When a follower asked Jesus Christ: ‘What is the single most important commandment one should follow because there are too many?’ Jesus replied, “Love your neighbor, like you love yourself”. This single most important teaching of Jesus encompasses the entire teachings of all the religions of the world. Whatever may be the religion, and whatever may be the time period in the history of the world, this single teaching shows a straight and unequivocal path to salvation for mankind.
It also clearly demonstrates and proves one single core concept of all theologies namely “Monotheism’; whether it is ‘Torah ‘of Judaism, ‘Koran’ of Islam, or Baghwat Geeta of Hinduism or Buddhism, it emphasize ‘One God’. Ramana Maharishi said: “Ask yourself who am I, and seek an answer with great earnestness and you will find only a silence. The sense of ‘I’ will disappear because ‘I ness “is only construction of your mind, and mind is ‘Maya’ an illusion and not a “Reality”. Ramana was absolutely clear that only the “self” is Real and everything else is only “Maya’. What he calls “self’ is “Iswara” or ‘God”? In other words ‘Only God is within you’- a monotheism.
When a man identifies his body and mind with “self’ there is ignorance, and because of this delusion, he suffers in this world. But once he realizes that this body and mind are not the ‘Real self’, there is liberation from the bondage, which is ‘salvation’. Even when you mistake your body for the self, there is great ‘Love’ for yourself. Is there anybody in the world who does not love ‘himself”? Therefore, there are two issues involved; one is self and others one is Love. When you apply the principle of ‘Monotheism’ (one God) and you love the ‘self’ that means you love ‘God, who is within you and within your neighbor’.
But Jesus did not elaborate what he meant by ‘your self’ ; and Ramana Maharishi explained by a simple and direct question “Who am I?”. The Ten Commandments, the teachings of ‘eight fold yoga’ and the core teachings of Torah and Koran of Islam, all points to the one and the same ‘one God’. When one ‘identifies’ one ‘self’ with his body and mind then there are conflicts and wars.
We are now living in a scientific world and science needs proof for everything we believe. If science can prove that the sense of ‘I-ness” is false then there is a hope for salvation for humanity. Only “Death’ proves that all that happened in our life is nothing but an illusion and with ‘Death’, such an illusion comes to an end. But we don’t accept this reality when we are alive because we are unable to distinguish between our true ‘self’ and our ‘body and mind’. We always take our ‘body and mind’ as our ‘self’. Patanjali of Yoga sutra says that the purpose of yoga is to free a man from such ignorance or mistaken identity of ‘body and mind ‘for the ‘self’. Once we remove this ignorance, then the teachings of Jesus Christ “love you neighbor like you love yourself’ can become easier. That will put an end to all human conflicts, wars and destruction and open a new world order of peace and happiness.
When we accept there is only “One God’ and we love ‘that God’ and that ‘God only’ is within each of us then, there is no room for conflicts and misunderstandings. When Ten commandments tell us “”Thou shall not kill”, the meaning is absolutely crystal clear to each one of us.
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