God expects spiritual acts from us, from out of our hearts, and not just words and going through the motions.

 

105. God expects spiritual acts from us, from our hearts, and not just words and going through the motions: This is a teaching found in all of God’s divinely ordained religions; telling us we need to be spiritual and follow the divine teachings. This is better for us then, the practice of many, who just go through the motions and traditions that have been handed down from father to son for untold eons.  BABI RELIGION: “Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted Summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion.” (The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 91)

Come to God with a spiritual heart and not some dried up doctrine (i.e. words that have been created by man as an interpretation of the holy writings, dogma); which has long since out grown its usefulness.  CHRISTIANITY: Matthew: 16:6 “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” 16:7 “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.” 16:8 “Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?” 16:9 “Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” 16:10 “Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” 16:11 “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?” 16:12 “Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” So, in other words, look past the man made doctrine and dogma into the spiritual nature of the word of God and focus on becoming spiritual beings unhindered by superstition or tradition.  JUDAISM: 1 Samuel: 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath The LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of The LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Proverbs 21:3 “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to The LORD than sacrifice.” Ecclesiastes 5:1 “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.” Isaiah: 1:11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith The LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.” Hosea 6:6 “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Genesis: 18:25 “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Ezekiel: 37:13 “And ye shall know that I am The LORD – 37:14 And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live.” Isaiah: 38:16 “O LORD, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.” Sirach: 34:13 “The spirit of those that fear The Lord shall live.” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha) CHRISTIANITY: Mark: 7:6 “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Mark: 12:32 “And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but He:” Mark: 12:33 “And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Ephesians: 6:5 “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;” Ephesians: 6:6 “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;” John: 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” 1 John: 2:4 “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John: 2:5 “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know We that We are in him.” Mark: 7:7 “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” 7:8 “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.” 7:9 “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” 7:13 “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Titus: “They which have believed in God – be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” 3:14 So again, “let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.” Philippians: 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Galatians: 5:16 “This I say then; Walk in The Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,” 5:17 “for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Romans: 1:9 “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit.”

 BABI RELIGION: “Be ye sincere in your allegiance to Him Whom God shall make manifest, for the sake of God, your Lord.” “Prepare the way for Him, and purify yourselves so that you may recognize His beauty.”

(Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 127 and Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 166)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Live their (YOUR) lives in that (THE) Spirit.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 17)

 ISLAM: “To remove mutual enmity, ill-feeling and hatred is better than recommended prayers and fasting;” “act according to the spirit.”

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

 34. “To every people did We appoint rites (of sacrifice), that they might celebrate the name of Allah (God) over the sustenance He gave them from animals (fit for food), but your Allah is one Allah: submit then your wills to Him and give thou the Good News to those who humble themselves” 37. “It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His guidance to you: and proclaim the Good News to all who do right.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  22)

 102. “The Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as a guide and Glad Tidings.” 192. “Verily this is a Revelation from The Lord of the Worlds;” 193. “With it came down the Spirit of Faith and Truth –” 194. “To thy heart and mind that thou mayest (be) admonish(ed),” 196. “Without doubt it is (announced) in the mystic Books of former (prophets, to the) peoples.” 22. “For such He has written Faith in their hearts, and strengthened them with a spirit from Himself.” 2. And I do call to witness the self-reproaching spirit; (live A Good Spiritual Life and eschew all Evil).

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 16, 26, 58 and 75)

 94.“it is your actions that Allah (God) and His Messenger will observe: in the end will ye be brought back to Him Who knoweth what is hidden and what is open: then will He show you the truth of all that ye did.” 195. “Do good; for Allah loveth those who do good.” and “the best of provision is right conduct.”

 (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 2 and 9)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “One should not entertain any false notion about the nature of God, such as that He is indifferent to the moral worth of man, and may be appeased by mere ceremonies.” “Mazda sustains the moral order. He is the source of all that is worthy in life.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan pp. 240 and 491)

 “Love of Mazda (God) is the life of religion, and without that, the dead ceremonials are worse than useless.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 189)

 “Invocation of God, to the neglect of rectitude (moral integrity), is unveiling. It does not suffice for the vision of Mazda. In order to be able to see Mazda, one should be righteous, thoughtful and active.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 247)

 1. “For his holy Spirit and for Best Thought, deed, and word, in accordance with Right Mazda Ahura (God) with Dominion and Piety shall give us Welfare and Immortality.” 2. “The best (work) of this most holy Spirit he fulfills with the tongue through words of Good Thought, with work of his hands through the action of Piety, by virtue of this knowledge: he, even Mazda, is the Father of Right.”

(The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 47)

 HINDUISM: “Sacrifice not for rewardment made, Offered in rightful wise, when he who vows Sayeth, with heart devout, ‘This I should do!’ Is Soothfast rite.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 17)

 “Good words, good deeds, finding, what there is to find, what has been, what will be, easy road, good way, prosperity, prospering, agreement, agreeing thought, good thought (prosper).” “The soul’s governance; for perfect bliss Grows only in the bosom tranquillised, The spirit passionless, purged from offence, Vowed to the Infinite. He who thus vows His soul to the Supreme Soul, quitting sin, Passes unhindered to the endless bliss Of unity with Brahma (God).”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 6 and Vedas, Yajur Veda – Kanda IV)

 BUDDHISM: 8. “If a person month after month for a hundred years should sacrifice with a thousand offerings, and if but for one moment that person paid reverence to one whose soul is grounded in knowledge, better is that reverence than a hundred years of sacrifices.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

 “There are priests and popular preachers who are given to ritual and ceremony and who are skilled in various incantations and in the art of eloquence; they should not be honored nor reverently attended upon, for what one gains from them is emotional excitement and worldly enjoyment; it is not the Dharma.” “Then there are the materialistic philosophers. No respect nor service is to be shown them because their teachings, though they may be explained by using hundreds of thousands of words and phrases, do not go beyond the concerns of this world and this body and in the end they lead to suffering. As the materialists recognize no truth as existing by itself, they are split up into many schools, each of which clings to its own way of reasoning.” “The Bodhisattva should keep himself away from all turmoil, social excitements and sleepiness; let him keep away from the treatises and writings of worldly philosophers, and from the ritual and ceremonies of professional priestcraft.” Instead let them endeavor “in the practice of all good deeds, disciples should never indulge in indolence (laziness). Be indefatigably zealous and never let even the thought of indolence arise in their minds; but steadily and persistently out of deep compassion endeavor (to develop one’s spirit and) benefit all beings.” (Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra and Buddha, Diamond Sutra)

 SABEANISM: “For my heart hath testified to The First Life (Haiyi/God).” “Behold me, who have sought purification before Thee! Look on me, I am Thy servant and Thy child. Now I humble myself and my children to Thy name, for I have been true to Thy name, and speak (it) in my heart and talk (of it) in my mind. And I subdue my form and my loins,” and live a holy life not just in words, but in actions. (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 77 and 410)

 “Any man who is not steadfast (in spirit, in thought) Whose mind is turned against Me, Whose mind is turned from Me, Great and not small will be his hurt.” ” Enlargement of life there shall be for the believing.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 71 and 89)

 BABI RELIGION: “Reduce not the ordinances of God to fanciful imaginations of your own; rather observe all the things which God hath created at His behest with the eye of the spirit, even as ye see things with the eyes of your bodies.” “Those endowed with the eyes of the spirit circle like moths round the Light of Truth until they are consumed.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 79 and 145)

 “KNOW thou that in the Bayan purification is regarded as the most acceptable means for attaining nearness unto God and as the most meritorious of all deeds. Thus purge thou thine ear that thou mayest hear no mention besides God, and purge thine eye that it behold naught except God, and thy conscience that it perceive naught other than God, and thy tongue that it proclaim nothing but God, and thy hand to write naught but the words of God, and thy knowledge that it comprehend naught except God, and thy heart that it entertain no wish save God, and in like manner purge all thine acts and thy pursuits that thou mayest be nurtured in the paradise of pure love, and perchance mayest attain the presence of Him Whom God shall make manifest, adorned with a purity which He highly cherisheth, and be sanctified from whosoever hath turned away from Him and doth not support Him. Thus shalt thou manifest a purity that shall profit thee.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 98)

BAHA’I FAITH: “One hour’s reflection is preferable to seventy years of pious worship.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 237)

“That which God (glorious is His mention) hath desired for Himself is the hearts of His servants, which are treasures of praise and love of The Lord and stores of divine knowledge and wisdom.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, A Traveller’s Narrative, p. 63)

“Man is, in reality, a spiritual being, and only when he lives in the spirit is he truly happy. This spiritual longing and perception belongs to all men alike.”

“Consider how a being, in the world of the womb, was deaf of ear and blind of eye, and mute of tongue; how he was bereft of any perceptions at all. But once, out of that world of darkness, he passed into this world of light, then his eye saw, his ear heard, his tongue spoke. In the same way, once he hath hastened away from this mortal place into the Kingdom of God, then he will be born in the spirit; then the eye of his perception will open, the ear of his soul will hearken, and all the truths of which he was ignorant before will be made plain and clear.”

“Wherefore must the friends of God, with utter sanctity, with one accord, rise up in the spirit, in unity with one another, to such a degree that they will become even as one being and one soul. On such a plane as this, physical bodies play no part, rather doth the spirit take over and rule; and when its power encompasseth all then is spiritual union achieved. Strive ye by day and night to cultivate your unity to the fullest degree. Let your thoughts dwell on your own spiritual development, and close your eyes to the deficiencies of other souls. Act ye in such wise, showing forth pure and goodly deeds, and modesty and humility, that ye will cause others to be awakened.”

“Therefore must the friends of God engender that tenderness which cometh from Heaven, and bestow love in the spirit upon all humankind. With every soul must they deal according to the Divine counsellings and admonitions; to all must they show forth kindness and good faith; to all must they wish well. They must sacrifice themselves for their friends, and wish good fortune to their foes. They must comfort the ill-natured, and treat their oppressors with loving-kindness. They must be as refreshing water to the thirsty, and to the sick, a swift remedy, a healing balm to those in pain and a solace to every burdened heart. They must be a guiding light to those who have gone astray, a sure leader for the lost. They must be seeing eyes to the blind, hearing ears to the deaf, and to the dead eternal life, and to the despondent joy forever.”

(Paris Talks, p. 72 and Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, pp. 177, 203 and 318)