself you will no longer be subject to the consequences of your actions even though you keep acting in the world as usual.

All paths lead to the same goal

Ultimately, whichever path one takes to know God, everyone ends up in the same place.  You might have different experiences along the way, but when you get to the end result, union with God, you will all have the same experience.  Regardless of the path, getting to that final state is very hard without performing selfless actions, because the impact that neither hating nor desiring anything just for yourself has on your way of thinking purifies your mind and leads to that state of absolute freedom.

Because they do not understand the real way the world works, some people will sincerely not believe the truth in these teachings.  They will remain skeptical and destined to suffer unhappiness now and in the future.  But those who have an open mind and sincerely devote themselves to taking control over their slavery to their senses will come to understand this wisdom and take it to heart, which will in turn lead to the realization of profound inner peace. When you fully understand this truth, you will never be confused again.  Even if you have been the worst of sinners, the fire of this wisdom will reduce your evil nature to ashes.  You will then begin to dedicate all your work to the selfless service of others and all your doubts will be destroyed.  At that point, you are poised to know your true soul-self.

The real meaning of sacrifice

In ancient times, people sought to please God and atone for their sins by sacrificing various material objects into fire in a formal ceremony. Even then the wise amongst them knew that a true devotee who wants to purely reflect the image of God within must sacrifice their very ego and its attachment to “me” and “mine.”  They will have to sacrifice their slavery to fulfilling their sensual desires and show self-restraint.  They sacrifice their wealth to benefit the poor or, lacking wealth, they offer their knowledge and wisdom to benefit those around them (which is even better than money that can be spent and will be gone). All those who act in that way know it is that kind of sacrifice which destroys their sinful behavior.  Those who sacrifice themselves, each according to his or her own ability, will reach God and become free.  If you find such people, honor them, question them, serve them and seek your own enlightenment from them.  Be open to receiving their teaching.

Freedom and contentment

Thus, the sages of ancient times discovered that a wise person who understands the nature of reality does thing without personal desire.  Because the wise have relinquished their attachment to having things turn out the way they selfishly want them to, they are always contented with the results and are not dependent on anyone or anything to make them happy.  Though he or she appears to be acting in the world like everyone else, the wise do not do anything that binds them to any particular result.  With control over their mind and ego, not considering any possession to be their own, those men and women of wisdom are free from the effects of their actions even when their bodies are acting according to the forces of nature.