Images Divide Us—They Don’t Unite Us

by Jai Maha Dev

 

Our images are the single greatest obstacle to establishing ourselves in the state of harmony and true inner happiness. Images divide us, they do not unite us.  Even if they are so-called spiritual images, they are still obstacles to our spiritual growth.

 

It is a shame to say, but the fact is, very few so-called spiritual leaders can accept this truth, because they have based their entire reputations on images.  So long as we are embracing an image we cannot grasp the Truth.  The vast majority of spiritual leaders are totally immersed in their images, and that’s why they cannot plant themselves in the Absolute—they never become grounded in divine wisdom.  They remain adrift in the sea of superficiality while building castles in the air; that’s why they never become rooted in Pure Consciousness, and their lives never bear the fruit of enlightenment, though they can give discourses on so-called spiritual topics for hours and hours, or even days or weeks.  Their consciousness is tainted with their personality, which is simply their own unique flavoring of ego.  They are off course, and they steer others off course too, and of course they think they are dead right.  But the truth is, anyone who is caught up in images is dead (insensitive) to the pure, undiluted wisdom of the Absolute.  It is a case of the blind leading the blind, and the dead burying the dead.

 

We must shrug off all our images to be free.  We don’t need toy models, we need good role models.  We don’t need idols, we need noble ideals.  We don’t need spiritual paraphernalia, we need spiritual practices.  There are too many ‘salesmen of images’ marketing their convoluted ideas in the spiritual marketplace.  There are so many people who pretend to be enlightened, or pretend to be healers or helpers.  Some really mean well, but they cannot help others become well when they themselves are so confused.  Instead, they only make things worse.  (Maintaining the status quo is also no good.) 

 

To become really well we have to get at the root of the problem—just covering up the symptoms will not do.  The root of the problem is ignorance and ego.  Our spiritual images are never going to solve the problem.  If we give someone a spiritual image, we have only taken away one crutch and given them another.  Images are crutches of our ego—they support our ego (our false self), and that’s why people cling to them as though their life depended on it.  In fact, our life really depends on removing all our images—in other words, we only experience the inner light, the real life, when we let go all our images of unreality and superficiality. 

 

All of the spiritual leaders should get off their ‘holy trip’ and become whole human beings.  All of us are projected from that absolute ‘wholeness’, the fullness of the Absolute.  Experiencing that inner wholeness is the only thing that is going to make us feel fulfilled.  But when we project our images onto ourselves and others, we cut ourselves off from that experience and we become ignorant.  We need to stop ignoring our own Higher Nature, and we need to stop ignoring the good advice. 

 

A good advisor will give you good advice, but a con-artist will only give you a good picture.  People who promote images are not spreading the light of wisdom, they are only spreading self-delusion.  In the name of religion some people are spreading lies and hatred, others are spreading their fish nets (drishya-jaal) hoping to catch as many converts as they can to add support to their ridiculous contentions.  Both are spreading dissention and dividing one against another. 

 

This religion, that religion; this sect, that sect; this sampradaya that sampradaya: — it is all BHAGWAAS (nonsense) and has nothing to do with BHAGWAN (God).  

 


There is only one path, the path within.

There is only one way, and that is to tread that path.

 


 

Those who really want to worship GOD should spread prosperity in the form of wisdom, compassion, humility, and divine love.  They should become truly honorable human beings by honoring their own True Self  (the True Self of all), and not waste their time, energy, or resources in the worshipping of idols (whether they be movie-idols or temple idols, or any other idol) [1] .

 

Many times we have heard the rhetoric: “Unity in diversity.”  But this is completely backwards.  There is absolutely no unity in diversity.  The real message is: “Diversity in Unity.”  Only when we become united do we become truly creative, otherwise we are just copycats of ego.  When we experience the unity of all life, the unity of consciousness, and the unity of soul, we automatically become the instrument of that higher force and we are no longer the puppets of our mind and ego.

 

A person who is ‘pushing’ images can never be your friend.  But the one who pushes you toward your real nature is your true friend.  If we get hooked on images, we will never get hooked to our Real Nature.  We have to unhook our mind from all its images, only then will we have a clear mind.  Only a clear mind can be focussed on the Absolute.  If the mind is distorted with images, our perception will be unclear and we will be unable to see the goal. 

 

Few people really see the goal, and that’s why they never reach it.  Few people ever perfect their consciousness, because they are too busy perfecting their images!

 

This message is for one and all, but especially for those who (by fate or favor) have acquired the power of influencing others.  Those who misuse their power of influence will become totally inept—that is, they will completely lose the skill to control their own mind—they will become a ‘barta’, a minced-meat. Any spiritual leader (or any leader for that matter) who is not up to the feat of coming to grips with their own ego (and renouncing all their images) should get off from their high seat and a take a post in the ‘real world’, and work for the betterment of humanity by becoming a simple human being.  We have to become simple human beings before we can become super-human beings.  Those who are truly super-human beings remain simple but do super-actions in the form of  spreading Wisdom and showering divine love (which is more than words can convey).   Remember: love means to unite, and love requires no image—but it does require wisdom.   When we become truly wise, we experience the Highest Love, and that love has no image.

 

Those who propagate ‘isms’ are creating a chasm between the peoples of this planet.  Those who share universal wisdom are promoting unity.  May we all drop our images (which only divide us by making us self-involved) and come together as one family of humanity, and help one another evolve to the highest state of consciousness.



[1] Not all idols (and images) are strictly material in nature.  Mostly they consist of ‘intellectual property’ by which we are possessed.  Often people are obsessed with their own ideas, opinions, and mental creations, and they mold their lives according to these.