Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

35. The Christian Idea of God

(Darshan given in October 1998)

A visitor [a Christian nun]: We come from God, we are going back to God, we are moving in God, we live and move in God.

Swamiji: I don't know. My feeling is, Christianity worships a transcendent God, not an immanent God, and Christians don't like mysticism, though nowadays there are schools of Christian mysticism also. The moment you bring God down to the earth, your religion becomes mystic.

Christianity, though it originated in the East, I should say... It did not originate in the West. Asia Minor and Palestine, etc., are not European parts. They are Asian parts. But it spread through the West through the activity of St. Paul, so it looks that Christianity is a Western religion. Christ's teachings are all Oriental teachings only. Vedanta and Buddhist thought, both are inside it. It is basically...

It has become a kind of Semitic religion. Semitic religions do not believe in the immanent God. Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Islam, these are the four Semitic religions that always keep God far away from the world. They don't merge the world with God. That is a heresy for Islam and Judaism, or even Christianity, because you use the words 'Holy Father in Heaven'. 'Father in Heaven' you are saying. Unless you say that this Heaven is everything and everywhere in the whole cosmos, that the entire universe is Heaven – if you are prepared to accept that, your Christianity becomes a mystical religion. But do you think all Christians will believe that? They will say, “Father in Heaven, Thy will be done.” What is this 'Thy'? If He is everywhere and He is everything, to whom you are referring as Thy? Thy kingdom come. Thy is only applied to a second person, and there is no second person. God is not a second person, because already you have accepted He is the only reality. So you should not use the words 'You', 'He' and all that, to Him. But everywhere, and in all scriptures, this word is used. Oh God. Why you are saying 'Oh God'? Where is He?

Now, by an analysis, you have ruled out the possibility of the utter transcendency of God. 'Transcendency' means unreachable distance. Then, in that case, you cannot call God everything. Now you have told something which is very interesting, but still you believe in the Father in Heaven, Son and Holy Ghost. You have created a Trinity while you have already accepted that it is a unity of soul-being. So that is why I asked you how you are thinking God: as a Trinity or an Absolute?

This is necessary for your own salvation. It is not a theological discussion. This will determine your future in this world and in the other world. The future world, so-called, is nothing but what you are thinking. It will be carried forward like a balance sheet in accounts. It is not that in heaven you think differently. It is not like that. It is only an intensification and perpetuation of what you have been thinking throughout life. Even now you are in heaven because the kingdom of God is within. 'Within' means not this person, that person. Within the universe. Thy kingdom come, and the kingdom of God is within. Now, within whom? It is not this person or that person. Within the whole universe. Then it becomes intense mysticism.

So Christians do not, in my opinion, take time enough to analyse these things. They have got some stereotyped routines. Every Sunday you go to church and read the Bible, and all that. These are all external gestures or rituals, which are very good.

Another thing, which is very important, is the concept of salvation. Up to this time we have been discussing about the concept of God. We have come to some sort of a conclusion. What is salvation? What happens to you in salvation? Where will you be if you attain salvation? Where will you be?

Visitor: I say, at present, to God.

Swamiji: You will be in God? If you are in God, you will be everywhere, because you have already said God is everywhere.

Visitor: It [unclear] our soul.

Swamiji: No, no. You should not say anything. There is no 'our soul' because when you said God is everything, there is no separate soul from that. You should not bring a division between you and God when you have already accepted that He is everything. So be careful in this matter because what you think, that will determine your future.

The soul is not only yours. Every ant, every sand particle – the whole cosmos is the soul. It embodies the divinity of God. So when you have attained salvation, you have reached God, you have attained God. What will be your experience at that time, roughly? What will you feel?

Visitor: Joy.

Swamiji: No, it is a poor word. It is not like that. Then you must say God is a happy person. It is a very poor definition of such a Mighty Being to say He is a happy person. This is a terrible subject, Mataji. Oh, this is a terrible subject. You should not take it as a joke. I have said something; you think over it.