Page 228 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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222 Mystic pathways through the bible
characterized by increasing pain and sorrow. On the other hand, truthfulness, humility, compassion, non- covetousness, generosity, fearlessness, cheerfulness and other virtues arise from the af rmation of Divine Presence within one’s heart. These lead to a heavenly experience of increasing peace and joy. These heavenly and hellish experiences are known to all, even while they are alive on earth.
On the highest level of understanding, when Lord Jesus so magni cently asserts, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within thee,” He is speaking about the one goal of all religions: God-realization, Enlightenment or Nirvana. This powerful statement of Lord Jesus is explicit in pointing out that the Heaven you seek is not outside of yourself and not to be expected as a future event; rather, it is the intrinsic fact of your existence. You must seek Heaven through an inner transformation.
The same theme reverberates in such great utterances of Vedanta as “Thou Art That.” With these words, the Guru instructs the disciple: You are not this passing personality or any of the limited concepts that you, in ignorance, consider yourself to be. Through puri cation of mind you will discover that you are that Pure Consciousness that is the Essence of all. You are Brahman, the Supreme Self. To Lord Jesus, God is identical with Heaven. Therefore, abiding in Heaven is the same as abiding