Bible Matters 513: To Be Free

You’ve read these verses, “You must be born again”, “Least at any time they should be converted”, “and all surrender with obedience to Him” and you ask yourself why is this transformation or change necessary to be free and see the kingdom of God.   Such simple verses with so much meaning.  So much so that you ask yourself, why can’t the rich man get into heaven.

Luke 18:23,25 – And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 

One thing for sure is that when this transformation happens, your life will be one of respect.  Respect for God and his scripture, Respect for the things of God and Respect for yourself.  You will be free of your old sinful and selfish desires.  To be free, will be the new you.  Free to serve the things of God or the Supreme. 

You must first realize that you are in a state of sin, not pleasing to the Supreme.

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

No scripture explains this transformation better than the Hindu Bhagavad Gita.  You start this transformation by understanding the self-desires of sin that offend God and you renounce those desires.  Your mind and soul work together for this transformation.   

What is called renunciation you should know to be the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, O son of Pandu, for one can never become a yogi unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.

One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

God and your soul will never cease to be.

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

If you soul can never be destroyed, then you have to fight to stay out of sin and into God’s word and his gospel.  Do this without hesitation.   This transformation is your choice.  You must fight to save your soul.  Engage yourself in devotional service and surrender unto the Lord.

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both.

If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat — and by so doing you shall never incur sin.

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up with determination and fight.

When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness.

A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life.  Therefore strive for yoga, which is the art of all work.

By thus engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages or devotees free themselves from the results of work in the material world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond all miseries [by going back to Godhead].

O Dhananjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

Decide if you are going to serve the Supreme or the things of money.  The Supreme has a job for you to do on this earth, so do it!

In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

There are those that will appreciate the change they see in your life.   Your old friend can be your enemy and the enemies will despise this transformation.  They say there is no soul.

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?

Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.

Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.

A steady mind that able to deal with diversity is eligible for liberation. 

O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.

Do not be misled by man’s false doctrine and hate.  God has created us to be equal.  Once you have been liberated from the things of this earth, you recognize that when you serve the things of God, then you do not kill the things of God.   There can be no happiness without peace.  Keep up the good fight for the Supreme. 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

O Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Krsna consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

Fix your mind upon the Supreme, a godly life by following the Brahman Gospel of Love and you will enter the kingdom of God.

Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered.  If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.

To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.