|
Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. I hope persons of varied wisdom paths will find inspiration here.
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox
MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Teacher, Author
You are invited to join Brian at his fellowship group on Facebook - OneLife Ministries – A Contemplative Interspiritual Fellowship.
* * *
We were buried with him [Christos] by immersion [baptism] into death; so that as Christos was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we, too, would live newness of Life.
*Roman 6.4
* * *
It is said of the Indian saint Mahavir that he decided to leave his home. But his mother was alive, so she said, "Do not go, do not renounce, unless I die. Do not ask again about renouncing the world. You talk of love and you talk of non-violence, but if you renounce the world it will be killing me, murdering me. So do not talk about it!" But even the mother was surprised, because Mahavir never again talked about it.
The whole family was surprised. What type of renunciation, what type of sannyasi, is this? Only once Mahavir talked of it; then, the mother became angry, and he stopped.
For two years he would not talk about leaving home. Then, his mother died. He was returning home one day, and he asked his older brother, "Now my mother is dead, so allow me to renounce the world."
The brother became angry. He said, "What nonsense are you talking? We are suffering a great loss. Mother has died, and you are talking about renouncing now? Do not talk about it at all!" Mahavir remained silent on the matter for two years.
The whole family was shocked. What type of renunciation is this? But they began to feel he was in the house, but he was not. He was absolutely absent. No one felt him present. He became a shadow. Months would pass; suddenly, someone would say, "Where is Mahavir?" He was in the house. He became so absent the whole family gathered, and they said, "If you are doing this, it now becomes our duty to allow you to renounce. You can go, because, really, you have already gone."
Mahavir left the house that day. Someone asked him, "Why didn't you escape? Why didn't you run away?" He said, "There was no need. I took the inner jump. The day I decided, I became a sannyasin. Only my shadow was there, because my mother would have become disturbed. There was no need to leave. The shadow was there; 'I' was not there. The very day I decided, the thing happened. These four years were nothing for me. I was a shadow. I could have remained in that house forever."
The day one really decides to take the jump, the jump has already taken place, because the decision is the jump. Even to become aware that "I am in a deep imprisonment," to be aware of this, is to have moved out of it. Now, sooner or later, this imprisonment cannot be a prison for you.
*Story and comment from Osho. The Ultimate Alchemy. Vol. 2.
* * *
The ultimate renunciation is of self. One could flee to a cave in the desert, but if not renoncing self, what is renounced but material stuff, people, and place? Yet, a man or woman could work in a big company in a huge city, and be amidst busyness and much money, and if self is renounced, he or she is spiritually a monk, a sannyasi. The renunciation of material things, and friendship and family ties, does not mean one is not tied to the self. Indeed, such mere renunciation by the self for the self is selfish.
In the Christian tradition, baptism is a sign of renunciation. Many see it merely as an initation into the earthy church. Yet, mystically, baptism is renunciation of the self for the Divine and the inner Self, thereby, giving oneself to the world in continuing identification with Christ as the center of being and life for the Christic initiate.
This is done in a mystic identification with Christ. Scripture says, “buried with him,” which is with the universal Being, Christ.
Scriture says, “by the Father's glory” Jesus was raised to new life, and we walk in new life through the same glory. In Christ, then, we connect with the Father-Mother-Being Source, and that One infuses with infinite Life and Inspiration.
This initation is ongoing. The physical act of baptism is an initational “Yes” to this ongoing mystical process. The outer act signifies the inner way of Transformation into the being of God - theosis.
So, no, to be a Christic sannyasi, or monk, does not mean the self is suddenly dead to itself and walking awake fully to God. Rather, baptism is a sign of a process of, in Hindu-Christian terms, the sannyasi becoming sannyasi: the Christian becoming Christian, the Buddhist becoming Buddhist, the Hindu becoming Hindu, the Sufi becoming Sufi, the … . Renunciation is a becoming, a becoming which is breathed by the Grace of God.
©Brian Wilcox, and OneLife Ministries. 03/16/2010
* * *
*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. Brian is a member of United Communities of Spirit: A Global Interfaith Initiative, for advancing the cause of understanding and peace among persons of different faiths and beliefs. Among other memberships is Guru and OneLife Ministries seek to share this spirit of unity among all peoples of faith and humanity as a whole.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
|
