“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled” ~Matthew 5:6
If we remember, Jesus of Nazareth is speaking to an intimate group of followers, his disciples, at The Sermon on the Mount. They numbered around 24, it is said. Do not get his Apostles, which numbered 12, confused with his disciples.
He is speaking on a spiritual level, not of a level of which is morally correct or of values, etc., but on a deeper level of Spirit, i.e., not of this world. A spiritual aspirant has to have good morals and ethical values in their life to reach spiritual understanding, but a person who is solely an ethical person does not necessarily understand spiritual teachings. One is of this world, and one is not.
In the Old Testament, the word righteousness is used in a way that is synonymous with salvation.
Psalm 71:2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me.
And there are many more, for example Isaiah 51:4-6 and Jeremiah 9:23-24.
So how does one reach salvation here on earth? Just as we would achieve anything else…practice. The ways of practicing are through prayer, contemplation and meditation.
Many of us would say "But I am no saint. I can’t do all of this."
It all starts with desire; the desire to Love. Love Itself.
A saint once told me “The desire to love God, is loving God.”
If you have the desire for Peace, pray to your Higher Power for Peace. But whether it comes or not, have faith that there is a bigger plan that we might not understand. If someone you love is sick, pray to your Higher Power to help them with their suffering. But whether or not they live or are healed, understand that your Higher Power has other plans which you might not agree with or understand, but it is for the best of all involved.
But most of all, pray for the understanding of Thy Will and direction.
Contemplate the words of the Saints, Sages and Avatars whose teachings are recorded in scriptures. Find something that touches your heart, and continue to read that over and over.
Give yourself time every day for meditation, even if it's only 5 minutes, to have some quiet time and go to that place in your heart and think of Love. See and feel yourself relaxing in the arms of The Divine Mother of us all.
Sri Caitanya, an avatar in India in the 1500s made it so easy for us to become God Consciousness. He said to simply chant the Holy names of the Lord. He gave us the Maha (which means great) Mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. God/High Power's name is the same as God. So be Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, is does not matter, there is only One, and that One is God.
Most of us do not really want God as much as we want material things. If we are really truthful with ourselves we will find that our interest in God is not nearly as strong as our interest in all the worldly objects in and around our lives.
But if you can simply want to have the desire to love God and think of that desire, you can remember what that saint once told me.
Eventually that desire grows if we continually water that seed of desire and we will begin to hunger and thirst for that righteousness that Jesus speaks of. And then we shall be filled. If does not mean we get all that we want, but we grateful for what we have because we know that all we have and all we don’t have, is God’s gift to us.
Namaste
Michael
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