Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”(Luke 21:28)
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, is well known. Barrack Obama and John McCain are even more widely recognized around the world. All of three of them have very different personalities and political beliefs, yet in spite of their differences the common thread that binds all three together is their devotion to serving others. In the context of the ongoing Presidential race these men recently came together to discuss the one man who was endowed with the infinite Grace to transform the lives of everyone living and dead. This man has touched more lives throughout the centuries than any other single human being and you know him as Jesus Christ. Of course, Jesus extremely well known; but there is another servant of God who is not as well known whose life is devoted to revealing the deepest Truth. She was born into the world as Antoinette Robinson, but a spiritual master named her Ganga-ji after the most sacred river of India – the Ganges. It is her voice that opened my heart to the deepest Truth that Jesus eternally reveals and it is her voice that offers you an opportunity to recognize something much deeper than the thought provoking conversation that unfolded between Rick Warren, John McCain, and Barrack Obama.
Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28) Redemption is atonement. It lives in the moment of remembering the Truth of who you are beyond the limitations of your physical form. Truth is an illusive and often misunderstood word. In a YouTube video entitled What Does Your Life Stand For? Gangaji asks, “Do you know the Truth? That is the question. It is the hardest question of a lifetime.” Fundamentally, Rick Warren was asking both Presidential candidates – What is the Truth? What does your faith in Christ really mean? What does your life stand for? When you stop for a moment and contemplate these questions you have a rare opportunity to discover the deepest Truth for yourself. How can these questions reveal an even deeper understanding of the teaching of Jesus Christ?
Rick Warren asked Barrack, “Everybody has a world view, a Buddhist, a
Baptist, a Secularist and an Atheist – everybody’s got a world
view…People want to know what your world view is. The first question is
Christianity, now you have no doubt about your faith in Jesus Christ.
What does that mean to you? What does it mean to you to trust in Jesus
Christ 
and
what does that mean on a daily basis? What does that really look like?
Barrack responded by saying, “As a starting point. I believe that Jesus
died for my sins and I am redeemed through him. That is a source of
strength and sustenance on a daily basis. And it means that those sins
that I have on a fairly regular basis hopefully will be washed away.”
Rick Warren asked the exact same question to John McCain. His immediate short answer reflects the stark difference between these two men. John McCain simply responded, “It means I am saved and forgiven. And our faith encompasses not just the United States, but the world.” Simplicity and arrogance are words that describe John McCain. Humility and thoughtfulness are words that describe Barrack Obama. One is not necessarily better than the other, both men have very different political beliefs and expressed very different perspectives on everything from abortion, same sex marriage, war, and the existence of evil, but this surface conversation overlooks a much deeper question: What does redemption mean? What does it mean to be saved? Does Jesus save you or something else? Who is it that is saved?
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.”(Matthew 26:27-29) Forgiveness of sin is redemption, which simply means to turn your attention to God – The Truth of who you are at the core of your being. The crucifixion and resurrection was a demonstration of the eternal nature of this Truth. Who you really are at the core of your being can never taste death. Redemption is knowing this is the Truth beyond any concept of Truth. It is mind falling into heart – a cross over in consciousness – drinking it new with you in my Father’s kingdom!
This gives rise to a much deeper question – What does the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus stand for? What is the “blood of the covenant” really mean? Why would he want you to eat his body and drink his blood? Through the Grace of drinking his blood and eating his body, you are surrendering into the infinite Grace of God. Merging with this Grace is like you are a raindrop falling into the ocean! How much closer to Jesus can you get than ingesting him? What is contained in the blood running through your veins? What is the source of your heartbeat? In contemplating these questions, you have the rare opportunity to see That which was present in Jesus, is still present and is within you right now! As Jesus reveals, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Whoa!
Gangaji says, “We have to really be willing to tell the hard Truth about the power we have to corrupt the most pure, the most sublime recognition of Truth – reality of oneself. And you can’t do it through the mind, because the mind gets very busy being involved in damage control – as you know. There is a question you can ask though and you can deeply examine it and ruthlessly and often painfully tell the Truth about it. And that is: ‘What does my life stand for?’ ‘What is my life standing for?’ ‘What has it stood for?’ ‘What is the deepest call for my life to stand for?’ Then all you have to do is really look very carefully, ruthlessly, to see. And you will see if you are speaking words of Truth and living a life of a lie. You will see that, and it is a painful seeing and the mind will immediately will make the lie itself some form of truth. So it’s a rigorous truth telling.” [As Jesus illuminates,“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” (John 8:31)] (Please watch the video above)
Gangaji continues, “And as we are all macrocosms of each other. What has to be examined, really has to be examined, is profoundly uncomfortable. It’s the rapist, the killer, the child molester, the facist, the Nazi, the abuser of power, the false teacher. It’s all alive within us. [As Jesus reveals, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:16-20)]
Gangaji explains, “And if we are willing to face that and actually meet that however it being reflected in this life time, this particular life time, then there is the possibility of what Christians call redemption, but true redemption, like Christ’s redemption on the cross. To in an instant or an hour or a week or a year, or a life time, however long it takes, bear the pain that we have caused as human beings in the name of Truth, in the name of Love, in the name of Service. [As Jesus dieing on the cross demonstrates, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Forgiveness is meeting this suffering on the deepest level. As Jesus illuminates, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”(Matthew 25:40)]
Gangaji reveals, “It is the bearing of that without indulging it, without indulging it without repressing it that then reveals a space for real inquiry, otherwise inquiry is just a layer on top, another way of escaping, a way of feeling good. And you know that and you know the nectar or that and the addiction of that and yet there is a call within you that wants the Truth or you wouldn't be here, because you know I have nothing to teach you. I am not teaching you anything - really. I am inviting you to examine at the deepest level who you are and that begins at the most superficial level and in the willingness to see the most superficial there is a strength and a capacity to actually see deeper, and in that there is a strength and a bigger capacity to see deeper. [Jesus explains, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:25-26)]
Gangaji reveals, “Until finally you are faced with seeing yourself as nothing at all. And that’s horrifying to the mind, because the mind’s job is to make you something. And this nothing at all is not something, it is not an enlightened something, it is not an awake something, it is not a happy something, it is nothing at all. And paradoxically that nothing at all is filled with bliss and fulfillment and satisfaction of the most profound level. [As Jesus illuminates, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)]
Gangaji intimates, “You can tell the deeper truth. What do I stand for? Where is my allegiance? What does my life reflect? It is very simple then isn’t, I don’t mean as a whip, a Super Ego whip, ‘bad –you talked rudely to a sales clerk’ or ‘bad –you had a negative thought” not that at all. Much deeper, much closer to the bone. What does my life stand for? And this is standing up. We sit down we rest to get our strength so that we can stand up with the whole tsunami of human conditioning coming in our faces. Regardless of the experience of feeling or pain or bliss. It is all secondary. It is just to be able to stand up and say, ‘I stand for Truth., Whatever the out come: If I am shot for that, if I am burned, I am hated for that, if I am adored for that – ‘I stand for Truth.’ If I am abandoned by that. I am worshiped for that ‘I stand for Truth.’
Gangaji explains, “And this is the possibility for everyone in this room or you would not be here, I know that for a fact. This is the possibility of your life time. To really Rest in Truth and Stand for Truth In Truth as Truth. And to meet what every challenge appears, global challenge, national challenge, personal challenge…because you really are standing up in the face of all of human conditioning, all of human betrayal, all of human delusion, self aggrandizement, drama, abandonment, all of it, your are standing as the Buddha, as Christ. As every icon we have, had to stand and what great examples they are to us, but if we use them as something separate we miss what the possibility is as an ordinary human being and an ordinary life, to stand up extraordinarily.”
Jesus says, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37) Jesus is the Truth and he is a witness of the Truth. A witness is some who offers evidence after seeing or hearing something. What did Jesus see? What did he hear? He is looking at something and he is the presence that looks. What is that presence? Jesus is simply asking you to follow his gaze inward into the depths of your own heart. He stands in eternity bearing witness to the Living Truth that is alive within you right now in this moment! Wow!
Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Jesus stood for Truth. Jesus stands for Truth. Jesus is Truth. And right now in this moment he is asking you to stand up for Truth!
Redemption lives in the deeper recognition – that you have the capacity, regardless of the circumstances of your life, to stand up extraordinarily for Truth as Truth!!!!
What does your life stand for?
For more information about Gangaji please visit: http://www.gangaji.org
