How High Should We Aspire?
Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness
Reading and Affirmation for April
From the book The Beatitudes: Their Inner Meaning by Swami Kriyananda
How High Should We Aspire?
Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.
The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
The passage this week is from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 5:
I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The easiest explanation for these words is that they were spoken in criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, particularly since Jesus was often verbally attacked by them, and stood up to them fearlessly. However, it wouldn’t have been much of a challenge to the disciples, who aspired to spiritual perfection, to tell them, “Don’t be like those who lack any such aspiration.”
Jesus in fact says only a few verses later, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
What Jesus was referring to here, then, was the self- righteousness of the priests. Don’t seek perfection, he was saying to his disciples, in the image you project toward others. Don’t be satisfied with a goodness born merely of ego-definitions. The highest virtue is to transcend the very thought of personal virtue in the realization of God alone as the Doer. Before this realization, even the thought, “I am kind,” or, “I am truthful,” is self-limiting.
As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, the seventh Chapter:
Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find,
That man who sayeth, “All is Vasudev!”
Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.
Whispers From Eternity
71. Flood me with Thy Omnipresent Love
O Fountain of love, flood the lowlands of our love for home and family with Thy omnipresent love. O Mighty Source of all our rivers of desire, teach us not to cut ourselves off from Thee, hunting on dry sands of sense-satisfaction.
Love is our souls’ birthright! We demand, now, that all the rivers of our cravings be redirected through valleys of humility, eager self-sacrifice, and concern for others until, reinforced by Thy torrential blessings, they merge in the ocean of all fulfillment in Thee.
Bless us, that the rivulets of our sympathy, affection, and love lose not themselves in the sands of dreary selfishness.
Let the little, lonely, separately-moving streamlets of our love, which come from Thee, merge at last in the vastness of Thy perfect Love.
Paramhansa Yogananda
Inspiration from the Rays of One Light
I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20
We will take these meaningful words into our meditation together for deep reflection and contemplation. But firstly, we will listen to the beautiful Psalm of David, sung by Mary Kretzmann.
Psalm of David
Listen to the Psalm of David
Reflect, Meditate and Listen to Instrumental Music
Reflection from the Rays of the One Light
Peace Sangha
This week, I was moved by the teaching
“Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
As I sat with this scripture, this teaching inspired me to write a poem called “The Posture of Righteousness”, a reflection on the holy art of awareness, the pause before the mind becomes a yoyo, the discipline of remembering we are not our thoughts, the gentle returning again and again toward spiritual direction rather than perfection, a meditation on rising not higher than others, but deeper into truth, I hope you enjoy it.
The Posture of Righteousness
We move through life like a sheep trying to stay close to the Shepherd
Because the world is loud
But God’s voice is the
Aum Amen Thunder
That only the still hearted hear
I’m learning slowly, stubbornly
That righteousness is not a costume
A garment
A performance
A Pharisee checklist
Or the scribe’s perfect script
It’s the inner stillness
Where the soul turns its attention toward the Light
The One who sees everything
Divine Mother
Thou art omnipresent
Reveal who we are
What we are feeding
What we are watering
What we are allowing to grow within us
Let our thoughts take root in you
So the fruit of our life reveals the tree
The true sweetness
Of your divine love
To Aspire High
I practice awareness
The holy poetic art
The pause that catches the mind
Before the string pulls out the yoyo
Divine Mother
Thou art omnipresent
The discipline of being aware
Remembering that we are not our thoughts
Before they become our downfall and despair
We meditate together
We breathe together
We focus together
We return again and again
Together
Not towards perfection
But to spiritual direction
Concentration
Forgiveness
The sacred flood
The divine remover of obstacles
I didn’t even know I placed there
So we rise
Not higher than others
But deeper into the truth
Not above the law
But beyond the ego
Beyond the surface
Not to impress
But to enter into the kingdom of heaven
Because righteousness isn’t a ladder
It’s a posture
A positioning
A heart that bows low and is lifted high at the same time
And in that posture
In that stillness
We love truer
To hear Divine Mother clearer
The kingdom opens
Not someday
But now
Right here and now
Right where our attention dwells
In you Divine Mother
In the Presence of your Kingdom of Heaven
Aum Peace Amen
